A Little Bit Ninja

6: Converting to Cowgirl (Revised)

Chapter 6: Converting to Cowgirl

“I’ve told you a hundred times kid,” said a gravelly voice next to me. He sounded much too old to pout. “It’s not an exact science.”

“It’s your neck if she’s damaged,” another guy responded, “You were supposed to stick it in a fleshy part.” He said under his breath.

“There’s nothing fleshy on this kid to aim at, and why don’t you try aiming the blow gun?  Let’s see if you’re any better.”

 I couldn’t pry my eyes open to see where I was, and I couldn’t feel any part of my body, like I was floating on puffs of air. I couldn’t even tell where my arms were, just that they were still attached. My mind was in the same discombobulated state. I couldn’t hold onto a thought long enough to process the dream.

My nose registered the strong scent of leather, but it seemed to be my only sense that was functioning. Where was the smell coming from? Luckily I liked the smell of leather so it wasn’t altogether unpleasant. But the smell wasn’t the important thing. The important thing was sleep.

 “Well get on with it,” gruff man said again. “Check her before she gets movement back.”

I was aware enough to feel someone close to me and tugging on my shirt. Even in the dream, the thought of a stranger touching me was terrifying. I tried to scream and punch out in the area of his carotid sinus, but all that came out was a moan and a finger twitch. That was probably the worst part about the nightmare. For the first time in my life, my body wouldn’t do what I told it to do.

The darkness pulled harder at me, erasing the dream from my mind.   

When I awoke I could feel my arms and legs. I shuddered at the memory of a dream in which I couldn’t feel anything. My limbs were numb, but it was more a numbness from sleeping in an awkward position for too long. But after a moment when I realized that I couldn’t move, I wondered if I was still in the dream.

My arms ached behind me, and something dug into my wrists and ankles where they were bound tightly. Then panic began to set in. I tried to steady my breathing, telling myself that this was just a dream. Once I’d calmed enough to breathe normally I began to take stock of my surroundings, and realized that this wasn’t a dream. Or a nightmare. My wrists hurt too much for me to be sleeping. And the black leather that my face was smashed up against smelled too real.

Just as I realized that I was packed into the backseat of a car, presumably the same one that followed me all day, I heard voices nearby.

“Think we should check to make sure she’s alive?” a gravelly voice said.

“It wasn’t a big enough dose to kill her was it?” The other guy asked, his voice rising. I assumed it was the one who had asked me for help. I still didn’t know his name.

Before I clued them into the fact that I was awake, I took a few moments to try to formulate a tentative route of escape.  I had nothing.

“I don’t know Ant. It wasn’t even supposed to knock her out, but it did.”

Ant? Who names their kid ant? No wonder he’s on the wrong side of the law. He really never had a chance with a name like that. Or was that a nickname?

The only possibility I could think of was waiting until they were close enough, then doing my best impersonation of a bucking bronco, and hope I could head butt them hard enough to knock them out, without knocking myself unconscious at the same time. And then I would…wiggle toward the door and open it with my toes?