Grace POV
I looked at Miranda, she was turning white! It freaked me out! She fought to keep her eyes open. "We. We have to get her out, not matter what!" I whispered to Kimberly. She nodded. The men had left to get more supplies, after I had beat Sam up, earning me a blow to the head. I had earned him a few cuts.
I heard Kimberly's boot move, something fell out, her knife!! I saw her shadow pick it up, it reflected off whatever light we had from the tiny bulb. She began cutting her rope! It was agonizingly slow because of her wound, but she did it! She crawled over to me and cut mine. "We need to carry Miranda. I hope I'm strong enough!" She said. I hoped I was strong enough too. I had lost a lot of blood, we both had.
I dizzily got to my feet, falling twice. I was really dehydrated and had blood loss. In the end, I crawled over to Miranda. We untied her and I helped Kimberly with her. "We have to get moving! Who knows when they'll be back!" She said. I was glad that Miranda was not very tall, we were all about the same height! She suddenly came back and with us bearing her weight, she forced herself to move.
"We need something to patch the wound." I said, Miranda was bleeding like crazy. Kimberly took the shirt off her arm and tied it around Miranda's shoulder. She didn't even make a sound! Her face was determined.
I felt my adrenaline kick in. "We gotta move, now!" I heard a car door shut! I forced myself to keep moving up the stairs. We were finally to the top when I heard the front door open! The basement door locked from the inside!
I lifted the latch and we sprinted as fast as we could to the back door. I saw a truck and knew it was our only hope! "We gotta get to the truck!" I whispered. We sprinted out the back door and I tore the truck door open. "We don't have keys!" Kimberly yelled. "Give me the knife!" I said. My father had taught me how to hot wire a car for emergencies.
It started and I heard shouts, my adrenaline thundering in my ears, followed by gunshots. "We gotta go!" Kimberly yelled. I was fading from the blood loss. "Switch!" She ordered they were now approaching with their van!
I barely got out of the seat and could switch. Kimberly took off.
They shot out some glass from the back windshield! Kimberly swerved and narrowly avoided a tree. We just kept going, I didn't know where! Her arm was bleeding again!
"Don't tell me. I already know." She said, sounding panicked. We went faster! The car went through a ditch and launched itself. It landed on the ground, but the impact made the car slow. We hit something and the car rolled on its side, not fast enough to knock us out, fortunately. We sat in silence, my eyes half closed. A shadow approached the car. It was a man! He helped Kimberly out. Then, he and another person rolled the car enough to get me out.
We had strapped Miranda into the back seat! "We need. Ran." I managed to get out. There was a tiny crowd around now, we were on some back road. They lifted the truck and dragged her out. "We need to get to the hospital!" Kimberly yelled wildly. "I'll take them." A man spoke up. I just hoped they weren't some of Sam's friends.
It was now really dark out, and I heard the tire squeals of the other car! "Those men held us captive and are chasing us!" Kimberly screeched. Their car came down at a much slower pace. "Get in the car!" One of the men yelled at me. Another guy lead us to his car, he was driving a horse trailer! I barely heard bullets being fired as the guy helped us in. "Put her in the back." He said, taking about Miranda. They laid her across the seat. I was carried to the front, it could be turned into a three seater.
Kimberly sat next to me and he floored it, he had already unhooked the horse trailer. "Well, I'm Trent. Y'all are mighty lucky, we took a wrong turn to a horse show!" He said. We drove in silence, mostly me trying to stay awake.
"So, what happened?" He asked. "We were kidnapped." Kimberly answered, I could tell she was exhausted. "We're almost to the hospital. I..I don't know if your friend will make it..." Was all he said. We sat in silence.
We reached the hospital, as my eyes closed. The last thing I heard was: she needs surgery! And blood! Stat!
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I awoke in a hospital bed, thanking God that I was still alive. A chair in the corner moved and I looked over to it. Trent was still in the chair, his shirt bloody and pants torn.
"Thank you so much. I have no idea how to repay you." I said, smiling. My voice coming out like rusted nails and shattered glass. It hurt to smile, but I didn't care, I was too happy to stop.
"You're welcome. You don't have to. Hey.. Has anyone ever told you that you look like Grace Oakley? My daughters are huge fans!" I looked at him and grinned again, wincing at how bad it hurt.
"Well.. Not really. Mostly because I am her." I smiled, I had to trust him. He blushed slightly. "How are my friends doing?" I asked. "The curly blonde is fine, just stitches for all the cuts. Your other friend.... They don't know." Was all he said, he looked really sad.
"Hey, where are your daughters?" I asked, trying to keep both our minds off Miranda. He perked up a bit, "they were on their way to compete in a horse competition. They were in my truck with their mom, they moved to my friend's truck." I nodded. "It's almost one of their birthdays. She really wanted to compete as her preset." He smiled.
"Well. What're their names?" I asked. He smiled. "Brooke and Amanda." He slid out his phone. "Here's a picture." I looked at his phone, there were two kids, one looked to be 5 and the other 8. Trent was in between them, they were fishing in what looked to be a beautiful lake in Montana.
"They're cute. Well, I have another present for her, then. We will have to reschedule our concert, buuut... How about y'all spend the day with us when it's rescheduled? Do y'all live in Nashville?" I asked.
"Well, we're from Kentucky. But we have family here, so we could always maybe hang out and then go." He said. I got an idea, I was trying to keep both our minds off of Miranda still.
"Why don't y'all visit the relatives and we can spend the day with them? I understand if you feel uncomfortable, though." I said. He shook his head, "No! That sounds like a great idea. Thank you so much."
"No. Thank you! Without your friends.... Who know's what would've happened!" I said. "Can I get your cellphone number? Oh! Can I borrow your cellphone? I need to call my friends. Sorry." I said. He nodded and handed it to me. I called Reid's phone.
He answered right away. "I'll give you whatever you want. Just give me my girl back!" He cried. They didn't know we were okay! "Just a kiss would be great..." I said. There was a long pause. "Stop playing with me!" He growled.
"I'm not. Reid, it's me. Kimberly got us out, we're in the hospital." I said with a yawn. I heard him tell the others, he was so excited. "I'll be right there!""Wait! You might need to know it's...where are we?" I asked Trent. He motioned for the phone.
I gave it to him, it was his phone after all! "Hello, this is Trent. Your... Wife..?" I shook my head quickly. "Girlfriend, my bad, is stable. We are at Knoxville General." He explained how to get there.
He handed the phone back. "Who was that guy?" Reid asked. "Well.... It's a long story. Our car rolled and well he and his buddies all helped us. I will tell y'all when you get here." Reid responded: "Bye. I love you. Don't you dare scare me like that again!" He said, I smiled, "Love you too, Romeo." I heard him laugh with joy before he hung up.
"Thank you, so much." I started to fall asleep. I handed him his phone.
When I awoke, Trent was gone. There was no one in my room but I heard talking! Trent walked in with Reid and Neil! Along with Carrie!
"Yeah. So... she's pretty worn out." Trent explained, walking through the door. I blinked and smiled at him. Reid rushed to my side faster than I thought possible!
He kissed my cheek and I smiled weakly. "I missed ya." I said, kissing him back. Carrie cleared her throat. "Wait, you're Reid and Neil Perry! And you're Carrie Underwood!" Trent said with a smile, they all nodded.
"Yes. I was going to say, for helping my girlfriend, I thought maybe we could put on a special concert for you and your friends? Here in Nashville? But as soon as we're all better?" Reid asked.
"Y'all are so nice. Your girlfriend already offered to take our kids around town!" Reid's eyes got big and laughed. "That doesn't surprise me! Y'all can do both if you want." Trent nodded at Reid. "I'll talk to my wife and ask her what she wants to do." "Sounds great to me!" Reid answered with a happy smile.
"What happened?" Carrie asked. "Well, we were standing outside when we realized that Kimberly was bleeding. Chris went to get a medic and I guess they snuck up on us. I got hit with I think maybe a crowbar...? I woke up in their basement. The man that Kimberly saw in the diner was the same man as the one in the basement. They kept beating us up, and then he'd give me a... Sweet apology... And do it again." I started to cry. Reid sat next to me and hugged me. He snarled, pain and sadness for me thundered in his eyes.
"And then, I guess they had found Miranda, and shot her. Kimberly woke up after being knocked out and then found her knife was still in her boot. Thanks to you. She used it to cut her bindings and cut mine. We half carried Miranda up and out to the truck. I hotwired the truck and we drove off. The car swerved and flipped onto its side and that's when we found Trent."
Trent gave a low whistle. "Wow." Reid looked like he had met the tralfamadorians and came back! I laughed at his face before I got tired.
Author Note:
tralfamadorians are an alien species from Slaughter House 5. They're really weird looking!!