A Night in the Desert

Chapter II

Sue Ann walked slowly out of the shack into the night, pausing when she reached the road to make sure of the direction, then turned and started her journey. At first she kept jerking against the leg chains, instinctively trying to keep to her normal stride. She stopped for a moment; she didn't want to trip with her hands behind her back, she wouldn't be able to break her fall. Concentrate, she thought to herself, work within the limits the restraints imposed. She started walking again, deliberately keeping her steps short, within the constraint of the shortened chain linking her ankles together. It was almost like learning to walk again; she had to think about each step.

Her progress was slow but continuous as she walked down the road. A few times she had started to walk off the edge of the pavement, but she found it was easy to get back on track. Even with her eyes adjusted to the darkness it was difficult to see. She had a rough idea of how far she had come from her knowledge of the twists and turns in the road, but it was quite a bit different walking alone, at a snail's pace, as opposed to driving or even riding her bike. She really had no exact measure of how far she had come, how long it had been, or how much further she had to go. Fortunately the road did have a slight upward slope. She had thought about the possibility of getting turned around and walking in the wrong direction, but the incline was enough that she could easily tell if she was going the wrong way, down hill.

Even with all the careful planning, she soon became painfully aware that she had miscalculated in one respect. In preparation she had practiced at home, wearing handcuffs and leg chains for several hours at a time, but that had by necessity been indoors. What she had not counted on was the stress on her legs from being hobbled, and not being able to swing her arms for balance while walking. She had to stop far more frequently than she had allowed for in her plan. Initially she was going to bring a regular set of police type leg irons, with the longer chain between ankle cuffs. But she had decided on the shorter one instead. The regular length seemed too easy, almost a normal gait, though of course she couldn't run. The shortened leg chains were definitely more restrictive, which she wanted, but still allowed her to walk or so she had thought. In her planning she knew that without any chains she could manage a leisurely walk at about three miles an hour with ideal conditions. Given the darkness and in restraints, she had figured on the impediments cutting her rate to perhaps one mile an hour, or about four hours to complete her journey back to the car. It was clear in hindsight she wasn't going to make even that good a time.

The strain on her leg muscles required that she stop every ten to fifteen minutes. She had planned on resting only two or three times the entire trip. What she hadn't realized was that cutting her stride in half meant more than taking twice as many steps to cover the same distance. Her leg muscles weren't accustomed to a halting shuffle and tired quickly. A few times she could find a rock by the side of the road large enough to sit on or lean against, but most of the time she had to stand still while her legs recovered. She was anxious about the stress on her legs; if she got a leg cramp she would be in some trouble. She knew that even if she couldn't walk she could eventually reach one of her sets of keys if she was reduced to crawling. That wasn't a likely scenario, all she had to do was stay calm and not panic. She promised herself that she wouldn't be quite so ambitious in the future.

Meanwhile she had a task to complete tonight, get to her car and free of what was now proving to be more bondage than she had really wanted. She thought about returning to the shed, but since she didn't know how far she had gone she might actually be more than halfway to the mine entrance, turning around would take longer than continuing. And there would be that long wait for dawn. She didn't want to quit now.

Boredom set in, walk, rest, walk, stop if she left the pavement. Sue Ann returned to her fantasy to help pass the time, wondering about what it would be like to be one of those prisoners she saw being taken away. She now knew what it felt like in a physical sense; her own bonds were virtually identical to the restraints she had seen on some of those female prisoners. In a way she was worse off, she had no clothes on, but like them she was helpless, completely at the mercy of her captors, though in Sue Ann's case there were no real guards controlling her. Stopping yet again to rest her legs, she closed her eyes, imagining her upper arm held in the firm strong grip of some prison guard, a man who held the keys to her chains, someone who told her what to do and expected her to obey, someone who could coerce her to do his bidding. Her hands clenched, she pulled against the steel rings gripping her wrists, all to no effect. She jerked on the leg chains, trying to spread her legs. The steel around each ankle proved to be stronger, they would not yield. She could struggle, try to break out of her bonds, but in the end she was still their prisoner. She could not fight; she could not flee; now she realized she could not resist either. Both physically and mentally she would be helpless, defenseless against whoever took possession of her.

Sue Ann opened her eyes and sighed, perhaps some day she would find someone like that, but for now she had more immediate concerns. She had to get to the car before dawn; she didn't want to be caught out on the road in daylight. That would be too risky; if anyone came along she wouldn't be able to hide so easily. At night just stepping off the road and crouching down behind a bush or rock was enough, but in daylight she would stand out plainly from a distance. If she were discovered at best it would be horribly embarrassing, and at worst, well, she didn't want to think about that. There were a lot of crazies in the world; just her luck if one came upon her tonight. Once again she tugged at the cuffs holding her wrists, no give, no surprise, she had picked well. Anyone who caught her like this could do as they pleased, even a five-year-old child could easily control her in her present state.

On and on she trudged up the road, a regular routine now, walk, rest, and a few more steps, stop again. How long had it been since she started? Three hours, four, more? She was getting a little thirsty. Did that one section of the sky seem lighter from a false dawn? She was starting to feel some pressure to get to the end of the road. Just as in her fantasy, the escaped prisoner struggling to reach her hideout, now she felt the need to speed up, to move faster. The longer she was out in the open, the greater the risk of detection. Except that wasn't possible. No matter how much she wanted to pick up the pace, she could go no faster than the limit set by the length of chain between her ankles. If she tried to run, she would fall flat on her face. If she didn't stop to rest, her calf muscles would eventually cramp and she would collapse on the road in agony.

All at once she knew where she was, the particular S-shaped curve that was just below the end of the road at the mine. She had no more than a hundred yards left to go. Yet again she stopped to rest, looking back over her shoulder. Still no light from the sun, apparently she had made better time than she imagined. No headlights either, but she was close enough now she didn't have to worry about anyone else on the road. Even another hundred yards would take some time at her reduced pace, but she had the end in sight. More or less, she thought, it was still dark out and she couldn't actually see the mine. Rest over, she started on the final segment of her journey, determined this time to go all the way without another stop, she was too close to freedom for any more delays. Still, she didn't hurry, it would be foolish to trip and fall so close to her goal.

It seemed to take forever to cross that last stretch of road, but finally she was at the mine entrance, she could see the outline of the shaft doors. Her car would be to the left around a small hill. She headed in that direction, feeling for the edge of the road, following it around to her car. And there it was, finally, her car parked right in front of her. All she had to do now was open the door, pick up the keys on the seat, then unlock the chains that bound her body. She had done it, walked the entire distance shackled hand and foot, without being caught. She did have a new found appreciation for just how effective handcuffs and leg irons could be.

She had put some extra clothes in the trunk of the car; this late at night the desert air up in the hills was cooler than she had thought. It was getting chilly with no clothes on. She had forgotten how the temperature in the desert dropped at night, even in low hills like the mine location. A bottle of water and a sandwich was packed in with her clothes too; they would taste good following her self-imposed ordeal.

But first she had to get these chains off. She felt like she had been on a thirty-mile hike, not an easy four-mile jaunt. Her legs burned from the unaccustomed exertions, her shoulders ached from her arms pinned behind her back. Even her back felt sore from the strain of balancing her walking without the use of her arms. She promised herself a long soak in a tub of hot water and smelly bath oils once she got home. She could stretch out in the tub and let the heat from the warm water relax overworked muscles.

Sue Ann walked around to the driver's side, her back to the door in order to reach the handle with her cuffed hands. She opened the door, leaning to one side to get the door past her. The inside light came on, bright to her dark adjusted eyes. She moved up to the edge of the doorway, preparing to bend down and pick up the keys, then stopped in shock. The seat was empty, no keys in sight. Frantically she looked on the floor; maybe she had knocked them off by accident when she had left earlier. Nothing. She checked the back seat, everywhere she could see, no keys.

She felt panic starting to rise, where had the keys gone ? She stood next to the open driver side door, in a pool of light coming from the overhead. She looked around, seeing nothing but empty desert around her. For sure no one had passed her on the road, and no one had been here when she arrived. Someone had to have taken them out of her car, but how, where was this person now? Was she being watched at this very moment? Standing in the pool of light from the car she realized she was fully exposed to anyone nearby; she pushed the door shut, cutting off the illumination.

Don't panic, focus, focus , she thought to herself, take stock of your situation . The keys were gone, someone had to have taken them, but she still had a spare set at the shack. Who ever had been here appeared to be gone now; she heard nothing, and nobody had approached her. She leaned against the side of the car, trying to concentrate. She wasn't stranded in the desert; she could still walk back to the shack, though it would take hours and leave her exhausted. No keys, no water, no food, no clothes, she felt her panic rising again. She walked around to the back of the car to see if the trunk had been opened. She backed up to the rear fender, bent down and tried to open the trunk, but it was closed. Standing up she looked around again. She needed a few minutes to regain her composure, to calm down and assess her situation.

The breeze from the mountaintops, or maybe barely suppressed panic, made her shiver. First, she needed to get out of the cold. She walked back to the driver's door, again turned and opened it with her bound hands, then sat down sideways in the car seat. It was awkward not using her hands and arms, but she managed to turn and place her legs under the wheel. Even if she had the ignition key she couldn't have driven with her wrists locked in cuffs, but at least she was warm. An errant thought, if she were a real prisoner and a guard had fastened her seat belt, she would be trapped in the car seat, unable to reach the buckle to open it. She couldn't reach the car door to shut it, and she didn't know if she could reach the door handle from the inside anyway. She was concerned about the light, but it did help to calm her.

How could the keys have disappeared? She had taken every precaution, she had been certain she was alone. But someone had to have been here, what else could have happened? There were few animals out here in the desert, besides she had rolled up all the windows. She looked around to make sure, and her heart fell as she saw the one rear passenger side window open several inches. It was more than enough for a packrat to get in and out, a packrat who would love something bright and shiny. Mentally she kicked herself, and then laughed. She should have known better, she had come across packrat nests all too often when searching for petroglyphs. The nests close to public areas always had bits of metal or foil. Tonight some lucky packrat had found a real treasure and inadvertently left her stuck. Bad enough, but at least it wasn't human intervention after all. She had been frightened at the thought there was someone watching her in her present circumstance.

She smiled; those web sites on the Internet always stressed safety, planning alternative escape routes. Bet they never had to deal with inquisitive wildlife. Good thing she still had her fallback. It would be a long walk back to the shed, at least partly in daylight. And with no clothes she would get a spectacular sunburn if she was out in the sun for too long. The longer she sat in the car, the longer it would take to get back to the shed. At least no packrat would carry off her lockbox; it was too heavy and awkward for a small animal. Fortunately she had the foresight to put her spare car keys with the cuff keys; otherwise it was a further twenty mile hike to the highway. If she hadn't set out that second set of keys she would be looking at walking all day stripped and in chains, somehow getting past the gate and fence, then waiting on the highway till someone drove by. And after all that the explanations of how she came to be standing there naked and heavily shackled. No, she didn't even want to think about that possibility.

She had forgotten about the fence. The gate was out of sight of the highway. No one would be able to see her. The problem was the gate was locked and the chain link fence extended up the hills into the rocks on either side. She couldn't climb over it and she wouldn't be able to go around it.

She swung her legs out of the car and stood up, then pushed the door closed. She would wait for her eyes to adjust to the dark, and then start back down the path to the shack. It was still chilly but tolerable now that she had calmed down. It would be better for her to move at night as much as possible. She walked around to the other side of the car. She had to go around the small hill concealing her car then she would be on the road in the right direction. As she stepped away from the car she heard a metallic tinkling sound. She stopped, was it the rattle of the connecting chain on her leg irons? No, she still heard the sound behind her. She turned around just as the flashlight came on, momentarily blinding her. She heard a man's voice ask, "Would you be looking for these keys?"