A PERFECT STRANGER
PROLOGUE
I'm Travis, 30 years old, 5'-10" and a solid 180. I'm kind of stocky, but not overly so. I'm pretty average looking - dark-blond hair, worn in a standard, short-length cut; average facial features with what I guess is considered a strong chin and jawline; I'm clean shaven; I have blue eyes, and apparently, a nice smile. I get complimented on it.
I live and work in the tristate corner of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia. It's a rural area with a half-dozen small towns scattered about. I do construction work for a living, especially carpentry and roofing. I work for several different local contractors, according to who has work at the time; and on the side, I fill in with small remodel and handyman jobs. My home is in the foothills of North Georgia and centrally located between several of the towns where most of my jobs are located. I live on 2-1/2 wooded acres, situated on a slight knoll. My house has covered front and rear decks and a detached garage - pretty comfortable. The only thing it lacks these days, is someone to share it with, besides my pets.
I'm divorced, two years now, and live with a barn cat named Lucky that adopted me, and a stray dog named Chance that I adopted. Lucky showed up last year and wouldn't leave, so I feed him. Chance showed up at my house two years ago, emaciated and weak. Some kind of German Shepherd mix, he was about three months old according to the vet, and grew into a big, healthy, ninety-pound dog. He's my faithful companion and a great watchdog, though he almost never barks - only when he senses a real threat. He's reserved around people, but friendly once he gets to know someone.
I like to hike and backpack, and go camping and fishing in the nearby Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains. Not much else to tell, except for my story.
STORY
I. UNINVITED GUEST
I never pick up hitchhikers, especially females. Any guy who does that is just looking for trouble.
But sometimes, you don't have to go looking for trouble - it comes looking for you.
It was a Thursday night, in mid-December. I'd just finished work on a job about forty minutes from my home. We actually had to wrap up a little early because a thunderstorm rolled in. By the time I was close to my house, the sun was setting and the rain was really coming down - so hard, I actually had to drive under the speed limit. My wipers were working like wipers do in a downpour, which is to say, they weren't doing crap. It was just after six, and getting dark. I had my headlights on, but with the heavy rain, they were also about useless. As the rain intensified, I let my foot off the gas to slow down even more, when up ahead I saw a set of headlights veer to their right, pointing to the side of the road, then a second or two later, veer left towards me. For a split second, I thought somebody had lost control and was coming into my lane, so, I instinctively started to hit my brake. Just as my foot touched the pedal, the headlights pointed straight down the road as the driver apparently regained control. A couple seconds later, a pickup went screamin' by me, engine revved to the max.
"There's an accident waiting to happen," I thought, as the truck went flying by.
Then, a couple seconds after that, several things happened at once:
The truck that had passed me, hit its brakes. I saw the brake lights go on in my rearview mirror.
At the same time, I saw something out of the corner of my eye - a deer or something, flash across in front of my headlights.
I slammed on my brakes, and even with ABS and good tires, my SUV skewed a little on the wet pavement as I skidded to a stop, brakes chattering as the ABS system did its job.
The truck that had passed me was apparently turning around, doing a three-point turn on the two-lane road. As my focus redirected to in front of me, I realized I had missed whatever had crossed in front of my vehicle. In the split second after my vehicle rocked to a dead stop, I thought, "What the hell was that?" Before I could finish that thought, there was a loud slapping sound on my passenger-side window.
SMACK, SMACK, SMACK.
I lurched up in my seat, almost jumping out of my skin. I snapped my head right at what sounded like somebody slapping their open hand on the wet glass of my window, which I knew was impossible, as there would be nobody in their right mind standing on the side of the road, in the dark, in the pouring rain, on a deserted stretch of road - right?
As my eyes locked onto the passenger door, I heard a shrill scream, "HELP ME!"
In the microsecond that my brain took to process what the hell was going on, my hand, apparently of its own volition, hit the door lock release. The door flew open, a small, drenched person with long, stringy wet hair, jumped in the car and keened in a panic-stricken voice, "DRIVE, DRIVE!"
"HOLY SHIT!" My brain screamed. Then my mouth and brain connected, and I snapped, "Holy shit! What the hell..."
"You gotta help me. Drive!"
For another microsecond, I sat stunned - apparently a microsecond too long.
"DRIVE, DAMN IT! HE HAS A GUN!"
Before my brain could process that, my foot did. It mashed on the accelerator and I tore out, slipping and spinning a little, but the dynamic traction control on my Subaru Forester kicked in and did its thing. At the same time as I stomped on it, I saw the headlights of the truck that had turned around come looming up behind me.
Now I'm flying down the road; the rain is coming down in sheets; I can't see for diddly; there's a sopping wet stranger in my passenger seat; and some nut is chasing me - apparently with a gun.
My first thought was to call the police, but driving like a madman in pouring rain, in the dark, I couldn't take my eyes off the road long enough to locate the little button on the steering wheel for the automated call function - and forget about the touch screen. So, I just kept pushing it to the limit of my abilities. I had to get to a public place before the apparent gun-toting psycho behind me caught up, ran me off the road and shot me.
My second thought was that the stranger was getting my leather seat wet...
As I sped down the two-lane, driving twice as fast as would have been sane - forget about safe, I kept checking my rearview mirror. The lights chasing me were not getting any closer, actually falling behind a little - which was my current goal.
I wanted to look at the stranger next to me, but my attention was frozen on the road in front of me. I went flying by the turnoff to my home - no way was I taking this interloper to my house, or leading the psycho who was chasing us to my place of residence. I knew that a mile ahead was a convenience store with a bright parking lot, and at this time of night, there should be any number of people there - and maybe if I was lucky, a cop. I was so focused on the road, I almost flew past it, but at the last moment, I got on the brakes and skewed into the parking lot, then gunned it for the front of the store, pulling up parallel to the building. I decided to leave myself the option of beating it out of there if the psycho pulled in.
As I skidded to a stop, I looked over my left shoulder and saw an older model pickup slide past the entrance to the parking lot, coming to a stop, slewed partially sideways in the road. It sat there for an interminable five or six seconds, then took off again.
I unclenched my butt cheeks and took a breath. I then turned my attention to my passenger.
She met my gaze, "Thank you sir for..."
"What the hell is going on? Who the hell was that? And who the hell are you? I damned near ran you over!"
"I'm sorry," she continued in a shaky voice, "That was my husband..."
"Well crap!" I exclaimed.
"My ex-husband to be. I'm divorcing him and...he kidnapped me...and..."
She went from shaking to sobbing and shaking.
"I'm sorry," I said, dialing it back a bit.
She continued, "He's out of control. I got a chance to get away, and..." she choked from sobbing and took a breath.
"It's okay. You're safe now..."
"NO! He might come back. We have to get out of here!"
I thought, "We?"
"Look, let's call the police and..."
"NO, no police! Look, I'm sorry, I'll explain later, but we need to leave, now, and no police!"
"Well, shit," I mumbled under my breath.
The woman had stopped sobbing but was shaking uncontrollably - from fear or from being cold and soaked. It was in the mid-thirties outside.
"Okay, where do you want to go? I guess you're right; we can't sit here. If he has a gun, I guess we're sitting ducks."
"I don't know, but I'm freezing. I need to get out of these wet clothes."
I thought for a moment and made a snap decision - yeah, the kind you usually regret.
"Okay, my house is about five minutes from here..."
"Thank you," she immediately remarked, teeth chattering, body visibly trembling, "thank you, but let's get out of here...quick!"
I looped around and out of the parking lot, heading back to my house, constantly checking my rearview mirror. And all the way there, I kept thinking, "This isn't good - a strange woman, a pistol-packing, psycho husband, and I'm taking her to my home - not good!" And why no police?
I demanded, "Tell me now, why no police?"
"My mother," she said, "he's threatened to harm her if I do anything stupid. It's a long story, but he's lost it over the divorce, and when I threatened to call the police on him, he said he would take it out on her if I did. I believe him."
"Okay, I see, I guess," I grumbled as we made our way down the narrow two lane to my house. The rain had let up a little, but was still coming down. I turned onto the private gravel lane that leads to my house - it was a river.
I pulled off the lane and turned up my drive. As I approached my house, the automatic floodlights came on. The light was welcome.
"We're here...Um, when we go in, I have to introduce you to my dog. He's not dangerous, but wary of strangers, okay?"
"Okay."
"He's kind of big, but he won't hurt you. Just stay calm."
"Okay."
We dashed for the cover of my front deck and ran up the steps. I hit my fob and turned the alarm off, then unlocked the door and let us in. Chance was sitting at attention, wagging his tail, ready to greet me, but froze when he saw the woman.
"It's okay, Chance. At ease, buddy. It's a friend, okay," I said as I directed the woman to come in.
"Let him check you out," I said, then had Chance come up. He slowly approached the woman and sniffed her. After a second, he gave her hand a small lick and wagged his tail.
"Well, you're good," I smiled. Then I noticed the woman was still shivering like crazy.
