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Cedric parked his Town Car at a 'Scenic View' spot reserved for drivers to pull off the mountain road and view the marvelous scenic vistas. Although the night was clear and moonlight provided some light, Cedric had not come here to view the 'vistas'. He fancied himself an amateur astronomer and tonight he planned to view several planets with his new very expensive telescope.
Opening the trunk, Cedric brought out his new toy and brought it into his car. It was bulky, but he managed to set it up inside the car with the telescope protruding from the specially made Moon Roof. He had the roof modified to accommodate the telescope so he could view the heavens from inside the car. This permitted him to be out of the mountain chill and also provide greater safety for an old man in the mountains, at night, alone.
Having set up the scope, Cedric brought out his binoculars and set about to locate the planet Jupiter. With this scope he would be able to see several of Jupiter's moons as well as the planet itself. The night mountain air was below freezing and he had brought several blankets to keep warm. He dared not use the cars heater because the warmth would fog over the telescope lenses. Cedric poured a mug full of very hot strong tea and sipped it between scanning the night sky to find Jupiter. The sound of a car with a bad engine cut through the mountain air echoing. He looked down the side of the mountain to see a car pull over to the side of road and stop with the engine running.
Intrigued, Cedric cast his binoculars on the car. The drivers' door opened and a big burly man got out shouting obscenities at his passenger. The driver went around to the passenger side and opened the rear door, reached inside and dragged out a naked young woman. Cedric could see that she appeared naked in the freezing mountain air. He confirmed her nakedness when he looked at her through his binoculars. The burly man was shouting obscenities at her and began to strike her with his fists. The woman screamed and tried to protect herself, but she was like a toy doll in comparison to the man. He struck her several times and she fell onto the gravel on the roads' shoulder. He kicked her as she tried to roll away from her attacker.
Cedric quickly retrieved his pistol from the glove compartment and got out of the car. He shouted to the man to stop, only to receive several curses from the man including a threat to kill him. Cedric fired one round in the air and the man stopped still. "That was a warning shot," Cedric shouted, "the next one will strike the sign explaining the view!" The second shot 'twanged' as it struck the metal sign. The girl was struggling to get to her feet when the man pushed her off the road and down the mountainside into the thick underbrush. Cedric could hear her screaming as she rolled down through the underbrush then she was silent. The man had jumped back into his car and sped away down the mountain.
Cedric could see the cars lights fading away as the car disappeared down the mountain road. He quickly started his car, but left the lights off purposely to prevent the other man from knowing he was driving down the mountain. He could see glimpses of the other car as it made its way down the winding road into the night. Cedric stopped his car at the spot the other car had been. He peered down into the brush of the mountainside, but couldn't see the woman. He turned off his engine and holding the pistol, got out of the car. As best as he could determine, he was alone. Cedric grabbed a halogen lamp from his car and shined it down the mountainside. After several sweeps the light illuminated the woman, nearly a hundred feet down the mountainside stuck in some brush.
Slowly, Cedric made his way down through the brush toward her. One false step and he could be rolling down the mountain himself. When he was about five yards from the woman he realized that she was at the edge of a cliff nearly a hundred feet high. She was breathing, but unconscious. Cedric knew that he needed to get help and that he had to secure the young woman so she would not awaken, move and slip off the cliff side. He had his cell phone and dialed 911, requesting police assistance and an ambulance. With help on the way, Cedric made his way back up the mountainside to his car. He had a rope in his trunk and he also had some tire chains. Taking the rope, two tire chains and some blankets he returned to the young woman's side.
Carefully he fitted a tire chain around her chest making sure her arms were through the chain openings. Cedric secured the rope to the tire chain and also looped the rope around some strong saplings. He did the same to her legs, poking each of her legs through the tire chain and pulling it tight behind her buttocks. Convinced that she was fully restrained and could no longer fall off the cliff he drew the lamp over her naked body to assess her conditions. She was a mass of scrapes and scratches from rolling through the brush, but those were minor injuries. The young woman's body was covered in ugly black and blue bruises from the punches she had received at the hands of her attacker.
Even through her ugly injuries Cedric could see a beautiful young woman, though beaten severely. She had a lovely body, firmly defined breasts, very shapely legs and a great ass. 'Why would anyone beat such a lovely young girl?' he thought as he carefully covered her snuggly with the blankets. She stirred as the warmth enveloped her, moaning in obvious pain. Cedric had brought the thermos of tea with him as well and was sipping some team when her eyes fluttered open. She blinked then realized where she was. "Hello, Miss," Cedric said to her smiling, "Please don't be frightened. I'm Cedric Chapman and I saw what happened to you," he told her. She looked at him as he put the cup at her lips and tilted it so she could sip some warm tea.
"Are…are…are you the one…the one who fired the gun?" she asked. Cedric nodded and gave her more tea. She swallowed the warm brew gingerly as it was obvious that her mouth had been injured and was swollen.
"Yes, Miss. I fired the shot at your attacker. I wished the hell I had the nerve to have killed him, after I saw what he did to you," Cedric told her. As if reading her mind, Cedric told her that the man drove away down the mountain road. She breathed a sigh of relief that he was gone. Suddenly, she became aware that she was totally restrained.
"Why am I tied up in chains?" she asked, very frightened at the realization that she was naked under the blankets and alone with a strange man. Cedric calmed her fears and told her that she was hanging by a thread at the edge of a cliff. He had bound her to prevent her from accidentally falling to her death. Explaining that he had called police and an ambulance she seemed to be warily comforted. "Thank you, mister," she murmured as the wail of sirens pierced the cold night air. From their precarious vantage point, they could see the police and ambulance lights flashing while the vehicles climbed the winding mountain roads.
"Your very welcome, Miss. I'm glad I was here to give you a hand," Cedric spoke softly as he helped her drink another sip of tea. The police and paramedics arrived and took over the 'crime' scene from Cedric. The paramedics told Cedric that he had saved the woman's life, as she would have perished in the freezing temperatures from hypothermia and her injuries. The young woman had no identification and the police decided to wait until she had been treated and in a warm hospital bed before questioning her. Cedric felt a sense of responsibility and remained at the scene until the rescue workers brought her out of the brush, to the ambulance. She had been given a sedative and had fallen asleep as soon as she was placed in the ambulance.
The police asked Cedric to follow them to the station to make a formal statement. After making his statement and submitting to required interrogation by the police, they thanked him and he left. Cedric drove to the hospital to inquire about his 'foundling'. Explaining his relationship to the woman the Doctor told him that he had indeed saved her life. Her injuries, though severe, were not life threatening and she would soon heal completely. She had badly twisted a wrist and endured a savage beating from the man's punches, but luckily no broken bones. The physical wounds would heal easily enough, but the emotional wounds would require a lot more time. The Doctor estimated that she would stay at the hospital for at least two weeks, perhaps more. It was the next morning when Cedric knocked on the door of the young woman's hospital room and she looked up to see him. She smiled painfully, as he entered. "Good morning Miss," Cedric said as he sat down next to her.
"April…my name is April Bennett," she said, "I owe you my life, Mr. Chapman," she added with a tear welling in her eye.