Cheryl was beginning to regret ever downloading that dating app on her phone. Across the table her date droned on about something to do with his job. She'd made the mistake of asking about what he did for a living. He was quite possibly the dullest person she'd ever met. As she crunched the lettuce from her salad, she wished it was loud enough to drown out the sound of his voice. If she had realized the date would be this boring, she would have ordered something more appetizing. What was the point of depriving yourself of fat and calories when it was the only joy she would get that evening. She should have ordered a steak.
In fact, one of the few times the guy, Steve or Steven (she couldn't remember what he went by) had shown interest in her own activities had been the hint of a smile when she ordered the damn salad. However, his boring ass was over there enjoying a steak and potato for himself.
When she matched with him on the dating app, she thought he wasn't bad looking, and he wasn't. They had both graduated college the previous year and were about the same age. He was shorter than she usually dated, but she tried not to judge based on that. Ideally, she liked tall muscley types, but she didn't mind being hotter than her date. Steve/Steven had a light build and glasses, which he occasionally pushed back up the bridge of his nose as he yammered. He had sort of messy brown hair which she actually found kind of cute. He dressed like an accountant, which wasn't far off from whatever it was he said he did. Boring.
He barely looked at her, which made her feel stupid for all the time and effort she had put into finding the perfect top and bra to show off her D-cups. Cheryl didn't' think of herself as a prize. But guys usually appreciated her curves. As she shifted in her seat, the skirt crept up her thigh, and she tugged it down for the 100th time. What was even the point of this uncomfortable outfit? All she could think about was how soon they could leave, and he could drop her back off at home. She had lost all interest in this date and just wanted to slip into some pajamas and watch some Netflix at this point.
Finally, when the meal was over, they stood up and he led her to his car without looking back at her once. He climbed into the 10- or 15-year-old sedan and waited for her to enter on her side. When he finally glanced at her to smile, he saw the look of annoyance on her face.
"Oh sorry. Maybe I should have opened the door for you," he said, looking a little chagrined.
"It's fine," Cheryl answered, tugging her skirt down one more time as she settled in.
"Do you want to go anywhere else?" he asked.
"Just home please. I'm tired."
He didn't argue, just put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking spot and they rode in silence.
As he turned onto a less traveled road about halfway to her apartment, his car started to act up.
"Dammit," he said and groaned. "The gas gauge on this car broke last week, and I forgot I can't trust it anymore."
He slowly rolled the car onto the shoulder of the road, swearing under his breath. He pulled his phone out to call AAA but swore again when he found that his phone had no signal on this mountain road.
"I'm so sorry," he said. "Does your phone have any signal?"
Cheryl checked her phone to find she had the same problem.
"I think I could walk to the gas station," he said. "It's only a couple of miles on the other side of this hill, I'm pretty sure. You can wait here since you aren't really dressed for that kind of walk."
She looked around at the dark woods on one side and the drop-off that disappeared in shadow on the other. "I'm not staying here alone," she said and climbed out of the car to join him. She had gone from annoyed at this date to pissed off. Maybe he couldn't help that he was boring, but he could certainly have taken better care of his car when he knew he had a date.
She walked beside him quietly fuming. He would occasionally steal a glance at her, but he didn't say much other than try and make small talk. She wished he'd been this quiet at the restaurant.
Finally, he stopped walking and looked at her with a expression filled with remorse on his face.
"I'm so sorry this date has gone so wrong. I haven't been out with anyone since a rough break up almost a year ago. I think maybe I still wasn't ready to start dating again." His face was flushed and in the fading light he looked sweet. Her mood softened a little.
Cheryl nodded and started to reply as a pick-up truck pulled over behind them, crunching gravel beneath its wheels.
A burly man stepped out and eyed her up and down, taking in her tight top and skirt. He looked like it was his birthday and he had just found out what his present was going to be. She became painfully aware that her cleavage was more exposed whenever she reached down to tug at her skirt.
"You two look like you could use some help," he said, barely taking his eyes off her tits to look at Steve.
Steve looked a little nervous as he stepped closer to Cheryl.
"No, we're fine," he said. "Just out enjoying the night air."
The big man frowned.
"You shouldn't be out walking in the dark on these mountain roads. Someone is going to come around one of them curves and you and your pretty girl are gonna be roadkill."
"It's okay. We don't have far to go," Steve said, and Cheryl hoped he was right.
As the man spoke, he continued to approach them. He wore a threadbare t-shirt which was tight on his large biceps. A bit of a gut spilled over the top of his blue jeans, but he didn't look out of shape. He looked strong and imposing. He was at least half a head taller than Steve. He stopped and scratched his beard only two feet from where the couple stood.
"I'm not messing around," he said and then without warning, lunged at Cheryl.
Suddenly Cheryl found that she was no longer frozen to her spot, and she darted toward the woods across the road. Steve barely hesitated before following her. This guy towered over the smaller man and probably weighed twice as much. Staying to fight would have been suicide.
As Cheryl ran into the woods, she felt the weeds brush against her thighs and a bramble caught in her skirt, but she kept going. When Steve caught up to her, he grabbed her hand and steadied her just as a rock rolled under her foot and nearly took her down.
She looked over her shoulder hoping the man wouldn't give chase, but he was already on their heels. With Steve's help, she ran faster than she thought possible, though she'd had to kick off her heels. She could feel the rocks scraping her feet, but she ignored it.
Unfortunately, running in the tight skirt made her clumsy and the next time she lost her balance, Steve wasn't able to keep her up. She went down so hard she was disoriented. That moment of confusion was all it took. She felt something hit the back of her head and everything went black.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in a clean, unfamiliar room. For a moment she couldn't remember what she was last doing, then the memory of being chased in the woods came back to her.
She looked around for the big man, but only saw Steve laying on the floor next to her. His hands and feet were bound with rope. A small patch of blood was dried near his hairline. Otherwise, he looked ok. His chest rose and fell in even breaths.
She was relieved to find that her own hands and feet were unbound, and all her clothes were still on. With the way that creep had been looking at her, she had expected worse.
But then the reality of her situation hit her. The room was well lit and what looked like small cameras pointed down from each of the four corners. Someone had a full view of this room. Besides that, there wasn't much remarkable in the room. A small table and two chairs were bolted to the floor, which she was surprised to find was carpeted. Weren't murder-rooms usually fabric free for easy clean-up? She shook her head trying to dismiss the dark thought. If he wanted to kill them, he could have already done so. Maybe he wanted to watch them slowly starve to death or kill each other. There was no other furniture in the room and no other objects besides two bottles of water on the table.
Cheryl crawled on her hands and knees over to Steve and began to lightly shake him. She was trying to keep her cool. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes blinking up at her. He gave her a goofy smile before realizing their situation.
Before he even asked, she began tugging at the rope around his wrists. It was easier than she expected to free him. He undid the rope on his ankles himself.
He began asking her questions, but she didn't have any answers. "Maybe it's an escape room," he offered weakly.
There were no windows, but there was a heavy-looking door, which she was sure would be locked. But the two of them ran over to it and began tugging at the knob and banging at the door. Eventually they tired themselves out and sat side by side against the bare wall. Neither one of them seemed interested in the table or water yet. Though Cheryl knew it wouldn't be long before she'd have to drink something.
"Son of a bitch," Steve exclaimed after they had sat in silence for maybe 20 minutes.
"What is it?" she asked, feeling her heart start to race. He held out something tiny and black and crushed it between his fingernails.
"Tick" he said.
He began pulling off his shirt and Cheryl didn't understand at first.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"There are probably more. We ran through a lot of weeds and things out there." He pulled his shirt and undershirt off and began inspecting his bare chest and arms. He raised his arms and ran his fingers through the wiry hair of his armpit. "Can you check my back?" He asked after trying and failing to do so himself.
She felt weird now that he was half naked. Only a couple of hours ago they were complete strangers. But she obliged and looked over his back. She found a second tick crawling at the waistband of his pants. It was so tiny, she almost missed it.