Body Rides Read Free

me.
    ‘Mister? Are you okay?’
    Am I okay? he wondered. After a while, he answered, ‘Yeah.’ His voice sounded dull and far away.
    ‘Can you get up?’
    Up?
    He realized that he was down on his knees. It startled him, upset him. Quickly, he stood up. ‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘Just . . . I don’t know . . . I’ve never . . . how are you? ’
    ‘I want to get out of here.’
    ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
    ‘Not exactly. Come here, okay? Come over here?’
    ‘Yeah. Okay.’
    Neal walked toward her. He felt trembly and weak. His right arm, hanging limp by his side, swung with the weight of the pistol.
    The woman was naked, just as he’d thought. Her skin looked ghostly pale except for the dark smudges of her eyes, nostrils, mouth, nipples and navel. And except for the blood. He supposed it must be blood – those black and crooked strings that led down her skin from several wounds.
    ‘He cut you,’ Neal said.
    ‘That’s okay. I’ll live. Can you untie me?’
    ‘Sure.’ He started to slip the pistol into the pocket of his shorts, then stopped and looked over at the man he’d shot.
    ‘Don’t worry about him.’
    ‘Is he dead?’ Neal asked.
    ‘He hasn’t moved.’
    ‘Jesus.’
    ‘It’s all right. You did the right thing. He was some kind of a maniac.’
    ‘Keep an eye on him, okay?’
    ‘I will.’
    Neal went ahead and slipped the gun into his pocket. Then he stepped past the woman’s side. Her left arm slanted away from her shoulder toward the back of the tree trunk. A rope, wrapped around her wrist, was stretched around behind the trunk to the other side, where it bound her right wrist.
    Neal decided to stay at her left side, where the woman and the tree blocked his view of the man in black.
    She’ll tell me if he moves .
    With his fingertips, Neal started to pluck at the tight cluster of knots near the woman’s wrist. His eyes were no help with the work, so he looked at her.
    Beyond her upper arm, her left breast swelled out. Neal had a wonderful view of it, in spite of the poor light. It was rather small and nicely shaped, and the nipple jutted out. It was near enough to touch.
    He kept his hands busy with the knots.
    ‘I’m Elise,’ she said.
    ‘I’m Neal.’
    ‘Thank God you came along when you did.’
    ‘I heard you yell for help.’
    ‘ He said it wouldn’t do any good. He said nobody’d ever hear me. And if they did, they’d ignore it.’
    ‘I almost did.’
    The knots felt hard as iron, but he didn’t give up.
    He watched Elise’s chest expand, breast rising, as she took a deep breath.
    ‘I was taking a couple of movies back to Video City,’ he explained.
    ‘At this hour?’
    ‘They’re due before midnight.’
    ‘Are you going to make it?’ she asked.
    ‘I don’t think so. It doesn’t matter.’
    ‘Sorry I ruined things for you.’
    ‘Are you kidding?’
    ‘I’ll be glad to pay your late charges.’
    ‘Forget it. Really.’
    ‘You saved my life,’ she said.
    ‘Yeah, I guess so.’
    ‘No guessing. My God. Getting killed . . . that wouldn’t have been the worst of it, either, I don’t think.’
    ‘Well, you’ll be okay now. Except I can’t get the knots undone.’
    ‘Maybe you can use his knife.’
    He remembered the big knife whipping past his ear. ‘I don’t know if I can find it. Anyway, I shouldn’t touch it, you know? It’d mess up his fingerprints. We should probably leave every thing the way it is, so we don’t disturb any evidence.’
    ‘Including me?’ she asked.
    ‘Well . . . I hadn’t actually thought of that. Might not be a bad idea. If they see how he tied you up like this . . .’
    ‘I don’t want any cops seeing me.’ She turned her head as if trying to look at Neal over her left shoulder. ‘I don’t want anyone seeing me this way.’
    Neal blushed. ‘Sorry,’ he murmured.
    ‘You’re different,’ she said. ‘You saved me. Look to your heart’s content.’
    ‘Uh. Anyway . . .’
    ‘Anyway, are you sure you want