Only the Strongest Survive (39 page)

“Nooo!” she screamed.

As if catapulted, she jumped away at the
moment Ronald shot again, missing her by a fraction.

She didn’t
care about getting shot and lunged straight for him, tearing the
gun from his hand with a single movement.

Her bold
action surprised him and he stared at her fearfully. Ronald didn’t
have to wait long. Before he could blink, she hit him on the head
with the butt of the gun. He fell and she kicked him in the
stomach, but his body was as soft as a sack of cement, indicating
that he was unconscious again. She hurled the gun far away, into
the bushes, and screamed, “Noooo!”

She squatted next to John and took his hand.
He did not move, did not look at her, just lay there perfectly
still.

“
John,
please, no,” she begged. “Don’t leave me, please.” Moaning, she
pressed herself against him and put her head on his chest while she
stroked his hair. “Don’t leave me!”

At that
moment she felt a hand gently lower itself on her head. “Oh, John,”
she whispered, and looked at him.

His eyes opened slowly and a slight smile
appeared on his lips. “I’m so …” He could barely talk.

She moved her head closer in order to
understand what he was telling her.

“I’m so very sorry …”

“
I know,”
she
said, trying to comfort him. Her
tears were falling on his cheeks. “I’ll take you to the hospital.
You mustn’t stay here another minute.”

“
Listen to
me,” he said weakly, and paused.

Emely looked at him in fear, wiping the tears
off his face with one finger.

He said, “I
love you … so very much.”

“I know, John.” She looked into his blue eyes
and gently kissed his lips.

“Look after yourself, my love,” he said
before closing his eyes slowly.

She was
looking at him, releasing all the tears she had been holding back
when he was whispering to her. “No, John, no, please, don’t.”
Gently she shook his head. “John … John. No, please, no
…”

His hand lay
on her head, now heavy and still.

“
Oh, no,
John, don’t leave me, please …” She squeezed him, shook him, but he
remained motionless. “Why, why?”

For a few
moments she didn
’t move. She was looking
at his face that was now so innocent and so beautiful. Gently she
stroked his cheeks and held his hand. She no longer tried to dry
her tears, there were too many. She stared at him in admiration.
Then she lay next to him and kissed his neck, wanting to be close
to him. She knew these were the last moments she would be able to
feel him so close.

For a while
she lay there, moaning loudly. Then she got up, looked at him for
the last time in the hope of remembering him forever.

“
Wherever it
is you’re going to, John, be happy there,” she told him. She kissed
his forehead, then his lips
, and went
over to his car. “I must get away,” she said aloud to motivate
herself.

Her body
seemed to weigh a ton and she found it difficult to move. All the
muscles were aching and she had deep wounds all over her body that
were hurting badly. She looked up at the sky. The stars and the
crescent moon were shining brightly. A gentle breeze ruffled her
hair.

She opened
the car door and climbed in with difficulty. Kitty jumped
in after her. Emely resisted looking back; it
would be too painful. She just wanted to get away, to go
home.
I’ve survived,
she thought.
That’s the most important thing.

Automatically
she put her hand under the steering wheel to turn the ignition and
speed out of there.
Where’s
the damn key?
She looked around, looking
for the key. She thought she noticed something moving outside and
checked whether it was true. With horror she saw that it was
Ronald.

“
Oh
no
!”

She pressed the button on the door and all
the locks engaged. Ronald’s heavy shape was slowly making its way
toward her. She began to panic.

N
ot knowing what to do, Ronald
banged his fists against the glass. He yelled, “You won’t get
away!”

Emely was
looking around in frenzy. She wanted to scream but what was the
point in that wilderness with no one around? She kept looking for
the key and every time there was a bang on the window, she forgot
to breathe.
Why did I throw
the gun away? How stupid of me.

Her eyes
stopped on a cell phone. She stared at it for a
few moments, wondering if it was worth calling for
help.
I don’t even know where
I am.

Finally she
took it and punched in
911. It rang twice
and a voice at the other end said, “911, what is your
emergency?”

“My name is Emely Donnovan.”

“
Yes,” the
dispatcher said.

“I was kidnapped a few months ago. I need
help.”

“Just a moment, I’ll put you through to the
police.”

“
Wait!” Emely
shouted. Her eyes widened as she saw Ronald carrying a large stone.
She pressed the phone closer to her ear in the hope that someone
would appear at the other end.

“
How can I
help you?” a male voice said.

“My name is Emely …”

A strong bang
came from the window on her left.

“What did you say your name was?”

“Emely. Emely Donnovan.”

Another bang.

“
How can I
help you, Ms. Renvan? I can’t hear you very well.”

When Ronald
banged against the window for the third time, she knew she had only
moments left. The fine cracks that had spread around the glass
indicated that he’d soon be in. She dropped the phone and moved to
the backseat. She pressed her legs against her chest, her teeth
chattering in horror.

The fourth
bang shattered the glass into thousands of small particles that
showered onto the car floor. She began kicking her legs as if to
ward him off. She was clenching her jaw so hard that her face
looked distorted.

“
Go
away
! Leave me alone!”

He took no notice of her words and waved his
arms around in order to defend himself against her kicks. “You’re
not going to manage it this time, you greedy bitch.”

When Ronald
grabbed one of her legs, she gave an almighty scream of despair.
Nonetheless, she managed to kick him with the heel of her other
foot straight in the forehead. The blow was so unexpected that he
let go of her leg and put his hands on the painful spot.

When he saw blood on his hand, he went crazy.
“You damn bitch!” With his tongue between his teeth, he again went
for her. This time he had more luck. “I’ll show you,” he hissed,
his tongue still sticking out. “You won’t get away!” He began to
crawl backward out of the vehicle, pulling Emely behind him.

In the hope
of avoiding her terrifying destiny, Emely grabbed at whatever was
within reach. She managed to wrap her arm around the headrest and
refused to let go, but so did Ronald. He pulled her as hard as he
could and finally she had to succumb
. He
was too strong for her and her arms were too weak by now to obey
her. He pulled her out of the car and she smashed against the
ground.

“Stop, please!”

After
glancing at her, he began dragging her toward a small wooden hut
for storing gardening and other equipment.

What is he up to?
Emely
wondered.

S
he tried to protect herself from
the stones scratching her bare skin. She was kicking, but couldn’t
get him to loosen his grip and he didn’t stop until they reached
the door of the shed, when he stepped back and grabbed her by the
neck.

“
What … will
you do?” Before she managed to ask anything else, she was in the
shed.

“
Well, now
I’ll finish you off once and for all. There will be nothing left
but a pile of ashes.” He slammed the door and bolted it from
outside.

“Wait! Where are you going?”

She looked
around the small space filled with old junk. She took the nearest
shovel and tried to smash her way out. As hard as she tried, the
door was too solid to budge. In her panic, she kept hitting it
until the
scooped metal blade of the
shovel loosened and fell off. Emely dropped to her knees in
despair, no longer crying, just staring at the floor, waiting for
the inevitable.

Why didn’t I shoot him earlier?

When in a few moments she heard the sound of
metal canisters banging against each other, she became alert again.
After a few more moments she heard the sloshing of liquid around
the shed. The terrifying smell of gas seeped inside and she could
hear Kitty ferociously barking.

“
Let’s see
who helps you this time, Ms. Donnovan. I have to admit you’re very
feisty. In fact, it’s rather a shame to waste you like this. Get
away, damn fleabag.”

Emely could
only hope that Kitty would be alright.
This man is crazy,
she
thought, but said, loud enough for him to hear through the door,
“This means that you’re actually afraid of me.”

“
Afraid? …
What
do you mean?”

“You said you’d improve on the original plan
and bury me again.” She bristled at the thought of this really
happening.

“Yes, I did say that. But you must admit this
new plan isn’t bad either.” He laughed.

Emely dropped the wooden handle. “No, I’m
sure you’re afraid of me. I’ve hurt you a few times already.” She
tried to make her voice sound as confident as possible.

“
What, me
afraid of you … how dare you!”

The sound of a match being lit announced what
Emely feared most. Then she heard the deep, suffocating sound of
fire that instantly spread around the perimeter of the hut and
began to lick the thin wooden walls. Now Emely was truly
scared.

Even as a
child, she was afraid of fire. When she was seven, she
had stuck her hand into a fire one day when the
nuns were cooking a picnic lunch. By the time she could feel the
searing pain, it was too late.

The thick
smoke was already making its way through the gaps, irritating the
inside of Emely’s nose. In despair she waved her arms around and
said in a forcibly calm voice
, “Yes,
you’re afraid of me.”

The
temperature was rising. Emely began hysterically turning over the
cardboard boxes stacked neatly one on top of the other. She knew
that once inside, the fire would spread within seconds. As hard as
she tried, she couldn
’t come up with an
idea of how to save herself from this inferno.
What can I do?

The fire was
swallowing everything in its way, ready to turn into ashes the shed
and Emely in it. The more it consumed, the larger it became. Emely
was starting to realize there really was no help this time. The
boxes, filled with all sorts of old things
, were on fire now, releasing thick smoke. Emely tried to
hide in the only empty corner, her hand on her mouth. The smoke
prevented her from seeing and she knew that it was only a question
of a few seconds before she died in a horrific torture. For a
moment she sensed a white light and thought this was it, salvation,
she was dead.

Instinctively
she jumped away when the fire came closer. The second she wanted to
scream again, the light appeared once more.
It’s daylight.
Only a few
feet away the wooden door was wide open.
Why has he opened it?
Because of the smoke she could barely make anything out.
With a single leap she jumped over the burning boxes and the next
moment she was outside the reach of the fire. She could hear
crackling behind her, as if the fire were angry at her for breaking
loose of its grasp.

A few yards
away, exhausted, she lay on the cool, damp grass that caressed her
skin, acting like a wet blanket. She was inhaling
the fresh air deeply, coughing from time to
time.

Only a few feet away, Ronald was watching her
with his hands on his hips. He stood there calmly, watching her
suffer. Then he walked over and took her arm. She did not resist,
knowing that the door had not opened on its own. She was defeated,
exhausted from her struggle for life.

“
I’m not
afraid of anyone,” he said with pride in his voice. “Least of all,
you, Emely Donnovan.”

He pulled her to her feet. She was still
catching her breath, grateful that she could breathe at all.

“
If you like
the original plan so much, let’s do it. I’ll take you there and
it’ll all be over very quickly.”

*

S
weating profusely, Ronald wiped
his forehead. It would be hard for him to describe the feeling of
excitement he had experienced a few minutes ago while he watched
the burning shed. Until then he had only witnessed scenes like that
in movies and he had always liked them. But this was real. A live
woman, made of flesh and blood, surrounded by a horrific fire,
awaiting the cruelest and the most terrifying death. And he, who
was responsible for it, standing a few feet away, shaking with
excitement. He could have helped her, could have saved her, but
instead he stood there enjoying the thought that at any moment now
she would start screaming and writhing in pain, and then …. All he
could feel was miraculous energy surging through his body,
wonderful feelings that had occurred only once before: when he and
John buried her alive.