Maribel first felt the ardor on the cut of her upper lip. This ardor also manifested on her tender right eye. It burnt like acid and it was this acute discomfort which woke her up. It was warm and wet, and the spray was relentless; it tasted awful! Then it dawned on her that this deranged person was pissing on her, as if his intention was to water the lawn with his hose.
By this time she realized her arms and legs were responsive, which gave her a chance to cover her face and roll away from the offensive spray of urine. Unfortunately she learned that her right ankle was captured by a shackle which was soldered to a long, thin, aluminum chain. This chain reached all the way around behind the kitchenette of this small house.
The shadows set off by the multiple lit candles, gave his shadow a menacing elongated length, as that of a giant. The living room was covered with an old shaggy carpet; it was barren except for a dirty single mattress and a blanket.
She unzipped her jacket, and cleaned her face as well as she could with the inside of her blouse, careful not to touch her swollen right eye which throbbed to the tempo of her heart beat. It was almost swollen shut, so she could only see through a fraction of it.
From the corner of her good eye she could see him coming towards her. This time she was ready for him. She rested her weight on her right side to gain momentum, and when he came towards her she kicked with all her might his groin area, using her left leg. The unexpected impact sent him reeling backwards, while swearing and clutching his groin. She utilized her advantage by jumping him and straddling his back. She pulled his hair, and scratched his face with long gashes. She felt his skin tearing off and encrusting under her long finger nails.
-"Maldita puta!" Why did he keep calling her damned whore while simultaneously trying to tend to his painful groin, and trying to get her off him. He succeeded by elbowing her on the face, which caused Maribel to lose her balance and painfully land on her left side. She landed against the counter top of the kitchenette.
The impact toppled one of the candles, which fell on the shaggy carpet. This ignited a trail of flames advancing steadily towards the twin mattress. Since he was busy rolling over in pain while clutching his balls, she was galvanized into action due to the imminent threat of being engulfed by the flames.
Maribel quickly retrieved the wrench hidden in her cleavage, and before commencing the breaking off the thin aluminum chain, she got up to launch once more towards her captor and kick him one more time between the legs. This time she aimed from behind as he was kneeling.
As expected, he started yelling obscenities at her, and tried to reach her to bestow more blows on her no doubt. Maribel took advantage of his shaky balance to push him backwards hard. This thoughtful gesture assisted his landing on the comfort of the flame-engulfed twin mattress.
Since he was obviously occupied for the time being, Maribel frantically adjusted the wrench to cut away at the thin aluminum chain. She pulled with all her might, yet it barely gave way. She tightened the pressure some more of the wrench and stood up this time to use her left foot for leverage and pulled with all her might. She was sweating profusely as the flames seemed to gain momentum to lick the walls of the small house now.
The visibility was excellent now, yet the heat was too close for comfort. She could see that paying no heed to his balls, her captor had managed to run outside to roll over the desert sand and rocks to subdue the flames he had danced in.
-"Focus!" she willed herself, as tears of frustration and profuse sweat due to the rapidly advancing flames, and smoke generated clouded her partial good vision. She had so very little time left before being consumed by the flames, as well as seeing her captor recuperate from his ordeal and walk towards her now with such a menacing grimace which surely personified Satan himself.
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To be continued...
