Chapter 3
The girls lost all track of time. The wind shot an occasional breeze through the tree tops, birds chirped, and a rabbit hopped past. Otherwise, there was no change as the pretty trio stood there looking at each other, unable to talk or move. Occasionally one of the frustrated girls would squirm and writhe, more out of aggravation than a serious attempt to break free, but the effort was painful and futile and she would quite after a couple minutes. They were soaked with sweat, their muscles ached, and there was nothing they could do about any of this.
Eventually, hope appeared in the form of a beautiful woman. She looked to be roughly 30 and wore the uniform of a the Blackwoods National Forest Park Rangers; wide brim hat, olive green button-down shirt with badge, Khaki shorts, short boots and white socks. She stood at about 5’7, her sandy brown hair draping her shoulders. She was lean and slightly muscular, but not so as to not still be graceful and feminine. Penny was relieved to see her, but found it odd that the Ranger wore a pistol on her belt.
At the sight of the approaching woman the three girls perked up, Daisy even smiling in spite of her gag, Penny imploring the woman for help, “Hefg! Hefg uff!”
The woman paced right to the tree with the pretty red-head attached. As she unwound Penny’s gag she said, “Good Lord! What happened to you poor girls?”
As soon as the gag came off Penny exhaled a breath of bottled up air, then inhaled deep while stretching her jaw, trying to get rid of the ache she felt after her mouth had been forced open for so long.
“Phew! Thanks lady. That Bastard! I’m gonna kill him!”
“Who?”
“The guy who did this to us! That nutjob who hijacked the plane!”
“You mean Hooper?”
“Whatever. That sonofabitch, he just tied us up and left us!”
“Okay look, just settle down and tell me everything.”
Penny told the ranger all about the man falling from the sky and the events that followed, ending with the three girls tied to trees. When she finished Penny asked/demanded, “Can you untie us now? Please?”
The Ranger shook her head and to Penny’s complete horror, shoved the gag right back into her mouth.
“Hey? What the fuff?!”
“I hate to do this to you, sweetheart,” The Ranger said as she wound the gag around the back of the girl’s neck, “I really do. But there is a very dangerous man out there, and you young ladies need to stay put.”
All three young women fumed through their gags, with Penny rocking as much as she could against the ropes.
“It’s for your own protection, trust me. You’ll thank me later. I’ll come back to fetch ‘ya in a little while. Bye now.”
The three girls made a cacophony of completely unintelligible curses while squirming, writhing and shaking, the ropes holding taught against their rage. In one final exclamation point, Penny banged the back of her head against the tree. Their would-be rescuer melted off into the woods, gun drawn.
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