She moved her fingers to the other button, watching his eyes as they followed her.

With a last deep breath, Elgin popped the button. The strap fell, lowering the top of her dress and revealing a flash of breast. Pretending to collapse, she bent backwards, clutching the nightstand as if to catch herself from falling. Almost by themselves, the fingers of her right hand wrapped themselves tightly around the vibrator and she swung her body slightly so that her back stood to him, hiding her makeshift weapon.

“Ellie,” he yelped as he came to her. “Are you all right?”

A last dizzy second before she felt his hand on her shoulder, strangely gentle as he turned her. In his eyes, she thought she saw a flicker of concern.

With all the force terror fueled adrenaline could give her, Elgin brought the vibrator up almost from the floor, her arm rising as she turned, swinging an arc as she came.

Plastic shattered with a sickening “thud,” shards splintering, the knob exploding in a spurt of blood, batteries flying like tiny missiles. Impact waves shuddered through her hand, arm and shoulder as the vibrator connected with Fisher’s temple.

Startled, he released her and stepped back, the gun slipping from his hand, bouncing once off his heavy boot and skittering under the bed. Putting his hand to the gash in slow motion, he instantly pulled it away, looking first at the blood and then at her, apparently shocked by Elgin’s attack.

Oh God, she thought, frozen now with panic. She hadn’t finished him; even knocked him out. She’d only wounded the crazed animal.

Fisher’s mouth moved a little but no sound came out. Blood poured down his face, filling his left eye and dripping from his chin.

Wordlessly, he collapsed, twisting slightly as he fell face down almost at her feet, sprawled like huge sleeping bear.

She stood for a few seconds, paralyzed by terror and disbelief. Perhaps she’d killed him.

Camp!

The thought snapped her back to reality. Not able to take her eyes off the body almost blocking her path, she managed to tiptoe around him and dash out the door.

“Elgin!” Harm screamed as she crossed the room to him. “For God’s sake, get out of here. Run. Now.”

“Not without you,” she answered firmly, starting to unbuckle the first of two small straps holding the larger one in place.

“Don’t argue, damn it! I’m telling you to get out. Call the police. I’ll be fine ‘til you get back.”

Abruptly, Elgin stood up and glared at him.

“Campbell Harm, did you mean it when you said you loved me?” she asked angrily.

“This is not the time…”

“Did you meant it?” she repeated.

“Of course I meant it,” he replied, totally exasperated that she’d pick now to discuss the subject. “I didn’t want to die and not tell you how I feel.”

“And if I was tied in that chair, would you leave me?”

“Elgin…”

“Would you?”

“Of course not,” he yelled, “but that’s not…”

She grinned down at him.

“Of course it’s the same thing,” she finished. “I love you, too. So why don’t you stop wasting precious time acting like a macho horse’s ass and let’s get the hell out of here.”

Bending down, she kissed his lips quickly and went back to the buckles.

“As soon as I get your hand free, I’ll start on your ankles while you free your other hand.” The second buckle opened, releasing him.

Instantly, she dropped to her knees as he began working on his other wrist.

“By the way, that was pretty clever with the vibrator.”

“You’d be utterly amazed at how inventive I can be with my sex toys, given the proper motivation.” Elgin laughed as the last strap came off this ankle.

Standing up, he grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet as they embraced tightly and kissed passionately.

“Really? I guess I’ll have to file that for future reference. In the meantime, I think you’re right about getting the hell out of here.” Grabbing her hand, they ran to the door.

Besides the two small rooms, there was only a large, windowless area, dirty gray cinderblock walls and some old cardboard boxes and trunks strewn around. In the far left-hand corner rose a flight of rickety wooden steps.

“Come on.”

Crossing the room, Harm took a last look back to make sure they weren’t being followed, pushed Elgin in front of him and they raced up the stairs. The door at the top flew open and they found themselves in a small pantry area leading to a large, country style kitchen.

“This is Jim’s house,” Elgin told him, turning her head in all directions to take in the familiar room. “Cissy and I used to make chocolate chip cookies in here and then the three of us…Jim and Cissy and I would go out on the deck and drink milk and eat cookies and laugh. Sometimes we’d even go up to the meadow across the road and catch fireflies at night.”

A pleasant childhood memory flickered in her mind, wiping away the horror of the present moment. It hurt him to bring her back but they didn’t have any time.

“Elgin, where does he keep his car keys?”

She looked at him blankly for a moment, the child Elgin caught between the familiar and the foreign. It took her a second to get back.

“Uh…probably in his pocket. He keeps them with him until he gets ready for bed at night.”

“Damn! That means he’s probably got the SUV keys too.” Harm took a deep breath and stood silent. “Okay, where’s the phone? We’ll call the police, tell them what’s going on and then head for the nearest neighbor.”

“It…it used to be on a little table by the sofa in the living room. The sheriff and his deputies are probably all out directing traffic and doing crowd control for the fireworks and all the neighbors around here are probably down at the fireworks too.” Harm could hear the panic creeping into her voice.

“It’s all right. When they hear what’s going on, I’m sure they’ll send someone. And if we don’t find any neighbors home, maybe we can find an unlocked car I can hotwire. We can’t stay here.”

Nodding, she turned and they ran into the living room, Elgin leading the way to the phone. It was an old-fashioned thing, heavy and black with a rotary dial. Harm grabbed up the receiver and reached for the dial. Instead, a look of confusion and uncertainty clouded his face and he pounded the small black receiver hook several times.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I picked up the phone, got a dial tone and…and then it just went dead.”

Terror showed again in Elgin’s eyes, the color draining from her face.

“Let’s go,” he ordered, throwing down the receiver, grabbing her arm and taking a step toward the front door, all it seemed to her in one fluid motion.

Something roared behind them; a great, enraged Grizzly howl that filled the room with its deafening power, freezing them in mid-stride.

Instinctively they turned to the roar, fear washing over them like the massive sound waves.

A creature that had once been Jim Fisher stood just in the kitchen door. Fury shook his body, now covered in his own blood, one eye swollen shut, the automatic like a child’s toy in his huge paw.

“Bitch!” he screamed. “Whore! Tramp!”

Harm edged himself between her and the monster.

“It’s over Fisher,” he bluffed calmly. “I called 9-1-1 before you pulled the plug. The sheriff will be here any minute.”

“Liar!” he bellowed. “Thief! Whoremonger! You didn’t call anyone. But you’re right…it is over for the both of you. I don’t care about having you anymore, you faithless harlot. You teasing, heartless cunt. You’re not my Ellie…you’re that dirty book writer, Gillian Shelby. I can’t believe that I was taken in by you and your sweet smile and warm caress.

“I’m going to kill this pretty little cock of yours just the way I said. One piece at a time. Then I’m going to choke the life out of you with my bare hands.”

The room seemed to lurch suddenly, swaying with a dizzying wobble, Elgin’s knees growing too weak to hold her up, her stomach turning Olympic caliber back flips. She wanted to be sick, to pass out, to scream. All of them seemed to be running through her at once, vying for first chance.