5 comments/ 89922 views/ 9 favorites Pocket Full of Innocence Ch. 01 By: Stardog Champion ** Author Note.....Not much sex in this part, so don't be discouraged...simply background for what's coming in part 2. * * * * * A weather- beaten, frayed and spent shell of a young man, Gavin McGowen sat on the edge of a hill overlooking a spot along the river that was about to become national news. Lost, over an hour's drive away from his home, the hustle and bustle now surrounding him almost seemed to be taking place in slow motion as he breathed one deep breath after another into his soggy lungs. Sitting there on a layer of moist and decaying leaves, huddled beneath a fireman's blanket, Gavin scanned the landscape below, doing his best to catalogue every detail of the past two days into his overwhelmed teenage mind before the inevitable questions began. He knew there were going to be people who would re-assuredly tell him that the ordeal he'd just endured would gradually fade from memory. Gavin knew there might even be some people close to him that would urge him to seek out the help of a professional in dealing with the trauma. He was mature enough however to realize if he started striking the bad stuff from his memory banks, it would dull the other memories as well, and those were going to be things he never planned on letting go. Looking a few feet down the hill to the cluster of medical people tending to the woman he'd shared his ordeal with, Gavin couldn't help but sigh imagining the row of television satellite trucks that would soon dot the road below the clearing. With the newfound celebrity he'd stumbled in to, even Gavin knew at some point the gossipy general public would start whispering about what had happened during those two nights they were stranded alone in the woods. "Hero or victim...what's the tougher role to play..?" Gavin found himself asking as he looked out along the ridgeline, waiting for the rescue vehicle to show up carrying his parents. Gavin knew he was going to be able to handle everything he'd been through over the past day and a half. Sitting there as the chilly morning fog slowly melted away, it was way too cliche and cornball to say he became a man during the ordeal, but in the truest sense he'd done what he'd needed to survive, then as any man would, calmly and confidently reaped the fruits that had come with the choices he'd made. The only thing Gavin have to live with now was the guilt. Looking down at the sobbing woman talking into a rescue person's cellphone below, Gavin knew she'd have to deal with a special kind of guilt all her own, one at such a young age he wasn't quite ready to fathom. His guilt wasn't based on what had happened, or who he'd had it happen with. His rested squarely in the plain piece of flat, gray metal that lay hidden in the left rear pocket of his tattered and muddy jeans. _____________________________ The woman in question's name was Rochelle Stewart. It wasn't a stretch to say Gavin had known Rochelle his entire life. Gavin's family had lived three doors down from the Stewarts from the time he was born up through the seventh grade. Her Son, Andy, was one of Gavin's best friends growing up and even after the Stewarts moved to a new house on the other side of town, luckily they remained in the same school district and were both on course to graduate later that Spring. Even after the move the two boys were fixtures at each other's house for quite a few years until the inevitable distraction of girls, jobs and deeper concentration on school work put a crimp into Gavin and Andy's friendship on occasion. The one thing that seemingly became the social albatross around Gavin's teenaged neck was the fact that his parents weren't quite ready to trust him with a driver's license. Having had a series of seizures during his tween years, Gavin's Mom and Dad were extremely cautious trusting him with a car even though he hadn't had the slightest issue health wise since he was 13. While technically an adult in the law's eyes, he still had to finish high school and didn't exactly have the money saved up to blaze a trail on his own. Needless to say the lack of wheels did wonders to cripple his self esteem but from a functional standpoint with as small and close knit as his hometown was, Gavin was able to walk or ride his bike pretty much everywhere he needed to go. The real blow came however when he had to depend on one of his schoolmates, or even worse, one of their parents to ferry him back and forth between their place and home. It was that exact type of situation that landed Gavin in the maelstrom he was currently in. Having spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon across town at Andy's house, the two boys had shot some hoops, killed some time goofing on the internet and played video games until Andy's Mom popped her head into the living room to remind her Son he had to be at work at 4. Even though teenage boys would never discuss such things, Andy and Gavin each felt somewhat melancholy knowing the opportunities to spend lazy afternoons together were steadily dwindling. Despite the discussions to head off to the same college in the Fall, Gavin knew with his Father being laid off that the community college in town was going to be his only legitimate option for the time being. Andy, on the other hand, had already accepted an offer out of state. Just like in "Stand By Me", Gavin could feel the first twinges that growing up also meant growing apart. There was a low rolling rumble of mid afternoon thunder off in the distance as Andy began gathering his stuff for work. "I guess I better get going to beat the storm," Gavin sighed, knowing he had a three mile bike ride back home. "Nonsense," Rochelle Stewart scolded. "If Andy would have got his butt in gear a little sooner, he'd have time to run you home..No problem though. I've got a errand or two before dinner..I can take the station wagon and we can stick your bike in the back..I'll be glad to run you home Gavin." His self-reliance already crippled by not having a license, Gavin politely prepared to decline Mrs. Stewart's offer when another thunderclap ripped through the air, this one much closer than the first. Picturing himself drenched as he pedaled for home, trying to stay one step ahead of never ending series of well aimed lightning strikes, Gavin reluctantly accepted Rochelle's offer. Biking home in a deluge would be a piece of cake however compared to the next several hours for Gavin and Mrs. Stewart. ________________________________ The two hours of so after leaving with Mrs. Stewart would be the most life altering stretch of time Gavin would ever face. The first thing he remembered was the sound of footsteps shuffling quickly across the rain soaked asphalt of the strip mall's parking lot. With the last remnants of the afternoon thunderstorm petering out, Rochelle had pulled her Volvo station wagon up to a drive-thru ATM to get some cash before dropping Gavin off at home. Perched in the passenger seat with his bike laying in the back, deep down Gavin hadn't minded letting Mrs. Stewart drive him home. He'd known her ever since he could remember, and of all his friends, she was probably the most attractive. Being as friendly, personable and down to Earth as she was however, Gavin always felt an awkwardness each time he tried conjuring her into one of his typical teenage fantasies. Still, it didn't keep him from stealing an occasional peek over to see how Mrs. Stewart's tanned legs looked in her crisp white shorts, or how her breasts bounced ever so slightly in her shirt each time she drove over a bump. In retrospect, Gavin knew he was lost in somewhat of a daydream staring over at Rochelle as she leaned up from her seat to grab the money from the ATM. If he hadn't been so distracted, perhaps with the extra second or two he might have been able to prevent things from getting so out of hand. To his everlasting horror and shame however, Rochelle's initial scream paralyzed Gavin. Before he could so much as raise his hands from his side, Rochelle Stewart's entire weight came crashing down on top of him at the same time a shadowy presence plopped down in the driver's seat. The blue Volvo then sped off. _____________________________________ Whatever it had started out as, be it a simple armed robbery or vehicle theft, what it had instantly turned into was a full blown car-jacking with two counts of kidnapping thrown in. Trying to steady himself beneath Rochelle as a drowning wave of tension and shock filled the cab of the car, Gavin could feel the boxy Volvo fishtailing on the soggy road as the man behind the wheel desperately tried escaping the parking lot. Rochelle's elbow forced down against his throat as she screamed at their abductor, everything was a visual and verbal blur for Gavin as he felt the car pick up speed. His natural instinct finally starting to kick in, Gavin prepared to push Rochelle off to the side so he could make one good swipe at the man's hands on the steering wheel, but that notion was quickly shelved when Gavin saw the man's pistol aimed straight at Mrs. Stewart's head as he drove. The scenery of the main drag of town now whizzing by at over 50 miles per hour, Gavin could feel his heart lodged squarely in his throat as he waited, praying the sound of sirens would descend from some direction. Sadly, he'd have to wait nearly 40 hours before he saw the first emergency vehicle. _____________________________________ 22 year old Ernesto Ayala had come to the US with his older brother and two cousins from Hondurus three years earlier. A bad apple from the word go, he'd fled his home country with several petty charges hanging over him and it hadn't taken long before he'd accumulated the same baggage here. Having settled initially in North Carolina, it didn't take long before a series of breaking and enterings along with an assault charge necessitated a move south. It wasn't long after Ernesto and his brother found their way to Alabama that Jesus Ayala was arrested on weapons and distribution charges. His only other real option other than returning home was an Uncle living in Nevada. Ernesto bought a bus ticket and went west, but the recession and the deflated housing market prevented him from finding any gainful employment there. In lieu of that, it didn't take Ernesto long to fall in with the wrong crowd again and he found himself running drugs back and forth between Vegas and Northern California. Ernesto's main issue with that profession was his inability to sell more than he used for himself. Taking that into account, it wasn't long before Ernesto was considerably short on what he owed his supplier. Strung out on meth and over a thousand dollars in the hole, Ernesto Ayala was about to meet Rochelle Stewart and Gavin McGowan under less than ideal circumstances in a rain soaked Central California shopping mall parking lot. Loaded gun in hand, Ernesto's basic plan was to wait in the shadows until the next vulnerable person came along, allow them to withdraw their money then step out with a gun and take the loot before escaping on foot. A couple times of doing that around town, he reasoned, and he'd have his money. To say he was a step slow in implementing his plan would be an understatement. Between the slickness of the drenched asphalt, and the two and a half days without sleep from his tweaking binge, by the time Ernesto had clumsily stumbled up to Rochelle's car, she had already withdrawn her money and pulled it back inside the car. Knowing his face was already on the overhead camera, Ernesto was confronted with millisecond decision between fight or flight. In that moment his fear for what his 'Boss' may do to him outweighed anything the legal system might and Ernesto stuck his gun inside the rolled down window of the Volvo before opening the door and shoving the female driver into the passenger seat. "What the fuck have I got myself into?" he kept muttering to himself in Spanish as he steered the Volvo out of the parking lot, making sure to keep the gun in his trembling right hand trained on the woman's head beside him. __________________________________ A weird sort of calm gradually settled inside the vehicle. Rochelle had slowly shifted her weight down until she was sitting half on the seat and half on Gavin who'd pressed himself all the way against the passenger side door. Composed as she could be with a gun aimed at her head, Rochelle took one long deep breath after another as she tried re-assuring Gavin, who's eyes were still as round and glassy as the instant the man had stormed the car. It took a few minutes but Rochelle could tell the stranger didn't want to kill them, that he was just after some money and in his own way, was just as scared as she was with the situation he'd boxed himself in to. "Ernesto," she said to herself noticing the cursive script tattoo on the carjacker's frail and drug riddled right arm. The traffic in town had thinned considerably during the thunderstorm and the Vovlo had made five or six miles within the first 10 minutes of the abduction. The insides of the windows steamed from the combination of humidity in the air and the heated fear of the car's three occupants, no one on the outside would have really had a chance to get a good look inside as Ernesto drove aimlessly on. Assuming the man's only goal was monetary, with the hundred dollars he'd taken during the initial altercation, Rochelle figured she could end the situation peacefully by agreeing to stop at another out of the way ATM and withdraw the rest of the money she had in her account in return for letting her and Gavin go. Taking her up on her offer, Ernesto wheeled off the main road and found a secluded ATM kiosk near a park. Taking both Rochelle and Gavin's cell phones and tossing them into the bushes lining the road, the 22 year old habitual offender took the older woman's debit card, slid it in the slot, used the pin number she gave him and took the $1,2000 remaining in the account. With most of the money he needed in hand to pay off his drug debt, Ernesto could have easily let his two captives go then disappeared. As with many decisions in his mistake prone life however, Ernesto Ayala made the glaringly wrong choice. ___________________________________ The same way a drunk might take one last shot of scotch before making a tough decision, Ernesto snorted another hit of his meth stash right after draining Rochelle Stewart's bank account. Gavin could instantly see a change come over the man behind the wheel. Seemingly timid and scared during the entire drive to the outskirts of town, once the drugs hit Ernesto's system he suddenly transformed into a fidgety and foaming at the mouth animal right beside him. Huddled close to Rochelle, their bodies pressed together like sardines in the passenger seat, the two watched as Ernesto's entire body flinched and trembled as he sat there with the engine idling, deciding what to do next. Ernesto's drug induced metamorphosis wasn't a good omen for Rochelle and Gavin. Over the next few months, Gavin would spend a lot of time online trying to make some sense of the ordeal he'd been put through. Reading up on what people were capable of under the influence of meth, and whatever else Ernesto might have had flowing through his system that day in the car, Gavin's blood would run cold as he sat in front of the computer, dealing with post traumatic stress that had insidiously crept upon him. The invincibility and unchecked primal pull that had instantly came over Ernesto haunted Gavin, and he could only imagine what Rochelle was dealing with in private. Even as he sat at his computer desk months later safe and sound, Gavin could still feel the same vertigo in the pit of his stomach as he did when Ernesto put that Volvo into drive late that afternoon, instead of letting them go after he got his money. _________________________________ Junkies can be pretty resourceful people. By the time Ernesto figured out no one was in hot pursuit of the stolen vehicle, or its occupants, he began to look at his two captives the same way a cat would twin balls of yarn. Two hours into their ordeal, Gavin and Rochelle found themselves miles from home on a non-state maintained road, with an ever growing sense of uneasiness as the sun drifted towards the tree line to the West. Ernesto honestly thought he knew where he was going having came along to the area he was now driving on a business deal several months back. Considering the stress he was under, not to mention the drugs slicing through his system, his internal compass had been all but fried since leaving the city limits. The more lost he got however, the more of a need for control Ernesto felt like he had to exert over the two people trapped with him in the car. Rochelle's Son, Andy, had gone through a phase several months back where he was trying to learn some magic tricks to impress girls. Like most teenage phases, he'd eventually given up trying to become the next David Copperfield when he realized it took more work than he thought. Also like most teenagers, Andy left the remnants of his ill-fated hobby laying around in several places, including the back seat of his Mom's car. Ernesto had noticed the set of trick handcuffs laying in the floorboard when he stepped out to take a leak. It didn't take long for him to do the math and realize it would be better to have his two hostages bound together. Needless to say that didn't sit well with Rochelle or Gavin, but given Ernesto's unstable nature, and his waving gun, they reluctantly complied. In hindsight, they probably should have rushed Ernesto before he cuffed them together. As on edge and hyper as he was, Gavin or Rochelle never seemed to get a clear, simultaneous shot. So they capitulated and allowed Ernesto to tether them together with the cheaply made cuffs. Gavin's right hand attached to Rochelle's left, the 18 year old boy was forced into the backseat while Ernesto kept his eye on Rochelle up front. Even though Gavin didn't give Ernesto a moment's pause worrying about what the kid might do, the carjacker still used a pair of zip-ties laying in the glove compartment to bind Gavin's ankles together. With Gavin secured in the backseat, Ernesto's attention instantly shifted to the older woman up front. ___________________________ The worst block of time happened just before sunset. Without going into the gory details of it all, suffice to say, Ernesto insisted on Rochelle servicing him orally, at gunpoint. Unable to stomach what was going on less than three feet in front of him, Gavin did the best he could to shield his eyes even though he was locked wrist to wrist with Rochelle. Through his peripheral vision he could tell Rochelle's head was bobbing up and down in the kidnapper's lap and Gavin winced under the heat of the man's sick, virile glare in the rear view. "Why don't you bite down on his dick?" Gavin screamed to himself, trying to silently implore Rochelle to incapacitate Ernesto and provide him with the opening he needed. Instead she subserviently followed Ernesto's orders, slurping her mouth up and down on his cock until, for her own sanity, Gavin became an afterthought. Even though it was only a glimmer of hope, suddenly Gavin saw the window of opportunity he needed as both people in the front seat lost themselves in the moment. The one thing Ernesto had failed to do as his drug fueled lust drove him up front to Rochelle was check Gavin's pockets. A bad oversight when you were dealing with a former boy scout. Sliding the pocket knife he always carried with him from his jeans with his free hand when he sensed Ernesto's orgasm starting to build, Gavin sawed it steadily back and forth behind the seat until he felt the first zip-tie give way. Timing it just right, Gavin gave the second restraint a decisive slice the instant Ernesto's primal growls of release filled the cab of the car. Pocket Full of Innocence Ch. 01 Seeing Rochelle raise her head from Ernesto's lap and stare off into the distance once she was done, Gavin felt his blood boil seeing the white froth of the carjacker's glistening semen coating her lips and chin. Feeling Rochelle's hand trembling against his where they were cuffed together, without thinking Gavin caressed his hand around her's and held it for as long as she needed. With his free hand, the one with the extended pocket knife still concealed in it, Gavin wanted nothing more than to lunge at Ernesto but he still had his gun trained on Rochelle as he stuffed his deflating cock back inside his pants. __________________________________ Within a half hour darkness had completely enveloped the woods. When Ernesto finally decided to drive further into the mountains instead of turning the car back towards town, or simply just letting he and Rochelle out, Gavin got the feeling that the seconds he had left to live were ticking away quickly. The remaining opportunities he had to act dwindling, Gavin could see the way Rochelle stared blankly out the window, appearing as if she'd resigned herself to fate as well. The one thing Gavin kept reminding himself of was how shoddy and distracted the kidnapper seemed. Even after finishing his disgusting deed with Rochelle, Ernesto hadn't even looked back to see if his restraints were still holding. Remembering how Ernesto had taken another hit of meth just after Rochelle had given him the blowjob, Gavin knew the man's behavior would only grow more erratic and loathsome. If he planned on letting them live he could have easily just pushed them out in the middle of nowhere and kept the car. Gavin was pretty sure Ernesto was driving around now looking for the right place to eliminate the witnesses to his criminal miscalculation. After all the false starts Gavin had initiating any sort of life saving action in the backseat, when he finally did, the young man startled himself by how efficient and effective it had been. And it all happened when he stopped thinking and simply allowed his physical instinct to take over. The fact that Ernesto's back was turned as he drove up the pitch black road combined with the way his mind was racing from a combination of drugs and the afterglow of a blowjob, it made what Gavin was about to do akin to stealing candy from a sleeping baby. Looking over at Rochelle one last time, Gavin could feel the muscles in his stomach tighten seeing the catatonic state she'd drifted into after servicing the man beside her. Looking at the dim outline of Ernesto's face in the rear view just before he lunged forward, Gavin inhaled one last deep breath before swinging his left hand, and the extended pocket knife inside of it, against the left side of Ernesto's head. "AAWWWWW," the carjacker growled, more in shock than in pain as the small blade made a modest puncture hole just below his left ear. Taking his right hand off the steering wheel, Ernesto swatted it across his body as if shooing away a wasp that had just stung him. Feeling the Volvo start to wave on the gravely road as Ernesto spent more time trying to coral his gun that he did driving the car, Gavin quickly raised his right hand over top the driver's head, bringing the cuffs along with Rochelle's left arm with it. "Pull it tight," Gavin nearly snarled over to Rochelle as he watched the older woman's glazed eyes gleam in shock. Extending her free hand when she realized what Gavin was attempting to do, Rochelle raked her freshly manicured nails across Ernesto's eyes before trying to interfere as he fumbled for his gun. All in all, the scrum lasted no more than 10 seconds. The aerodynamically challenged Volvo's tires screeching mightily, Gavin could feel the vehicle leave the gravel before rolling at 40 miles an hour into the soft decayed layer of foliage on the forest floor. Bracing himself the best he could as he cinched the chain of the handcuffs tight against Ernesto's throat, Gavin ducked his head an instant before the front end of the car met an old oak tree head on. Pressed tight against the back of the front seat, Gavin escaped the collision relatively unscathed. Rochelle hadn't been so lucky. Her body tilted sideways as she fought with Ernesto for the gun, she'd been thrown hard against her dash and would have a trail of severe bruising from her ribs all the way down to her twisted right knee. Ernesto was unconscious and on the verge of death. The force of impact had hurled his lower body and torso forward, but with Gavin's weight anchored behind him as he held the cuff chain snug against his throat, Ernesto's head never got the chance to follow the rest of his body. His windpipe immediately crushed, the resulting broken neck would quickly and mercifully cheat him of the misery he truly deserved. Steam and smoke billowing from the front end of Rochelle's station wagon, Gavin pushed the rear driver's side door open before helping the injured woman into the backseat then out of the totaled shell of her car. "What now?" Rochelle groaned, the pain clear in her voice as she and Gavin stumbled back up to the deserted road, handcuffed together. Gavin had no good answer. As if passing a torch, Ernesto's heart had just taken its last beat when it dawned on the two survivors that Mother Nature had suddenly become their new captor.... Part 2 to come Pocket Full of Innocence Ch. 02 Author Note: For those of you that endured Part 1 and still came back for Part 2, thanks for indulging me. There was some dark content in the first part that I didn't want tainting Parts 2 and 3...kind of wanted the three parts to stand on their own... That out of the way, on with the story... * * * * * As if the air had suddenly been pressed out of an over inflated balloon, Rochelle Stewart literally collapsed down on her knees when she realized she'd made it out of the car with her life. Her left hand cuffed to Gavin's right, she nearly brought him down with her when she tucked her head between her knees and started to cry. A pair of hazy outlines in the pitch black forest, Gavin bent down and hugged the Mother of his best friend as she sobbed, the chilly night air biting at each, signaling that the next stage of their ordeal was just beginning. "What time do you think it is?" Rochelle asked as she tried to regain her composure. "It's too dark..I can't see my watch." "Got to be a little after 9....It was getting dark the last time we stopped...," Gavin started to say then stopped himself remembering the indignity that had happened between Rochelle and Ernesto at dusk. "Do you think they're looking for us?" Gavin sighed, desperate for anything to take Rochelle's mind off what had happened leading up to the crash. "I'm sure they are by now...I told my Husband I'd be home in about 45 minutes and that was 4 hours ago. I'm sure he's called my cell and got no answer....its just that we're so far out of town..," Rochelle's voice drifted off as the gravity of their predicament settled in. Silence hung in the air for a very long time, as thick and murky as the fog that would clot the river bed they'd call home for the next two nights. "If no one's coming to get us..we're gonna have to find some way of getting word back to town," Gavin finally shook his head and said dejectedly. "No way the car's gonna make the trip anytime soon," Rochelle noted as she stared back at the wreckage of her Volvo station wagon. "Not to mention there's a dead guy slumped over the steering wheel," Gavin tried to be humorous but his words simply echoed with a dull thud through the woods. "You really think he's dead?" Rochelle asked with queasy unease. "I'm pretty sure..he wasn't breathing when we slipped out the back door," Gavin offered, not wanting to tell her how he'd heard Ernesto's neck snap a millisecond after the crash. "I've still got my bike in the back...I could take that out and see if they're any houses in the area," Gavin kicked at the dirt in the darkness. "It is gonna be kind of hard riding that bike handcuffed together," Rochelle gently reminded with only a hint of pessimistic irony. "Oh yeah," Gavin whispered. "Where do you think we're at anyway?" Rochelle asked, feeling much better the more they kept talking. "East of town...the guy kept taking crazy turns...I dunno.....the tracks in the road looked like they did some logging up here but the tracks aren't fresh. I'm guessing no one's been up here since last Fall maybe," Gavin pondered. Once again the two held their breath, listening for any sign of civilization around them. There were no stars out and the temperature had easily fallen 15 degrees since dusk. "Right now...all I want to do is get away from that car," Rochelle finally put her free hand to her head and cringed, leading Gavin several yards down the road by their cuffed hands until she could once again breath. "We'll be alright without any food...not that either one of us is going to have an appetite for awhile," Gavin tried to offer without sounding too much like a boy scout," but we're gonna have to find some water....there does sound like of river or big creek flowing a little ways up." The two trudged along, hands tethered in the dark, both suddenly and acutely aware of how primitive their plight was about to become. Cautiously making their way towards the sound of the rushing water, Gavin and Rochelle hadn't realized how much starch the ordeal had taken out of them until the adrenaline started to wear off. It wasn't until they could hear the water flowing endlessly over the rocks directly below that both of them felt their throats tremble with thirst. Like two wayward souls pulling themselves through a desert towards the promise of an oasis, they walked anxiously hand in hand along the ledge, trying to find the easiest path down in the dark. As with everything else, nothing came easy. A rock had given way beneath Gavin's right foot and in that frantic moment of decision he instinctively extended both hands out to try and keep Rochelle upright. In the process however all Gavin did was clumsily throw off his own balance, causing the pair to tumble down through the rain-soaked weeds and bushes towards the riverbed below. Hopping and skipping as they tried grasping for any limb they could, the inertia finally let up with they both splashed into the edge of water. "AAAHH...GOD... DAMN... Gavin..are you alright?" Rochelle croaked, knowing he was a foot or two further out. "..I think so," he muttered, soaking wet now from the waist down. Rochelle extended her free hand in the dark, trying to tow Gavin back to shore as the cool mountain stream splashed with a mixture of refreshment and dread across her face. For the moment, the water hit the spot. Ignoring whatever concerns there might have been about what may have been crawling around in the rapids, Gavin and Rochelle cupped their four hands together and took turns gulping down the sustenance they scooped from the river. "You're soaking wet Gavin," Rochelle noted once she'd finished gorging herself. Hearing the way the heavy denim material of his jeans rubbed together each time he moved, Rochelle could only liken it to the sound those types of pants made fresh out of a washing machine. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but with the way the temperature was falling, she guessed it would be in the mid 40's before long. "You fell all the way in when we tumbled down the bank, didn't you?" Rochelle asked, in the tone of a lawyer leading a witness. "...Kinda..I'll be alright," Gavin tried to re-assure after finishing his last slurp of water. It didn't take long before his teeth were ever so subtly chattering together. "We really ought to try to start a fire," Gavin offered, "but everything seems like its soaked from the storm." "I've got some matches up in the Volvo's glove compartment," Rochelle started to say but quickly stopped herself when she realized what they would encounter inside the darkened carcass of her shattered vehicle. "We could probably also use the guy's gun out here," Gavin thought to himself but didn't have the nerve to say. ____________________________________ The emotional transition of spending several hours with their lives literally in the hands of a drug crazed lunatic to now being stranded alone in a desolate forest was gradually sinking in for Gavin and Rochelle. Safe now from the maniac that had carjacked them, once they'd filled their bellies full of water, the daunting task of waiting began for the two. It was a little after 10pm that first night when Gavin and Rochelle staked a claim on the driest spot along the riverside they could find. Sixty miles away police, and two desperate and befuddled families continued their fruitless search as the two lost souls sat on the muddy bank, cold and somewhat in shock as they listened to the endless flow of rushing water snaking by them. "Maybe we can find two rocks..maybe smash the chain of these cuffs between them and get loose?" Gavin proposed. "No way we're finding anything out here tonight," Rochelle sighed, the toll of the day clear in her voice. "Last thing either of us needs is twisting an ankle or a knee out here." "How's your side?" Gavin whispered, hearing the struggle Rochelle had to make each time she spoke. "I don't think I'm spitting up any blood..but it doesn't feel good," she answered as honestly as she could. Silence gradually won out. Between their exhaustion and the lack of really good topics to talk about, Gavin and Rochelle's eyelids began to feel very heavy. Neither wanted to re-hash anything that had happened in the car, and Gavin had even taken note when Rochelle reached down with her free hand and used the water from the river to eliminate whatever was left of Ernesto's semen from her face. After a little small talk about where the searchers might be looking or what some of their family members might be thinking, within 20 minutes of sitting down, the two had dozed off into a light and tedious sleep. __________________________________ Fate's a fickle thing. All those nights growing up Gavin McGowen spent imagining he actually got a chance to sleep with Rochelle Stewart, here he was literally laying beside her miles away from the eyes of anyone else. The fact that the two were handcuffed together and covered with mud only a few hundred yards from the man they'd just killed wasn't exactly how Gavin's teenaged wet dreams had gone however. Waking up at some point during the night, Gavin couldn't help surveying Rochelle as she slept on her back to his right. It was amazing how, even in the darkest of places, the human eye could eventually adjust to the lack of light. The white tee-shirt and shorts Rochelle had worn, now much dingier than when they'd left the house, still provided an adequate silhouette of her body as one light snore after another rose from her lungs. The last thing Gavin had done before settling down to sleep, albeit apprehensively, was to take Mrs. Stewart's advice and ditch the jeans he'd soaked when he fell into the river. With his pants drying out in the limbs of the tree above the nest they'd made for the night, Gavin felt a twinge of mortal embarrassment washing through him as he laid there in nothing but his shirt, shoes, socks and tighty-whiteys. Having known Rochelle's family his entire life, Gavin was pretty sure she'd seen him in diapers, it still didn't make it any easier for him to strip down with her joined at the wrist, less than two feet away. For Rochelle's part, she couldn't have been more matter of fact about the sleeping arrangements, or Gavin's state of dress. The truth was if he slept in those wet pants, he'd probably have pneumonia by the next morning. Not to mention their body heat would be enough to insure surviving the night. The logic of it all didn't make it any easier for Gavin as he laid there, fully awake now as a blanket of fog descended upon them, his eyes gazing openly at Rochelle's chest as it rose and fell each time she exhaled. Considering everything he'd been through over the past eight hours, one would wonder how Gavin could have entertained such thoughts about the woman sleeping beside him. Perhaps it was the stress of the ordeal they'd just been through and that built up steam needed a place to go. That, and even in light of the circumstances, an 18 year old libido isn't the easiest thing in the world to simply shut off. Resting on his side facing Rochelle as he tried finding the most comfortable position to lay in with his hand cuffed to hers, Gavin could feel the warm cylinder of his erection steadily building until it had tented out the front of his underwear. Awkwardly trying to twist his crotch away from Rochelle without causing too much of a stir, Gavin kept his eyes pensively on he's as she slept to his right. As chilly as it was outside, not to mention the awkwardness of the circumstances, it made no sense how Gavin's arousal was manifesting itself so visibly. It was surprising just how much warmth two bodies laying that close to generate and it wasn't long before Gavin felt comfortable enough to thumb through his memory banks to some of the times growing up when he'd had sexual thoughts about Mrs. Stewart. Whether it was the various occasions when he'd seen her in her bathing suit at the pool, or perhaps the dozens of times he'd seen her in her nightshirt and pajama shorts during his many sleepovers, he'd never quite looked at her with the same furtive focus as he did as she snored lightly beside him along the river bank. Even though he would have never admitted it to anyone, and to be honest it turned his stomach somewhat to even admit it to himself, seeing Rochelle in the sexual situation back in the car with Ernesto had sparked something deep and dark inside him. It wasn't necessarily desire or even lust for that matter, but the mental image of his best friend's Mom working her mouth up and down on the raised penis of a complete stranger gnawed at every nerve in his body. Staring straight down at Rochelle, and the same mouth she'd used to do the deed, Gavin bit his lower lip, unable to escape the urge to picture his own penis resting inside it. Instinctively twisted away from the woman beside him in an attempt to shield the evidence of his growing arousal, Gavin tried doing everything he could to internally talk down his erection when he saw Rochelle begin to sir awake. "You up?" she rubbed her free hand up to her drowsy eyes and asked. "How long have I been asleep?" "I don't know...without any moon out its hard to tell how late it is.....I..uhhh....I just woke up myself?" he lied somewhat convincingly. "I ...hate to say it...but I think I have to pee," Gavin stammered in the dark, doing his best to steer his crotch away from Rochelle's eyes. "Actually..I think I probably need to too," she replied. "I'm guessing everything is uni-sex out here in the woods," Rochelle added as she and Gavin helped each other up. "Camping has never been my thing." "Let's head back over to the spot where we got some water earlier..at least we know the path so we wont trip over anything in the dark," he suggested. Side by side the pair navigated the river bank until they were at the fringes of the rushing water. "You want to go first?" Rochelle asked. "Doesn't matter..I guess," Gavin replied before turning his back 180 degrees, the full realization hitting him that he was about to pull his cock from his drawers with Mrs. Stewart standing directly behind him. Tugging his semi-erect dick free with his left hand and aiming it straight out, Gavin started counting to 10, never comfortable going to the bathroom in the presence of other poeple, much less the Mother of his best friend. Either due to the coldness of the air or the amount of water he'd drank earlier, Gavin surprised himself by starting to go before he even got to 7. And once he started, he couldn't seem to stop. Aiming the stream directly into the river, it sounded like a race horse relieving itself, and Gavin felt an awkward shiver nipping at his spine the longer it took to tap his bladder. He swore he could hear Rochelle giggling under her breath but he wasn't sure. He did know he'd die if she'd said anything at that moment. Finally, he felt a wave of relief sweep through his system on several levels when the final few trickles dripped free. Shoving his cock back inside his Fruit of the Looms, Gavin couldn't even bring himself to turn around before telling Rochelle she could go, in essence showing her the same courtesy she'd just shown him. Of all the differences between the genders, the effort and logistics that go into taking a piss in the woods would be right up there. Combine that with being handcuffed to a someone in the dark and Rochelle had quite an engineering task ahead of her. Able to work the clasp of her shorts free and slide the zipper down with her right hand, she realized the hardest part of the process would be working those same shorts down to her knees so she could do her business. Gavin could feel her struggling beside him but had no clue what to do to help. Standing there in nothing but a tee-shirt and underwear, Gavin instinctively eased closer to allow Rochelle more slack on the cuffs as she gyrated her hips side to side, trying to inch her shorts down. "My God...Mrs. Stewart is pulling her pants down right beside me," the voice of Gavin's teenaged libido chuckled even though he maintained the poise and calmness of the fine young man he was growing up to be. Finally it seemed Rochelle had worked her shorts down far enough and Gavin could feel her weight shift when she squatted down. Within a few seconds, he could hear the sound of Rochelle's stream hitting the soggy ground below. "Its almost like we're Adam and Eve out here," Gavin thought poetically to himself as he waited for Rochelle to finish. Extending his right hand towards Rochelle to give her all the slack he could on the cuffs, Gavin kept his back turned towards her, shielding the older woman from the stiff bulge that persisted inside his underwear. Reaching down with his free hand, Gavin couldn't help but ever so subtlety rub at the protruding girth while Rochelle was still distracted. "Done?" he said when he felt Rochelle raising back up. "Yeah," Rochelle sighed, now busy trying to work her shorts back up to her waist. Gavin desperately wanted to ask if he could help, but was thankfully able to bite his tongue. He could feel her trying to re-button the pants with her one free hand but it just wasn't happening. Rather than going through the indignity of having to ask for Gavin's help, she simply left it as it was before suggesting they head back to the shelter of their improvised nest. "Jeans are still a little wet..hopefully they'll be dry by morning," Gavin noted as they headed back to their spot along the river, trying not to think about how dumb he'd look in nothing but his underwear if they weren't dry by sunrise. ____________________________________ As relieved as their kidneys felt after getting up to pee, the one drawback for Rochelle and Gavin was they'd lost the cocoon of heat they had created while sleeping. The temperature had dropped into the mid 40's but thankfully with the layer of fog draping the river, there wasn't a hint of wind blowing. Once they'd laid back down, Gavin and Rochelle found themselves cuddling a little closer than before in an effort to re-capture the life sustaining warmth they could provide each other. Without an ideal position to lay in considering the circumstances, about the only way they could comfortably exist handcuffed as they were was face to face. Their thirst satiated and their bladders empty, it wasn't long before Gavin and Rochelle to drifted back to sleep, this time less than a foot from each other. The continuous and melodic flow of the water beside them created an almost hypnotic effect as the fog eventually shrouded the stranded pair. It was about an hour before sunrise when Gavin was once again stirred awake. Rochelle was still sleeping as she faced him but from the way her face and shoulders were twitching it was clear she was having a nightmare. So close he could feel the fear in each one of her exhales wash across his face, Gavin instinctively reached out with his cuffed right hand and laid it down gently on Rochelle's left hip. It wasn't long before several shiny tears were leaking down the woman's cheek. Drifting in and out of sleep himself for the next few minutes as the eerie and surreal white haze engulfed the river bank, Gavin openly wondered if he was the one dreaming all this as Rochelle's sobs of fear grew louder. At some point the older woman's tear soaked face wound up flush against the 18 year old's chest as he held her as tenderly and reassuringly as he could. "You're laying here in nothing but your underwear Dammitt and she's just cuddling closer," Gavin said to himself in a horrified daze. "She's still asleep..she has no idea what she's doing," the rational part of Gavin's mind calmly offered as Rochelle's tears began to soak into his shirt. Pocket Full of Innocence Ch. 02 There they were after the most treacherous ordeal of their lives, stranded dozens of miles from civilization sleeping in the mud beside a rocky and winding river. With a sturdy chest to cry against, Rochelle's steely resolve finally gave out. The sobs and sniffles had been replaced by a full blown crying fit as all the helplessness and frustration building inside her spewed from every pore. Rochelle had been the cool and collected one during the carjacking and did her best to maintain her resolve to be strong for Gavin under the most dire of circumstances. Somehow sensing he'd found his strength, Rochelle let everything boiling inside her go. Laying there silently, even though he was more than half Rochelle's age, Gavin found himself consoling her like a fear struck child. It was a back and forth of moral support that would swing like a pendulum several more times over the next day and a half, but at that moment, all Gavin could do was rest there, allowing Rochelle to work through everything she needed to. Despite his attentiveness to Rochelle's needs, it didn't take long for Gavin to realize just like every other time he'd woke up since the age of 12, that he was once again sporting a woody. Doing his best the keep the jutting bulge in his underwear away from the spastic woman beside him, Gavin bit the inside of his cheek and grimaced when he felt the tips of Rochelle's heavy breasts grazing across his lower belly as she continued to cry. Like an evil tug-of-war inside his body, the darker and more prurient part of Gavin's psyche was tempted to tilt closer to Rochelle while the more coherent and prudent part wanted to slink ever further backwards and avoid any undo embarrassment at such an awkward moment. For several minutes, the internal tug-of-war remained a push. At some point, Rochelle's sobs gradually began to subside, and for just a moment Gavin felt an overwhelming need to cry himself. Thankfully he was able to choke back that urge as Rochelle settled back into a state of tepid sleep beside him. Looking straight up at the wisps of fog hanging directly over top of them, Gavin had no clue in that instant whether everything was real or just a crazy, vivid and utterly draining dream. Just as he was about to shut his eyes and drift back to sleep, the sound of a far off animal growling in the forest caused his eyes, along with Rochelle's, to shoot all the way open. "Feeding time at the zoo," Gavin mouthed as Rochelle raised her disheveled head to scan the surroundings. The first light of day peeking over the woodline to the East, it was clear to Gavin that none of this was a dream. "Let me check and see if my pants are dry," Gavin scuttled to make conversation, wanting to get that little detail attended to before the sun was all the way up and he was forced to trudge around the woods in his underwear. Staggering to his feet to reach of the jeans hanging in the branches above their makeshift campsite, Gavin was quickly jolted back to reality when he felt the anchor of Rochelle's arm still cuffed to his. "Hold on...not going anywhere without me," Rochelle sleepily cracked as she tried to stand up as well. Side by side on the bank, it was still too dark to get a good look at the surroundings, or even each other for that matter. "I think they're dry enough to put back on," Gavin offered even though they were still somewhat damp to the touch. If Rochelle thought working her shorts back up with one hand after relieving herself earlier in the night was tough, it was nothing compared to the awkward ballet Gavin had in front of him trying to step into his moist jeans and work the heavy denim fabric up to his waist with a woman tethered beside him. __________________________ Only in the deepest recesses of Rochelle Stewart's mind did she know she was about to ring a bell that couldn't be un-rung. Still half asleep and dazed from the events of the previous day, she clumsily worked her way to her feet as Gavin reached for his jeans. The fog continued to hang in the air, a white an enchanting mist that gave the forest an almost ethereal quality that made what was happening seem just a little less real. On a conscious level, Rochelle knew Gavin was still in his underwear. She hadn't really even given it much thought with everything else going on until she'd accidentally grazed a couple of body parts against the bulge of his crotch when she was twisting to find a comfortable spot on the ground to sleep during the night. Having a son Gavin's age along with a couple of brothers growing up, Rochelle understood how the teenage male body often worked at that time of the morning. Considering the predicament they were in and the closeness it entailed, the last thing Rochelle wanted to do was make Gavin more uncomfortable and self aware than he already was about his state of undress. Whether it was the angst-riddled reality of what they were going through, or the unspoken tenderness Gavin had shown her when she'd broken down in the middle of the night, Rochelle felt the weight of something very cool and disconcerting settle in her belly when she watched Gavin grab his pants and start putting them back on. "You couldn't get your own pants re-snapped with one hand..how in the world is he going to pull his back up?" a voice laced with dread echoed in Rochelle's head. Almost on cue Rochelle felt Gavin's body begin listing to the left as he tried to stick his left leg in first. "God....ahhhh..ahhh," Gavin stammered as he fell sideways, regaining his balance just before taking Rochelle down to the ground with him. "...Gavin...let me help," Rochelle said with sheepish and almost apologetic softness a second or two later, knowing there was going to be no way he could do the task without the aid of her free hand. Like two people who'd shown up for their first waltz lessons, Rochelle and Gavin struggled mightily trying to find the right position with their hands cuffed together. The only way to pull it off without totally tangling each other up was for Rochelle to kneel down at Gavin's feet, her left hand tethered to his right as he cautiously leaned backwards against a tree. The unavoidable fact for Gavin was that he felt just like a helpless child standing there with Rochelle at his feet, holding his jeans open for him to step into. Rochelle too felt a very similar vibe, but it was something that had to be done, and the quicker done the better. With his right foot in, Rochelle pulled Gavin's pants up to his knee before opening them far enough to enable him to stick his left foot in. Feeling Gavin shimey his hips and knees to try and help with her efforts, Rochelle couldn't bring herself to look up as they continued their awkward and hushed dance by the river. Gavin's jeans were still a tad too wet to try and put on and that created a good deal of friction between the denim and the boy's skin as she tried inching them up his thighs. To any random person watching from afar, the silent interplay between Rochelle on her knees and Gavin standing pensively above would have been met with a certain level of allure along with a hint of amusement, her trying to work his jeans up with her free hand while Gavin simultaneously wiggled his hips to get the pants up to his waist. At some point the wet fabric just wouldn't stretch anymore without a fight, and fight was something Rochelle had very little left of inside her. Leaning backwards on her knees to catch her breath and collect herself for another attempt, Rochelle made the unforgivable mistake of looking up. Even though the morning sunrise hadn't yet put a dent into the darkness on the forest floor, she could still clearly see the contrast between the blue denim of Gavin's jeans and the paleness of his white underwear as she teetered in front of him. The closer she looked, the more the bulge lining the front of Gavin's crotch just above where his jeans now rested came into view. While he wasn't fully erect by any means, it was clear Gavin's cock wasn't soft either. All that jostling combined with the fact that a beautiful woman was perched on her knees at his feet made it next to impossible for Gavin's body not to betray him in such a vulnerable spot. Even in such close quarters, Gavin had hoped Rochelle would be able to ignore the visible matter of his arousal, and for a good while she'd nonchalantly done just that. The simple fact remained however that if he was going to get his pants back on, this was going to be an obstacle that would need to be overcome. With the silence now deafening between them, Gavin's first instinct was to try and turn away and finish pulling his pants up all by himself. Before he could twist away and try however, something happened that his brain couldn't readily process. For several seconds, Gavin went as lifeless as the tree he was leaning against. Why she'd reached up and placed her fingers on the bulging protrusion inside Gavin's underwear would be something Rochelle would have to ask herself for years to come. Perhaps she could have rationalized things as simply grabbing it to shove back inside Gavin's jeans as she made another attempt to help him pull his pants up. The fact that she blankly left her hand resting on the warmth of his growing erection as she knelt there told otherwise. She could feel the boy tense under her most tender of grips as she and Gavin internally careened headlong down a path neither was quite prepared for. Even though she and Gavin seemed to be overcome by a temporary paralysis, the throbbing and twitching cylinder between Rochelle's fingers shamefully continued to expand until it felt like a small and curious snake beneath the white cotton fabric. What Rochelle did next defied everything she thought she was capable of. Gavin nearly passed out when he felt the cool, early morning air caress his manhood the instant Rochelle folded the waistband of his underwear down and allowed his dick to swing free. His eyes the size of fried eggs as he stared down at the top of the married woman's head, Gavin felt his legs turning to oatmeal as he pressed his back hard against the tree. Even the tree seemed to turn to oatmeal a few seconds later when Rochelle took his smooth, steely cock into her hand just before placing the spongy, reddish head of it into her mouth. Rochelle's mind was way too blitzed at that moment to give any serious thought as to if she'd ever harbored any deep seeded attraction to Gavin in the past. Perhaps what was happening was just a result of the tenderness he'd shown her during the night juxtaposed with the heroic act he'd made to save their lives only hours before. Perhaps it was the sickening taste of Ernesto that remained on Rochelle's palate, and this was the only way to erase that presence and pay Gavin back in some sort of primal and unspoken equity for his good deed. Perhaps the dark want to do something along those lines had always been there for Rochelle, and it took something this drastic for her to even contemplate giving in to those unnatural urges. Or maybe it was something as simple and pragmatic as a purely functional attempt to deflate the teenager's erection the fastest and most efficient way she could, in essence removing the obstruction so she could help him pull his wet pants all the way back up. Whatever the reason, this wasn't the time for Rochelle to gauge the potential fallout. Survival was a very shortsighted thing. The physical process of giving Gavin fellatio was the same she'd used on her Husband for the previous 20 years, not to mention Ernesto just a few hours earlier. It was simply a matter of inserting the phallus into her mouth, rolling her tongue around it, squeezing her cheeks together, swallowing the accumulating saliva then repeating the process as many times as necessary until the desired result was met. As for the mental aspects, the blowjob she'd provided Ernesto had obviously been done under duress and fraught with its own unique dynamics that Rochelle would have to deal with in its own time and place. Swirling her mouth around Gavin's bulging penis had seemingly unearthed something totally untapped and taboo inside Rochelle as well. Resting there on the ground at his feet, she could feel Gavin's knees buckle against her chest as his cock inflated inside her mouth. The sense of power she suddenly felt couldn't be measured. Even though she'd never given it much of a rational thought before that very second, Rochelle found herself somewhat taken aback and surprised by how much effort she was having to put into ingesting Gavin's manhood. For what it was worth, it was bigger than her Husband's and nearly the same size as Ernesto's from the night before, and even though that tidbit shouldn't have meant anything, Rochelle couldn't help but feel a burning ember crackling inside her belly as she stretched her lips apart as far as she could around the 18 year old's swollen penis. Steadying her knees in the dirt as she grabbed the base of Gavin's cock with her free hand, Rochelle found herself grabbing Gavin's right hand with her cuffed left and holding it tight as she pressed her mouth all the way down on his jutting shaft. An older man with a lifetime's worth of sexual self control wouldn't have been able to hold out very long under the circumstances, much less a relatively inexperienced 18 year old kid like Gavin. Within a minute he was shooting his cum down Rochelle's throat. His entire face scrunched and wincing as a sliver of daylight worked over the horizon, Gavin could feel the suction of the married woman's lips pressed against his thick pubic curls as she ingested wad after wad of his tangy and thick ejaculate. Rochelle could immediately feel the strain on her lips and cheeks from having such a substantial piece of flesh firing like a fire hose down her throat, but any discomfort was tempered for the moment by the tingling wave of satisfaction she felt tasting Gavin's frothy lust washing down her gullet. Spending another minute or so pumping the base of Gavin's phallus as she gently thumbed at his heaving and hairy balls, Rochelle made sure every last drop semen was drained until Gavin literally crumpled against the tree behind him. Allowing Gavin's spent and spasming penis to slide from her lips, the curtain Rochelle had apparently pulled in her soul to allow herself the freedom to do what she had was suddenly pulled back. Working Gavin's jeans all the way up once the 'impediment' had been removed, she pinched the button closed then silently stood up. "Sun's coming up...got to decide what our next move is," Rochelle said with cool, almost aloof purpose. ".....Yeah....," was all the 18 year old could weakly manage as he watched Rochelle stare off into the distance.......... * Part 3 is on the way Pocket Full of Innocence Ch. 03 With every inch the Sun clicked higher in the sky, Rochelle and Gavin couldn't help but bask in the warmth, each almost genuflecting with their free hands as they tried chasing the chill from their bones. They were wet, muddy, hungry and haggard, but they were still alive and the fact that they survived the night gave them each the will to keep fighting. The memory of what had happened right before Sunrise faded from Gavin's mind for the time being, replaced by the pressing need to get themselves rescued. Taking a few minutes to fill their bellies full of cold water from the river, Gavin and Rochelle knew they better get a move on while they still had the strength. If they needed any reminder of their predicament, all they had to do was see the wreckage of Rochelle's Volvo once they'd scaled the river bank. There seemed to be an invisible but definite aura of dread surrounding the crumpled vehicle, mainly because of what was laying eternally lifeless in the front seat. As badly as she didn't want to stomach the thought of ever going back near her station wagon, Rochelle racked her brain about what may be inside it that could help with their efforts. Having a teenage Son, she knew there were several opened bags of chips and such in the backseat. Even though she'd quit smoking six months earlier, she was also pretty sure there were a few lighters in the glove compartment. Sadly, she'd decided not to keep an emergency packs of smokes in there because she could have really used one. There was also the matter of Ernesto's gun. It wasn't doing him a bit of good in his current condition, and with all the potential surprises lurking around the forest, a little protection couldn't hurt. _________________________________ With the previous night being so unseasonably cool, the smell of decomposition hadn't taken root as of yet, but Rochelle didn't want to contemplate what the inside of her battered car would smell like in a couple of days. It didn't take long for her stomach to begin to roll. Their haul from the car had been worth it however. Thankfully the passenger door still opened, so getting the lighters out of the glove compartment had been a snap. Looking like a kid reaching over the rail at a ballgame to retrieve a foul ball, Gavin looked silly blindly throwing the left side of his body over the seat to try and recover what food he could from the floorboard. He remembered a 3/4 full bag of Doritos back there from the day before and he also grabbed a stale bag of popcorn that had been in the car for over a week. Straining as far as he could, Gavin was also able to salvage most of a bag of Reece's miniatures as well. The entire time Gavin was stretching himself to grab the junk food, Rochelle was forced to kneel by the opened door, less than three feet from the slumped corpse of the man that had kidnapped her. The only redeeming part of the process for Rochelle, since she'd lost whatever appetite she may have had, was picking Ernesto's pistol off the floorboard beneath his feet. Helping Gavin out of the car once he was done collecting the food, Rochelle couldn't help losing what was left of her lunch from the day before in the bushes beside the Volvo. Even though he wasn't a firearm aficionado, it didn't take long for Gavin to notice there were only two bullets resting inside Ernesto's gun. Clicking the safety on, he and Rochelle felt a cool and sobering chill collectively sweep through the pits of their stomachs knowing each one of those bullets could have easily found a permanent home in their skulls if they hadn't acted when they did. "Let's find a big rock and see if we can somehow shoot the chain on these cuffs in half," Gavin eagerly offered. "Only two bullets...?" Rochelle asked. "Yeah," Gavin double-checked as they walked up to the makeshift road. "Then we probably better....," Rochelle started to say before she screamed in agony. For a second Gavin thought Rochelle had literally been swallowed up by Hell itself. His right arm nearly coming out of socket when she fell, Gavin quickly crumpled down to his knees beside the large hole she'd fallen into. "My God...," he stammered. "Are you OK?" A long and gut-wrenching groan leapt from Rochelle's throat when she tried using her right foot to push herself out of the three foot deep weak spot in the ground where a tree stump had been before the loggers came along. "Slow down..take your time," Gavin muttered, still startled himself as he sensed clearly the pain in Rochelle's voice. It took a couple of minutes, but Gavin was finally able to extract Rochelle from the hole. By the time he'd gotten her upright and dusted some of the dirt that covered her all the way up to her sternum, Gavin quickly noticed she was having a problem putting weight on her right foot. "I think I twisted my ankle..maybe wrenched my knee too," Rochelle spat some leaf pieces out of her mouth and assessed. "Let's get over to the clearing and sit down," Gavin prodded before wrapping his arm around Rochelle's waist like a battlefield medic. "I don't see any bones sticking out," he tried to add a touch of humor even though it was clear a nasty knot was beginning to rise inside Rochelle's right sock. "I should have been looking where I was going," Rochelle berated herself, knowing she had momentarily lost focus seeing the bullets in Ernesto's gun, knowing one of them could have been meant for her. Gavin reassured Rochelle not to worry and keep her chin up but deep down he knew walking together for help was probably not an option now. "We probably ought to think about getting a fire started asap," he thought to himself. "Get that smoke up in the air with plenty of daylight left...maybe someone will see it." "Probably need to start getting some dry brush together before her ankle really starts to tighten up," the wheels inside Gavin's head continued to turn. Rochelle immediately wanted to disagree with Gavin's plan to stay put when he told her. "I can still walk," Rochelle started to insist before a jolt of pain shut her up the instant she tried to stand. ___________________________________ With Rochelle in her current condition, it took Gavin well over an hour to scrounge up enough dry brush to make a fire as big as he wanted. Figuring it best to set up camp in the same spot along the river that they spent the night before, Gavin dragged the tree limbs in his left hand as he guided Rochelle along with his cuffed right. Taking extreme care with Rochelle as he zig-zagged through the forest, Gavin collected what brush he could carry with one hand and dropped it at the top of the river bank before setting out for more. Rochelle did an admirable job hopping along with one foot for the 90 minutes or so it took, but she let out a gushing sigh of relief when Gavin said he had enough brush and finally began tossing it down by the river side. Using every last bit of energy she had, Rochelle somehow managed with Gavin's help to descend the hill to the spot they slept the night before. After gulping down another dose of the cool and refreshing river water, Gavin allowed Rochelle to rest on her sprained ankle for a half hour or so before setting out to start the fire. Sapped mentally and physically, Gavin was running on fumes as he organized the brush into place, the entire time having the anchor of Rochelle's barely mobile body attached to his. She was trooper however, hobbling back and forth beside Gavin and helping when she could as the late morning Sun began to take its toll. One Gavin had set the limbs, branches and brush in the pattern his Boy Scout master had taught him many years earlier, Gavin used the lighter to ignite several handfuls of dry kindling before setting them strategically around the pile of timber. "AHH...Yesss," Gavin and Rochelle gasped in unison before sharing a quick and giddy hug as the fire took hold. "Hopefully they'll be able to see the smoke for a couple of miles around..I'm guessing there aren't a lot of people around here so if anything flies over, hopefully they'll realize something's going on down here," Gavin sighed with exhausted optimism. "Let's get something to eat," Rochelle interjected, hopping along with Gavin's help until they reached the spot on the river bank they'd spent the previous night. Gorging themselves on a brunch of Doritos and miniature candy bars, Gavin and Rochelle hoped it was the first and only meal they'd have to eat in the wild before being rescued, but with each passing bite the idea of rationing became the prudent thing to do. _______________________________ The Sun continued it's methodical crawl across the sky with no hint of rescue. Listening periodically for any sound of a plane engine or human presence in the woods, Gavin and Rochelle had long ran out of topics to talk about. Rochelle had remembered at some point she had an Ace bandage somewhere in the back of her car but quickly decided it wasn't worth the trouble to scurry back up the hill and deal with the face of death waiting there. Besides, with the amount of swelling, she didn't think she could get her shoe back on anyway. Gavin had found a decent sized rock along the river's edge to try and use as a anvil for shooting the chain of the handcuffs in half but with only two rounds left to fire, he and Rochelle decided it might be better, considering the perils of the forest, to conserve them just in case. Feeling the urge every hour or so to get Rochelle up just to keep her ankle as loose as possible, the two would share a healthy swig of water before Gavin tended to the campfire, which by now was more the size of a small bonfire. Taking a look up in the sky and guessing from the angle of the Sun it was close to 4pm, it dawned on Gavin it had been nearly a full day since their ordeal began. He didn't feel the need however to communicate that to Rochelle. _____________________________________ By the time the first shades of dusk were starting fall, a definite melancholy had settled over Gavin and Rochelle. The fire would provide a little more warmth than they had the previous night, but as the last slivers of sunlight began to dissolve and their hopes began another downward ebb, the two needed something good to happen. With barely enough light left, they got that break with a pull of Gavin's left index finger. A fat squirrel had been stalking the area all day, bounding up and down several trees while keeping the occasional eye on the humans intruding his space. The junk food, if anything, had only made Gavin hungrier, and before his mind could really process what he was doing, his belly made the decision to pull the trigger of Ernesto's pistol. "AAHHHHHHHHH," Rochelle shrieked, covering her eyes as she ducked for cover beside Gavin, for a few seconds having absolutely no idea what had happened. "Are you crazy....?" she grimaced as she raised her head up enough to see in the direction where Gavin had shot. 'I can't believe I shot that thing on the first try with my left hand," he wanted to laugh out loud as he helped Rochelle to her feet so they could stumble over and collect his kill, but decided bragging wasn't exactly apt given their circumstances. The report of Gavin's shot still reverberating inside her head, Rochelle followed along and watched the young man gut the squirrel the best he could with his pocket knife before jabbing a sturdy stick through its carcass and cooking it in the fire. The last thing Rochelle Stewart ever thought she'd put to her lips was char-burnt squirrel, but given the situation and having gone over a day without any real food, the rubbery meat tasted like a delicacy. The pair nibbled and pulled what meat they could from the bones as darkness closed around them, marking a full day stranded by the river. Gavin tossed the remaining brush on the fire in an effort to insure their warmth through the night, as well as a lit beacon for anyone that might fly over the desolate area. Settling in for their second night in the woods, tethered together with only one bullet remaining in the gun, neither Gavin or Rochelle wanted to contemplate their fate if a third would be required. ____________________________ Just before the two prepared to turn in and somehow get some sleep, Rochelle made the suggestion that they use the bathroom before bed instead of groggily stumbling about as they'd done the night before. Gavin helped Rochelle to her feet and the pair made their way by firelight to the edge of the river. Having jointly answered the call of nature several hours earlier, upon Rochelle's urging Gavin went first. After freeing his cock, Gavin proceeded to pee for the better part of 35 seconds, taking several deep breaths in the process and surprising himself at how easy it was the second time with Rochelle standing directly beside him. Tapping the final few droplets of urine from the head of his penis, it suddenly dawned on Gavin that getting Rochelle into position to relieve herself might be a little tougher this time considering her bum ankle. Turning around once he'd zipped back up, Gavin couldn't help but see how much Rochelle resembled a lame dog as she held her right foot in the air, doing her damndest to keep her balance as she waited her turn. Gavin prepared to ask if she was going to need his help in any way, but thankfully the words got caught in his throat. Instead Gavin simply placed his free hand on Rochelle's right shoulder, trying to hold her steady as she fumbled to unbutton, then unzip her muddy white shorts. Despite his best efforts to help stabilize Rochelle as she struggled to get her pants down, it quickly became apparent she wasn't going to be able to do it by herself. Listing a little more to the right each time she tried to steady herself, Rochelle reached out with her right hand and pressed it down on Gavin's left shoulder to support her weight. "You think you can help me with this?" she finally asked with softly spoken shame. Gavin swallowed hard as Rochelle's words sunk in. Considering all they'd been through over the previous day and a half, Gavin knew this was simply another real-life obstacle they'd have to meet. Feeling Rochelle's fingers digging into the meat of his upper arm as she tettered and hopped a few inches in front of him, he nodded his head and told her he would. Working the fingers of his free hand into the waist of Rochelle's shorts, Gavin did the best to keep his head tilted sideways, desperately trying not to either look down or into the woman's face as he pulled her shorts down. Even without looking, Gavin could sense how close Rochelle's bladder was to letting go however from the way her thighs shimmied anxiously together as she tried to balance on one good foot. Gavin had done an admiral job the entire day blocking out what had happened just before Sunrise with Rochelle. Kneeling down in front of her as he carefully and cautiously rolled her pants down, the memory suddenly and vividly splashed once again across the tv screen of his mind. Shaking his head ever so slightly to try and focus on the task at hand, Gavin did the best he could to surpress such thoughts, especially with Rochelle in such a vulnerable state. Quickly stepping backwards and turning around once he'd pulled Rochelle's shorts down to her feet, Gavin could feel the slack on his arm tighten as she lowered herself down to use the bathroom. Inhaling a couple of deep breaths to steady his mind, Gavin was suddenly met with a clear whiff of Rochelle's musky vaginal scent wafting through the air. "Oh God," he moaned to himself after inhaling again. Listening to the stream of Rochelle's piss hitting the ground, Gavin closed his eyes even tighter, swearing in his mind's eye he'd caught a glimpse of his friend's Mom's pussy out of the corner of his eye in the orange-tinted glow of the campfire. "A nice dark blonde pelt," a strange voice in his head mumbled as his cock stirred with life inside his pants. "OK....I think I'm done," the older woman said a few seconds later with a mixture of strain and deep relief. Keeping his eyes closed, mostly, as he turned back around, Gavin knelt down in front of Rochelle when she stood up. Taking the shorts and panties bunched at her feet into his left hand, Gavin began working them back up her legs until he could grab them with his cuffed right hand as well. Feeling the smooth and cool softness of Rochelle's underwear against his fingertips, Gavin could see through his slitted eyes that they were lacy white and bikini-cut. Working the garments over Rochelle's knees and up to her waist, Gavin couldn't help but feel the natural warmth emanating from the married woman's exposed crotch against his see-sawing hands. By the time he'd got Rochelle's shorts over the rounded expanse of her hips, she'd started to reach down with her free hand to help zip them back up. Gavin however beat her to it. For five seconds his fingers were literally centimeters from Rochelle's pussy as he worked the fly back into place. "Don't worry about doing the button," she sighed down to Gavin with a touch of embarrassment and humor. "They're a size too small anyway..if we're stuck out her another day or two maybe they'll fit again." All that was left now for the two was to slink back to their campsite and see if sleep would come. With the bonfire crackling, Gavin was tempted to suggest they sing some campfire songs, or maybe tell some ghost stories to pass the time, but he kept the idea to himself. They were too tired to sing, and the reality of their situation was scary enough on its own. ___________________________________ Just as it had been the previous night, sleep was fitful and tedious for Rochelle. The steady pain in her side from the crash combined with the heavy throb in her swollen ankle made finding a comfortable spot to sleep in impossible for more than a few minutes at a time. With the shroud of night surrounding him now, Gavin found it difficult to fall asleep for other reasons. During the daylight hours, he'd been consumed by trying to get rescued, help Rochelle after her injury and basicly do what he could to keep themselves alive. Laying flat on the grassy bank with nothing but the soft hum of the river and crackle of fire at his feet, Gavin was finally able to look up into the starry sky and re-live what had happened with Rochelle right before the Sun came up that morning. Tilting his head towards her, Gavin stole an extended stare, guiltily feeling his cock twitch with life inside his jeans. The previous 30 hours played like a slow moving loop in Gavin's head. From being carjacked and kidnapped to killing their abductor, to finding themselves stranded and bound together in the middle of the woods, far away from any hint of civilization, both injured wet and hungry, the only thing Gavin found any comfort in was allowing his mind to re-visit the feeling he had when Rochelle Stewart's mouth clamped down tight around his cock and milked every last drop of cum from his seething balls a little before 6 that morning. Why she'd done it, Gavin knew he would probably never know, but in retrospect with a day's worth of travail to clear away the fog, he could see the subtle but telling signs that led up to it. Turning his gaze away from Rochelle when he sensed her first stir, then start to toss and turn, Gavin calmly looked back up into the night sky. "God's gonna be the only one who's saw all this...he might be the only one capable of sorting it all out," he said to himself, not exactly sure what he meant by those words but sincerely believing them. It wasn't long before several groans and hiccupping sobs were once again seeping from Rochelle's lips. Rolling his eyes back to her, before he even realized it Gavin had extended his cuffed right hand and placed it gently down on top of the soiled left hip of Rochelle's weather beaten shorts. Pocket Full of Innocence Ch. 03 It certainly wasn't a romantic gesture. If anything it was simply a subconscious and unplanned attempt at reassurance to Rochelle that she wasn't alone. When Rochelle scooted forward on her side and buried her head against his chest, Gavin could somehow feel the life starting to creep back into the woman's mangled body. His right hand still resting on her hip, it took a few minutes but at some point Rochelle guided her left hand down, bringing Gavin's right with it, until both their hands were snug on top of Rochelle's breast bone. "...What are you doing?" Gavin tried to ask with severe cottonmouth. Rochelle's only response was to open Gavin's hand flat and place it down on her chest. Gavin could immediately feel the vibrations of Rochelle's heart pounding like a drum inside her chest. "She must just need the help calming herself down," Gavin said to himself, truly thinking that was all there was to it. His own heart racing as well, Gavin flexed his five fingers across the center of Rochelle's chest for nearly a minute until he felt the palm of her soft hand close around the back of his. Like a weary man scaling down the steep side of a sandy dune, each time Gavin thought he had a foothold with Rochelle's intentions, he'd suddenly find himself thrown off balance yet again. The warm, serene calm of mental exhaustion overtaking him, a paralysis of sorts gripped Gavin when the woman beside him did the unthinkable. The cool metal chain linking the two bracelets tickling his wrist, Gavin was powerless to stop the older woman beside him when she closed her hand around his and started to lower it towards the soft swells of her breasts. ".....UUUHHHH...," Gavin choked, still unsure if Rochelle was even awake. With Rochelle resting in the position on her side, Gavin could clearly feel the full weight of the woman's left tit between his fingers each time she exhaled. Too scared initially to move his grip at all on top of her breast, the silent, reassuring way she kept her hand lodged on top of his, Gavin finally bit his lip and began to gently massage the soft orb. "WHHAAAHHH," Rochelle gasped softly, her voice distant as if she were trapped in some nether world between consciousness and sleep. "God's the only witness out here," Gavin once again found himself thinking, and Judgement Day seemed an eternity away. The awkward position of the cuffs made altering the angle he was fondling Rochelle at difficult, but from the way her fingers continuously kneaded at the back of his hand along with the tremors that were clearly racking through her body, Gavin had a good idea he was doing something right. The married woman's nipples had grown to the size of plump cheeries inside her shirt and Gavin could feel Rochelle's knees and calves intertwining against his as her feet dug hard at the moist ground below. Time ceased to matter there in the dark, and Gavin had lost any semblence of how long he laid there patiently squeezing and churning his right hand around Rochelle's bosom as she crumpled and crawled ever closer to him. At some point Gavin caught a whiff of the exact same scent he'd detected when he was helping Rochelle pull her pants down by the river. It suddenly didn't matter if he was her Son's best friend or not, a primal line had been tripped and there was no going back for either one. There was a powerful urge welling inside Gavin to lean in and kiss Rochelle on the lips, after all that's what people did in the situation they'd found themselves in. There was however an immense fear on his part that one wrong move would shake Rochelle back to her senses and God knows what the implications would be. Instead, he allowed the momentum to build at its own natural pace. Groping his hand around the fleshiest part of Rochelle's tit, as if testing a ripe melon, Gavin could feel the woman's heated breath rush against his chest as she cuddled closer. If the fog of the previous night had provided a surreal, almost dreamy backdrop to their interlude, laying there by the fire, doing what they were doing now created its own symbolic aura as well. "Was what they were doing gonna leave them to burn in Hell?" Gavin couldn't help but wonder as the flames from the bonfire raged at their feet. Scraping his thumb repeatedly across the bulging nub of Rochelle's left nipple, Gavin looked down and could see the woman's knees begin to part slowly, as if attached to some sort of magic pulley. His pupils narrowing and glazed over with single-minded intent, Gavin continued to pinch and tug at Rochelle's nipple until it had grown to the shape of a pointed bullet. Within a minute, Rochelle's thighs resembled the flared wings of a pale butterfly by the firelight, and even without the ability to put words to it, deep down in primal depths of his mind Gavin understood what was to come next. Just as he'd been forced to fight the temptation to kiss Rochelle minutes earlier, now Gavin was faced with the aching and natural desire to unzip his pants, pull his more than willing cock free and fuck the woman right there in the dirt. Thankfully, he knew the logistics of such an endeavor would have been next to impossible considering their odd predicament. Instead he laid there beside her, content to ride the wave he'd been swept up by, watching as Rochelle led his right hand off her breast and down towards her waist. Doing his best to keep his gaze steady, Gavin stared on in wide-eyed wonder until his hand came to rest dead center between the woman's fleshy thighs. Pressing his palm flat against the dingy material of Rochelle's filthy shorts, he could immediately feel the tell-tale warmth bubbling up through the fabric. "AAAHHH," Rochelle cowered the instant she felt the weight of Gavin's hand come to rest on top of her screaming crotch. "...Unzip it...," her voice trickled like smoke from her throat a few seconds later. The blood rushing through Gavin's head nearly caused him to have a stroke before he could finally steady himself on his elbow and comply with Rochelle's whispered plea. Gavin harkened back a couple hours earlier when he'd helped Rochelle pull her pants back up after peeing. He remembered zipping them back up but not snapping the button. Suddenly with his hand back in the very same spot, he somehow managed to clamp his trembling fingers around the tug of the zipper and pull it down on the very first try. "HOLY FUCK," he thought to himself there in the dark, seeing the outline of Rochelle's ashen face in the dim firelight below. All the years of thinking something like this was tantamount to a teenage pipedream, to actually have it happening before his eyes left Gavin feeling numb from head to toe. Knowing it all was a dream and that he'd wake up the instant he tried sneaking his hand inside her pants, the numbness in his body quickly gave way to fire when his fingertips grazed across the silky front panel of the woman's panties. Instantly feeling the moisture that had inundated the patch of fabric just inside the fly of her shorts, Gavin accepted what was about to happen was all too real. It didn't matter anymore than she was a happily married mother of two, the mother of his best childhood friend in fact, and the longtime friend of his family. Her legs were open and her left hand was nudging his right past the point of no return. Gavin could even feel the coolness of the gold band of Rochelle's diamond studded wedding ring against the back of his fingers as she pressed his hand down on her swollen and syrupy pubic mound. Gavin's heart bounced into his throat seeing the way Rochelle's breasts swayed inside her shirt when he began to dip his fingers inside her panties. Feeling the wispy trail of Rochelle's pubic hair against his fingertips as he inched them deeper, Gavin could see the woman's head tilt to the side as he surveyed the humid wetness of her crotch. Angling his wrist to get his hand where it needed to go, Gavin could feel Rochelle's left hand cupped over top of his right, as if guiding him to the very spot she needed. Even though a day and a half earlier she might have been the most untouchable woman he knew, it startled Gavin to no end just how similar Rochelle's pussy felt to the limited few he'd had the pleasure of touching. Feeling the way Rochelle's entire body seemed to shudder and react to his advances empowered him as he sensed her implicit surrender. "AAAAHHHHHHHHH," an animalistic gasp shot from Rochelle's throat the instant Gavin shoved his middle finger between her distended labia and straight into her inflamed cunt. Instinctively slipping his free arm behind Rochelle's neck to support her jerking head, Gavin could see that her eyes were still closed even though the rest of her was seemingly on fire. His index and middle fingers hooked inside Rochelle's boiling quim, Gavin could feel the woman's well trained vaginal muscles relentlessly pulling him deeper. "I wonder what she's thinking about behind those closed eyes?" Gavin allowed himself to wonder, strangely comfortable with the notion that Rochelle's mind was elsewhere as she allowed him free reign over her body. Darting his two embedded fingers like the duel heads of a hydra until the slippery lips of Rochelle's labia clung to his hand like two pink leeches, Gavin could see the woman's heels, including the sprained one, digging anxiously at the mud each time another of his vaginal jabs hit home. "UUUUUHHHHHH," the married woman started to moan, the echoes of her steadily increasing guttural release rising from the river bank until it reverberated through the canopy of trees above. The sound of Rochelle's screeching lust only served to intensify Gavin's efforts until he'd somehow corkscrewed his entire hand down the front of the older woman's pants. Watching the way she blindly rotated her hips, trying to work her shorts and panties down to provide Gavin clear access, Gavin held her tight with his left hand as he gouged her sex with his right. "OHHHMYYYGAAWWDDDD...OOOOHHHHMMYYGGOODDDDDDDD," Rochelle's voice rattled from her lungs a few second later, making the young man's ears ring as he speared his fingertips into the spastic woman's G-spot. Using that discovery to his advantage, Gavin repeatedly stabbed and spun his fingers through Rochelle's pussy until she was literally gushing all over both their joined hands. Gavin knew he'd blown his load down Rochelle's throat in record time at the break of dawn. Part of him yearned to have that minute or two back just to show her he did had some semblance of self control. With the shoe on the other foot now, Gavin rested there on his elbow beside Rochelle, rapidly frigging her pussy with his right hand, remembering all the stories he'd heard over the years about how long it often took to get a woman off. Given that context, Gavin didn't know quite how to react when Rochelle began cumming less than three minutes after he'd slithered his fingers inside her. It felt as if a balloon full of warm jasmine oil had burst all over Gavin's hand as Rochelle Stewart's vaginal juices sizzled and spewed forth. Even by the dim, orangish glow of the fire, Gavin was startled by the vividness of Rochelle's release. It appeared as if the older woman was in the throws of labor by the straining contortions ripping up and down her body, not to mention the ferocity of her cries as they drifted upwards towards the night sky. Unable to take his eyes off Rochelle's grimacing face, Gavin continued to pump his right arm like a well oiled machine into her cunt until the forest was on fire with the sound of her blood curdling, orgasmic wails. Her forehead pressed against Gavin's shoulder, the 18 year old young man continued to spin his fingers through the married woman's cunt until Rochelle literally looked like she was deflating in front of him, as if everything that had been building inside her since their ordeal began left her body in that barbaric, orgasmic fit. Pulling his hand from Rochelle's crotch a minute or so later with the same cool detachment she'd used when she allowed his dick to fall from her mouth hours earlier, the two proceeded to lay there in exhausted silence, each lost in their private delirium and doing all they could to avoid thinking about the inevitable consequences of their actions. _____________________________________ Their rescue came a little before 7 the next morning. The first hint of their salvation came when they were awakened by the rumbling hum of a helicopter flying several hundred feet above their campsite. The authorities had picked up the ping of Rochelle's discarded cellphone and used that to narrow the scope of the search. After putting several small planes and choppers up, one of the helos spotted the smoke coming from a fire in a very remote location just after dawn. After dropping down far enough to get a good look, the pilots noticed two bodies laying beside the river below. It wasn't long before a cavalry of ATV's and four wheel drives were rolling up the same deserted logging road Rochelle Stewart's Volvo had made the fateful trip two days earlier. _____________________________________ Sitting on the bank about fifty feet from the spot where the rescue workers had a blanket wrapped around Rochelle, Gavin counted his blessings that the she'd zipped her pants back up after their moment of shared weakness during the middle of the night. Wiping his right hand several times through the decaying layer of leaves to try and get the clingy scent of Rochelle's arousal from his fingers, Gavin then rubbed the same wrist with his left, thankful the rescue people had snipped the cuffs off a few minutes earlier with a pair of bolt cutters. "She got the same smell on her left hand," Gavin thought with a mixture of trepidation and pride, knowing Rochelle's family, like his, were on their way to the scene. Gavin knew full well there would be several layers of emotional fallout in the days, weeks and months to follow, but there was one extra burden of guilt only he'd have to endure. Just after freeing himself from the zip-ties in the backseat of Rochelle's Volvo, mere seconds before he initiated the plan that killed their abductor, Gavin had picked up something from the floorboard of the car and subtly snuck it into one of the rear pockets of his jeans. The minutes and hours after killing Ernesto and surviving the crash had been such a whirlwind, Gavin had nearly forgot about the small oblong piece of metal in his back pocket until he tried putting his river soaked pants back on after their first night in the woods. Extending his left hand behind his back to make sure the evidence of his moral indiscretion was still safely tucked away, Gavin closed his eyes, swallowed hard and bowed his head for a few seconds between his raised knees. The key to the handcuffs had been there the whole time. * THE END Thanks, for reading the series!!