Dirt

I woke up some time later on a dusty floor. I was physically chained to it with my left hand. I peered around the room and in the dim light I could just make out Matt's shape. He was handcuffed and chained to the opposite wall. The room itself must have been used for storage. There were dusty boxes and old tools scattered around the floor. I couldn't tell if Matt was passed out or not, but I could just make out some cuts and bruises on his face. They had beaten him worse than me. My first instinct was to feel bad for him, but then I remembered. This was his fault in the first place. Well, maybe not totally, but if it made me feel better to think that, then I would. But...shit. Even though I hated him now, it looked as though he was in just as much trouble as I was. I couldn't just let him stay here. If I was going to find a way out, I guess I had to take him with me.

"Matt," I stage whispered. He either didn't hear me or was that passed out. I tried again. "Matt!" I yelled loud enough to startle him and he lifted his head up.

"Ash. Are you okay?"

"I guess," I told him. "What happened? Where's everyone?"

"They fought. Harrison wants to keep you around and the dad, David, wants to kill us both. He says we're loose ends. They fought, and Harrison won. I don't know what happened to David, but they drug him back upstairs. I don't know for sure how long they've been gone." Matt stopped for a second and took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry."

"Stop," I cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. I just want to get the fuck out of here. I don't suppose you have any bright ideas, huh?"

He looked around the room. "Not really. You have every right to be mad at me right now."

"Good, because I am. Now shut up. Seriously. I'm trying to think." I studied the situation again. Why would they handcuff Matt and chain him to the wall, but only chain one of my hands? That was easy to answer. They didn't really see me as a threat. Good. I would need that. I looked down at the cuff on my wrist. It was kind of loose. I tried to pull my hand out. I could feel the burning sensation of the metal pulling against my skin. Fuck it. What's a couple scratches or scars if it gets me out of this? I pulled harder. It was really starting to hurt. Tears involuntarily sprung to my eyes. Shit. Maybe if I bled some it would act as a lubrication to squeeze my hand out. I pulled and pulled. I was getting frustrated because my hand would get so close, but my thumb stopped my progress every time. I had to think about this. I looked around the room again. I noticed an old hammer lying on the ground not too far away from me. Well, that's a fucked up thought to have.

I laid down on the floor and tried to scoot the hammer closer to my body with my foot. It took several tries, but I finally got it close enough that I could grab it with my right hand. I studied the tool in my hand. My breathing became more labored when I really thought about what my options were. I couldn't just sit around and wait for Harrison to figure out what to do with me. I didn't want to give him the opportunity to come up with any fucked up ideas. I shot a quick glance over to Matt.

"What are you thinking?" he asked me. "You'll never break that chain with that hammer. It just won't happen."

"It's not the chain I'm worried about breaking." He gave me a confused look. "Have you ever seen The Boondock Saints?"

(Matt's POV)

I watched her pull on the cuff on her wrist for a while. She was bleeding and crying, and I wanted to kill someone. She should have never been put in anything remotely close to this. But damn if she wasn't amazing. Most girls would have cracked under the pressure and just sat around waiting to die. But not Ash. She may not get out of this, but she wasn't going down without a fight. I had to admire her for that. She finally growled in frustration and stopped trying to slip her restraint. She looked around on the floor, then dropped down and pulled a hammer to herself with her foot.

"What are you thinking? You'll never break that chain with that hammer. It just won't happen."

She shot me a 'go to hell' look. "It's not the chain I'm worried about breaking. Have you ever seen The Boondock Saints?"

I was confused. I had seen the movie, but I didn't know what she would have been referring to. There was only one scene where anyone was handcuffed, and that was in the beginning when they handcuffed the one guy to the toilet. No, I was wrong. There was that other scene where all three of them were handcuffed to some chairs, then the one brother had to break the other brother's hand so he could slip out of the handcuff...FUCK! "Ash! Don't do it!"

"What other choice do I have? Unless you have some brilliant epiphany on how to get out of this, then I don't see any other way."

"Ash, I'm not kidding. We'll think of something else. Just, don't do this."

Her brows furrowed together in anger or frustration. "Shut up! Just shut up. You don't get to tell me what to do. You're lucky I'm considering taking you with me at all."

"Be mad at me all you want," I told her, "but there has got to be something else we can do. This is extreme."

"Stop talking." She took a few labored breaths then lifted the hammer to shoulder height. I squeezed her eyes shut tight, then took one last deep breath. She opened her eyes and swung the hammer down, hitting her thumb. The small cry she emitted stole my own breath. She took a moment then repeated the action. This time she screamed out loud. She was crying and breathing so fast I thought she was gonna hyperventilate. She sat down on the ground. "I need a minute. I'm a little faint. I'll try to slip out of this in a second."

"You didn't have to do that. Jesus Christ, Ash! Now what?"

She didn't answer me. She just tried to slip the cuff off her wrist. It was a slow process and I seriously thought she was going to pass out when the cuff hit her thumb, but it actually worked. She managed to get her hand free. She was still seated on the floor, and she still looked a little uneasy, but she smiled triumphantly at me. "See? Now all I have to do is wait." I started to ask her what she meant, but we heard a noise coming from the hallway. "Listen," Ash said to me in hushed tones, "you have to distract one of them. It doesn't matter which one, but just do whatever you can to distract one of them."

She sat back against the wall and put her injured hand behind her, making it look like she was still chained to the wall. She also was hiding the hammer behind her back as well. As the footsteps got closer, I readied myself for whatever I had to do, but as luck would have it, there was only one of them that came down the stairs to check on us. It was just the friend. I quickly started yelling at him and making threats to try and get him to come over to my side of the room. He did. He came over to stand in front of me and hit me in the face one more time. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Ash slowly get up from the floor and creep her way over to where we were. I didn't want this for her. This was all wrong. I watched in horror as she lifted the hammer high above the guy's head.

(Ash's POV)

I brought the hammer down as hard as I could on the back of that guy's head. He went down with a giant thud, and I felt as if I was going to throw up. Once he was down I rolled him over and started searching his pockets. Matt asked me what I was doing. "Really? How are you not prepared for something like this? I'm searching his pockets for the keys to your handcuffs, and hopefully the gun."

"How are you prepared for something like this? Is this some kind of fucked up game you played with your dad as a kid? Pretend kidnapping?"

I knew Matt was freaking out at this point, and he probably didn't mean what he was saying. It didn't stop the major sigh and eye roll that came from me when he said it, though. Eureka! I found the keys. I kept looking for the gun, but I knew he didn't have it. That meant that Harrison did. I didn't like that fact at all. That also meant that if his friend didn't come back upstairs in a timely fashion, he would come down to see what was taking so long. I couldn't chance that. I took the keys and quickly unlocked Matt's handcuffs. He let out a sigh of relief when he was able to move his arms around. He reached for me, as if to hug or hold me, but I quickly skirted away from the contact.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you. I just...I want to see for myself that you're okay."

"Sorry friend," I said with a head shake. "You don't get those privileges. You'll just have to trust me. I'm fine. At least I will be once I'm home."

"Ash, we need to talk about all this."

I was floored. "Really? Right now? You really think this is the best time and place to sit down and hash out our problems? We have to talk about how our whole relationship was a lie, now?! How you did one of the most unforgivable things anyone could ever do to me?! There, we've talked about it. Now shut the fuck up, and let's get out of here."

Matt didn't say anything else. He just bent down and scooped up an old rusty wrench. Perfect. Nothing like bringing two blunt objects to a gun fight. Matt insisted on leading the way as we crept down the hallway towards where we thought the stairs were. My hand was swelling where I had broken my thumb, and it was throbbing in time with my rapidly beating heart. I knew if I said anything, Matt would just flip out and insist on trying to hug the pain away, and that was the last thing I wanted. Although, the longer we traipsed down that corridor, the more my hand hurt, and I was just about to tell Matt to get a move on. That is, until we heard the door open, and we heard footsteps on the stairs.