Installment number 7. 12,293

I guess at some point I am going to need a title, and I guarantee that a name or two and possibly the locations, will change. But for now - I'm up to TWELVE THOUSAND WORDS!!!! lol If you have any suggestions for the title, feel free to leave a comment, I'll take them all under consideration. And again, thank you so much for your time and encouragement. and without further ado, here is installment 7.



The dog didn’t seem to have a human attached to him, he was all by himself just running around Amy as fast as he could, like he had boundless energy and wanted to share it with her. Unfortunately Amy didn’t have boundless energy, her ordeal had weakened her more then she realized. She needed to find the people that went with this dog, but that would take motivation. She was working on it as hard as she could when she heard a shrill whistle. The dog stopped and stood stock still, ears up and face alert, facing down the beach. And then he was off like a shot, running full out, looking almost like he was flying towards that sound. Amy watched him go with growing alarm. She needed to go with him!!! She had to get someone to help her get back home. She pushed herself up off the sand and started to stagger after the dog, and fell again. She lay on the sand for a minute, trying to summon the strength to rise again, when the dog jumped over her barking and started running circles around her again. Whining and barking and making all kinds of noise, he sounded super excited. Then the whistle came again and the dog was off and running again. This time Amy didn’t try to stand, she sat up and watched the dog, wondering if he was going to come back again. If not then she would get up in a minute and try to follow his tracks in the sand. How far could he have come anyway? His owner was just down the beach and would surly help her as soon as he knew she was here. And yes, there he was again, running down the beach again, bouncing and jumping and make quick side trips into the surf, biting at the waves, so full of life that he made Amy feel his joy. She reveled in that feeling. The whole time that she had been going thru this ordeal she had not thought that she would ever feel that again, and here it was, just running around on the beach. She knew this wasn’t over, but she also knew that the worst was. And then the dog came running right at her and bowled her over backwards and stood on her chest again, panting in her face and trying his best to lick her face, while she tried to fend him off, laughing at his antics.


Despite the general confusion of eleven teens trying to tell their story all at one time, the officers were able to sort out the salient facts pretty quickly. They followed the footsteps in the sand back to where Bret and Amy had been attacked and started trying to figure out where the men had taken Amy. While they were doing this another patrol car had arrived with two more officers, who were there to take the kids home. All but Bret that is, as he needed to give a statement down at the station before he could go home. They asked the other kids to write up what they knew and what they had done and send it to the station in the next day or two. Although they had managed to find the way to get help to the group, the only one who had been there at the time of the attack was Bret, so anything they said would just be a repeat of his story since they didn’t see it. And so it was that the kids were split up again, five in each patrol car and Bret staying with the first responding officers. None of them were really happy about this turn of events. They may have been just casual friends when this all started, but by now they had a bond that would last them all for a very long time.

When the officers took the kids home, they took the time to explain to each of the parents how brave and resourceful their kids were. How they had kept their heads and worked out plans to get help with the least amount of danger to themselves. They made sure that their folks knew just how much respect they had for them. Not every young person could or would have done what they had done tonight. They had stuck together as a unit and made decisions that most adults would have had trouble with. This took some time and it was late in the morning before the officers made it back to the beach to see if there was anything they could do to help with the search.

After a couple minutes of doggie exuberance, Amy pushed him off and he rolled over and lay there on his back with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth blatantly asking her to rub his tummy. So she sat there doing just that and catching her breath again. She knew now that if the dog didn’t go back to the person that was whistling then they would almost positively come looking for him, so she just stayed where she was, petting the dog and talking to him and resting, awaiting rescue.

And she had been right. It didn’t take too long for the man to come striding down the beach. As soon as he saw her holding on to his dog, he started jogging towards them. As he got closer he could see that she was hurt and he ran the remaining distance to her. As he slid to a stop in front of her he started asking her questions. “are you all right?” was the first one, then “what happened to you? Do you need a doctor? Where are your parents? How did you get here? What is your name?” She chuckled rather weakly and said “my name is Amy and I was kidnapped last night.” Then she stopped and caught her breath and with a hic uppy little sound she tried to tell him that she was hurt and she did need a doctor, but what she wanted most were her mom and dad, but none of that came out when she opened her mouth, what did come out was a sob that she couldn’t seem to keep inside any longer and she reached out and buried her face in the dogs fur and just cried and cried. The man said “My name is Bobby and I will help you. I promise you Amy I will not hurt you, can you hear me?” She nodded her head yes, but couldn’t stop crying. He reached out to touch her shoulder and she flinched violently away from his hand, gasping as if he had hit her. He jerked his had back and leaned back on his heels and looked at her. “I do not want to know what happened Amy, but I do need to know if you can walk” She mutely looked at him thru watery red rimmed eyes and shook her head ‘no’. She tried with all her might to stop the tears, but they just kept sliding down her cheeks anyway. The sobs had stopped tho, and she was grateful for that. Bobby said “If you cannot walk I am going to have to carry you, and in order for me to do that, you will have to trust me.” She didn’t realize it but she was shaking her head ‘no’ again and her breath was getting shorter as she tried to not scoot backwards away from him. Bobby knew what was happening instinctively and started murmuring reassurances to her, in much the same way that he would with Rover when he was frightened. “Amy, I am not going to walk away and leave you here, that is out of the question” he said after a few minutes, when he could tell that she was a little calmer. “how can I convince you to trust me?” She shrugged her shoulders in helplessness. “ok, so how bout we think about it this way, Rover trusts me, and he is not afraid of me. Dogs have good instincts don’t you think? And if He trusts me don’t you think that you can too?” She almost laughed at that one, “trust him just because the dog did? Yeah, right, that’ll be the day” she thought.. But she knew he was right about one thing, she would have to trust him to a certain degree or they would never get off this beach, and she needed to get home. “okay” she said “I will trust you are only trying to help me” “Great! I live about a half a mile down that way and I’ll do my best to carry you that far without dropping you” He said this with a smile and she gave a wan little grin in return.

It was much harder to walk down the beach carrying someone than Bobby could have imagined. He was determined to get her to the house in one piece, but he knew he was going to pay for it later with some really really sore muscles. After she had agreed they had decided that he would carry her with his one arm under her knees and the other around her back, with her holding on around his neck. After walking for a while Bobby was trying to think of an easier way to accomplish the same end and finally said “do you think that you could manage to ride piggy back for a while?” “I don’t know, but we could try it. I’m not sure I will be able to hold on for a long time.” He stopped and gently lowered her legs to the sand while still supporting her weight. “Don’t let go of me Amy, hold on to my arm while I turn around and squat down, ok?” She nodded. It took a little maneuvering, but they finally made it and she was riding on his back. That was much more comfortable for him and was actually a little easier on her since she was holding on to him rather than he holding her. She didn’t feel quite so helpless this way. And they walked down the beach towards his house with Rover running circles around them, not quite as full of energy as he had been, but enough to make them tired just watching him.