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The sudden, authoritative command pierced through the fog of Ella's pain and disorientation, grounding her back to reality. It was a voice she recognized, one that brought a surge of relief amidst her despair. Agent Ripley. Her colleague, her backup, her lifeline in this moment of dire need.
Ella's eyes snapped open, the haze of imminent death momentarily dispelled. Through her blurred vision, she saw Ripley standing a few feet away, her gun trained steadily on Arthur.
The killer recoiled at the sight of the new arrival, trembling, turning the gun between both of the agents.
Ella felt a glimmer of hope. She might only have one leg by morning, but she’d be alive.
Ripley maintained her stance, unwavering and alert. ‘Put the gun down, buddy. Dark, medics are on the way. Hold on.’
Ella, still reeling from the shock and pain, focused her gaze on Ripley, finding strength in her presence. Despite the searing agony from the bear trap clamped around her leg, she knew she had to free herself. She recalled her childhood – willingly this time – and her days on the farm. Four AM wakeups, sifting through pig crap.
And unhooking bear traps.
She rose to a sitting position, feeling like she’d cut her spine in two. She reached down, using muscle memory to locate and compress the springs with whatever force she had left. It loosened the clamp, the metal creaking under the pressure, the springs constricting with the groan of strained metal.
Up above her, Arthur’s stare moved from Ella to Ripley, his gun firmly pointed on his new aggressor.
Ripley’s steady voice broke the silence once more, ‘Don’t make me do something I’ll regret,’ Ripley said, edging closer to the perpetrator.
Ella felt the trap's jaws loosen slightly under the pressure. With a final push, driven by sheer willpower, she managed to slip her foot free. The relief was instant, but so was the rush of pain from her injured leg. Free from the trap but severely injured, Ella lay on the ground, her breathing ragged. She watched the standoff, her fate and Arthur's in the balance. The pain was overwhelming, but so was her desire to see this through, to bring an end to this nightmare.
Arthur stayed on Ripley, leaving Ella to wallow in her suffering. He stepped closer to Ripley, Ella watching every movement, wishing she had the strength to rise up and tackle him to the ground.
But to her shock, Arthur raised his free hand in surrender.
Then his other hand.
Ella’s pistol landed on a muddy patch.
‘Good decision,’ Ripley said. She rushed in, taking long strides across a stretch of overgrown grass. Ella, still seeing the universe through the eyes of this tormented soul, saw the events play out in slow motion.
It was almost inevitable.
Ella reached out with a desperate hand, unable to unleash the warning lodged in the back of her throat. ‘Mia, stop!’ was all she managed to cry.
But it was too late.
Ripley stumbled, slipped below ground level and out of sight, down into a concealed pit. A faint cry emerged from within, followed by the slamming of metal on metal. A batch of leaves followed Ripley into the abyss, leaving a void where she'd stood seconds ago. Ella's heart pounded with terror as she realized the extent of Arthur's planning – a trap within a trap designed to ensnare anyone who dared to intervene.
‘What have you done?’ Ella screamed.
Arthur's expression was one of grim satisfaction. ‘Someone needs to feel what I felt... trapped, helpless, forgotten.’
Ella realized the horrifying truth of Arthur's plan. He was recreating the traumatic event from his childhood. An act of projection, passing on the trauma to someone else in a desperate attempt to shed it. She began to crawl towards her fallen partner, her movements hampered by her injury but driven by desperation. Peering into the darkness, she saw nothing the surface of an old, beaten refrigerator.
‘Ripley!’ she called out, her voice echoing into the depths. There was no response, just the haunting silence of the pit.
‘No key, no lock, sealed, solid as rock,’ he said.
Inescapable, Ella panicked.
Ella reached inside, but the door handle was too deep. Ripley must have fallen five feet into the earth. She rolled onto her back, and suddenly Arthur was on her. Two gloved hands reached for her neck, and for a moment, Ella saw a flicker of doubt, a hint of the young, scared boy he once was. But it was quickly overshadowed by the hardened resolve of a man consumed by his need for retribution.
Arthur's hands tightened around her throat. She coughed, gasping for air, her vision blurry from the sudden lack of oxygen and burning pain shooting up and down her body,
Ella felt herself transform, like a werewolf succumbing to the call of the full moon. Pain was her default state. She'd suffered every wound in the book and been trapped in enough life-or-death situations to last a thousand lifetimes. A bear trap and cowardly murderer weren't going to be the linchpins of her death.
With a sudden, jerky movement, she drove her elbow into Arthur's side. The blow wasn't strong, but it was enough to make him stagger back, loosening his grip on her neck.
