7. The Escape

Three thugs were left behind, overpowered by Mark. Alone, armed, and with a body that was also strong under his suit. If Aileen had seen Mark's skill in dodging and counterattacking his opponents, her admiration for him would have increased dramatically.

Unfortunately, the girl was in a race against time herself, and her breathing was ragged. She was unable to stop her steps to take a deep breath. The soles of her feet hurt from the many sharp pebbles and bushes along the way, as it seemed to be a forest area in the middle of nowhere.

Aileen, who was just a newcomer and had to work every day as soon as she arrived in the city, needed more time to get to know many other areas outside the city center, which offered everything she needed with complete availability, except, of course, vacations. Yes, come to think of it, she had rarely taken a vacation in the past year. And even when she did, she used it to return to her hometown.

Behind her, the sound of running feet came closer. Oh God! It looked like she would soon have to face the thugs alone. Expecting help from Mark was certainly not the right thing to do because she knew that the man was facing three men alone, plus William, who, despite being skinny, could probably use a weapon to cripple Mark.

Oh my! That thought stopped her in her tracks. He didn't want to run away and leave Mark alone when she could have helped by taking out those bastards.

"Stop, you!" The shouting behind her grew closer.

Aileen turned her head to see how close her pursuers were. And then, with all her newfound bravado, she turned around and assumed a dueling stance. Okay, it looked very strange for a woman in a blazer and a knee-length skirt to be naked and in a stance.

The thug seemed to grimace at Aileen's pose. He must have been mocking the foolishness of the girl in front of him. Already running almost unchallenged, she suddenly stopped and decided to fight back. They really are no match for each other, the bald thug thought.

"Come here if you want this to end quickly, Miss!" the thug snarled, still gasping for breath.

It was difficult for him to chase after the agile Aileen. Besides, he expected a friend to come along and help, but he was nowhere to be seen. Could the three of them be disturbed by the other prisoner?

But Aileen's agility was not to be underestimated. The girl caught him as she spun around and threw a fist. Aileen's fist hurt the unprepared thug badly.

He quickly got up from his stagger and began to set up his own stance, feeling that Aileen was not an opponent to be underestimated. It was obvious from her agility that the girl must have had some martial arts training.

"Damn it!" the man cursed angrily. Sweat was already pouring down his bald head. His darting eyes had become very fierce, reminding Aileen of the face of the killer in the action movie he had recently seen.

"How about that, huh? You didn't think a woman like me could be so agile, did you?" Aileen said defiantly. She was much more confident now. Her opponent was indeed large. But in terms of agility, she won. Her slender body was very reliable when it came to speed.

Luckily, the taekwondo techniques she had learned long ago were still in her head. At least she could try to defend herself while she waited for help to arrive. In fact, it felt like she could take this thug down all by herself.

What Aileen didn't understand was that a duel in training and a real duel against real thugs were two different things. They could not be equated!

She had a very hard time knocking the thug down. The attacks of punches and spinning kicks managed to hit the burly man's body, but not enough to immobilize him. It wasn't good. If she continued like this, her strength would run out, and she would be trapped again.

Her mind was spinning fast. She decided to run after she kicked the man's body hard enough to push him back a bit while screaming loudly.

A scream that sounded more like anger at being defeated by a woman like Aileen! His ego was bruised, and he groaned. The thug angrily chased after Aileen, who continued to run fast, away from where he had come from earlier.

Oh God! She was getting further and further away from Mark. Hopefully, the man would survive, or she would save him later by bringing the police to the scene. Yes, that was her goal now. To run to the police and get help.

Aileen continued to run regardless of her labored breathing and flushed face. She almost ran out of energy when she saw a paved road about a meter away. But the road was on the ground above the forest.

Her eyes wandered around, looking for a flat road to get there, but she couldn't see one. It could be at the other end of the hang. She had no time to search. She had to get to the road quickly and stop any passing vehicle to help her.

She took a leap of faith and climbed up the low cliff-like terrain to the paved road. Large vehicles were passing by. One of them could be of help.

Her face was slammed into the cliff by her jump. But her feet and hands had quickly found their footing and grip. She groaned for a while, her forehead aching from the hard blow she had just received.

"Wait! Stop!"

The thug yelled behind Aileen, ignoring her. She didn't even turn around, even though she was sure the big thug couldn't do the same to her.

She climbed up and managed to jump onto the street. Her work suit needed to be presentable. It was messy and dirty in places.

She immediately raised her hand to the road to stop the first vehicle that passed by. It was a mountain road where there were mostly only large vehicles like transport trucks and buses with maximum speed that could not stop because there were no passengers in such areas, right?

The thug was one step away from catching up with Aileen when she finally stopped in the middle of the road because two big trucks had ignored her.

Man, don't these drivers have any empathy or at least a little curiosity? Can't they see a woman on the verge of death? Damn, Aileen muttered to herself.

A vehicle finally stopped, braking suddenly and making a squeaking noise. Aileen went straight to the car window.

"Help me - I've been kidnapped. The thugs are after me," she said brokenly, her breathing not perfectly organized. The pounding of her heart added to her intermittent breathing. Her face looked different. Maybe red and blue at the same time, she thought to herself.

"Oh my God, get in!" yelled the driver, a middle-aged man with a fatherly face and glasses. The father saw that right behind Aileen was the man who was being called a thug.

He opened the door, and Aileen jumped into the seat. Without waiting for the door to close, the man stepped on the gas and drove off as fast as he could, leaving the thug cursing and kicking in all directions to vent his frustration.

"Asshole!"