Okay, as sort of Christmas present to all the gentle reader/writers.
As some of you may know, I used to be involved in several cooperative ventures known as the Wendy and Tank Challenges.
This is sort of like that. I've written a little scenario of danger for our intrepid reporter and I'm leaving it up to any and all folcs to try and come up with a conclusion to my little set up.
I've numbered this as Deathtraps Challenge #1 because I want to keep open the possibility for more in the future.
As with the old W&T challenges, I haven't presented a scenario that I haven't at least figured one way for Lois to escape. The fun is in seeing how many different ways different folcs can resovle the predicament.
So, with that in mind, I present...
Lois Lane Death Traps - #1
By Tank
“Hey quit pushing!”
Lois growled at her captors as they shoved her along the barely discernable path through the heavily wooded area. They had just recently removed her blindfold and gag. The man with the gun at her back had warned her that there would be no ‘Help Superman’ shouts. He had carefully explained that no matter how fast Superman was, even if he could hear her, unless he was only yards away he’d never be able to rescue her before the gun could be fired. Lois had to agree, so she confined her conversation to insults and questions. Neither of which were acknowledged by her kidnappers.
Lois had no idea where she was, but it was obvious that large trees were the most prevalent feature. Given how long they had traveled she guessed they were in the forests of northern New Troy; quite a distance from Metropolis.
She’d left the Planet early, meaning to pick up some things before she made it home. Clark was in Smallville but she expected him back later that evening. She was going to surprise him by actually cooking a meal for a change. She’d secretly been taking some lessons from her Uncle Mike and felt she was ready to showcase her newly acquired talents. It was only a simple pasta dish, but she was sure that Clark would appreciate it. Or he would have, had she ever gotten home to prepare it. They had taken her in the parking lot of the local FoodMart.
She was sure that by now Clark had been looking for her. She wondered if he had found her Jeep in the supermarket parking lot yet. It wasn’t one of the first places he’d think to look for her. More likely he was checking out the docks around Hobbs Bay, or the empty buildings in the warehouse district.
The sun was close to setting and the shadows created by the large trees were getting very dark. They walked for a few more minutes then stopped. It wasn’t quite a clearing, exactly, but they were now in a circle where the trees weren’t quite so clustered. At one edge of the pseudo clearing was a very large tree. The trunk was so big around that two people couldn’t hug it and touch each other’s hands.
Lois watched as a couple of the thugs carried a ladder over to the base of the big tree. Her gaze followed up the trunk, suddenly icy tendrils slithered up her spine. Hanging from one of the upper branches was a long, thick rope. What had caused Lois’ sudden reaction was that the rope ended in a sinister looking hangman’s noose.
Obviously, this had all been set up prior to their arrival. She stopped in her tracks, causing the fellow behind her to stumble against her back.
She turned to face the man. “Alright, I’m not moving another step until you tell me what’s going on.”
The man waved the gun in her face. She glared at him and pointed at the noose. He chuckled.
“Okay, fair enough.” He spoke in a quiet, measured tone. “Intergang has decided that they’ve had enough of you and they wish for you to cease to exist.”
Lois shook her head in disbelief. “You don’t honestly think I’m going to just let you hoist me up and hang me?”
He shrugged. “If you don’t I’ll shoot you.”
“So shoot me. I’m pretty sure that will be an easier death than dying struggling at the end of a rope.”
“Oh but you don’t understand. We don’t plan to hang you.”
Lois was confused. “I suppose that rope and noose are there for decoration?”
The fellow chuckled again. “You really are something Ms. Lane. No, we do plan to hoist you up to that large branch, and place that noose around your neck.” He grinned at Lois’ look of bewilderment. “But we aren’t going to push you off. We’re just going to leave you there.”
“If Intergang wants me dead… why?”
His grin grew. “Because it will be eminently more cruel.”
“Really.”
He nodded. “Oh yes. Just think Ms. Lane. Standing up there, all alone, wondering if every gust of wind, or every slight slip of a foot, is going to be the action that causes you to fall. A short fall, granted, but a very final one.” He came up close to her. “And the longer you manage to keep your balance the more thoughts of your impending doom will crowd out all other thoughts and the fear will gradually become all consuming. And, of course, there is the fatigue factor. Eventually your muscles will begin to cramp and the pain of just standing still will become agony. Or, if you truly have the steely resolve to overcome all that? You can’t stay awake forever.”
Lois shook her head. “Doesn’t sound too pleasant. Perhaps I’ll just yell for help and at least have the satisfaction of knowing that you’ll go to prison even if you manage to shoot me before Superman comes to…”
Lois’ words were cut off by another thug coming up behind her and shoving the gag back into her mouth. A large piece of duct tape was placed over her mouth to hold the gag in place. Lois gagged a couple of times and had to concentrate on breathing through her nose to get her breath back.
The man smiled at Lois’ glare. “Now I’m pretty sure that you are the kind of person who is just naïve enough to believe that old tripe about ‘where there’s life there’s hope’ so you’ll choose the rope and branch over a quick bullet to the brain, but if you aren’t… I’ve got that covered too.”
Two of the larger thugs grabbed Lois and lifted her off the ground. Her hands were still tied behind her back so her struggles were largely ineffectual against the two heavily muscled ‘muscle’.
Unceremoniously Lois was forced up the ladder and met on the large branch by another grinning goon. He quickly placed the heavy noose around her neck and scampered down the ladder before she could react.
The ladder was taken away and her captors stood around the base of the tree looking up at her. She was glad she was wearing slacks.
The branch was fairly large, and it gave a decent purchase for her to stand. About the same as a two by six, only rounded. Thanks to her martial arts training, and generally good athletic nature, Lois had good balance. A branch like this on the ground would present someone no difficulty in running over it, or jumping up and down with little care; but put the thing twenty feet into the air, and it was a whole different matter.
The leader of her kidnap group directed his crew to pack up their ladders and other gear, then he turned his attention to Lois. “I’ll bid you a farewell now, Ms. Lane. We’ll be back tomorrow to see how you are doing in the unlikely event that you’re still alive. Be assured that photos of your lifeless body will be posted in every newspaper in Metropolis. I doubt even a paper as pretentious and stodgy as the Daily Planet would fail to capitalize on the death of their number one reporter.”
The man gave Lois a mocking salute, turned and left.
Lois stared after the group for several minutes; watching them leave until she could no longer see them. Then; still staring as she listened to the sound of their vehicle leaving, leaving her there… alone.
She tried moving her jaw around to see if she could loosen, and possibly free herself from the gag. She wasn’t having much luck, and when one particularly violent motion on her part to dislodge the gag caused her to nearly lose her balance she stopped.
The sun had fully set and the night was becoming darker by the minute. She felt fairly secure for the moment, but what would happen if she had a slight misstep in the darkness? She felt the breeze picking up and the movement of the branches around her was threatening. She knew there were no other branches within an arm’s reach of her perch so there was no place where she could use another branch to steady her. Still the movement was disconcerting.
Though she no longer could see the rope in the darkness, she knew there was a fair amount of excess; so that when she fell, it would snap her neck as effectively as a hangman’s gallows. Unfortunately the slack in the rope wasn’t enough to allow her to reach the trunk of the big tree. Her captors had made sure that she was set far enough out along the branch such that the rope would become tight before she reached it.
Her hands being tied tightly behind her back was the worst. It meant that she couldn’t use her arms to help her keep her balance. It felt really awkward and they had tied it in such a manner that her shoulders hurt.
Despite the rapidly cooling breeze, sweat began to bead up on Lois’ forehead. It was too dark to see. Her muscles were beginning to tighten up from the tension, and she was finding it harder to stay calm enough to breathe easily through her nose.
It didn’t happen often, but Lois had to admit… she was scared.
Over to the gentle reader/writers.
Tank
