Karen Fights Back - an illustrated story
by Alpesco
Six feet two inch Karen is put in a tight spot.

Vince and I were lying in our bunks when Karen Sandwood came in. The six foot two inch tall blonde scooped up my boyfriend in her powerful arms, lifting him off the bunk and carrying him outside. He didn't protest. Karen was a law to herself on this isolated farmstead in the mountains. Vince was five feet ten tall and weighed 175 pounds, but he was still too weak to resist Sandwood, and she took his weight with ease.

Vince and I had spent most of the last five days recovering from a freezing night on the open mountain when Sandwood had punished us for our rebellion by keeping us both outdoors. It had taken us all this time to recover from the severe chill and the hypothermia. We also bore several bruises and welts from Sandwoods stony fists.

In a moment, Karen came back for me. At just five feet seven, and 130 pounds, I was an easy burden, and the tall twenty eight year old picked me up like a doll, carrying me out of the bedroom, across the lounge, and out to a seat on the porch alongside Vince.

"There was no need to carry us out here," Vince said. "We're both a lot better now."

"Good," Karen said. "Then you'll be able to get back to doing some useful work. I'll set you some light duties after breakfast."

"How long are you going to keep us here?" I asked.

"I told you - until I'm happy that you've learned your lesson, and won't ever attempt to turn me in to the authorities. It's your own fault that you're here. If you'd just done as I asked you, you'd have been free to go over a week ago."

This wasn't quite true, but I decided not to antagonise her by arguing. Karen Sandwood was a very powerful young woman. She had managed to overpower us both, and had brought us here to this mountain hideaway as virtual prisoners after we'd picked her up in our car, but then refused to help her as she wanted. She was clearly some kind of wacko who'd been living up here in the middle of nowhere, for two years, convinced that the rest of the world was about to fall apart.

The tall dark-blonde had moved out into the open space in front of the cabin, where she began to go through some of the regular morning exercises that kept her six foot two inch frame in such tip-top condition. She did one-arm press-ups, pull-ups, a hand balance and sit-ups with her long legs curled round a tree-trunk. Then she picked up a large set of steel weights. I calculated the weight on the bar at 160 pounds as she began to curl it.

"Wow!" I said involuntarily as I watched the heavy weight rise and fall in Sandwood's powerful arms. Her massive biceps hardened and swelled as her arms raised the weight to her chin, and then lowered it slowly again to just above her knees. She repeated the movement again, and again, and again. I counted seventeen more repetitions before the amazonian figure finally stopped. "You're so strong!" I added.

"The weight's not that heavy," Vince said. "I've lifted more than that."

"In a curl?" Karen said. "Go ahead. Try it!"

Vince stepped down and tried to pick up the weight. He managed to stand with it, holding it at a dead hang at knee height, but, as much as he strained, he couldn't begin to curl the weight any higher. At last he dropped the heavy barbell. "I'm not fully recovered yet," he said.

"Okay." Sandwood turned away.

She raised her long, heavy arms and flexed them, giving an awesome display of rock-hard, pumped muscle that ran from elbow to elbow and down across her back, dwarfing her narrow waist. It was a rippling sea of muscle, of awesome power. How could even the two of us together, I wondered, fight someone with that much raw strength?

Sandwood set the two of us to work on the vegetable beds for a couple of hours before allowing us indoors for a break. As I made some coffee, Karen sat down at her computer. It was one of the few high-tech things out here. It ran on solar batteries. A tiny satellite dish on the cabin roof allowed her access to the world wide web. As I watched, she called up her internet browser, then pressed a series of keys and codes. A coat of arms came up on the screen, and I could see that she had somehow patched into the state police computer network.

"How do you do that?" Vince asked.

"I know quite a lot about computers. It's a hobby of mine. I especially like to keep tabs on the authorities. I thought it might be a good idea to see if there are any records of both of you. Ah yes," she said a moment later. "You've been reported missing in the Cooper's Ridge area, about a hundred and fifty miles south of here." She pulled up some more pages. "There was a brief search last Friday and Saturday, but nothing was found. It's been assumed you moved on out of the area. The case has been put on hold."

"No," I said. "That can't be! I'm sure they'll still be looking for us!"

"I'm afraid not," Karen said as she searched through a few more pages. "They never even notified any of the cops in this area. All the teams are working on other cases. You're already old news. And if anyone did start searching for you, it would be in entirely the wrong area. There's only one thing here that bothers me..."

"What?" I asked.

"It looks like a small military listening post has been reopened about thirty miles from here. There's only a couple of men there. But it's a little close for comfort." She pulled up a set of plans. "I think I ought to check it out."

Karen got up and began to gather binoculars tools and a small radio from around the cabin. "There's still enough time for me to get there today," she said. "Vince, I'm locking you in the storm shelter. Helen, you're coming with me."

An hour and a half later I was sat beside Karen in her old pick-up, approaching the site of the old military outpost. It was a low, flat-roofed building that lay three miles off the main road on a site surrounded by forest. A tall radio antenna sprouted from the roof. A lone jeep was parked outside the building inside a chain-link fence.

"Come with me," Sandwood said as she parked the pick-up out of sight of the road, and got out. She was wearing her usual blue jeans and a small red sleeveless top that left her arms and shoulders bare. She led me into the trees to a spot where she could get a good look at the camp. "It looks like some sort of communications center," she said, examining it through her binoculars. She got out a radio scanner and put on a pair of headphones, concentrating on the equipment. "There's just one signal. Coded traffic," she muttered to herself.

Looking down, I noticed what looked like a soldier near the wire gate, only a hundred and fifty yards away. I began to edge away from Sandwood who looked totally absorbed in her monitoring of the radio signal from the base.

I managed to edge back into the trees. Then I began to run toward the gate to the small Military base. Sandwood could run appallingly fast, but I was nearly half way to the gate already. With luck I could get there before Karen could catch me. I heard Karen's cry behind me and shouted out to the soldier inside the fence. "Help me! Open the gate!"

I looked behind me. The tall figure of Sandwood was racing out from the trees. She was running like an Olympic sprinter. If the distance had been any greater she'd have caught me easily, but I was only fifty yards from the camp gate.

I got to the gate about five seconds before Sandwood, clinging to the fence as the bewildered soldier in fatigues approached the gate. "Let me in!" I begged. "I need help!"

"This is a restricted facility," the soldier said. "I can't allow anyone inside."

"I need help!" I gasped. "Me and my boyfriend are being held against our will!"

"Hi," Karen said, drawing up beside me. "My friend here is a little distressed and delusional. I can take care of her." She took my arm.

"No!" I said, trying to shake off her grip. "She's holding me prisoner!"

"I'm one of her care workers," Sandwood said, smiling. "Carrie does like to seek attention and make up stories - don't you darling?" The soldier looked confused as her arm looped around my knees and just picked my feet up off the ground. Suddenly I was being carried again.

"No!" I began as Karen turned away with me. Then her steely left hand clamped over my jaw, and I couldn't speak. "I'd better get her back to the others." Sandwood said as her strong arms tightened around me, crushing my body painfully tight as she began to stride away from the gate. I was silenced and I couldn't move. Surely she wasn't going to get away with this?

Just then I heard a shout. "Stop! Come back here!" a new voice ordered. Karen turned reluctantly back to face the gate. A second man had emerged from the unit. An army captain. "I think you'd better bring them both in, Corporal. We need to know what these people are doing out here."

Moments later Karen and I were inside the small facility. I relaxed, giving Sandwood a look of triumph as I looked about me. The main room of the building was large and open, but had no windows. There were some lockers round the walls and some low chairs. At one end there was a glass-partitioned area with some complex-looking radio equipment on the other side. Two men were sitting at a table drinking coffee.

"All right," said the Captain who had rescued me, the six foot corporal at his side. "I think I'm going to have to hold you both here for the local police. For one thing, you're on a restricted facility. For another, some serious allegations have been made."

"I don't think we want the police involved, Captain," Sandwood said, stepping in front of him.

"I'll decide who gets involved," the captain said. "Move her aside, corporal."

The corporal took hold of Karen's left arm. He was a large man, heavily built, in a dark t-shirt and green combat pants..

"You better let go of me," Sandwood warned.

The corporal moved to grab her other arm. In that moment Sandwood drew her right arm back out of his reach and then tore herself fully free of his grip. I saw her hand curl into a blocky fist, and cried out a warning.

Too late! CRACCKK! Karen's right arm powered forward like a missile, rifling into the corporal's face with astonishing force, spinning him round with the sheer weight of the blow. Karen's arms were long and heavy, they were big even for a person of her height, and I knew they could hit really hard. Before the six foot man could recover, Sandwood had taken a half step forward, and brought her left arm round to smash into the corporal's head from the opposite side. The noise of the two heavy blows united, echoing round the rectangular space as the shocked soldier staggered backward. I saw streams of blood running down his face.

But Karen wasn't finished yet. She took another stride forward, bringing up her long right arm in a swinging uppercut, which caught the corporal right under the chin, almost lifting him off his feet as it hurled him violently backward.



The corporal toppled backward like a felled oak, hitting the vinyl-covered floor hard. He groaned and lay where he was, unmoving.

Everyone in the room was shocked. No-one had expected this girl, however tall and athletically built, to lay out one of the soldiers like this! All this had taken place in just less than five seconds. The corporal lay, semi-conscious on the floor. His jaw looked broken and blood ran down both sides of his face. The Captain looked shocked. the two men seated at the table leapt to their feet in alarm.

I should have known that Karen was capable of doing this. She was appallingly strong. But I didn't panic. There were another three soldiers left to bring her under control.

"He shouldn't have grabbed me," Karen said. "You have no right to arrest me. You're not even proper soldiers, you're reservists! But there's no need for any more trouble. Just let me and my friend leave now."

"You're going nowhere!" The captain said, reaching out an arm. "Consider yourself under close arrest."

"Watch out!" I cried. "She's a lot stronger than she looks!" But it was too late. Sandwood's right arm had already begun to move. CRACKK! The punch was shocking. Brutal. The captain's face spun round as his body hit the wall, hard. He tried to stay standing, but unfortunately he stumbled forward, right into Sandwood's hitting zone.

CRACKK! Sandwood's long arm came round again like a flail, to make perfect contact. The five foot ten inch captain was flung back into the wall like a straw doll by the power of Sandwood's heavy right cross. His head hit hard and he slumped in a heap.

"Stop her!" I cried to the two other reservists. "She wants to take me prisoner again!"

The two men were already standing, and both rushed her together.

Sandwood backed away sharply as they came at her together. She held her long arms poised in front of her, slowing them with threatening jabs as they approached her. She drew to a halt, having defused the momentum of their charge. Again her arms lashed out in probing jabs, scoring a light hit on the first of the two. At least it looked a light hit - but all of Sandwood's punches carried a lot of weight. The man took two steps backward, blood trickling from his nose.

"Don't let her hit you!" I yelled. "She can really hurt you with just one punch. Take her together!"

The trouble was that Karen's arms were longer than either of the soldiers. Even though they were both around six feet tall, Sandwood's reach seemed a lot greater, and she was able to use that reach to keep the two men out of striking range until she was ready to attack. And she was so fast! The second man approached. Pow! Pow! Crackk! Her long arms struck like king cobras. The man staggered backward bleeding heavily as Karen stepped backward. The other man swung at her. She swayed out of the way then hammered in two big blows to his chest and his stomach. "Eaaarrcchhh!" He doubled over, groaning and retching. Karen strode forward. her big arm struck again. "Ouuaaachh!" He was still standing, but groaning loudly in pain. Karen took a half step back, and sent her big arm in one more time. "Uaaaarrrhhh! " He sank to his knees as the noise of the punch filled the large room. Sandwood just had too much power. I despaired. three of the men were already on the floor. Only one was left. He drew back. Sandwood followed him, her arm poised, waiting for the opening. When the moment came, it struck like a steam piston, powering in a slamming uppercut.

The soldier's head flew back as he fell, unconscious to the floor.



Sandwood turned toward me. "I told you," she said, looking at the fallen men on the floor. "I can just keep on handing out punches like that all day! Shoot! It's a pity there aren't a couple more guys here. I feel like taking out a few more!" She windmilled her powerful arms and flexed.

I was shocked. Sandwood had taken out all four guys! Not only that, she had beaten them up. They were groaning on the floor. She'd done awesome damage, and she'd barely worked up a good sweat!

"That was amazing!" I gasped. I was in awe of this young woman. She made my big boyfriend Vince seem like an absolute weakling! It seemed like no-one could stop her doing whatever she wanted. Anyone who went up against her, just seemed to take a beating!

"I am pretty amazing," she said, flexing her big muscles again, her legs like steel. "I wasn't sure I could take these guys out, but it was a cakewalk!" She looked at the four unconscious men on the floor. All were bruised and bleeding. She walked across the floor, bent, and picked up the captain in her arms. He was slowly coming round as she carried him across the room and laid him on a table.

"What are you doing here?" she said. "This unit has been mothballed for years."

"I can't tell you that."

Crack! Sandwood's right arm moved, and the Captain was hurled back flat against the metal table with a crash. His eye was swelling and blood was running down his cheek. "I asked you a question," she said, her arm poised.

"We're just checking out the monitoring equipment," he said. "We make sure the radio equipment is still in working order, do any repairs - then we move on."

"Good." Sandwood said. "That's all I wanted to know."

"What are you going to do with us?"

"Put your hands behind your back." Karen ordered.

He obeyed as Sandwood tied him and the other captives with plastic restraints.

I watched in silence, hardly able to believe that Sandwood had imposed herself on this base and was now in command! She picked up the four semi-conscious men, one at a time, carrying them in her arms one by one down into the basement. She was in complete control of the base and all its occupants.



"What are you going to do now?" I asked.

"I'm going to take a shower."

She stripped off, her body strong and tall as she showered, the four reservists lying bound on metal benches outside the shower area.

When she had dried herself and dressed, she gave each of the unconscious men a cursory examination. "There's a broken jaw on the corporal, and some broken ribs on this guy. Lots of bruising, but you've got to expect that with my punches.Only the third guy looks really bad. " She picked him up in her arms. His body flopped loosely in her cradle. "I'll give him something to keep him out for a while."

She went to the medical area, she seemed to know her way around the medicines, searching quickly through the large stock of drugs. She prepared four shots. "This is a powerful cocktail that will keep these guys out for about thirty hours," she said.

"You'll still get caught," I said. "When they come round they'll have the army looking for you."

"I don't think so," Sandwood said as she injected the first of her victims in the butt. "I know a lot about pharmacy. The juice I'm giving them is so strong they won't remember a thing that happened to them before the middle of last week." She plunged a needle into the second soldier. "It'll all be a great big blank. They'll just wake up hurting like hell, with a headache the size of Mount Rushmore!" She slapped the second soldier on the rump as he sank into unconsciousness.

In a couple of minutes all four of the garrison were laid out on steel benches, heavily sedated. She picked each body up and laid it on one of the nearby bunks before searching through the rooms of the facility. She gathered some medicines, a stun gun, flares, transformers, and some computer upgrade parts into a .large box.

"Okay," she said. "I think we're finished here. Let's go and lock this place up!"

I had no choice but to obey.