CHARLOTTE, N.C. — You might know how to kick, punch, and defend yourself in a fight.
But what about if you're actually taken? Bound? Blindfolded? Thrown in a trunk?
Self-defense instructors told us courses focused on escaping a kidnapper are now growing in popularity.
"Move your feet don't ever stay still," said Roy Hatcher.
He's teaching a whole new kind of self-defense: Last hope, life or death, high-stress scenarios. The lesson? Escaping a captor.
"From there, you really only have one option and that is escape. And that's by any means necessary. You don't have anything to lose so fight. Fight tooth and nail, fight," he said.
Hatcher, owner and lead instructor at HATCHERS Just Breathe self-defense school spends his time preparing people for the worst case scenario.
"We've got a lot of bad people doing bad things to good people and that's just the reality of it," he said.
Hatcher covers everything from thinking things through to breaking the binds.
"No matter which angle they come to you with it your objective is to get to the flat of the blade," he said. "This is just a tool; I'm the threat."
Binds could be duct tape or even zip ties.
"Take the shoestring and put it through the zip tie. Saw using your hand on your shoestring, yup," Hatcher said.
"I think people see the concept of being 'taken' or kidnapped like, oh, that's so rare, that will never happen to me," said NBC Charlotte's Savannah Levins.
"It could happen to anybody, anybody. if you're not paying attention you can get got, period," Hatcher said.
Most of his clients are women, even children who want to be prepared just in case.
"I think of someone blindfolded in the back of a trunk of a car, that seems like a hopeless situation," Levins said.
"It seems hopeless but as long as you have breath, you have life, and you have opportunity," he said.
So we put that to the test, too.
"Newer vehicles have these latches. If you get into a car that doesn't have one of his latches, most of the time they're going to have a latch that lets the seat down forward. That's what you'll be looking for," said Hatcher.
Bound, blindfolded, and locked in a trunk, Levins attempted to escape.
"Work it, work it. Nice!" Hatcher shouted, watching her every move on a cell phone. "Pull it to your body. Use your teeth get a little corner and make a tear in it."
Levis said 30 seconds felt like an hour.
"Breathe! Breathe!" he shouted. "Yeah, she's going to get out. That's good. She ain't quitting.'"
And then -- freedom.
"I did it!" Levins exclaimed.
"Good work, kid," Hatcher replied.
Of course, it's hard to imagine ever being in this situation for real. But if it ever happens, keep Hatcher's words in mind.
"I have something to live for and I'm not ready to go. You fight until it's over. Until it's over," he said.