It's best to always be prepared for danger when you're out alone. Hopefully you'll never have to learn this lesson first hand, unlike one Texan mother.

A frightening attack

It was late at night when Jessica Collins realized she had left her phone charger in her car. She stepped outside her apartment and walked over to her parked vehicle. After retrieving her charger, she stepped back to close the door, and was suddenly attacked.

Explaining the scary situation on Facebook, Collins described how she went to "unlock my car and grab the cord and then step back (to shut the door) when a Hispanic male punched me in the nose". Her post has now gone viral with over 133,000 shares.

Many women in Collins' horrific situation might have desperately tried thinking of ways to defend themselves while the attack continued. But Collins was lucky enough to have prepared herself for this exact situation before she even saw it coming. She was ready with a quick, life-saving reaction.

A simple safety precaution saves her

"Thankfully I had my keys in a defense position because I gave him a right hook and ended up getting him in the neck," Collins said.

Collins remembered the classic defensive move of carrying her car keys in between her knuckles. She said she learned this tactic from her mother, who taught it to her as a child after watching a women's self-defense documentary on TV.

One jab with her keys was all it took - her attacker immediately ran the other way, his hand holding the wound in his neck. Collins sprinted the other way up to her apartment to call the police. A report was made, but the police were not able to match up the attacker's DNA from Collins' keys, and the man remains at large, according to a Houston news report.

Sharing her story to protect others

Luckily, Collins was able to get away from a dangerous attack with just a bloody nose and a swollen face. As painful as her injuries surely were, things could have been much worse.

"Ladies, if you're going somewhere alone always always carry your keys with one between two knuckles, Collins said in her post. "It's so important to remember your safety. Especially when everything happens so fast."

Collins knows that if she hadn't taken the precaution to hold her keys defensively before the attack came, she might not have been able to react quickly enough to get away. She wants to warn all women to help them avoid the disastrous fate she could have faced had she not been prepared.

"I am just trying to raise awareness," Collins said. "So many women and girls these days don't pay attention or think until it's too late. So I'm not only trying to inform people but maybe even save lives."

Watching out for other girls

If Collins' mother hadn't taught her this easy self-defense move as a child, her encounter with attacker most likely would have ended much worse.

It's critical that even young girls are taught basic self-defense tactics - it could be the difference between getting kidnapped and getting away. In an age appropriate way, teach your daughters tools like this early on, and spread the word for all women. It's never a bad idea to prepare for possible danger.