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“Your belt buckle?” Bret demanded incredulously.
“Do you have anything else that’s metal and big enough to get that wound all at once, or do you just want me to hold the lighter to her skin for awhile?”
All color vanished from Bret’s face; he looked like he was going to be sick as he looked back at me. For a brief moment I wanted to stand up and run. Wanted to spit out the gag and flee screaming into the woods. How had my life become this? All the technology and advancements I had grown up with were gone, and I was about to receive a medieval cauterization in the middle of the twenty first century. With a freaking belt buckleof all things! It all seemed so impossible, so surreal, and wrong. If it wasn’t for the three people sitting around me, and the trail of blood I was leaving behind, I would have run. There was only so much a human being could take after all, and I was rapidly nearing my snapping point. But to run now was certain death. This had to happen or I would be hunted down and captured before I could even make it a full mile.
A small trail of black smoke began to come off the belt buckle. It was taking on an ominous orange and glowing hue that caused bile to roll up my throat. Lloyd slipped his shirt off and wrapped it around his hand. It took me a moment to realize that he was going to grab hold of that buckle and press it to me. Dismay filled me as I realized this was going to burn him too, maybe not as bad, but he was going to be hurt. I closed my eyes, I couldn’t watch anymore.
“I’m going to need you to hold her.” There was no saliva left in my mouth as I tried to wet my parched throat. Bret’s hands were gentle as he grasped my good shoulder. “Not like a baby Bret, I’m going to need you to hold her still,” Lloyd said impatiently.
I didn’t open my eyes, I refused to, but I knew the minute that the metal pressed against my skin. A garbled scream boiled up my throat, and froze there. The smell, and sound of sizzling flesh, reached me moments before I passed out.
CHAP TER 8
It was nearing dawn when I awoke to a bouncing swaying motion that caused my stomach to heave violently. There were hands holding my calves, and another set grasping me gently under my armpits. “You can put me down,” I managed to croak out, surprised by how dry and wounded my voice sounded.
“You’re awake.” The relief in Bret’s voice was palpable as his hands tightened upon me. I felt him bend over me as they stopped; his breath blew against my cheek. My eyelids fluttered open. It was momentarily disconcerting, and dizzying, as Bret appeared upside down over top of me. “I was so worried.”
“Please put me down.”
They had stopped walking, but now Lloyd gently lowered my feet to the ground as Bret supported me for a long moment. I took stock of myself, acknowledging all of the aches and pains in my overused, overworked, and beaten body. I took in the throbbing pain of the burn high on my shoulder. An ugly, large blister had formed over it. I couldn’t quite tell if it would eventually become a horse, or some other four legged creature yet. My entire shoulder was an ugly mottled color of black and purple, but it was no longer bleeding. The blood had been scrubbed from my body; I hated the fact that they had probably used some of our precious supply of water to do this. Someone, probably Bret as it seemed extra large, had taken a shirt and wrapped it around my chest. It was tied under my arms and knotted in the back by the sleeves.
“I was so worried.”
Before I could react, before I even knew his intent, he bent and kissed me. I was so stu
A time before Cade, and the hole his death had left upon my tattered soul.
I wanted to stay this way, wanted to forget and go back and never return to the stark reality of my loneliness and this cruel world. Never return to the pain that hounded me constantly, even before the brutal assault I had just endured. But I couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to any of us if I did.
I pulled away, barely able to meet Bret’s hopeful gaze as I shook my head at him. There was so much I wanted to say to him, but the words caught in my throat. What could I say? I turned away from him and took a staggering step back. I felt weak, unsteady, but I was alive and that was all that mattered.
“Where are we?” I asked quietly.
“Almost to the hospital.” I turned to Lloyd, my mouth parting in surprise. He looked exhausted. Dirt and blood streaked his pale face; his nearly orange hair was standing on end. It was apparent that they hadn’t stopped to rest.
“You need a break,” I said softly.
“We need to get to the hospital first. You need antibiotics, and we need to get this over and done with. There will be time to rest afterward.”
“If you drop…”
“We’ve made it this far.” It was the first time I noticed that Je
“I was out for a long time,” I mumbled.
“You lost a lot of blood.”
I nodded absently as I gazed around the forest. It was thicker through here; there were more maples and oaks dotting the landscape. Even with the denser protection, I somehow felt even more exposed. Maybe it was because I was wounded, maybe it was because I had a shirt tied around me for clothing, or maybe it was simply because I resented my weakness. Or maybe it was my selfish need for some kind of comfort in this hostile environment, even if it was from Bret.
“It’s only another mile.”
Lloyd was already walking again; I fell into step beside Je
We reached a small incline and climbed to the top of the hill. Beneath us the hospital spread out like some glittering mirage in the desert. The windows were alight in the gleam of the setting sun. It was oddly beautiful, and out of place, in the world surrounding us now. Je
“I didn’t think we’d make it,” she breathed.
I squeezed her hand gently. I didn’t think any of us had thought we’d actually make it, but here we were, and there itwas. And I was terrified.
I was suddenly certain that something else was going to go wrong, something far worse than the brutal assault, recently dislocated shoulder, and ugly blister I had recently endured. The three people with me seemed to feel the same as no one moved. They simply stared at the assortment of beautifully shining medical buildings.
“Should we wait till dark?” I asked quietly.
“I don’t think it matters,” Lloyd answered.