Page 26 of Bones

I was pretty sure she shook her head, and my gut clenched.

“What the hell are you doing hiking with no phone?” I bit out before wanting to kick my own ass.

The woman shuffled back, letting out a small whimper when I kept my grip on her.

“Swear to God, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

I’d rather cut off my left nut and present it to you.

I kept that thought to myself. “What’s your name?”

No answer, not that I blamed her.

Stranger danger and all that shit.

“I’m Deacon,” I told her, “but everyone calls me Deke.”

Still nothing.

“Where are you going?” At her continued silence, I tried for reassurances that likely would’ve gone a fuckuva lot farther if we weren’t alone in the dark woods. Or if I hadn’t just tackled her. “I only want to help. Swear it.”

Nada.

“Do you speak English?” If she didn’t, chances were I was passably fluent in whatever language she did speak.

I’d had a lot of time to pick most of them up.

She didn’t answer.

“Do you speak at all?”

She opened her mouth before closing it and shaking her head.

I’d met a lot of people during my time on Earth. Too many. She wasn’t the first person I’d met with some form of muteness. Hell, I could go weeks without speaking to another person. I preferred it—and that included people I knew.

I was a stranger.

I wanted to question her further about the cause, but she had no way to tell me. And as far as she knew, it wasn’t my business.

“I need to get you somewhere safe.” Her skin was freezing under my hand, and I could feel the hard shivers that rocked her body. “And warm. Your car on the main road?”

She shook her head.

I scanned the woods around us. There weren’t any marked trails, but there were a few worn paths near the border that ambitious hikers tried. They all ended after less than a half mile once it became clear that the terrain wasn’t safe.

How’d this tiny woman get so far and so turned around?

“Where’d you park?”

Back to no answer.

“Let me help you up.”

She didn’t fight me as I tugged her to her feet and guided her carefully around the creek and out to a grassy patch with fewer trees.

The sun had long ago set, but the moon shone bright enough to give us a little light.

For the love of angels, fuck.

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