Page 12 of Red Rabbit
I stared at him and gauged his temperament. I hit a nerve, maybe several.
“I wasn’t done,” I said quietly.
“Yes, you are.”
“Don’t you want to hear what I think you did to get put in those cuffs?”
“No,” he said flatly.
He stood up from the fire and with a scowl turned and walked off into the dark trees. He quickly disappeared into the shadows and the victory I felt leaked away. At least I knew mostof what I deduced about him was correct but it didn’t give me nearly as much satisfaction as I thought it would. If anything it only made me more concerned with who I was sharing a tent with.
Later when he still hadn’t come back, I crawled into the tent and lay as far to one side as I could. It was probably best I didn’t go any further—especially since I thought the reason he was in handcuffs was because he murdered someone.
6
GRAHAM
The next morning I could tell we were both feeling the physical effects of the crash. My entire body felt like one massive bruise and I could tell Kaelin didn’t feel much better. Her brow was furrowed as though she was trying to hold back the pain and her steps were more delicate today. Every step hurt so I decided after a few hours to call it and give us a bit of time to rest.
“Are we stopping?” She asked me as I set up the tent. I nodded.
“I want to give our bodies a little extra time to heal from the crash,” I said.
She looked relieved and went to grab firewood, a task she seemed to have claimed as her own. The area I chose to set up camp was near a large river with a steep forested hill on the other side. It was beautiful and the kind of place I’d go for a weekend to fish or be alone. I just wished I was here better prepared and well, alone.
As soon as camp was situated, Kaelin sagged down onto the ground. She looked exhausted and pale and I studied her warily. Maybe I pushed us too hard the last two days. Normally it would have been fine but I needed to remember our bodies just went through some shit. I left Kaelin to start the fire and went off intothe woods to gather some herbs. I wanted to find a few things for our open wounds and if I could find it, something for the pain.
While I searched for the plants, I thought about last night and how accurate Kaelin was in her assessment of me. Was I really that obvious? I mean, besides the doing time part—my shadows came from darker things—she got a lot right. She was one of those women I would’ve chased around a bar back in my younger years. A bombshell with a mouth on her to keep me in check and keep things interesting. Except we weren’t in a bar, she was engaged and I was—well, I was what I was.
I came to a small bend in the river where the water flowed into a calmer pond near the bank. I wondered if there were any fish I could catch. It would supplement our granola bar diet. As our supplies dwindled I was going to have to figure out how to get us some protein and fat soon. The granola bars just weren’t doing it and I could feel my energy fade with each day. I grabbed a stick, sharpening the edge with a knife and waded into the water. It wasn’t long before I caught three fish, cleaned them and strung them on a branch to take back.
I didn’t know how many days of travel were ahead of us. From the looks of things up on the ridge, we were deep into the wild and I hadn’t heard a plane since we crashed or smelled any sort of smoke from a camp or stove fire. I walked back with the herbs and the trout and I saw Kaelin’s eyes widen in surprise.
“You were busy,” she said. “What’s all that?” She pointed to the greenery.
“Wound and pain management,” I said. I set the herbs down near the fire and handed her the fish. “Think you can handle cooking these?”
She took the branch and looked hungrily at the three large trout.
“I think I can handle that,” she said. “Can I have the knife?”
I flipped it over handle first and handed it to her while I prepped the plant medicine and when I looked up again, I saw with surprise that she now held a large stick, stripped of bark and skewered with the fish to hold over the fire.
“What?”
“Nothing,” I grumbled but I continued to watch her while she gathered another two sticks, forked at the top and placed the entire contraption over the fire.
“Is something wrong with it?” she asked, frowning down at the fish after seeing my face.
“No.”
“Well, if you’re impressed by what I can do with some sticks, you should see my other skills,” she said sarcastically.
I turned my focus back to the plants and after I was done I came over and knelt next to her.
“Let me see your arm,” I said.
“What is that?” She asked, looking at it warily.
