Page 55 of Wild Child
Now, I had mere seconds to save Devin's life.
He looked pale and fierce as he engaged in the ring with the monster of a man that ran at him. Winces occasionally crossed Dev’s face. Headache, I'd bet. Traces of vomit lingered on his shirt. He held up for now, but he wouldn't make it long. Nor would he survive any attack from Joe for much longer.
The deep bellow of Joeslamming into Devin for a second time rang through the canyon, setting fire to my fear.
I hastily squirted the last of the lighter fluid around the dark edge of the firelight. Kimball and his minions had been sufficiently distracted, and they didn't notice me circling them. Didn't seem to smell the lighter fluid or hear thehissof it escaping the bottle. Nor the crunch of my feet on dried pine needles as I passed.
A guttural sound from Devin pushed me to ignore the pain in my leg as I stumbled over another rock. I crouched on the other side of the bonfire. Fortunately, these men were idiots. They hadn't even checked on me, and they all clustered in the same space on the other side of the fire. No one would see me back here.
Devin ducked a blow to the face, then drove a fist into Joe's stomach. Joe gasped, his heavy body carrying him to the ground before he could right himself. Devin shoved a knee into Joe's neck as he fell.
I forced myself to look away.
Sweat broke out on my forehead as I crawled to the fire. My fingers burned from trace amounts of lighter fluid which seeped into the cuts from the broken beer bottle shard. With a rock from nearby, I nudged a piece of wood out of the fire. Two fist-size lengths of it stuck out, untouched by the flames so far. I yanked it free. Bright orange ashes flared in the sky like discarded glitter.
Dreams of walking up to Kimball and settinghimon fire clouded my mind for only a moment before Joe let out a cry of pain and jolted me out of them.
Time to end this.
I drew the stick close, studied the white-hot center for only a second, then turned and slammed it onto the dry pine needles where I'd just emptied the last of the lighter fluid.
Fire shot out of the bracken and raced through the darkness in a quick, fast line. The dried leaves underneath the continuous circle of lighter fluid illuminated hot flames. Yellow light filled the air in a bright blaze. A cry of surprise came from the cluster of men not far away.
Blinded, Joe turned away, arms thrown over his face.
Devin paused, looked around him, then turned toward the cabin. The flash of brightness seemed to stun him. A bruise already started to form on his left cheekbone. I bounded across the space, grabbed his arm, and tugged him away. He followed, stumbling over the line of fire.
"Follow me!" I cried quietly.
Behind us, Kimball screamed. Fire leapt out of the ground at his feet, where I'd silently squired extra lighter fluid as I made the circle. His two scrawny friends darted around, attempting to extinguish the fire on their shoes. Twigs and bracken illuminated to a bright orange as the greedy flames sped quickly through the dry understory of the forest and toward the cabin. Within moments, the entire fighting circle was nearly consumed. Flames already worked their way to the outside of the cabin and climbed up the side of the dry, aged wood.
Devin glanced back. In the firelight, I could just make out his wordless question.
"What—"
"Later!"
He stumbled over a rock. I tugged him upright again and threw his arm around my shoulders. He sagged against me a little when I wrapped an arm around his back. "We need to get out of here, now. Hang on, Dev. We've got this."
* * *
We plunged into the darkness.
Tree branches whipped at my face as I pushed through clusters of trees that would take us down the canyon, away from the fire and the rocky canyon walls. If we didn't move quickly, that fire might end up being the very thing that killed us. With any luck, it would take out or at least distract all those idiots.
Devin followed with only a few grunts here and there. His steps were uncertain, but he moved faster than I expected. He leaned on me more than he probably realized and sometimes he mumbled unintelligibly. But he didn't make much noise, and his legs kept moving.
"Stay with me, Dev," I panted as we pushed out of a particularly dense cluster of trees. Moonlight overhead remained minimal, but enough to give me a vague direction of where to go. If we stayed at the bottom of the canyon, we'd make better time. If the fire caught up with us, we'd have to scramble up into the scree fields.
"Ellie," Devin said.
"Yes."
"You're here."
His tone was a statement, as if he said it to make it real. An unusual sort of haze, almost like he was in another place, had overcome his expression. I held onto his wrist and tightened my hold around his back. The fast staccato of his heartbeat against my fingertips.
"I'm here, Dev. I'll always be here, now."
