Page 57 of Wild Child
My body ached with fatigue. Devin's weight on mine felt greater with every passing moment, but I forced myself to stay upright.
"We need to turn south," I whispered. "I'm not really sure where we are, but I have a good idea of where we'll end up. There should be a creek eventually. We're not safe here. If we fall asleep and the fire advances, we'll be right in its path."
Bleary-eyed in the moonlight, he nodded, his face drawn. No doubt his headache persisted, and I feared the depths of his injury. His arm tightened around my shoulder again. Ever since he'd returned out of his weird haze, he'd fallen quiet. But he hadn't let me out of his reach. I tightened my hold around his waist.
More slowly this time, we turned to the south.
Trees and a few rolling, gentle ridges made movement easier than the clogged brambles of the canyon. We moved more quickly without all the rocks. Knee-high grass swished against our legs as we walked from moonlit-spot to moonlit-spot. My mind blurred with the movement of my legs until my thoughts resembled a rocky crag instead of a meandering trail. I didn't recognize that we'd arrived at a creek until I heard the splash of my foot in the water.
Both of us stopped, startled.
Moonlight glinted off the top of the creek as it rushed by. At least fifteen feet across, it cut down the mountain in a hearty artery that should lead to the reservoir at Pineville. The comforting sound of tinkling water wiped away the unnerving silence. How long had we been walking? My gut told me it was well past midnight, maybe 2:00 am. That meant almost five to six hours. The darkness gave me no idea where we were, or how far we'd gone.
"There." Devin pointed to a particularly dark spot, surrounded by what appeared to be bushes. "Let's try it."
We moved out of the open area and toward the greater protection of the trees. Bushes cluttered the riverbank, forming a natural kind of barrier. The dark spot was a portion of streambank that had crumbled away and sloped into the water, leaving a place below level ground that we could sit on. Bushes on top would shield us if anyone walked by, which I doubted. Most likely, Kimball and the others would head straight west, staying at the bottom of the canyon until they hit a road or something.
I hoped they walked right in front of a semi.
Still, I couldn't shake the fear that they had followed us. That they wanted revenge and would find us here to finish what they intended to do. The night was too cold, the dark too deep, and my fatigue too great for me to know whether my thoughts even made sense or not.
We slipped down the dirt slope, which was wide enough to sit side-by-side. Dev dropped to a knee, plunged his hands into the water, and brought it to his face. He gave a little gasp from the cold, then did it again. He rubbed down his face, his neck, his hair, then drank until I settled numbly next to him. The water cleared the dirt and blood from his face.
Thoughts of Kimball and the fire-scarred man retreated to the back of my mind again while I worried about Devin.
I sat back and stared at the top of the gentle creek as it slid by. Moonlight illuminated the top in white slivers as the water bumped over rocky rapids. Thoughts spilled all over my mind, just like the creek. They flowed with equal parts relief to be away from the reach of the fire, euphoria that Devin was still with me, and utter terror that Kimball would somehow find us. All the courage that buoyed me up at the abandoned cabin fled from me now and left me weak in its wake.
"Ellie?"
Devin's voice cut through my mind and stopped what had become a fast spiral of thought. I shook my head, blinked, and registered that he was staring at me. The moon illuminated enough of his profile that I could see the angle of his cheek, softened by his swollen cheekbone. The urge to reach up and touch his face nearly overcame me. He seemed oriented now, as if the water had woken him up.
"I'm okay," I said quietly.
Unable to endure the intensity of his stare, I scooped up water and drank from my cupped palm. The moment my lips touched the cool liquid, I drank hungrily, scooping six or seven times before my thirst calmed. The water had a mossy taste and slid with cool relief all the way to my ravenous stomach.
"Probably past midnight, you think?" I asked as I shook the water droplets off my hand.
"At least. How long was I knocked out?"
"Not sure. Half an hour, maybe."
He frowned.
I didn't know what to say, so I remained quiet. To acknowledge what he said would force me to acknowledge our position, and I wasn't ready to do that. My brain needed to keep all emotions in their respective boxes. That way, I could push through and not let my love for him get in the way. Nor would the fact that I'd almost lost him again slow down my judgment.
My battered mental boxes trembled tonight.
Devin reached over and grabbed my shoulder. The solid grip made me suck in a sharp breath. I tilted my head back to look at him, limned in starlight. Concern lay evident on his features.
"Are you really okay?"
I nodded, even though both of us knew I lied. Right now, I was fine. All of this would spill out later, once I let the emotions out. For now, I'd stay buttoned up and in control.
"Areyou?" I asked.
He shook his head, then grimaced a little as he stretched his body around. "No." He scoffed, and it could have been a chuckle under different circumstances. "Joe was a friggin' wrecking ball. At least . . . not really bad. I can walk off the mountain."
"Your head?"
