Page 79 of Wild Child
Ellie’s scream turned my blood to slush.
I whipped around to find one of Kimball’s withered cronies standing over her, a booted foot planted on her back and a leering grin on his face. Ellie struggled valiantly under the pressure of his foot, her limbs flailing. He leaned forward on her ribcage with a guffaw. She grunted against the pressure. Her attempts to shove off the ground by planting her palms on the dirt failed when he kicked her arms out from under her.
Rage built in my body.
“Well, well,” he called over his shoulder. “Lookee what I found here. A spy.”
The shouting we'd left behind had turned into a fistfight about ten seconds after we'd turned away from the pack. A shot rang out, and the scuffle of fighting calmed.
I shot to my feet, crossed the distance in two steps, and threw myself on top of the man. He fell to the ground with a startled screech, dropping like melted butter under my weight. With jagged, dirty nails, he reached for my face. I grabbed his shirt, yanked him off the ground, and slammed a fist into his nose. He crumbled with a gurgled scream. I hit him in the face again, and he went limp.
Fog flowed into my vision, clouding what I saw. One minute I saw the ragged, graying face of a man that intended harm to Ellie. Blood flowed down his nose and stained his lips. The next I saw Trixie as he lay dying in my arms, skin stained with soot and dirt and blood all over his teeth.
Someone grabbed my shoulder and jolted me out of the hallucination.
“Devin.” Ellie’s voice rang through my ears. “Devin, let’s go.”
Go, I thought.I can’t go. We don't leave brothers behind. I have to stay with Trixie.
I shook my head.
No,I thought.No, I'm not in Afghanistan. I'm not there. I'm home.
Despite my struggle against it, the hallucination gained ground and overtook my mind. Smoke clouded the air as I slipped back to Afghanistan. I could still smell the hazy scent. It wound like lacy tendrils past me. What was that smell? Something distinct, like burning rubber but . . . worse. Skin. That was it. Singed hair. Burned skin. Trixie. Trixie was in my arms, his lips moving as he tried to say something.
"Devin!" Ellie cried.
I dropped the body, and it turned back into the rat that wanted to hurt Ellie. My Ellie. Ellie. Ellie wouldn't be in Afghanistan. She didn't speak to me there. My head banged like drums from the inside while I tried to decipher what was real.I’m not there,I told myself.I’m not there. This isn't real.
I tried to clear the picture with a racing heart. The fog faded. Ellie stood in front of me, hair wild around her shoulders, face lined with anxiety. But she'd always looked scared when I imagined her in Afghanistan. Each time I almost died, she'd been there. Her face had looked so worried.
“Are you real?” I heard myself ask.
Her expression softened. “Yes, I'm real. I'm not a hallucination or a memory. Devin, you’re with me." Her hand pressed over her chest. "I'm Ellie. Ellie, your best friend. Ellie, the girl you spent your life with.” Her gaze darted away, and then back. “You’re not in Afghanistan. You’re in the mountains with me.”
Mountains.
I tried to peel the haze away as I struggled to my feet. That guy wanted to hurt her. I remembered that. Running down a slope. A pack. Reality slammed back into me all at once.
Kimball.
Steve.
Neils.
She tugged on my arm, then swore under her breath. "We have to go!" she whispered. Shouts from the rise above us grew stronger. Two male figures appeared on the ridge overhead, only a few yards away. I recognized one of them, but just as I remembered his name, it slipped away. Instead, I could hear screams of pain that belonged to Afghanistan. They echoed in my ears and made them ring.
Trixie's choked pleas to stop the agony.
My chest felt tight and my head dizzy.Breathe,I told myself.Breathe.The command went unnoticed. I thought I saw Trixie lying at my feet in the forest bracken, his arm almost separated from his body, and blood pooling beneath him.
Afghanistan returned with full force again, filled with smoke curling around me and distant shots. Sand in my gums. Heat under my feet and the dust and smoke of a destroyed Humvee choking the air. A shot sounded overhead. I ducked when the sound of, “Incoming!” rippled through the air.
“Duck,” I cried. “You gotta duck.”
“Get back!” Ellie shouted to someone I wasn’t aware of. She’d moved. She stood in front of me now. “I wasn’t afraid of you before, and I’m not now.”
I’m not in Afghanistan,I told myself again.I’m not there. I’m not there.
