“I’m sorry, but I can’t.” Red spots danced in front of my face and felt like I was going to be sick.
“Okay, we’ll take two.” He tugged open the backpack. He pulled out two bottles of water and a pair of socks and trainers. We downed the water, breathing heavily between long swigs, and I put on the shoes. My feet were swollen and sore, but it felt good to have some protection again. Noah winced as he saw the blood seeping from my feet, instantly turning patches of the white socks red.
“Sorry,” I said. We need to go. We can’t stop.
“Don’t. You have nothing to be sorry for, I should’ve made you put them on sooner, but we really didn’t have time.”
“It’s not your fault. We couldn’t stop too soon. Cut feet is a small price to pay for my life.”
He stroked my hair and tucked it behind my ear like he had dozens of times before. I wanted to close my eyes at the contact. It still felt so real and so natural. He sighed. “We have to get up, Scarlett; we need to keep moving. They would’ve closed the gap considerably by now.”
His words made me get up. I didn’t want to, the thought of moving even an inch brought me to tears, but I didn’t have a choice. Stuffing the empty bottles back in the bag, he stood and helped me up. My legs almost gave out again.
Clenching my teeth, I breathed through the throbbing pain. “Do you know where we’re going?” I bit out.
“I know a general direction, but I’ve not been this deep into the forest before. There are miles before the nearest town – it’s the reason Donald bought the land.”
Great, we were going in a ‘general’ direction, and I couldn’t complain or let myself get disheartened. I had less of an idea than he did. We were in this together, and we’d find a way out together.
“Let’s go then,” I said, looking back to check if anyone was coming. I wasn’t nearly ready to run again, but then I wasn’t nearly ready to die, so I had no choice.
Noah threw the bag on his back and held his hand out. I took it without hesitation, and we started off in the direction we were headed before. The first few steps were the hardest, my muscles had seized from our few short minutes stop, but I ignored the pain.
The stitch in my side slowed us down considerably. Sweat dampened my clothes; I swallowed metallic bile from over-exerting myself, and exhaustion threatened to collapse my legs again. But we pushed on, much, much slower than before but still heading away from Eternal Light.
“Your parents are in Ireland, you know,” he said.
My heart ached to be reunited with them. “How do you know that?”
“It’s all over the news. My dad drove the car eighty miles to try to put the police off, make it look like we were heading to an airport but they quickly realised. Your parents are here.”
It was a huge comfort knowing they were in the same country. I didn’t have time to dwell on the fact that they’d probably told the truth about who we all were and why they’d taken me because Noah upped the pace and had us sprinting through the forest again. The thought of getting to safety and telling everyone that my parents were heroes for taking me that day gave me the added boost I needed.
After weaving between tall trees and jumping a few fallen ones, Noah pulled us to an abrupt stop and slapped his hand over my mouth. My eyes widened. What could he hear? I swallowed glass and pressed my body into his side. They were close, close enough for Noah to hear them so that meant there was a strong possibility that they’d heard us.
They’re going to find us.
“Noah,” I whispered behind his palm, trembling with fear.
He mouthed ‘it’s okay’ and led us to one of the fallen trees. We were going to have to hide.
Bloody hell, we’re going to be caught!
We made it behind the large tree before the footsteps and voices got too loud. Noah had me pinned to his chest. We both tried to control our breathing, so we were barely making a noise. Both of my hands covered my mouth, and I forced myself to suck air in slowly and quietly.
My heart thumped hard when they sounded practically on top of us. Their feet broke sticks and squelched damp moss. They had to be right next to us. I closed my eyes and prayed, pushing back into Noah, trying to melt into his body.
I was so, so scared.
“Where would he take her?” Donald seethed.
“I don’t know,” Shaun replied, sounding just as angry with his son. “We will find them both, though. Noah doesn’t know this forest as well as he obviously thinks. We’ll pick them up soon.”