I wouldn’t go that far.
There is a pain in my leg that’s making itself known with every second that my body spends coming back to reality. I groan and try to reach for it, but it seems my body isn’t ready for that kind of exertion just yet. Instead I shift, trying to raise it so I can see it. So I can determine what’s causing all the pain.
“Take it easy, you’ve been hurt. Just breathe and let yourself come around.”
I focus on Noah. He’s got blood on his head. It’s dried, but it looks like it dribbled halfway down his face before it got to that point. The sun is beaming through the trees and settling on my thighs, warming me. We’re on the path. Did I pass out here?
“What happened?” I croak, my throat dry and scratchy. “You’re hurt.”
“I just scratched my head getting out of the trees,” he murmurs.
“What else?” I ask, rubbing my face.
“You don’t remember?”
I close my eyes and focus, trying to get my mind to come back to the here and now. As I do, I remember what happened.
“He … oh God.”
I push up on my elbows quickly, too quickly. My head spins and I go crashing back down. Noah catches me before I hit the ground. “Whoa. You need to take it easy.”
“He was using Rachel to get to us,” I cry. “Oh God, how could we be so blind? He was so close.”
“I’m sure that wasn’t the only thing he was doing, Lara. He probably had many other ways to get into our lives. Now stop squirming.”
“My leg,” I say through gritted teeth. “How bad?”
“It was a clean wound—you pulled the arrow right through. It’s deep, obviously, but through muscle only. I cleaned it up and bandaged it.”
“With what?” I ask, my stomach turning violently.
He points and my eyes move down to his shirt, which has been half ripped off. He’s wearing the equivalent of a woman’s midriff tank. I can’t help it, I burst out laughing. It’s hysterical, possibly a little crazy, but seeing him sitting there with half a shirt on … my traumatized mind finds that hilarious.
“That’s funny?” he asks, puzzled.
“No,” I say, laughter dying down. “I just … I’m sorry. I think I’m losing my mind.”
He shakes his head and carefully helps me up, pulling me into sitting position. “How’s the pain?”
“It’s awful,” I admit, trying to ignore the intense throbbing in my calf.
“This isn’t going to make things easier. Do you think you can walk on it?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Did he…” I look around. “Did he come back?”
“No. You slashed his tires and emptied half his gas tank.”
I did, didn’t I? I also pissed him off. That probably wasn’t a good idea.
“I don’t know how I did that. I didn’t even think I had it in me, but I was so afraid.”
He strokes a piece of hair from my face. “Fear will do that to you. I’m proud of you. Fuck, when you fell from that tree I was sure I was going to lose you, but you were amazing.”
“I just did what I had to. You’re right, fear does bring out your fighting spirit. I don’t want to die, Noah,” I say softly, my voice hitching at the very idea that I came so close to it.
“Then we need to see if we can work out this leg. You will die if you can’t move.”
My heart clenches, but I swallow the worry down and nod. “Let’s do it.”
He stands first and then reaches for me. His hands curl around my upper arms, and he slowly helps me up. I put pressure on my leg, and while it’s painful, it doesn’t seem to be a great deal worse than when I was sitting down. “It doesn’t seem worse standing.”
“Try walking.”
I let him go and hobble a few steps. Each time I put pressure on my foot, a pain shoots through my calf—but again, it isn’t a great deal worse than the pain that’s already there. After a while, I have no doubt it will become more intense, but for right now I think it’s tolerable.
“It hurts, but it’s not impossible.”
He looks skeptical, but nods and says, “I think you should use a stick to take pressure off until…”
“Until he chases us again,” I finish for him.
He meets my eyes and holds them.
He understands.
“When do you think he’s going to come back?”
“I have no fucking idea, and I don’t like it. We need to find somewhere to rest, but I don’t know if he’s going to allow that.”
“How long does it take to change a tire?”
He shrugs. “On a motorbike, maybe two hours.”
“How long has it been?”
“You’ve been out cold for about forty minutes.”
“So we’ve got an hour.”
He nods. “Probably more, considering he had to get back. Let’s go with an hour to be safe.”
“So what do we do?”
He looks to the sky, body tense. “We prepare.”
Look at him trying to help her.
I shift the ice pack against my balls.
She has more guts than I first thought. I grin at the idea. I wanted her weak, but out there today, chasing her, fighting with her, God, it was incredible.
More than I ever thought it would be.
He couldn’t get to her, and that made it even more intense.
She has some fight, the way she ruined my bike. I think I’m going to have fun with her. No, I know I’m going to have fun with her.
I’m going to make her wish she wasn’t born, and I’m going to do it slowly.
So comfort away, Noah. It won’t matter what you do.
Lara just became my prize.
THIRTEEN
Noah finds a straight stick and re-straps my leg after washing it in the stream. I try not to stare at the small, clean hole, but mostly I try not to worry about the infection that could easily come from a wound like that. There isn’t a great deal I can do about it, so I’m trying to take my mind off it. It’s hard when the throb is radiating through my body with every step I take.
“You still got weapons?” Noah asks, handing me some water. His eyes are constantly scanning the trees.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think going up in the trees is going to work for us again. Even if you were in better shape for climbing, somehow that fucker knew exactly where we were.”
I shift on my position on the log, taking a long drink of water before contemplating what he said. “Yeah,” I say. “How do you think he knew that?”
“I’m missing something. I just don’t know what it is.”
“He’s got cameras everywhere. Maybe they’re in the trees.”
“No,” he says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “No, he wouldn’t have them that high.”
“Maybe he’s got a few up there, too?”
“Maybe, but it seems far too difficult. I’ll work it out. For now we need to figure out what we’re going to do the next time he comes.”
“Do we hide? Do we run? Do we just fight?”