“Yes, he might, but he can’t look everywhere at once.”
“He’ll look in the ones closest to the area he shot me. He’s not stupid, Lara. He knows we can’t get far.”
But we can.
“I have an idea. It’s not the best for our legs, considering all the work I just did, but I think it’ll work.”
Noah glances at me, face tight.
“Trust me,” I say, taking his hand and carefully leading him to the stream.
“Get in,” I say, pointing to it. “I’m going to do something.”
“What?”
“I’m going to run along in the opposite direction and put a couple of things down, just subtle things. It might lead him off in the wrong direction and give us time.”
Noah’s face flashes with a look of indecision before he stiffly nods.
“I’ll be back soon. Sit by the stream and don’t move.”
I gather a couple of small scraps of material and a coconut. Then I turn and jog as best I can into the forest. I find where Noah was sitting and use some of the cloth to soak up the blood all over the ground. God, there was a lot of it. I stomp my feet in it, cringing, and then start walking in the opposite direction to the stream. I leave a few bloodied footprints, mark a few leaves on trees with blood, leave a strand or two of cloth fibers on sticks. I even break a few branches.
It takes me well over an hour to complete this, and then I have to very carefully come back, stepping as close to the edge of the track as I can, making sure I cover every one of my new footprints so he doesn’t figure out what I’ve done. It takes me a good long while to get back to Noah, and when I get there, I find him slumped against a tree, head dropped, eyes closed.
I run forward. Fear clogging my throat.
“Noah!” I scream, dropping to my knees in front of him.
I take his shoulders and shake, panic gripping my chest. No.
His eyes flutter open. I make a strangled, relieved noise.
“I was just resting, Lara,” he croaks.
Tears burst forth; I have zero control over them. They tumble down my cheeks in rivers. “I thought … for a second I thought…”
He reaches up, gripping my chin. “I’m okay. I’ll be okay.”
I nod, sniffling, trying to suck back my sobs. Noah’s fingers move to my jaw and then glide up until he’s cupping my face. “Hey, where’s that brave girl who just told me we’d get through this if we keep fighting?”
I nod fiercely, wiping away my tears. “You just scared me for a minute, that’s all. The thought of losing you—”
“You won’t. Do you hear me?”
*
I glance down at his bloody leg.
No.
Not yet.
“We should go,” I say, standing. Feeling his hand drop away from my face hurts, but we don’t have time to do this. Not right now.
“Yeah,” he mutters, standing with a wince.
We step into the stream.
“Where did this end up?” he asks, as we slowly start following it down.
“It ended up in a big dam-like thing, but the forest around it was really thick and dense. He has tracks running alongside it, but if we’re in the water he’ll be forced to get off his bike and come in. I think if we go farther than I went, it’ll get even denser. It’s hard to track someone through water, and soon it’ll be deep enough that we can take the pressure off our legs and swim as best we can.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re an incredibly strong, brave, and fucking beautiful woman?”
I flush and look to him. “Yeah.”
“When?” he frowns.
“Just now.”
A grin.
He’s going to be okay.
We’re okay.
For now.
Not a real hunter.
How dare he.
I’m a real hunter. I’m better than anyone. It took me ten years to create every track, to clear every clearing, to plant trees, to keep the stream clear enough to flow. I thought about every scenario, every escape.
Not a real hunter.
He has no idea who he’s challenging. I’ll find him without those cameras and those damned chips.
I’ll make him wish he never challenged me.
I know every inch of this forest.
Every. Single. Inch.
They won’t escape me.
Tomorrow, I hunt.
And this time I shoot to kill.
NINETEEN
Agony.
It comes in so many forms. Physical. Mental. Emotional.
I’m feeling all three.
I don’t know how many hours we’ve waded through the water, but my mind, my body, my soul are shutting down. Everything hurts, inside and out. My tired body just doesn’t want to take anymore. Noah is the same, I’m sure of it. Nothing takes the pressure away. We’ve floated, we’ve swum, we’ve just stopped and lain down. Nothing is taking the pain away.
It’s the afternoon now, that much I know. The sun has changed directions in the sky. Isn’t it funny how we notice these things? You can go through your entire life not noticing the simplicity of the earth, yet when it’s all you’ve got, suddenly it’s black and white. The sun. The trees. The weather. The way the animals move. The way the days pass by. It’s all so clear, creating its own pattern. We as humans choose not to see these things, but when you stop and look, it truly is beautiful.
“Lara?”
I turn toward Noah, who is staring straight ahead.
“Yeah?” I croak, voice tired.
“Look ahead.”
I glance ahead and stop dragging my legs through the water. Directly ahead is a waterfall. It’s not big, but it’s a decent size. Rocks climb either side of it, stretching up and then continuing on toward what I assume is more forest.
“It’s a waterfall,” I mumble.
“Most waterfalls have little nooks behind them.”
“Where do you get that logic?”
He shrugs. “It’s always in the movies.”
“And everyone knows the movies are based on fact.”
He gives me a look.
I give him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I’m starving and I’m tired.”
“Let me go ahead and check it out.”
“No,” I say quickly. “Your leg is numb from the cold water, but I can tell you now that it’s going to hurt like hell when you get out of here. Let me check it out.”
He glares at me. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“Noah.”
“Lara.”
I sigh.
“Stay here,” he mutters and uses his arms to swim his body across the deep dam leading up to the waterfall.
He reaches it and I watch as he uses his powerful body to haul himself up. I can see the pain on his face, even from here, but he doesn’t make a single sound. He just climbs in, shoving through the water. I float, and I wait. Five minutes later, he comes back out. He’s got a relieved smile on his face. That must be a good sign, right?
“What do you know, the movies are right,” he yells.