by Joanna White
“You fight very well for someone so young. And new.” He continued moving without stopping, and though his tone sounded neutral, there was something else I couldn’t place. Hostility?
“Thanks. How long have you been here?” I had asked more to keep the conversation going than anything else.
He paused. It was a deep sort of silence in those few seconds before he answered. I could tell it took him to a deep and faraway place.
“A long time,” was all he said.
The deep silence continued. I didn’t speak. He seemed too deep in his thoughts to hear me if I did.
I wondered what it felt like to be him. Trapped in a place away from your family… always running and hiding, fighting for your life every minute of every day. Stopping short, I struggled to breathe when I realized that was not just his dark reality.
It had now become mine.
He turned to look over his shoulder at me. “You alright?”
“Yeah.” I carefully avoided his gaze as I stepped over another rock and kept walking.
Only my right foot wouldn’t come with me. I pulled and twisted.
Sharp pain in my right ankle made me stop and look back. My whole foot was stuck underneath a rock.
Had the rock moved?
I looked back to hope to catch Jared before he got too far ahead, but he hadn’t moved. He’d flattened himself up against the side of the wall just ahead of me. When I gave him a confused look, he only put a finger to his lips in response.
I grabbed my leg, trying to pull my foot out. Grinding my teeth together, I looked back at Jared, gesturing to my foot.
He pursed his lips and nodded, signifying that he understood.
The pressure continued crushing my foot until I had to bite my lip to keep from groaning out loud. If it continued, not only would I have a broken foot, but I would blow my cover.
I closed my eyes and bit my lip again.
Suddenly, rumbling, almost as loud as the avalanche down on the mountain earlier, rang in my ears. I glanced up above us to see rocks falling, heading straight for Jared.
“Look out!” I screamed, trying to warn him. My warning was in vain. He looked up to see them, but not in enough time.
“Jared!” I yelled, only part of me remembering to keep my voice deep.
I heard a grunt from the other side of the rocks.
Well, at least he was alive.
I heard another grunt, and then a curse, followed by, “I can’t move them!”
I grabbed my leg again, trying to pry my foot out. If I didn’t get him out soon, there was a chance they would either collapse on top of him or worse; more could fall around us. With the mountain to our left and boulders to our right, something was unstable. It was the only explanation I could come up with for why the rocks had moved or fallen.
My breathing increased. This man’s life couldn’t depend upon me. There was no way for me to get out and I was too weak to move the rocks. I was only a woman, and not a very strong one at that. Pressing my hand against the wall on my right, I braced my other hand against the wall on my left. I pulled against my leg to try and yank it out.
It wouldn’t budge.
Breathing deeply, I had to think for a minute and remember not to panic.
Maybe… My boot added extra room. I reached into the waistband and grabbed the small handheld knife I had hidden there. I carefully made a slit in my boot, just big enough for my foot to slide out. A sharp pain flared in the side of my foot. I bit my lip and groaned, but I continued sliding my foot out. The tighter it got, the more pain I felt. Finally, after a moment that seemed like forever, my foot slipped out. I grunted and sighed while I leaned against the side of the wall. Closing my eyes, I gasped for a moment, trying to catch my breath. Then, I realized I couldn’t relax for long.
I still had to get Jared out somehow. Pushing myself off the wall, I took a step. The pain in my ankle caused me to limp to the rock pile.
How was I supposed to get him out? Most of the rocks were fairly large, weighing almost half of my entire body weight. I didn’t want the top rocks to collapse on top of him, so I stood on top of a boulder to the side, one that wasn’t a part of the pile that trapped Jared, and used the right wall to brace myself.
Grunting in pain again, I reached and grabbed the closest rock I could reach off the top and lifted it. The weight was too much for me to handle.
There was no way possible I would be able to do this.
Sighing, I looked up at the night sky, as if that would help me figure out a solution.
If only I could get just enough rocks off the top to make a hole, then Jared could climb his way out. I refused to think about what we would do if he was too hurt to move.
Crawling onto the pile this time, I got up higher so that I could see the top. I reached for a smaller rock, almost in the middle of the pile, and tossed it behind me. The movement sent a spasm of pain through my foot, making me groan out loud. Shaking my head, I mentally pushed the pain back and focused on the task at hand, as I reached for another rock. This one was a little bigger than the other had been, and heavier, too. I used both my hands and slid them underneath the rock and lifted.
Though I staggered underneath its weight, I forced myself to pick it up and throw it to the ground. Despite my efforts, it landed right next to the rock pile.
I heard coughing from inside the rocks.
“Jared?” I moved more of the smaller rocks aside and tried to peer inside the tiny hole that was created. It was too small and way too dark to see anything.
“I’m here.”
“I’m making a hole at the top, so we can get you out of there.” I pushed against another rock to get it farther out of the way. There were more stones piled underneath it.
I have to move those to make the hole bigger, I thought.
Immediately, I got to work, grabbing stone after stone and using all the strength I had to throw them off to widen the hole at the top of the rock pile. It was a very slow process because of the pain rippling inside my foot.
If… if I wasn’t fast enough….
I shuddered. His life shouldn’t be in my hands; I wasn’t strong enough to help him. If I couldn’t help him what chance did I have to help Gabriel? What made me think I could save him in the first place?
I shook my head to rid myself of all thoughts.
Focus on saving Jared. For now, Gabriel can wait.
Looking at my progress so far, I sighed. There was a small hole made, bigger than the one before, but not big enough for Jared to fit through. Picking up another rock that was blocking most of the view, I tried to lift it, but it was too heavy. Trying again, I grunted but had no luck. At last, I decided to try scooting it off the pile. I ended up rolling it off the other side, which made some smaller rocks fall.
A fit of coughing came from inside the pile.
“Jared?” I asked, concern sneaking into my voice.
“Here,” came the curt response.
“I’m almost done. I’m trying to hurry.”
This time, all I heard was a grunt which almost sounded like a growl. Ignoring it, I returned to work. There was a whole bunch of smaller rocks, but instead of just brushing those off the pile which would have risked making more stones fall on Jared, I quickly picked each off and threw them off the pile.
Soon the hole was a little bit bigger. I wasn’t going to be able to move any more rocks without it caving in completely on him.
“Okay, Jared? I’ve made a hole up here big enough for you to fit through. You’re going to have to climb up.” Peering down the hole, I tried to see if he was okay, but it was so dark inside it that I couldn’t see anything.
“I can’t see,” he answered in a husky voice, though his tone sounded annoyed more than anything.
My heart skipped a beat for reasons I didn’t understand.
“I’ll move out of the way to give you some light. Let me try to find something to help you climb.” I limped off the pile of rocks and grabbed a v
ine that grew along the path wall.
“Here’s a vine!” I shouted, throwing it down to him. I kept my head out of the way of the hole to give him light, despite the urge to make sure he was okay.
He grunted, and breathed deeply, but that was all I could hear. I stayed close to the hole with my hands ready to pull him over it when he reached the top.
It took him longer to climb this than it did the mountainside earlier. I wondered why, but then I figured it was probably because he was hurt in some way.
Finally, I saw a hand reach up out of the hole, followed closely by another. Quickly grabbing them both, I pulled as hard as I could. I stifled a whimper when all this pressure, along with how my hurt foot was placed, made it twist even more.
Finally, I hoisted him up, and I leaned back, about to rest. Suddenly, I realized his weight was pushing the rocks down, making them about to collapse in front of him. I shouted his name and dived for him. We both fell from the rock pile. I landed hard, which knocked my breath out, and my head slammed against a rock. For the longest time, all I saw was black, and all I could feel was a sharp pain in my head and a stinging ache that had intensified in my foot.
“Dalex?”
I groaned, not bothering to keep my voice deep. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Jared was under me, and I had hit my head on a rock beside us. I touched the right side of my head where I felt the pain coming from and looked at my hand. It came back covered in blood.
“You saved me.” His voice was husky but sounded somewhat surprised.
I nodded. I struggled to get off him, but part of me didn’t want to move. The smaller, only rational part of me that could think right then, forced myself to get off him. I grunted, feeling more pain from moving my foot.
I looked at Jared to assess his injuries. I didn’t see any blood, except for some dried blood on his arm, but there didn’t appear to be any scrapes or cuts from it. Overall, he appeared to be just fine. When I took a closer look, however, I realized that wasn’t true.
He looked extremely pale and when he sat up he looked like he was about to collapse at any second. He kept blinking his eyes as if he couldn’t see, but I guessed it was from getting used to the light again.
“How did the rock slide happen?” I asked, looking at him.
“A Hunter,” he murmured, blinking his eyes again. He leaned against the wall for support and breathed deeply.
“Is he still here?” I whispered.
“I don’t know.” He narrowed his eyes, as if in concentration. He tensed up suddenly and grabbed the wall behind him for support. It wasn’t until seconds later that I realized he was trying to stand.
I grabbed the side of the collapsed pile to help me stand and tried to avoid putting pressure on my foot.
“We need to move,” he said quickly, opening his eyes. He saw me struggling with my foot and held an arm out. I placed my arm around his shoulder and he slipped his arm around my waist to steady me.
I tried not to think about how I liked being close to him.
Together, we made our way down the path and closer toward where Wexx and Sine would be. It was a slow process and after going for about ten minutes, we both had to stop. Jared collapsed on the ground, leaning against the wall with his knees up to his chest, arms resting on his knees.
“I need water,” he murmured.
“Yeah, I’m thirsty too,” I answered, carefully sitting down. I pulled up my pant legs enough to look at my ankle. It was badly swollen, with a nasty blue-black bruise. I gently pressed on it to see if I could feel the bone, but the pain hurt so badly that I groaned. It was almost a scream and I fought to keep my voice deep.
“How bad is it?” Jared asked.
I bit my lip and shrugged. “It’s pretty swollen. I don’t know if it’s broke.”
I gnawed on my lower lip to keep from screaming or crying or both. Since the path was so narrow, and we were sitting opposite each other, my ankle was practically touching his knees. He only had to scoot forward a little bit to touch my ankle.
Gently, he pressed on it. I bit my lip but ended up groaning again. Closing my eyes, I tried to think about something else.
“I think it might be broken.” His voice was thick and husky as he stared at my ankle.
I nodded. “Do what you have to.”
“Move a little so your ankle is straighter…Take off your shirt and use it to bite on,” he instructed.
My heart stopped. I froze in fear. How was I supposed to answer him on that? I opened my eyes, barely keeping them from widening. My gaze fell on a nearby stick; I quickly grabbed it and put it in my mouth in response.
He looked at me with the most intense red-gold eyes I have ever seen. “Ready?”
I nodded, biting the stick.
“One…. Two… Three!” With that, he snapped my ankle back in place. My teeth bit the stick so hard it almost broke. I kept my voice as low as I could while screaming but the pain was so intense.
When I opened my eyes and looked at him, he was tearing the sleeves of his shirt off. He took two sticks off the path. Placing the sticks on either side of my ankle, he moved it, so it was perfectly straight, in-between them. I stifled another scream. He took the torn sleeve pieces and used them to tie the sticks in place around my ankle.
I looked into his eyes and nodded in silent thanks for what he’d done.
Chapter 6
JARED
Being stuck inside the pile of rocks, with my vision completely blacked out, made me feel helplessly vulnerable. Twice, all within a couple of weeks, I had been helpless and unable to do anything.
He nodded in thanks for how I had snapped his ankle back into place. I leaned back against the wall to rest. His ankle may have been taken care of, but I was still extremely weak. Dealing with his ankle distracted me, but exhaustion crept over me again. For the third time, I cursed the rock pile that Becx caused, cursed the darkness, cursed my weakness.
How many times has it been used against me? And it all started when Dalex arrived here, I thought to myself.
The rock pile had all been to “test Dalex” to see if he was strong enough to save a fellow prisoner, to test his skills so Hindah could see if he truly had Hunter potential or not. I cursed that, too. My weakness, used on me purposefully, all to test this runt. More than anything, I wanted to kill him.
“I need water,” I murmured. My hands tapped the hilt of a dagger in my belt as I debated. Maybe knowing the reason I couldn’t sense his thoughts wasn’t worth it.
Dalex looked at me and nodded. “You look exhausted. You get hurt from the rock pile?” he asked. There was something in his voice that I couldn’t place and whatever it was only increased the urge I had to kill him right then and there.
I gritted my teeth in frustration. “Just don’t like the dark.” It technically wasn’t a lie.
He nodded. “How close are we to getting back down?”
“Not too far. Maybe an hour and we’ll be where the others are.” For now, I’d keep him alive. As much as I hated it, I needed to know why I couldn’t use my powers on Dalex and why everything had changed the moment he had arrived.
With a grunt, I stood up, grabbing Dalex’s arm, and wrenched him to his feet. He glanced at me in surprise but slid his arm around my back for support.
The next thirty minutes were the slowest, most frustrating thirty minutes I could remember having. I pushed the weakness and fatigue as far back as I could, forcing myself to be numb to everything else around me. I had to keep going. After only half an hour had passed, I was done. I collapsed, which caused Dalex to fall beside me. I gritted my teeth and muttered a curse.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the wall behind me.
“Jared?” he asked, concern plain in his tone.
As annoyed as I was, I didn’t answer him.
“Are we close?” he asked.
I nodded once, quickly.
“Alright. Stay here. I’ll go on and find them and then come back and they can
help me get you,” he said. “I promise I’ll be back.”
With that, he was gone.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed until he returned, mostly because the minutes ticked by like hours. Finally, Dalex returned with Sine and Wexx right behind him.
“Here,” Dalex murmured, handing me a canteen of water. I took a drink. I knew I should go slow, and not make it obvious to them, but I didn’t care. I guzzled it down and instantly I felt its cool sensation sweep down my throat, and into my chest, replacing the fatigue with strength.
“Where are you hurt?” Wexx asked.
I glanced at him. “I don’t think I was hurt badly. Just minor cuts and scrapes. The fall just bruised me,” I lied.
“Will you be okay now?” Dalex asked, trying to hide something in his voice.
I drank some more water and glanced at him, in concentration. I still couldn’t sense much from him. I checked on Wexx to make sure it wasn’t just because I had been weak. Wexx was extremely wary of me. Mainly because he didn’t think he had seen me before. That was the main problem with how the prisoners stuck together.
They tended to stay close.
Which was also their weakness. Getting close to people means they have weapons they can use against you, a voice whispered in my mind, but I had no idea where it came from.
Something Sine was saying pulled me out of my thoughts.
“I don’t think he was listening,” Dalex responded.
“I’m trying to stay awake.” I met Dalex’s eyes as I smoothly lied to him.
“I said it’s a miracle you weren’t hurt in that slide. If it’s as bad as Dalex said.”
“He probably exaggerated it,” I said, which got me a dirty look from Dalex. “Speaking of which, how did you get out? Were either of you hurt in the first rock slide?” I allowed concern to ooze into my tone. Just like a prisoner would.
“Nothing too bad, just a few scrapes,” Wexx said, holding up his elbow to reveal the first couple layers of skin torn off.