by Mark Mathews
Whether it was the truth, she didn’t know, and she didn’t want to at this point. She was going to do her best to try helping out, and whatever happened, happened. She couldn’t perform any miracles, and she hoped they wouldn’t need one. A rustle in the trees next to them had Sarah and Wade pulling their pistols out and swinging toward the new threat in tandem.
“Don’t shoot! It’s just me!” Emily’s voice made Sarah immediately holster her weapon and open her arms to the little girl. She came readily, and Sarah squeezed her tightly.
“I was thinking I could stay with him and you guys could go look at the plane to see what was really going on.” Emily’s face looked as though she expected to be told it was a stupid idea, but Sarah smiled at her.
She didn’t have the time to talk to Emily about it at the moment, but if she had, she would have told the little girl how proud she was of her, and that she was pleasantly surprised she was starting to take on more responsibility in the group. It made her want to hug the little girl because she was turning out to be just like Sarah.
“That’s a great idea. We’ll be right back. Okay, Tom?” He was rolling around a little, eyes closed, moaning softly. There really wasn’t anything they could do for Tom right now, so Wade nodded. He and Sarah got ready to set out on their recon mission.
“The shots were coming from the plane, but I think whoever was shooting is out of ammo. The way they were firing off rounds, I’m actually surprised they hit Tom. It didn’t seem like they were trained given how they were shooting.” Wade nodded in agreement, and the two of them decided to flank the wrecked plane to see who was hiding on the other side.
Wade swung back to the south of the plane, and even though Sarah watched him, he was soon out of sight. Since she couldn’t see him anymore, she didn’t know when he would start moving out toward the plane. She was on her own for the most part, and all she could do was pray that he got there in time if she got into any kind of trouble. Taking a deep breath, she started her own advance on the damaged fuselage. Sarah was about a dozen yards from the hulking chunk of metal when something made her prick up her ears. It sounded like someone was crying. Sobbing, actually, and the sniffling was carrying on the wind. She squatted down and moved as tactfully as she could to the opening. Part of the door was blown off, but she could still see inside. It was more of a half-moon shell that housed what looked like the remnants of a refugee camp. A young girl was sitting in the very back corner, an empty revolver at her feet, crying. Sarah had been right. She was out of ammo.
Sarah put her pistol away, and spread her hands out in a nonthreatening manner. She started approaching the girl, hoping that she was really alone, and not some sort of decoy. If the latter was true, then she felt a little better about Wade being out in the woods somewhere as backup.
“Hello. What’s your name?” Sarah’s voice made the girl jump, and she immediately grabbed for the revolver.
It was empty, and Sarah could see that, but to the untrained eye, or someone who was just afraid, it might offer her some consolation. Anyone else might just see the gun and not be able to tell if it was loaded. The girl hardened her face and got to her feet, pushing herself as far back into the niche as she could.
“Stay back! I’m warning you! I’ll shoot!” Sarah didn’t doubt the girl would shoot if she had the ammo, but she felt pretty safe right now. It also wasn’t a good sign for the girl’s intelligence level if she really didn’t know the gun was empty. She hoped the girl was going more for bravado.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk.” Sarah was using a calm and gentle tone of voice. She hoped the girl would respond to it, rather than look at Sarah as a threat.
“Yeah, right! You’re going to kill me and take everything I have!” Her hands were shaking and the barrel of the revolver was vibrating in her hands.
“I promise you I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you. Are you hurt? When’s the last time you ate? Are you alone?”
These were questions that Sarah really wanted answered, but she knew she couldn’t just interrogate this girl like she was a criminal in her interview room. If she took off the kid gloves now, the girl might never trust her. As it was, it was going to be a long process before the girl trusted her enough to tell her the truth.
“If you weren’t going to hurt me, why were you shooting at me?” The girl asked accusingly. Sarah opened her mouth to protest, but now she felt like she had to defend herself.
“I only shot back because you were shooting at us. And you even hit one of my guys in the chest.” The color drained from the girl’s face, and it hit Sarah that she just had been firing randomly to try scaring them off.
She hadn’t actually meant to hurt anyone. Sarah had done her job well enough that she could tell when someone was feeling guilty, and she was right. The girl did feel guilty. So much so, in fact, that she turned away from Sarah, bent over, and threw up. She wavered a little when she stood up, and it looked like she was about to slip and fall right into the pool of vomit. Sarah moved quickly, catching the girl before she fell. She was weak, and shaking, and looking at the pool of stomach contents, Sarah guessed it had been a while since she’d eaten anything. The moment Sarah touched her, the girl flinched, and tried to get away. There really was nowhere to go, however, and her foot slipped on a piece of metal, sending her down to the ground. Sarah caught her at the last second and started dragging her away from the stinking puddle.
“Get off me! I don’t want to be your prisoner!” She started fighting Sarah, weakly throwing punches.
When Sarah grabbed her, she tried scratching at whatever part of Sarah she could reach, but her nails were broken and dirty, almost like she’d been foraging in the ground for whatever food she could find. Pity swelled Sarah’s heart, but that would have to wait until she knew for sure everyone was safe. Well, everyone other than Tom, because Tom already had been shot. The girl’s scratches didn’t have enough power behind them to actually hurt, and that made Sarah think this girl was in danger of collapsing. She needed to rest, eat, and, more than likely, needed medical attention. Sarah scanned through the trees for any sign of Wade. Not seeing anything, she decided she had no other choice but to try getting this girl over to where Tom was, and try helping them both. The girl moved, moaning slightly. Her hair fell away from the back of her neck, and Sarah saw a cut there that looked more than a little infected.
Putting her hand on the girl’s forehead, she frowned. She was running a fever. The girl looked much younger than she was, with her cheeks being little more than sunken hollows, and her face being so pale that the freckles stood out, giving her the only color she had.
Sarah picked her up in a fireman’s carry, balancing her over her shoulders in as comfortable a position as she could manage. She hadn’t received an answer as to whether the girl was alone or not, but all Sarah could do was pray that she was, because there was no way she’d be able to get to her gun quickly without dropping the girl. Desperately, she looked around her again for Wade. There was still no sign of him, and she hoped he was alright. She hoped he was staying hidden in case she had complications, and not because he was dealing with hidden surprises of his own. She took a deep breath and set off toward the place where she’d left Emily and Tom.
Even though she thought that this girl had been the only one shooting, she still took the roundabout way of getting there, slinking from tree to tree so it would be harder to see her and shoot at her. It took a little longer, and she was panting heavily when she finally got close to where she was going. Sarah came to the conclusion that she was completely out of shape, and that she was going to have to start doing something to fix that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
WADE HAD CIRCLED around the broken fuselage but kept Sarah in his line of sight. There was a moment of tension when the girl Sarah found had raised her gun to Sarah, and Wade had to act quickly to get his own weapon up, just in case. His finger was waiting calmly outside of the trigger well until h
e needed to shoot. He watched as the girl lowered her gun, and he did the same. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but from the body language, he could tell the danger had passed. Sarah was starting to lead the girl out of the wreckage, and he only could guess she was going to bring the girl to the rendezvous point where Emily and Tom still were waiting. He made his way back as well, still keeping an eye out for an ambush or any other kind of danger. He heard Tom’s moaning before he saw the man. Emily was trying to shush him as best she could, but she wasn’t having any luck.
“Tom, you’ve got to try to be quiet. We don’t know who else is in the woods with us, and we have to try to hide.” The little girl was pleading with Tom, but he just wasn’t having it.
Emily jumped when Wade broke through the trees. She immediately calmed down when she recognized him. She opened her mouth to say something, but Wade just held up a hand, stopping the stem of words before they even could get started. Emily closed her mouth with a snap and put her hands up in surrender as she backed away from Tom. Wade came to take her place, checking Tom’s pulse, and doing his best to assess his wounds.
“How’s he doing?” Emily shook her head. The poor little thing had no idea. She had no medical training at all, and had no idea what to look for to tell if he was getting worse. Wade ruffled her hair as he walked by.
“It’s okay, Emily. I know you can’t do much. It’s not your fault.”
He bent down next to Tom, and started peeling the shirt back from the wound. Tom turned his head away from it so he wouldn’t have to watch. It was lucky he didn’t, because Wade’s face slipped and betrayed his worry. The wound was bad, and without medical treatment from a doctor in a hospital, he was afraid that Tom was done for. The grass and leaves rustled not far away, and Sarah came through the underbrush. Emily ran to her, hugging her tightly. Sarah returned the hug. The other girl was hanging back a little, almost like she was shy. Emily saw her when she pulled away from Sarah, but she made no move to go and introduce herself. Emily went back to Tom and Wade, sensing that Sarah wanted to talk to the newcomer herself.
“Come on over here so we can talk, okay?” The girl was standing there, frozen in place, looking at Tom writhing on the ground in pain as Wade inspected the wound.
“I…I didn’t mean to hit him. I was just shooting wildly to try to scare you guys off! I didn’t want to hurt anyone!” She broke down in tears, and Sarah pulled her close, holding her and trying to comfort her the best she could. She was making little shushing sounds, like she would to a baby, but she really didn’t know what else to do.
“It’s okay. I know you wouldn’t hurt anyone unless you had to. It was an accident.” She was crying harder, and all Sarah could do was hold her and hope that it all turned out right in the end. “What’s your name?” The girl looked up at her, eyes wide from crying.
“April. My name is April. I really didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Is he going to be okay?” She was looking up at Sarah, with pleading in her eyes, begging Sarah to tell her that Tom was going to be fine. Sarah bit her lip. She couldn’t promise April that Tom was going to come out of this alive and in one piece, because she just didn’t know. She didn’t want to lie to the girl.
“I don’t know, April. I don’t know. If we had a doctor who could do surgery on him to get the bullet out and give him the recovery he needed, I think he would be fine, but we don’t. I have no idea what’s going to happen with him. I hope that he pulls through, but I can’t promise you something when I just don’t know.” She’d said the words as gently as she could, but April burst into fresh tears anyway.
Sarah winced. Was April going to be a female version of Tom? If she was going to be bursting into tears nonstop, then maybe they should rethink bringing the girl with them. Sarah was appalled at herself. Had she just let that thought go through her head? What was wrong with her? Was she starting to turn into a harder version of herself? Letting the surroundings mold her into someone that she wasn’t? How could she live with herself when she just had thought about getting rid of a young girl who would die in the wild on her own? She was disgusted with herself for even considering it.
“I think we need to find a better place to set up camp than out here in the open. It looks like rain, and we’re pretty exposed.” Wade had come over to see what was going on, and even though Sarah wanted to ask about Tom, she didn’t want April to hear if it was bad news.
“You could go to the plane. It’s pretty safe and has some supplies still in it that I was using. It’ll keep you dry at least.” Sarah and Wade exchanged a look. Moving Tom now might kill him, but leaving themselves this exposed when they had no idea who or what was out there on the mountain with them was even worse.
“Okay, you take Emily, and Sarah and I will carry Tom.” Sarah nodded and headed over toward Tom, trying to get herself together.
She was worried about Tom, but she didn’t want to show her emotions to the two young girls and get them worried. April set out back the way they’d come, with Emily following behind her. Wade and Sarah hoisted Tom up as gently as they could, doing their best not to jolt him in any way. It seemed like hours before they got Tom to the plane, but in reality, it only had been a few minutes. They got him as comfortable as they could in one of the first-class seats that folded out into a short bed. When Sarah tried asking him if he was okay, Tom couldn’t respond because he was unconscious. That wasn’t a good sign, but there was nothing they could do. They didn’t have anything left in the way of medicine, and she started to wish Tom had been shot before Wade, so they both could have been fixed up by the guys in the cave.
Wade built a fire, and the girls went to dig through the things that were left in suitcases and the back of the plane. They didn’t find much, but anything was better than nothing, because it meant they wouldn’t have to take anything from their limited supplies for tonight’s dinner. Tom was still unconscious, but Wade left the fireside every now and then to check on him. Sarah would catch his eye every time he came back, silently asking if Tom was still with them. Wade would look grim but give her a quick jerk of his head to let her know he was breathing.
“April? Can you tell us a little bit about the plane crash?” Wade was asking as gently as he could.
She looked up at him with big, round eyes, and he knew she was seeing it in her mind’s eye. Guilt washed through him for making her relive every moment of it. Even when he’d been a cop, there always had been a part of him that hated doing the victim interviews. He felt like a special breed of ass when he made people think about the one thing in their life that was the stand-alone most horrible moment.
“It started out like any other trip. I was going to visit my dad. My parents got divorced when I was little, and my dad moved away about three years ago. This was my first solo trip to go see him. Usually, my mom would be on the plane with me, make sure that he met me, then take another flight right back.” April paused.
Tears came to her eyes, and she used her sleeve to try wiping them away. She opened her mouth to continue her story, but no sound came out. Emily got up from where she was sitting, walked over to April, and put her arm around the girl. April jumped at first, and Sarah could tell she wasn’t used to physical contact. Well, at least not after the world went to hell. After a few minutes, though, April relaxed into the embrace, and it warmed Sarah’s heart. Maybe April was another lost little sheep that needed her, and she and Emily could give her a family in this time where nothing made sense.
“It’s okay. You can tell us. It’ll make you feel better to let it all out.” Emily said.
It was a speech that Sarah had given to victims dozens of times, but now she actually was starting to believe it. Granted, she never would take her own advice because it would make her feel like a victim. It always made her feel a little too close to the case, so she refused to do it. Sarah beamed with pride at Emily. She was acting with a maturity beyond her years. April took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a second, and let it back out.
�
�Thanks. I just miss my mom so much. I’d been begging her to let me go by myself, and now she finally had. I felt like I was on top of the world.”
She’d been smiling subconsciously when she talked about her family, but now the smile faded. Her chin quivered, and Sarah thought she might cry all over again. April got a hold of herself, then continued, but she looked like a robot now, spouting words that had no emotional effect on her. It was almost like she didn’t even understand the language of the words that were coming out of her own mouth.
“The captain came on the intercom, and he told us that we should assume crash positions. There was a problem with the plane, and they were going to have to make an emergency landing.” April started shaking, and Emily squeezed her tightly. After a minute or two, she swallowed hard and continued.
“The stewardesses came around, making sure that we all were in the right crash positions, then they went to their own chairs and buckled themselves in. It felt like days before the plane hit. The landing gear didn’t come out, and the plane sort of bounced along the ground on its belly before it started sliding through the trees.” Tom cried out suddenly, and Wade jumped to his feet.
“I’ll go take care of him, you go ahead.” Wade got to his feet and walked down the main aisle to the first-class section to check on Tom. The more he looked at him, the more he was certain that Tom wasn’t going to make it. He was hoping he was wrong. He was doing all that he could for the man, but his medical knowledge and resources were limited, and right now his list of resources was completely blank.
“I expected the plane to burst into flames, but luckily it didn’t. I was terrified of being burned to death when the captain told us we were going to make an emergency landing. The impact killed quite a few people, but once the plane stopped moving, the stewardesses who were left and some of the surviving grownups took the bodies out and put them somewhere in the woods.”