by Kelli Walker
Aside from the water dripping on my fucking chest.
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and felt something heavy on my chest. My eyes whipped open and I craned my neck up, trying to figure out what was on top of me. Did the roof cave in? Had an animal gotten inside? Did a log shift and fall somewhere?
The second my eyes fell on the wild blonde hair, however, I knew it was none of those things.
Val’s cheek pressed into my chest and her body curled into my side. Warmth flooded my veins as my arm came up and hooked around her. She nestled into me and I cursed how much I enjoyed it. How much this woman had wiggled her way underneath my skin.
“No.”
I furrowed my brow as the small word dropped from her lips. I rose my arm immediately, but she gripped my shirt and pulled me closer. My arm fell back around her as she started to kick her leg. It seemed like she was trying to shake something off.
Was something on her leg.
“Stop.”
I leaned up and looked at her leg, but there was nothing there. I sat up and pulled her against me, spreading my legs to accommodate her body. Her hands fisted my shirt and she brought herself closer to me. Closer to my warmth as I wrapped my arms around her.
“Please,” she whimpered.
“It’s okay. I’m right here, Val.”
She was having a nightmare, and it broke my heart.
I ran my hands up and down her back until she jerked herself awake. A sheen of sweat covered her brow as her eyes widened. She whipped her head around the cave, trying to get her bearings before she looked up into my eyes.
Then she quickly let go of my shirt and slid away.
“We need to keep moving,” she said.
“We can take some time to wake up,” I said.
“We need to keep moving.”
“Val.”
“We have to get back to the beach and keep--”
“Val!”
She stood to her feet, ignoring the way I called out for her. Damn it. This woman was infuriating. She needed comfort. It was obvious she had been having a nightmare. And the more she ran away from it and the more she stuffed it down, the worse it would get. I knew how that worked. I did it for years before I finally exploded as a teenager. I had been seventeen and arguing with a teacher on a specific point in history and went on such a rampage that the police had been called. I lost my cool so badly over something so stupid that I lost time, and to this day I still had no idea what happened between the argument and the point where I came to in the back of the cop car.
All I could remember was the anger I felt at being abandoned.
And something told me she knew what that felt like all too well.
Val tossed dirt onto the smoldering embers of the fire before she picked up her backpack. The slabs of stingray meat we had left over were folded up into some leaves that she stored away in her bag. I offered to carry it this time since she had been hauling it around everywhere, but it didn’t shock me when she refused.
She really revitalized the definition of ‘loner’.
“The more we walk in a day, the closer we get to a city. Which means we’ll be better off getting ourselves back to where we need to be versus being out here another night,” Val said.
“I’m not questioning your judgement.”
“Which is odd, since you usually do.”
“I’m more worried about your state of mind.”
“My mind is fine,” she said.
“You weren’t fine while you were sleeping.”
She fell silent at my statement as the two of us walked along the beach. We stayed in the comfort of the shady shoreline and I fell back behind her again. Maybe she thought I wasn’t paying attention to her when I was behind her, or maybe she simply didn’t care. But whenever I was behind her, I saw her relax a little more into her role. Her hand stretched upward and ran along the leaves of the trees that lined the shore. The way the muscles in her back and legs relaxed as she immersed herself in nature was something I found beautiful. I thought people who lived off-the-grid in homes without power and running water were only caricatures painted in movies and television shows.
But I could see all of that within her small form.
Nature calmed her. It was obvious. And that calm radiated from her the more she immersed herself within it. I hadn’t seen her this relaxed since she dropped into the forest a couple of days ago.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“Where’s your favorite place to vacation?” I asked.
I jogged up next to her and fell in sync with her small strides.
“The woods of Wisconsin.”
“I’ve never been.”
“They have beautiful cabins up there. I’d like to own one someday,” she said.
“As a retirement plan, or…?”
“Or,” she said.
I chuckled and shook my head as we fell into a comfortable rhythm together.
“Where do you like to vacation?”
My eyebrows raised at her question.
“Uh… new places. I don’t like visiting the same place once. My last vacation was to Bora Bora.”
“The Polynesia Islands.”
“Yep. It was beautiful, too.”
“So you're a tropical weather nut.”
“I wouldn't say that. I do enjoy sandy beaches and crystal clear waters, though,” I said.
“When you’re not trapped on them,” she said, grinning.
“Was that a joke? Did you just crack a joke?”
“Maybe.”
“Wow. I didn’t think the Valencia Bouchard could have a sense of humor.”
“I’m human, aren’t I? I laugh.”
“Right now, I’m finding it incredible that you conversate.”
“I bet that mouth gets you into a lot of trouble.”
“You have no idea,” I said, grinning.
Her steps slowly down before she abruptly stopped. I turned around at looked at her, watching as her head slowly panned back behind us. The way her body locked up. The slowness of her movements.
I made my blood rush with panic.
“Val, is every--?”
“Sh,” she said.
She put her finger up to her lips and I held my breath.
The crashing of the waves against the shoreline was soothing, but I had a feeling that wasn’t what she was listening to. Her head whipped around again and her face paled, then she reached for my hand and took it.
“Follow me.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Shut up and come on!”
She wrenched me into the woods, moving quicker than I ever thought possible. I stumbled behind her, trying to catch myself as her fingers wrapped tighter around my wrist. She gasped for air as she tore a path through the wilderness, crashing through branches and crunching leaves underneath her feet.
“What’s going on!?” I exclaimed.
“We have to hurry!”
“Val!”
“Stop fighting me, Silas!”
Then, I heard it. The sound she had apparently heard standing on the shoreline.
I heard a rumble off in the distance.
It didn’t sound like thunder, nor did it sound like an animal growling from the brush. What it did sound like, however, was the one threat we hadn’t encountered yet. I ripped my arm from Val’s hand and ran up beside her, trying to help her push through the brush.
The volcano was alive.
The more it rumbled, the more concerned I became. I looked up into the sky and saw its peak through the tops of the trees. The further we got into the jungle, the harder it got to see. I had no idea where Val was going, but the only thing I could do was trust her.
Trust that she knew how to get us out of this situation.
The ground rumbled underneath us and true, unadulterated fear rushed through my heart. I reached for the machete hanging out of Val’s backpack and stepped in front of her, hacking away at the forest in front of u
s. She took it from my hand and continued her journey, carving a path as we ran away from the mountain spewing ash and smoke into the blue island skies.
It seemed as if the jungle never stopped.
Every time the volcano groaned, it signaled our absolute vulnerability. It reminded us that we were in its territory, not the other way around. It whispered the secret that we were no longer at the top of the food chain, then reminded us that it could swallow us whole with its molten rock that ran underneath our feet.
The ground shook with terror and Val audibly cried out.
“Silas!”
The shriek in her voice made my muscles pulse. I look up to see what it was that had made her scream the way she had, but soon I felt myself plummeting. The ground shook and my feet slipped, and a heat unlike anything I had ever felt cascaded up my back.
“Silas! No!”
Then she disappeared from view and my heart stopped in my chest, and the only thing I saw as I looked down was the angry orange of lava flowing underneath the earth.
Valencia
I saw the crack open up as the rumbling of the earth stopped Silas in his tracks. But the second the earth underneath him parted, I shrieked. I couldn’t contain it. The fear. The horror. The panic in my blood. I watched him slip beneath the earth and flung myself at him, sliding across the dirt as methane gas hissed up from the bowels of the planet itself.
“Silas! No!”
I lunged myself over the edge, reaching for his arms as they flailed. I’d heard of things like this before. Volcanic islands having massive, gaping holes underneath the surface of the soil. Like a sponge waiting to open up and bubble molten rock to the surface. I’d read about it. Seen it in videos. Heard daring tails of it. But never had I experienced it or encountered it.
Until the earth tried to swallow Silas whole.
“Val!”
His hand wrapped around my arm and I cried out in pain. My god, the man was massive. A hulking piece of rock dangling from my arm. I locked my legs underneath the roots of a tree, hoping and praying it would hold our combined weight. I thrust my other arm into the cavern as hot pulsed beneath his legs.
The hole was at least a half a mile deep.
His hands held my arms as he dangled there, helpless. Rocks and leaves fell beyond his body, tumbling into the sizzling mixture churning below us. The volcano continued spewing ash and smoke into the air and the ground shook again, opening another rift that hissed with anger behind me. For the first time, I was truly scared. So scared my mind fell blank. Nothing that I had learned or experienced prepared me for something like this. Nothing in a book or a class could have prepared me for this scenario.
Nothing my father ever did to me could have prepared me for the reality I faced.
“Silas, look at me. Don’t look down,” I said.
“Val. You’re going to fall in with me.”
“No, I’m not. I’m hooked onto a tree. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“No, I’m going to stop you from getting killed. Just give me a second.”
I felt him slip and I reached down for him again. I hoisted him up, sliding his hands until he had a hold on my elbows. I felt my shoulders pulling free from their sockets. The root my feet were hooked under began pulling up from the surface of the earth. I inched forward, plunging deeper into the hole, and another shriek left my mouth.
“Val! Damn it, Val. Look at me.”
My weary eyes found his, and I knew what he was about to suggest.
“No.”
“Val, we don’t have a choice.”
“No.”
“Valencia Bou--.”
“If you use my full name, I’ll fucking drop you myself.”
“If that’s what it takes,” he said.
“I’m not dropping you. That isn’t an option.”
“It’s me or both of us. You can’t pull me out of--Shit!”
The root gave way again, sliding us down another two inches. My mind jumped into overdrive as I rifled through every survival tactic I had ever used. Ever seen. Ever read about. Ever created of my own volition. I looked around, trying to figure out what I could do. What I could use. What I could reach. Could I swing him to the other side? That might work. But if it didn’t and the root gave way, we’d both be dead. Could he climb up the side of the earth? The hardened black rock and dirt beneath us looked weak, at best.
He couldn’t climb the inside of the cavern.
But, he could climb.
“Silas! Silas. Okay, look at m--stop looking down, damn it!”
His head whipped back up to mine and I watched fear run across his vision.
“You’re going to climb,” I said.
“Climb what?”
“Me.”
“What!?”
“You’re going to climb up me. You have grip strength. You have nails. Dig them in and climb.”
“What? No. I’m not doing that. I’m not hurting you.”
“Silas, you’re already hurting me. Just hurt me a little more and let me save your life.”
“Don’t say shit like that. Are you insane? You’ve been hurt enough. I don’t want to be that person.”
My jaw quivered as a tear slipped down my cheek.
“You could never be that person,” I said breathlessly.
The ground rumbled again and the tree root budged. My entire torso hung over the side of the rift. It was now or never, and dropping him voluntarily wasn't a choice.
“You decided to stay here with me despite the fact that you had a choice, Silas. You had a choice to save yourself, and you didn’t. Well, I have a choice to save myself, and I’m not. I was hired to save you, so we either do this together or we don’t. So you can either dig your nails in and climb the fuck up my body or we can die together. Your choice.”
Gas hissed around us as the volcano grew angrier. Like it protested the fact that we were still alive.
“You are a stubborn fucking woman, you know that?” he asked.
“Come on. Show me those muscles aren’t simply for staring at.”
“At least I know you’re staring now.”
It was incredible, how he could get me to laugh in the most desolate of moments.
I felt his hand release my elbow before he latched onto my upper arm. He dug his nails into my skin, piercing me and ripping the skin back. I bit down onto my lower lip to keep from crying out as he did it again. Ripped my flesh away in order to save himself. I gripped the tree root with the crooks of my knees, hanging on for dear life as he clamored up my body. My shoulders were on fire and blood oozed down my arms as he tore through the fabric of my shirt. He threw his arm up and dug into my shoulder, his nails digging into the muscles of my back. I roared out against his chest as he crested the top of my body, tears streaming down my face.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Val.”
“You couldn't hurt me anymore than my father already has,” I grunted.
He threw his left hand up and caught the small of my back, causing me to cry out in agony. It felt like every fiber of my being was caving in on itself. My vision tunneled as the living, breathing beast that was Silas Hopkins used my body as a human ladder. Pulling himself from the depths of Hell that threatened to swallow us whole.
Then suddenly, I felt my body moving. Hovering. Falling into something strong as blood leaked down my skin.
I felt a pair of strong arms fall around me and I curled into the warmth I had become so familiar with.
“I’ve got you. I’m here. It’s okay. We’re good. Let me get your bag.”
Silas’ panting breath hit the shell of my ear and sent goosebumps flooding my body. He bent over and grabbed my backpack off the ground and I groaned out in pain. I ached. My heart hurt. My mind spun. My eyes felt like boulders. And the wounds he’d left behind on my body I knew would scar over later. He cradled my body against his chest as I sat back up and I willingly curled into him, seeking out h
is warmth and his comfort as the ground hissed and sputtered around us.
“Come on. We have to get out of here,” he said.
I felt myself hovering as my wounds throbbed in agony.
“Silas,” I groaned.
“I’ve got you. Sweet hell, Val, I’ve got you.”
“The beach. Move towards… the beach.”
I couldn't talk, the pain was so great.
His legs began to move us and away we went. Silas heaved for air as his chest swelled with his efforts, his legs carrying us as fast as he could go. My head fell onto his shoulder as he guided us through the forest. Away from the unpredictable ground and back to a softness that provided comfort.
The smell of gas trickled away from us and the smell of salt took over. The grumbling of the volcano gave way to the rushing waves of the ocean. The ground didn’t shake. Silas didn’t disappear. And for a moment, my body didn’t hurt. The feel of the sun on my skin. The soothing sound of the sand squishing underneath Silas’ feet.
The beach.
We were back at the beach.
“We have to get your wounds cleaned before we go any further. They’ll get infected if we don’t.”
“Water. Go to the water,” I said.
I heard my bag fall into the sand before his feet fall against the ocean water. We were out of immediate danger, but we needed to keep pressing onward. The survivalist in me was screaming it. But I needed to rest. I needed to process. I needed a few minutes to cope with my surroundings and figure out how the hell we were going to get out of all this alive.
“What now?” he asked.
“Sit,” I whispered.
“What?”
“Sit down and rest.”
The waves fell against my body as I laid against Silas. His legs stretched out and his arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer to him. The sun fell onto my face and relaxed my muscles. I blocked out the groaning of the volcano in the distance. Silas cupped handfuls of ocean water and poured it onto my open wounds, causing me to hiss as he cleaned them out as best as he could.
“Do you have anything in your backpack to help with his?” he asked.
I nodded my head, but didn’t have the energy to speak.
“I’m going to do this until you stop bleeding, then I’ll go get your bag,” he said.