"Kaloo?" I asked shakily as the wolf-dog wagged her tail enthusiastically at me. "Eww, get off me." I shied away as she dove in for another lick.
"Need a hand?" Alicia had appeared laughing shamelessly at me and I couldn’t help but smirk too.
She set to work using her machete to free me from the briar patch while I tried to avoid Kaloo's tongue. Eventually, with much hacking from Alicia and tugging from me, I managed to break free of the thorns and regain my feet. Kaloo was able to land more licks to my face while I struggled, taking full advantage of the fact that I was incapacitated and within reach.
Luckily my clothes had taken the brunt of my fall and I'd managed to avoid much injury. I'd gained a few deep scratches from the brambles along the side of my neck which were sore but obviously not too serious. I could just add them to the tally of injuries that I’d acquired.
We clambered back up to the path where Coal and Laurie waited for us. Coal had sunk down to the ground and was breathing heavily. The wound on his leg where he'd removed that huge slither of metal from the truck wreck had bled through his pants and was dripping onto the ground and in all honesty, he looked like shit.
“We're moving too slowly," Alicia announced abruptly. "I didn't point it out before because there was nothing we could do about it, but now we can."
“What?" I asked.
"You two are slowing us down." She pointed at Coal and me.
"Thanks," Coal said with a scowl. "Broken ribs here, and a fucked up leg."
“It looks worse than fucked up," I pointed out.
“I know, and Maya has hit the ground a few too many times," Alicia continued.
“I'm okay," I protested.
“You're dead on your feet. And I think you're concussed." She raised an accusatory eyebrow at me and I conceded defeat, sinking down next to Coal.
"What's the plan then?" Laurie asked.
“Hunter won't wait because he'll have to presume we didn't make it. But if me and Laurie get back there and tell them you're on the way then they will wait. It'll give you time to make it, otherwise we're looking at a much longer walk home.".
"Makes sense." Coal nodded.
“I didn't want to suggest it before because, quite frankly I'm not convinced either of you are able to defend yourselves properly in your current conditions."
"Since when can't I defend myself?" Coal frowned.
"Don't be an idiot Coal, if you can't run you obviously can't fight. And there's the problem of only having one GPS, but now that Kaloo is back-"
"Okay, we're past half way. I need to rest for a bit to bind my ribs and stop this bleeding, if you two run on my guess is we'll be two or three hours behind you by the time you reach Hunter," Coal said finally.
"How will we find our way?" I asked, trying to suppress a yawn.
"Kaloo will follow their trail," Coal supplied.
"And protect you," Alicia added.
I smiled fondly at the big dog. I had to admit I felt safer having her with us.
Alicia rummaged in her bag and pulled out a first aid kit. She tossed it to me before pulling Coal into a quick, gentle embrace.
“See you on the other side." She gave us a salute and a grin then turned and ran out of the clearing. Laurie squeezed my shoulder reassuringly then sped after her.
"Do you need help?" I asked Coal as I pulled some bandages out of the first aid kit
“We just need to strap them up tight, there's not a lot more that we can do but it will help." He started to pull his coat off but hissed in pain.
“Let me." I moved over and gently eased it from his shoulders, then I carefully pulled his shirt over his head. He didn't react but I could see the pain written on his features.
“He got a few kicks in." He smiled nonchalantly, showing me the right side of his chest where a nasty purple and yellow bruise had taken root. "Do you think I should have killed him?"
I paused, halfway through the process of unravelling a bandage and glanced up at him.
“Didn't you?" I asked innocently.
“You know I didn't," he smiled knowingly.
“I guess it would have been a bit...dishonourable to kill him in cold blood," I said eventually.
"And I wouldn't want that." Coal laughed but stopped quickly, placing a hand on his ribs again. "Okay, don't make me laugh."
"Alright. How can I help? What should I do?" I asked, holding the bandage between my hands uselessly.
"Just run your fingers down my ribs one at a time pressing lightly, I want to know how many are broken." He took the bandage from me so that I could do what he asked.
“Okay." I took a deep breath, placed my fingertips on the highest rib and pressed gently.
I tried to ignore the fluttering of my stomach as I touched him and continued the inspection. On the third rib, Coal flinched away minutely and I drew my fingers back quickly.
"Sorry," I breathed.
"It's fine, I count one so far." He smiled encouragingly and I carried on. The next two ribs caused him pain too but that was it.
“Three?" I asked.
Coal nodded. “Three.”
My fingertips lingered on the toned muscles at the base of his stomach and his gaze heated as he looked at me.
My chest rose and fell with deep breaths as I trailed my fingers lower, exploring each curve and ridge as I looked into his dark eyes.
“We should get going,” I breathed and my pulse pounded steadily, my flesh tingling with need as I lingered too close to him.
“Probably,” Coal agreed, reaching out to cup my cheek, his thumb tracing over my lips as his gaze darkened hungrily.
I leaned forward, wanting to taste him again but a grunt of pain escaped him before I managed it and I pulled back sharply.
“Sorry,” I breathed.
“Don’t be,” he replied.
“We really should go,” I insisted. He was hurt and he needed some real help.
“Okay.” Coal glanced around the clearing and his eyes lit up as he noticed something.
"Do you see that plant over there? Big green leaves, little pink flowers." He pointed to a patch of shrubbery.
I moved around the clearing, using his flashlight to look for something that matched his description. I almost missed it because the flowers had closed their petals for the night but I grabbed a handful of the plant and brought it back to him.
“Grind it into a paste," he instructed and I did so using a smooth round stone and a hollow in the base of a nearby tree root.
While I was making the paste, he tied a bandage tightly around his thigh over his pants. The tourniquet did the job and slowly stopped the bleeding.
I presented the pungent green paste to Coal and he nodded.
“Smother it over my ribs, then rinse your hands off. It has numbing properties so might make it difficult to fire your gun," he instructed.
I scooped up a big blob of the paste and smeared it gently over the huge bruise. Coal tensed at my touch and I tried to be as careful as I could. A tingling numbness started to radiate from my fingertips almost as soon as I touched the green mush.
I wiped the excess off on my jacket and rummaged in my pack until I found a bottle of water. I rinsed the remainder off as quickly as I could then offered the bottle to Coal. He took a swig.
"Could do with some of that whiskey around now,” he joked and handed it back. "Can you bind those bandages over the paste? I'll tell you when they're tight enough."
It took several minutes of me wrapping and tying bandages until Coal was satisfied and I sat down next to him on the springy moss-covered ground with a sigh of exhaustion. My eyes were trying to force their way shut again and I had to stop myself from laying back and giving in to sleep.
Coal took a slow, deep breath and stood up."It's working." He smiled down at me, offering a hand to help me up too.
“I'd rather not tug on your arm while you have three broken ribs," I said, refusing his hand and finding my own way to my feet.
K
aloo took the hint and set off in the direction Alicia and Laurie had taken, her nose to the ground and tail wagging high in the air.
We followed at what I felt was a pretty decent pace for the walking wounded and I was hopeful that we wouldn't be left so far behind after all.
"Are you tired?" Coal asked.
"Or concussed I guess. You?" I smiled wryly.
Coal looked away and didn't answer.
“I'd take a drink over a nap right now," he said after a while.
“Oh no, a nice soft bed with fluffy pillows and a duvet, that would be heaven."
"Maybe you could tempt me," he joked. I got the feeling he was trying to change the subject with his flirting and I flushed red as I looked away from him. "I get nightmares about my parents dying in that lab," I said lightly. "But I didn't when we drank that whiskey."
I could feel him looking at me but I kept my gaze on the surrounding forest.
"It makes the things I've done seem easier to bear sometimes," he said after a pause.
"Like what?" The words were out before I could stop them, this was clearly not a topic he wanted to discuss but I waited patiently, ready to let the matter drop if he chose to change the subject.
"There used to be three of us," he began. I didn't say anything. "Me, Alicia and Blane. He was our little brother, not blood but real enough for us. You remember that story I told you about Hunter finding us and teaching us to fight?"
"Yes," I said.
“Well it was just like I told you: Alicia and me fighting a losing battle. But the bit I missed out was that we really needed the food for Blane. We used to look after him. He wasn't much of a fighter, he hid and watched us fight those kids. It wasn't because he didn't want to help, but he was younger than us and he wasn't as tough as this world needs us to be.
“We always looked after him and we didn't mind. I guess we thought he'd toughen up as he got older and be more able to look after himself." He sighed and looked ahead at the trail for a while.
I waited and eventually he went on.
"We loved him, we tried to help him get stronger, we worried about him not being able to look after himself. He refused to join us when we were training with Hunter but I tried to teach him what I'd learned in the evenings. It didn't really work and I got frustrated with him, I shouted at him about it, tried to make him see it was necessary to survive out here." Coal stopped talking and we moved on. I concentrated on the steady rhythm of our feet pounding the miles away and the sight of Kaloo bounding back and forth, leading us ever onwards until he decided to continue again.
“I should have just accepted he wasn't a fighter in the same way that we were, he saw the world in a different way. One night there was a raid on the town, a group of outsiders tried to steal food and supplies from us. We were outside when it all happened and one of them, a boy not much older than me, crossed our path with arms full of food that he'd stolen. Alicia and I moved to stop him, but Blane just turned tail and ran.
We weren't left with any choice but to follow him.
We were spotted and reported to Hunter for being cowards. I was furious. After we explained what happened, Hunter understood but I was embarrassed and so angry with Blane. I shouted at him, called him a liability, told him if he didn't toughen up it was just a matter of time before he got himself, or one of us, killed. I stormed out, left him standing there with tears streaming down his face and I went to bed and slept like a baby. I didn't even notice he was missing until the next day. There was a note left by his bed saying he was going out to the forest to prove how brave he was. Everyone searched the forest for weeks. Alicia and me kept it up for even longer. We never found any trace of him. I haven't slept properly since."
I took his hand in mine.
"How old were you?" I asked.
"What?" Coal frowned at me
"When it happened, how old were you?"
"I - nearly thirteen, I don't see what that has to do with anything." He narrowed his eyes at me.
"And how old was Blane?"
"Ten."
"You were children. Would you blame a boy for what happened if it happened now to someone else?"
“Yes."
“No, you wouldn't. You weren't responsible for him. Someone should have been, but it wasn't you. You shouldn't keep blaming yourself."
Coal didn't reply but he held my hand a little tighter as we moved on through the trees in silence.
My feet were numb and my legs were dead but eventually we pushed though one last swathe of vines and Hunter's truck was revealed. I practically wept with relief and only just managed to keep my feet beneath me as we stumbled forwards.
"Lucky!" Hunter said, raising himself from where he'd been sprawled on the hood of the truck, leaning against the windscreen. "I was just about to give you up for dead - again." He gave us that booming laugh.
"Where are the others?" Coal asked. They weren't anywhere in sight.
"They crashed out almost as soon as they arrived a few hours back." Hunter jerked a thumb towards the truck bed where I could make out two people-shaped lumps covered with blankets.
I moved nearer to see that Laurie and Alicia were snuggled up with a jumble of coats covering them, not blankets at all.
“Alicia moaned about being cold and fluttered her eyelashes at the boys. They were powerless to resist." Hunter laughed again.
I noticed that the rest of Hunter's group were looking pointedly anywhere but at Coal as they lounged around the clearing, all without coats on. I rolled my eyes and leaned against the truck, letting my eyes finally fall shut for a moment.
"I suppose the fact that I still had this helped give you incentive to wait," Coal said and I parted my lashes enough to see him waving the receiver at Hunter.
“It did, but do you really think I'd just leave you in the forest?" Hunter jumped down from the hood and snatched the receiver out of the air as Coal tossed it to him.
“Yes I do," Coal replied without hesitation. "And much as I'd love to kick your ass for it, I seem to be a little worse for wear at the moment..."
"You can give it a go when you're feeling better, baby," Hunter cooed.
I could hear scuffling and I opened my eyes again to see them engaged in some kind of struggle, Coal was pushing Hunter away as he tried to land a kiss on Coal's forehead.
“Ow, ow, ribs, ribs!" Coal protested and Hunter let him go with another laugh.
"Shall we head home then?" Hunter suggested. He seemed altogether too cheerful considering the shit storm we’d just survived.
"It's about time," Coal replied, swinging up into the truck bed with a grunt.
Alicia squealed and kicked out at him but shifted aside to give us room as I clambered up too. I didn't waste any time and snuggled into the donated coats next to the other girls, tossing my own bedraggled jacket aside and relishing the feeling of something dry.
Kaloo hopped up and curled by my feet, her light snores filling the silence quickly. Coal propped his back against the rear window of the truck. The bandage on his leg was saturated with blood so I pulled out the first aid kit and helped him tie another around it.
Coal reached out and ran his fingers through my hair as I worked.
“I'm gunna have to steal things from the city more often," he murmured.
I glanced up and caught his eye, my cheeks lighting with a faint blush, as the truck roared to life. I settled down next to him and sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder and falling asleep almost instantly.
***
I was rolling on a tide, rocking back and forth like I was in the little leaf boat again. I could sense grey light pushing against my eyelids trying to get me to open them, but I resisted.
Something gripped me under my legs and around my back. I rocked one way then the other and then back again as I felt my head lolling and my hair fanning out beneath me.
No, there was no water. But there was lots of swaying. I struggled towards consciousness and realised that I was being carried.
"No," I muttered tucking my head against his shoulder. I didn't often wake up in a good mood.
"Do you want to skip the meeting then?" he asked, that laughter nearly escaping as though he found me very amusing.
"No." I felt very at peace with him.
In a strange way, Hunter felt like an old friend already and I accepted the fact that he was carrying me without question. Hopefully he wasn't a well disguised serial killer. Either way, I wasn't getting down.
“Well, if you expect to participate you'll need to open your eyes," he said.
I fluttered my lashes and let my eyes adjust to the grey light of dawn. We were heading down a street that I recognised from my time in Franklin. In fact we were taking the street to the same destination: The Hub. Hunter nodded to the guards on duty as we passed them and we were soon moving down the twisting walkway that would take us back into the meeting room where we'd been briefed on the mission before we left. It seemed like years ago but it was actually only a few days.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked, noticing that no one was with us.
"They went ahead. I promised Coal that I'd wake you up and deliver you to the meeting before he went for a health check, but it was like trying to wake the dead so I went for the easier option," he replied.
I noticed that my weight was causing him about as much difficulty as I would have had carrying a pen. He was insanely strong.
"Thanks." I stifled a yawn as we ducked inside the huge room.
I thought momentarily about the fact that I was being carried in like a child but everyone had seen me already so there wasn't any point in using my legs now. I couldn't muster the energy to feel particularly bothered about it either.
"Do you want to sit with Coal by any chance?" Hunter asked with a definite smug tone to his voice.
Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance (Cage of Lies Book 1) Page 33