Fire in the Woods

by Jennifer M. Eaton

  “Stay where you are,” someone hollered over the rattle of the locomotive. David helped me to my feet. A helicopter hovered overhead, a uniformed man hanging out the door with a gun pointed at us. Two more hovered on either side.

  Checkmate. I raised my hands in surrender.

  A black smear flew before my eyes and imbedded in the dirt at my feet. The base feathers of a dart stuck out of the ground. I squinted up toward the copter. Bullets would have been more effective, but apparently they wanted us alive.

  “Come on!” David grabbed my hand, and tugged me toward the train.

  “You’re not going to—” My arm wrenched from its socket as David jumped back toward the locomotive.

  He landed on the platform between the last two cars.

  I didn’t.

  My body slipped along the steel until my fingers caught the molding on the edge of the railing. My hips slammed against the unforgiving metal framework. My sneakers dangled mere inches from the churning wheels. A scream spewed from my lips, lost beneath the roar of the locomotive and the helicopters now following above.

  David leaned down from the platform, gritting his teeth as he stretched toward me.

  My fingers burned as they slipped. “David!”

  “Don’t let go. I’m coming!” He wrapped his knee around a metal plate, and thrust his hand toward me, grasping my arm below the elbow. “I got you.”

  I dared a breath, and released my grip. My muscles contorted and ripped. My bones whimpered in agony, my senses rejecting any more pain as he lifted me into his arms.

  “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” I buried my body into his, scrambling onto him, trying to become part of him.

  “I’ve got you, Jess. You’re okay.”

  I sobbed into his sweatshirt, struggling to get a breath into my lungs. The world whirred, unreal around me. What reality I could find blurred into a haze of uncertainty.

  WHHRRT. A black dart slammed against the glass window behind us. I shook my head, struggling to find focus that refused to come. David yanked on the door, but it didn’t budge. He released my hand, using both to struggle with the handle, but the clasp wouldn’t release.

  The train jolted, and I staggered backward. “David!”

  A strong hand steadied me. My heart thumped madly as I pawed at him, seeking security he wasn’t able to give.

  WHHRRT. A dart passed between our faces.

  “We’ve got to get out of here.” David's head turned back and forth.

  I palmed the door, desperately searching for a hidden feature that would open the lock and save us.

  WHHRRT. The dart ripped the edge of David’s sweatshirt. Our luck would run out sooner or later. David drew me closer. “I need you to trust me.” His lips formed a straight line.

  Sweat soaked the nape of my neck. “David. What…?”

  “Promise.”

  I nodded. “Yes, I promise.”

  “Hold on to me.” He folded my head into the crook of his neck.

  I sniffed, tears welling in my eyes. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m not sure yet.”

  A dart clanged against the metal floor plate to the right of us. Another bounced off the door to the left. I crossed my arms around David’s neck. Hiding my eyes in his collar made me feel safe. Well, as safe as I could feel on the back of a speeding train car, with a helicopter hovering overhead, and a guy trying to shoot us.

  I stole a glance upward. The metal ceiling provided little cover from the helicopter speeding above. The massive spinning blades blurred the sky as it kept perfect pace. I wished I had my camera to catch the beautiful symmetry of the haunting image, but even if I had it, I doubted I’d be able to do much more than clutch David in absolute terror. Maybe I didn’t have the courage to be a photojournalist after all.

  David’s left hand slid down my waist and cupped my rump. If it were Bobby, I would have slapped him, but David’s grip felt solid and reassuring rather than groping.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  I grunted in response, clinging with all my might.

  “When the time is right, I’ll go.”

  Go where? I didn’t bother asking. I tucked my head in. My lips whispered in silent prayer as my hands tightened around his neck.

  The train’s howl muffled for the briefest of seconds, and David sprang into the air. I had the sensation of hanging, like a slow-motion movie cut, before we slammed to a brutally sudden stop. I shrieked, my hands smashing against a hard, jagged surface. My kneecaps buckled and crashed, jarring every muscle in my body. My fingers reflexively untwined, and both David’s arms wrapped around me as we pummeled—bumping and dragging down a rough, tearing surface.

  David cried out and lost his grip on me. My rear slammed into the rocky ground before I slumped onto his chest. I threw my head back, trying to get my bearings.

  A thick cement overpass shielded us from the sun. Gravel pinched and cut beneath me. My sneaker lay against the edge of the tracks.

  The train sped onwards, shaking the rail against the base of my shoe. The helicopters kept pace steadily above the locomotive until they all turned into the tree line and out of sight.

  David grimaced. He pushed away from the cement wall, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. Was he hurt? For that matter, was I hurt? How were we even still alive?

  Wincing, I righted myself. My left knee dripped with muddy blood, while the other ached beyond reason. I hugged David, desperate for reassurance we were okay. He rubbed my shoulder, hauled me up from the gravel, and checked the direction the train had gone.

  “We need to go. It won’t be long before they figure out we’re not on there anymore.” He put my hands around his neck. “Come on. I’ll carry you.”

  I furrowed my brow. “You can’t possibly be not hurt.”

  “I’m sore, but I’m fine.”

  But I wasn’t. I’d just jumped off a moving train. A freaking moving train!

  He turned toward the trees. “Which way do we go?”

  My hands shook as I pulled the compass from my pocket. The needle wobbled until it decided on north. “That way.” I pointed across the tracks.

  I limped a few agonizing steps. Who was I kidding? I didn’t have a fake skin to rip off. My injuries were real. Pain wouldn’t stop me, though. I stepped over the rails and hobbled toward the trees.

  David grabbed my arm and tucked that one annoying stray hair back behind my ear. I shivered as he touched my cheek.

  “You’re hurt. It doesn’t make you weak. Let me carry you.”

  I didn’t answer, but he lifted me into his arms anyway. My right knee twinged in protest, the ache deep and severe. I put my hands around his neck, for the first time seeing my bloodied knuckles. I bit my lip, refusing to let the pain in. I was not about to let him down. He was right. I felt weak next to him. I was embarrassed. For what? Being human? All I wanted to do was cry. Instead, I choked back the tears and clutched his sweatshirt.

  The sounds of the helicopter got louder. We were out of time.

  “I’m ready. Go.”

  ***

  I leaned my head on David’s shoulder. The sight of trees passing my eyes at high-speed lulled me into a stupor. As he slowed his pace, I woke suddenly, my hands throbbing from my death-grip around his shoulders. My fingers cramped as David eased me down.

  A small private plane flew overhead, slightly shadowed by the setting sun. David didn’t react. He rested on his knees, breathing heavily.

  “David, the sun is setting.”

  He raised his face. “I saw. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it will be a warm night?” The cool breeze answered his question. We hadn’t had a warm night in a week.

  “Should we keep going? Maybe we can find another hotel.”

  “Yeah,” he puffed, “because that worked so well last time.”

  I flung my hands in the air. “Well, I’m open for options. I’m trying to keep you from freezing to dea
th, jerk.”

  Smiling, David wrapped his arms around me. His cheek brushed against mine, and my body tingled in response. It calmed me instantly. How did I ever not recognize that for the affection it was?

  David kissed my forehead. “It was a joke. I’m sorry.”

  The remainder of the exhaustion-fed anger swirling inside me slipped away, and for a moment everything became right again. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have snapped. This has all been crazy, you know what I mean?”

  He nodded and rubbed his injured shoulder. “Definitely not what I’m used to.”

  My brow furrowed. “You are hurt, aren’t you?”

  I moved behind him and ran my hand across his back. A long rip in his Sweatshirt exposed most of his right arm. I slipped my hand inside, my fingers probing a huge slice in his skin.

  “David you’re cut. You’re really cut bad!”

  “I’m fine. I’m just a little shaken.”

  “No, you’re going to need stitches. Lots and lots of stitches—or worse.” I stood, frantically looking from side to side. For what, I didn’t know.

  He smiled. “I’m fine. It’s not my real skin. Remember?”

  Oh yeah. Alien. Fake skin. Color me sheepish.

  I bit my upper lip and set it free. “So, umm, why are we stopping?”

  He scanned the forest. “We’re here. The extraction point.”

  A raking pain ebbed into my chest, settling over my heart. “Oh, already?”

  He nodded. A word shaped on his lips, but he turned away without speaking.

  A knot formed in my throat as I faced the agony of our inevitable farewell. I placed my hand on his shoulder. What did I want to say? Everything, and nothing. I’d only known this boy for a week, but he’d become part of me. How could I ever say goodbye?

  The breeze tickled my cheek. David tensed. What was going through his mind? He seemed conflicted, like he didn’t know what to do. Would he stay with me? Could he, if he wanted to?

  I pushed away the ridiculous thoughts. Dad was on our tails, waiting to grab David and do God knows what to him. There was no choice. David had to leave.

  “How long until they come for you?”

  “Not soon enough.” David turned, centering his gaze on me. “Would it be too much to ask you to hold me again tonight? For warmth, I mean.” His eyes betrayed a need for more than his words let on. Could he be as afraid of saying goodbye as I was?

  I placed my hand on his chest. “I would hold you even if it wasn’t cold.”

  He moved toward me. The power and certainty in his eyes devoured the dread that had been building in my heart the closer we came to this unavoidable night—blotting out the fear of dogs and helicopters and dart guns, leaving nothing but us. Swirls of limitless emotion tickled through me, easing and caressing as I inched closer. The world became nothing but a backdrop to the all-encompassing certainty of my need for him.

  He gently stroked both my cheeks with his fingertips and touched his forehead to mine. I soaked him in, rubbing my cheek along his. The heat from his skin burned, but I couldn’t break the contact. I needed to feel him more than I needed to breathe. I needed to be with him, in him, sheltered and protected from everything that scared me. Was that so much to ask? To freeze this moment? To live in his arms forever? To pretend that everything was okay?

  David’s hands wove through the back of my hair. His eyes, deeper and bluer than I’d ever seen them, gazed into mine, consuming me and leaving me breathless. Was it possible he felt the same way about me? Did he need my touch as much as I needed his?

  His gaze dropped to my mouth, and his lips parted slightly. I drank in his scent, my mind swirling in musk and earth.

  Aliens didn’t kiss, but he was thinking about it. I knew he was. Had he enjoyed the feeling of my lips, my tongue? Was he afraid to tell me?

  I moistened my lips and brushed them over his. David’s reaction was instantaneous, and gave me my answer. His arms folded around me, his lips searching, his tongue finding. My body succumbed to a whirl of pleasure and need. I sunk into him, became part of him, opened myself in ways I never dreamed possible. This is what I needed. This is what I wanted. Nothing mattered but his touch.

  I gasped as he pulled away. My body arched, yearning for more.

  David licked his lips and turned from me.

  “David?”

  He wiped his kiss from my lip with his thumb and stared at his finger. The sadness in his eyes cut through me. “It’s getting cold,” he whispered, as if speaking to his fingers. “Maybe we can make a bed out of some of these leaves and stuff.”

  “But David—”

  “We can’t do this, Jess.” His eyes blazed. His words sliced through me like a knife. “I’m going home. Tonight. Nothing can change that.”

  How could he cut it off like that? I could’ve stayed in that embrace forever, lost in a bliss I never even imagined possible.

  For some reason—the way he clung to me when we kissed, the way his hands stroked my skin, or maybe the way he was avoiding my gaze—I knew he felt the same way.

  But that didn’t really matter, did it?

  I pulled myself together, reminding my stupid heart of who he was, and who I was—and why we were out here. The tickles of attraction and need receded, losing themselves in a wave of practicality. I sighed, missing their warmth.

  David was leaving, and my current job was to keep him warm. Period. Nothing else mattered.

  After ruffling through the underbrush, I found a rut covered with moss beneath a large log. At least it would be soft. David tossed the log aside, and we worked together to line the crevice with soft ferns and other forest plants.

  By the time the sun sank behind the trees, David had already started shivering. I helped him into the makeshift bed, and tucked the leaves around him.

  “Are you comfortable?”

  A rattle-like giggle ebbed out beneath his shiver. “I guess as best as I can be.”

  I eased myself down and covered his body with mine, cuddling as much as I could on the uncomfortable ground. Both of my knees began to throb, pulsing against my jeans. I ran my fingers over my scraped knuckles. It seemed like an eternity since we’d jumped off that train.

  David shuddered beneath me. “I have a feeling this is going to be a long night.”

  I grit my teeth as the temperature fell, praying David’s ride would come before he froze to death. “You’re going to be fine.” The words sounded rehearsed. Forced. Were they to make him feel better, or myself?

  He reached up and ran his fingers through my hair. “It shouldn’t be too much longer, Jess. I can feel a pull in my stomach.”

  I looked up. “So, like, they’re here? Can they pick you up before—”

  He placed a finger over my lips, silencing me. “They’re not here yet, but they’re close.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “They are very close.”

  “So, they’re like, calling you? E.T.-phone-home or something like that?”

  “I guess. What is this E.T. thing, anyway?”

  “Just an old movie. Maggs called you E.T. and it stuck in my head.”

  “So, was this E.T. tall, strong, and dashingly handsome?”

  I snorted a laugh. “He was definitely cute.”

  “How…how…d-did it end?” He stammered with a chill.

  I tightened my grip around David, choking back a sob. “E.T. gave the little boy a hug, and he went home.” Tears gathered in my lashes.

  “D-do you think we’re going to havvvve a happy ending J-Jess?”

  I pressed my cheek against his. “Yes. Definitely.” I only wished I felt as certain as my words.

  19

  A twig snapped, jolting me awake. I leaned off David and tucked back my hair. A sweet piney scent filled my nose as the song of crickets answered a cool breeze rustling the trees.

  David’s body quaked beneath me. His lips quivered, and he moaned. A pang of guilt seeped into
my gut, cutting a painful hole with the realization that my body’s heat wasn’t doing enough. I cuddled around him. “Come on David, warm up.”

  Crack.

  Silence.

  What had happened to the crickets?

  The underbrush rustled. I tensed, holding my breath. Wind swished the trees above. A car horn honked far off in the distance.

  The muted evening air clung about me as if someone had pressed a pause button. Why was it so quiet?

  I screamed as two hands came out of the night, their fingers digging into my flesh. The moon sank behind the clouds, darkening the forest and hiding my captor. My body lifted into the air. My lungs struggled against an overwhelming pressure against my ribs. Held from behind, I struggled and kicked. “Let go!”

  My feet dragged across the forest floor as someone hauled me further from David’s shivering form. I twisted and tugged. Another set of arms shot out of the dark and clutched my hands, tying my wrists together with a coarse rope before drawing me into the air.

  The pressure against my sides subsided, and I drew in a deep breath. My shoulders throbbed from the strain as my captor maneuvered my hands over a tree branch and hung me like a Christmas ornament. “What are you doing? Let me down.”

  I trembled as the cloud cover shifted. The trees, like sharp shadows, seemed to reach toward me, watching. A large broad man walked away, his bobbing gait somewhat familiar. A woman adjusted my bindings, her face partially covered by a fuzzy-edged hood.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  Her silence hung in the air like a veil. She either didn’t hear me, or didn’t care that I’d spoken. Sweat ran down my temples as she turned and joined her friend. I writhed in my bindings. Was this the end? Had we come so far, only to be caught by…who? Crazies? Drug dealers? Who were these people?

  My jailers brushed the dirt with their hands before gathering something from the woods, stacking it on the ground.

  “Please, let me go. I didn’t do anything.”

  The continued their chore.

  The man raised his hand. I flinched as a high-pitched noise blasted my ears. A flash seared my eyes. Orange spots obscured my vision, blotting out what little I could see in the darkness.