Scorched

by Theresa Shaver

  “If you want us to last for more than an hour out there, then we’ll need our scarves and goggles to protect us from the sun. They’re in the cart. Can I get them and cover her up before we leave?”

  He just waves his gun towards the cart in an impatient motion for me to hurry up so I spin around and bound up the steps into the cart. My eyes fly over every surface looking for some kind of weapon I can use but we’ve loaded everything on to the sled already and I gave our one knife to Beck to use after I cut the ties holding the tarp to the rock wall. The only thing left inside here are our scarves and goggles so I grab them into a bundle, climb back down and step over to the sled hoping to grab something I can use.

  Boyd barks out, “Get the girl covered and let’s go! No more stalling!” Before he shoves her in my direction.

  I catch her in my arms and pull her against me for a brief moment of comfort and then gently push her away so I can arrange the scarves around her head after I put her goggles around her neck. It’s a pathetic amount of protection for her against the cruel midday sun but it’s the best we have.

  I lean down and kiss her forehead and barely whisper, “I’m going to save us, I promise.”

  Her eyes are just rising to meet mine when she’s wrenched out of my arms by Boyd. He points his gun at me and then at the sled before whirling it around in a let’s go motion. I glare at him but just nod before draping my own scarves over my head and then turning the sled on. The noise startles Boyd making him turn the gun back on me again.

  “What the hell is that?” He almost screams as he looks frantically around for the source of the low humming.

  I throw up my hands with the remote in one of them. “Whoa, whoa! It’s just the hover sled!”

  I can see by the confusion in his eyes that he doesn’t know what a hover sled is so I try and reassure him that I’m not trying anything.

  “There’s an engine on the sled that lifts it so we don’t have to carry or drag it. That’s what the remote controls.”

  He shakes his head and grits his teeth. “Whatever, just get going!”

  I nod and use the remote to send the sled towards the back of the cavern, past Beck’s body. I try and get a closer look at him as I go by and see that he has two pools of blood under him. There’s the one where he was shot and one from a gash on the side of his head. Any hope I have of him being ok vanishes when I see the second wound. If he’s not dead already, he will be soon with no one to help him. I try and see if his chest is rising and falling but I get a hard shove to the back from Boyd that sends me stumbling away. I have to shove the tears and sorrow over Beck’s loss down deep for now and concentrate on what I’m doing so if a chance opens to defeat Boyd, I’ll be ready.

  I step ahead of the sled so I can pull the tarp aside and send it through into the glare of the sun. Boyd shoves Glo through and waves for me to go so I won’t be behind him. I don’t even get a last glance at Beck because he’s blocking my view of him. I have no choice but to say a silent goodbye and send a mental apology for all the pain he’s had to go through because of his despicable brother as I turn and leave my only friend for good. I pull my focus to the path ahead and square my shoulders. I’m ready for what comes and I’ll take my chance at taking Boyd out as soon as it happens.

  Glo’s waiting beside the sled at the bottom of the path so I nod at her to start up with the sled following behind her. I’m relieved at the space between her and Boyd and his gun. If I see a spot in the path ahead to send her away, she might be able to hide and circle back to the cart. It only takes Boyd ten minutes to come to the same conclusion causing him to rearrange our order so I’m in front with the sled and Glo’s back with him. I fume in frustration as I trudge along beside the sled. The path takes us up higher and I can feel the burn in my thighs as the sweat rolls down into my eyes and soaks through my shirt on my back. The only thing I can be grateful about is the silence. Other than a few grunts, I haven’t had to listen to any taunts or threats from Boyd. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll keel over with heat exhaustion and die. He can’t be used to this kind of exertion in the high heat either.

  Just as the thought of that runs through my mind, I flinch when his arm shoots past me to snag one of our jugs of water. He doesn’t say anything when I grab one of my own and drop back to make Glo drink. We don’t speak but her eyes are filled with all the questions she wants to ask me about what we’re going to do to get out of this. All I can do is give her a reassuring smile before Boyd shoves me back to the front with the sled. I take a few deep swallows of water from the jug before capping it and setting it back on the sled. Just because Boyd’s hijacked our hike doesn’t mean we don’t have to ration the water. Especially now that he’s chugging away at his bottle like we have an unlimited supply. Glo and I will make it to the valley but as soon as I find a way to get rid of Boyd, I’m going straight back to the cavern to check and see if Beck’s still alive. I can’t just leave him there without knowing for sure. I gave up on him once, a long time ago. I won’t do it again.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Pain, blinding pain, in my head that has my stomach heaving, causing me to roll to my side and expel the meager contents of my stomach. A different shriek of agonizing pain flares from the side of my body. I try and push myself up from the sand but the world blurs and spins, sending me face first back into the ground. Dark wings threaten the sides of my vision and all I want to do is escape into the dark where I won’t feel this agony but an image of my brother’s cruel face keeps me in the here and now. Boyd did this to me so that means the girls are in danger. A surge of urgency floods through me so I channel all my strength into my arms to push myself up off of the ground. I whip my head around looking for them but the motion to my damaged head has me toppling back to the ground and darkness overtakes me once again.

  The next time I come too, the light in the cavern is much dimmer. I take it slower this time and gradually get to a sitting position. The pain is still flaring strong in my side and my head so I just sit and slowly look around the cavern to try and figure out what happened. I’m alone and the sled is missing so I have to assume that the girls are still alive somewhere out there with Boyd. The urgency to run after them floods through me but I know I won’t make it two steps in my condition. I raise my hand and gently probe the large bump and gash on the side of my head. Even the softest pressure on it sends a spike of pain and my stomach threatens to heave again. My hand comes away wet with blood but it’s sticky like it’s old blood that’s started to dry, so I move on to the injury on my side.

  My whole shirt is soaked with blood on that side and I wince when I peel it away from the wound. I can’t get a good look at the injury so I use my fingers again to try and judge the damage. My head swoons again when one of my fingers almost slides into a hole that shouldn’t be there. I take a few minutes of deep breathing before I get the courage up to feel along my side to the back and find another hole. The bullet has gone straight through me and judging from the location and my limited knowledge of anatomy, it’s not life threatening except for the blood that keeps leaking out of me. Both the front and back wounds are caked with sand from the ground and I don’t know for sure but I think it’s the sand that slowed the bleeding down and kept me from dying while I was unconscious. I don’t know if that’s true or not but I do know that I need to clean the wounds out or I will be dead from infection and it’s going to hurt ...a lot.

  I look around the cavern again and think about what I need to do first. I’m going to need water to clean out the wounds and some kind of bandages to close them up. My mouth is as dry as the sand I’m sitting on so I’m definitely dehydrated too. I zero in on the old barrels of water and decide that’s my first step, but actual stepping isn’t an option yet so I just crawl on hands and knees toward it. I only make it a few feet before my knee comes down on something hard, adding another blast of pain to my abused body. When I pull back and to see what caused it, I’m grateful for this pain. Día’s gun is h
alf buried in the sand where my knee pushed it. It doesn’t help me right now but once I’m back on my feet and can go after them, it might give me the edge I need to finish the threat that my brother is. I leave it in place for now and make my way to the barrels, first things first.

  I use the rim to pull myself up to my feet for the first time and hold tight and grit my teeth as the cavern spins around me. Once things settle again, I scoop up hand after hand of water and drink my fill. I’m grateful that the water seems to push the pain in my head back and my legs feel steadier already. I spend the next few minutes staggering around the cavern going through the bins that are stacked on the shelves - looking for any supplies that I can use to treat my wounds. I bark out a groan of relief when I pry open one of the plastic lids of a bin and see that it’s filled with white metal boxes with a red cross stamped on the lids. I pull each one out and set them on the shelf beside the bin until I count six in total. The relief that fills me is only temporary because I know how much it’s going to hurt to treat my wounds. I gather three of the boxes from the shelf and carry them to the tarp at the opening and slide through into to the brighter light where I’ll be able to see what I’m doing. I can get a better feel of what time it is now that I can see where the sun is in the sky and let out a breath. It’s not as late as I thought it was. It was only around noon when we were loading the sled and judging by the sun, it’s now mid-afternoon. That means at most, Boyd and the girls are only a few hours ahead of me.

  I dump the med boxes on the sand and stagger back into the cavern. I grab two empty buckets from the mining supplies and fill them up from the barrels of water to take outside with me but only take a few steps before I’m forced to set them down. The gunshot wound on my left side has turned into a screaming demon from lifting the bucket and all the strength in my arm on that side is gone. It takes me way longer than it should to shuffle each bucket of water out into the sun one at a time using only my good arm. I finally drop to the sand coated in sweat, my head and stomach spinning with a fresh bloom of blood soaking my side.

  I spend a few minutes just getting my energy back and sipping handfuls of water from one of the buckets until I’m ready to get started. I brace myself and pull my shirt over my head and then toss it into one of the buckets to rinse off as much of the blood and sweat as I can. While it soaks, I start opening the med kits. At first, I’m thrilled at the stack of paper covered bandages and foil packages that fill it but as soon as I try and pick up the paper covered ones, they just crumble in my hand into brittle pieces. Age and the dry hot air have turned them into barely held together dust. I empty the box of everything wrapped in paper and hold my breath as I tear open the first of four foil packets. The first one holds a set of steel tools, small scissors, a wicked sharp scalpel, tweezers, and a needle with a loop of thread attached in a tiny plastic bag. The second foil pouch holds a roll of pink stretchy fabric that’s held closed with metal clasps. The third packet’s contents make me close my eyes in thanks. The label states that it’s a quick-clot sponge. I don’t know if the chemical components will still work after all these years but I can at least pack the two holes with it.

  The final foil pouch holds a rock-hard biscuit of some kind. I turn the foil packaging over and the words “ER Bar - High-calorie ration bar” are on the faded label. I’m guessing it’s some kind of food so I put it back in the foil and set it to the side before checking the box for anything that’s left. There’s a small tube of ointment that is completely dried up and a tiny aerosol can with the words ‘Wound Wash’ on it. My breath catches at those words. It’s going to hurt but I need to get the holes as clean and free of sand as I can so I swallow down the trepidation.

  I go grab the other four kits from the shelf inside and lay out everything I’m going to need to get this done. I wring out my gross shirt as best as I can and dip it in the clean bucket of water before using it to wipe away as much of the blood and sand on my head and side as I can. It hurts so bad that tears constantly pour down my face and painful grunts come from my lips but I keep at it until the water in both buckets is red from my blood. I use the spray from all six cans and yelp out my misery as it burns in the wounds. I can’t stop now even though I want to flop down on the sand and just die. The quick clot sponges come next and I use the pink elastic roll to secure them in place. I must look like a fool with the one wrapped around my forehead but no one’s around to see so I don’t care.

  I wish I could jump up and go chase after the girls but I’m going to have to just sit here for a while and recover from the trauma I just inflicted on my body. I lean back against the warm rock wall and watch as the sun drops further down until my eye lids follow it and close. My last thought before I slip away is, I hope my friends are ok.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  We’ve only been hiking for a few hours in the hot sun when I hear Glo stumble behind me. I turn to look and see Boyd haul her back up and shove her forward so I just try and send her a reassuring smile but I know it comes out flat. It’s only a few minutes later that I hear her let out a small gasp and then the sound of her hitting the ground. I whirl around and yell at him as I rush to lift her back up.

  “Don’t touch her!”

  He glares at me and stabs the gun in our direction. “I don’t need her to get what I want from you so she either keeps up or I get rid of her! She’s just slowing us down anyway so...”

  He leaves that threatening sentence open for me to fill in the blanks. I’m going to have to carry her or he’ll do something drastic. I turn around and squat down so she can climb onto my back when my eyes land on the sled. I stand back up, take her arm and pull her ahead to it. It only takes a few seconds to move our supplies around so there’s a spot for her to sit in the middle of the sled. The kid can’t weigh more than seventy-five pounds so it’s shouldn’t have any problems with her extra weight on it. I take a minute to dry her tears and then help her step up and get settled onto the sled and then hand her one of our battered umbrellas to open up and use for shade. She gives me a shaky nod that she is ok but I know she’s far from it. In the last three days, this poor girl’s whole world has come crumbling down around her. She’s lost her home, her grandmother, her friend Beck, and now faces death by this evil man. I know she’s going to have emotional scars for a very long time. I just hope we can live through this so we can work on healing them.

  Boyd interrupts my musings. “Well, look at the queen of the desert riding on her throne!” He says sarcastically. “Now that just doesn’t seem fair, does it? I think maybe the man with the gun should be the one riding in style. Don’t you?”

  I bite my tongue to keep the nasty reply I want to bark back at him in and take a deep breath before answering.

  “I’m not sure if it could handle your weight. Even if it could, the charge wouldn’t last as long and we’d have to stop often to power it back up. Glo’s weight shouldn’t affect it that much but we can try with you on it if you want.”

  He stares at me suspiciously for a few seconds before finally shaking his head.

  “Maybe later. Let’s get moving! We’ve wasted enough time.”

  I turn without a word and get the sled moving again up the path ahead of me. So far, it’s been wide enough that I can walk beside it but I’m worried about what’s ahead. I had taken a good long look at the first part of the map before Boyd showed up but I know I’m going to have to look at it again soon to make sure we stay on track. I’m afraid if he sees the map, he’ll take it and start asking questions about the different paths marked on it. Two of the paths marked on the map lead to my Grandfather’s mining claims where he made his fortune and the other one leads to the valley. There’s no way I’m going to lead Boyd to the valley. He wants gold so I’ll take him to one of the claims and he can pry it from the rock with his bare hands for all I care. Hopefully, somewhere between here and there I’ll get my opening to either escape with Glo or kill him.

  We are moving faster now that Glo isn’t setting th
e pace but it doesn’t take very long for Boyd to start slowing us down again. Poor guy, he’s not used to exerting himself outside in the full heat of the day. He calls for me to slow down a few times as a gap grows between us but I only slow down for a few minutes at a time before speeding back up. A little bit of distance between us is a good thing for me. As the path goes around a rock outcropping I take the few seconds that I’m out of his sight to pull the map from my bag and scan it for what’s ahead. There’s a split in the path ahead that will take us in the direction I want to go and even better, it looks like it will climb a hill. I want Boyd to be as exhausted as possible so I will have an edge on him.

  “Hey! I said, slow down! It’s not a race so quit running!”

  I can hear him huffing and puffing as he gets closer so I stuff the map back into my bag and turn with an innocent expression.

  “I’m sorry, Boyd. I just thought you’d want to get there as quick as possible. You said my sister was slowing us down so now that she’s not, I just assumed you wanted to go quicker.”

  He comes to a stop in front of me with his chest heaving and his breath coming out like a bellows and just scowls at me. I’m just about to turn around and keep going when out of the blue he hauls off and slams his hand against the side of my head, sending me flying into the sled. Glo lets out a squawk of surprise when the sled jerks to the side and crashes into the rock wall we were going around.

  I’m half draped over the sled with the hard boxes and jugs digging into my stomach and my knees stinging from landing on the unforgiving rock we are walking on as I try and blink the stars from my reeling head. I can hear Glo crying again and I want to reassure her but all that comes out of my mouth is a groan. I swallow hard and go to try and get to my feet again when I feel Boyd grab a handful of shirt from my back and haul me back up and on to my feet. He grips my arm hard when I sway and gives me a little shake.