Fire in the Woods (22 page)

David’s gaze darted from side to side. The barking continued, until a rumble and high pitched squeal turned our attention behind us. The sound grew louder, muffling the yapping dogs.

What now?

The roar came closer, the ground trembled.

“Hold on,” David said.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as a set of German shepherds broke through the brush, the MPs following close behind.

“Hey,” one of them called, pointing.

“David, go!” I tapped his back.

He lifted me and darted ahead. The MP placed a whistle to his lips as we left him behind, the dogs snarling and pulling faster than the man’s legs could carry him.

The roar and rumble reached deafening heights. I struggled to see what we were running toward. As we broke through the trees, David stopped, jolting me. A screech shattered my eardrums, blotting out everything.

“What is it?” David yelled over the sound.

I twisted my face to the right, eyes wide as a raging locomotive barreled toward us. “It’s a train!”

David backed away from the tracks. His muscles constricted beneath my clenched fingers He seemed to struggle to keep himself from being sucked into the engine’s backdraft.

The dogs breached the trees. I dropped my feet to the ground, but he pulled me closer.

“No. Hold on,” David bellowed into my ear. He turned toward the train, bracing himself.

“Oh, God. David, please don’t.” I wiped the sweat from my temple with trembling hands before weaving them back behind his neck.

His feet left the ground and my stomach lurched as we rocketed through the air. My world became an onslaught of sound and throttling wind. I gritted my teeth against the shriek building inside me, praying with all my might as we slammed against the side of the speeding train.

I buried my head in David’s neck. Tears streamed from my eyes and flew through the air—never having the chance to dampen my cheeks as they ripped into the wake of the speeding train. David's knuckles wrapped around a metal bar on the side of the car. We swung manically, bobbing up and down across the cold steel. My bones slammed against the molding, skin and muscle unable to protect them from the tremulous onslaught of flesh banging against metal.

“Hang on!” David growled as we jolted and rocked. Our bodies flailed away from the train before barreling back toward the rigid steel. I lifted my face, my skin prickling and tearing from the airstream’s merciless bite.

I struggled to open my eyes against the pressure of the wind. David hung to the side of the locomotive with one hand while the other clutched my back, holding me aloft. Another jolt sent us smashing back into the metal frame. David groaned, taking most of the blow.

I could do nothing but pray as my tear-filled eyes struggled to focus.

Two of David’s fingers shook from the metallic edging. A rumble sprang from his lips and his hold on me tightened.

This was it. The end. I was going to die on that train. And Dad would never know why.

David sputtered as he lost his grip. He wrapped his arms around the back of my head and held me tightly. Our bodies flew through the air as one, slamming once against the side of the train before hurling away and bouncing on the dry, grassy ground. I wheezed, searching for air that forcibly expelled from my lungs as we rolled away from the tracks.

David’s blurry face moved into my line of sight, I felt his hands on my face. “Jess? Jess are you okay?” His voice sounded hazy in the vacuum of the train’s roar.

“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 death, 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.