Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“Holy shit,” he hisses. “This is bad. Kellen, this is really bad.”
There’s chatter and even some gagging behind us, but I can’t focus on that right now. I snap into action, carefully lifting one of her arms just below the elbow so we can see the damage.
The acid—or whatever the hell was in the water—has melted off all the skin on her hands. Her fingernails are gone and her hands continue to sizzle as bone is beginning to be revealed.
“I don’t know what to do for this,” Tyler says, voice panicked. “What do we do?”
Aaron scrubs a palm down over his weary face and shrugs. “Hell if I know.”
“We have to do something,” Hope chokes out. “Maybe treat it like a burn until we can get help.”
Until we can get help…
Tyler gives her a jerky nod and starts fumbling through the kit. He locates the antibiotic ointment packages and begins liberally squeezing it out onto her hands. It’s hard to do anything when we can’t exactly touch her hands without fear of getting the acid on us as well.
I find some padded bandages and rip them open. We place them on the tops of her hands. Then, he carefully begins wrapping her hands in the rolled gauze. He uses up every roll until her hands are completely covered. Blood dots the white gauze as it starts soaking through.
“What do we do now?” he asks, looking up at me.
Stopping isn’t an option. We have to get help and fast.
“We hoof it until we find people,” I rasp out. “And then we’ll force them to help us via any means necessary.”
Aaron lifts his gun and nods at me. “Loud and clear, boss.”
“Hang in there, Elise,” I murmur, scooping her passed out form into my arms. “We’re going to get you help.”
Tyler
Elise has been passed from Kellen to Wayne to Aaron and then back to Kellen as we continue our long, cold-ass walk. I’m not sure how far we’ve traveled, but it feels like hours. Aside from Elise’s pained moans when she comes in and out of consciousness, everyone is eerily quiet.
The wind is relentless, gaining strength and dropping in temperature by the minute. My eyes won’t stop watering and I don’t know if it’s from the chilly air, pure exhaustion, or the absolute despondency of our situation. Hell, maybe it’s a little of all three.
When I hear the sound of something other than wind, I stumble to a stop and whip around to listen.
A vehicle engine.
It’s the only inorganic sound right now and sorely sticks out.
“I hear a car,” I belt out, earning a ripple of gasps of shock. “Holy shit. Maybe we can get the hell out of here.”
The sound continues to grow in volume. Everyone has stopped at this point, blocking the road and waiting to flag them down. Whoever they are, we’ll make them stop through whatever means necessary because Elise’s life is at stake. Kellen hands Elise over to Wayne while we all ready our weapons just in case they’re bad people. Headlights come into view around the bend and I shield my eyes against it. After having been in such absolute darkness now that the clouds are so thick, it’s blinding to see light.
“Are they slowing down?” Dan asks from behind me.
When they’re a hundred yards away, we all start yelling and waving frantically. The small sedan begins to slow down as though they might stop. Then, without warning, the driver cuts the wheel hard to the right and takes the basic car off-roading. Metal against rocky terrain screeches as the car flies over the rugged ground. Sparks glint out from beneath the vehicle, but whatever damage it may have received goes ignored. As soon as the car is past us, it veers back onto the road, accelerates, and barrels off into the night, the taillights disappearing around the next bend.
“Fucking assholes!” Kyle roars.
Defeat weighs down the entire group as we collectively understand no one is going to help us. Ever since we left that boat, it’s been every group for themselves. We were naive to think this would go differently.
Elise moans hoarsely, sending a quiver of fear down my spine. If we don’t get her help soon, she’ll develop an infection and die. Her fate is in our hands.
We’ve lost so many.
We can’t lose anyone else.
“Look! Tenaya Lake is in a quarter of a mile,” Jesse calls out. “I hope they have vending machines and cabins.”
Everyone picks up their speed now that there’s an end in sight for the night. Boots slapping pavement and huffing is a soothing cacophony working wonders to keep my mind clear. I’m holding onto hope that there’s more than vending machines and cabins. Maybe there’s a park ranger or nice people. Would an abandoned ambulance with the keys sitting on the dash be too much to ask for?