That night, I slept like a rock. I don’t remember anything after Jared kissed me. The next thing I knew, he was gently shaking me awake. The days when I could slowly and sluggishly come to consciousness were no more. I was instantly alert. Just a couple of nights, and I had already learned to wake up completely upon command.
I was worried about the family who had helped us. After we ate breakfast and left, I asked, “Are they going to be hurt because they helped us?”
Jared shook his head. “They shouldn’t be. The terrorists searched the area pretty thoroughly. If anything, the terrorists would be the ones who would be punished for not finding us.”
Comforted by his news, I shifted the backpack I was carrying. I had a backache from Hades, and my walk today was more uncomfortable than in the previous days. I figured that it must have been the stress and exercise hitting me all at once.
“Are you okay?” He asked me, his voice filled with concern.
“I am, thanks,” I said. What else could I say? He was carrying his own load, which was heavier than mine. It’s not like we could stop for a day or two so I could work out my kinks.
After a moment, I asked, “So how did they know we were coming and that we were in danger?”
“As they said, they watch. Usually, it is younger children who are stationed at different points in the area, as the older ones are often needed to work. It is the only way the people can stay alive and keep any livestock alive. The watchers would have been posted on high ground, so they could see the terrorists coming. They would have seen us. Any enemy of their enemy was their friend, so to speak. They did take a huge risk by helping us, because we could have been the enemy, too. They could also have been found out if the trap door was discovered. Then, the entire family would have been slaughtered.”
“Another example of real-life heroes found among common, everyday people,” I said softly.
“Yep,” he said.
I could tell that he was trying to watch for and listen for anyone around us, so I kept quiet.
During the entire walk that day, I could honestly say that I wasn’t thinking about anything. Normally, during the day, I was planning my next business move or thinking about how I was going to address a challenge. The words in my mind had always been deafening. However, my entire existence was now focused on putting one foot in front of the other and breathing.
The silence in my brain was actually welcomed. I can’t remember the last time I had experienced silence. I didn’t even hear the birds, insects, or sounds from nature. There were only footsteps, my heartbeat, and my breathing.
By the end of the day, it took every effort I had in me to walk. I was so tired. The backpack weighed a million pounds. My arms were one-ton weights hanging from my sides. My legs were brick walls that had to be lifted and moved over sticks, logs, fallen trees, and other obstacles.
Finally, Jared pointed to a cave. It was only about a half-hour away. With each step, I counted how much closer we were to our shelter where I could sit.
Once we arrived, I stepped inside without thinking. I knew that Jared always checked out the caves for two-legged and four-legged critters before we moved in, but my brain wasn’t working. My only thought was to sink down into the floor.
I slung the backpack off of my shoulder and dropped it. It landed with a thud, and I was instantly grateful that we had nothing breakable stored inside.
Then, I stepped back into a dark shadow, to lean against the wall. I heard the sound a millisecond before I registered what it was. A loud hiss echoed through the cave, which was closely followed by my, “Uh-oh.”
The sound was instantly followed by two razor blades sinking deep into my leg. The fiery pain was excruciating.
Jared immediately sprang into action. He grabbed a large stick from outside and snagged the snake, dragging it outside. He used the same stick to check the dark pocket to make sure that there were no slithery friends with the snake.
Satisfied, he turned his attention toward me.
When he pushed up my pant leg, I almost fainted. The holes in my leg were huge. They were a lot bigger than I had imagined snake bites to be.
Jared grabbed a first aid kit out of his bag and wrapped a tourniquet around my leg above the bite to try to prevent any venom from reaching my heart. Then, he used a suctioning device to try to draw out any poison.
I watched with distanced interest, as it seemed that the operation was happening to someone other than me. I wouldn’t say that I was having an out of body experience. It was just that it didn’t seem real. A snake bite on top of everything else.
The blood that Jared pulled out of the puncture marks was pure red, which was an indication that there was no poison inside. There was that, at least.
“The snake that bit you was venomous. However, not every bite from a venomous snake delivers poison. If a snake bites because it is taken by surprise, it might not have time to load up, so to speak.”
“That’s a relief. I feel stupid for just walking in here.”
“No worries. I didn’t stop you, and I knew you were tired.”
I was miserable. My leg was throbbing. I felt like a month’s worth of sweat and grime were clinging to my skin like plastic wrap.
I laid down on the blanket, determined not to complain. After all, he was here to save me, and he was doing everything he possibly could to get me back home alive. He was a sexy, incredible man, and the butterflies in my stomach and the instantaneous blaze that exploded in my body with just a single touch, regardless of how innocent, made me realize that I was falling in love with him.