8
QUINTON
We leave as soon as the sun peeks out at the horizon. The sky is still mostly dark, only now an orange-purple forms in the east, ready to paint the rest of the sky.
I’m tired and hungry before we even start walking, but I put all of that aside, knowing I can always eat and sleep later. Right now, I need to get us out of here and back to Corium.
Aspen climbs on my back awkwardly, hissing in pain with the movement of her leg. I try not to make any jerky motions, but there is no way around her being in pain while we walk. I remind myself what the alternative is, which makes a little pain not seem so bad. She’ll survive a broken leg, but not staying out here in the cold without food and water.
“Are you going home for Thanksgiving?” I ask, just to take my mind off it all.
“I don’t think so. My mom told me not to come. She said it wasn’t safe,” Aspen says.
I know her mom is probably right. Knowing how many people are after her father, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them came after her.
“And yet you still left? Where were you going to go?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” she admits. “I didn’t think. I just wanted to get out. I guess I was gonna go back home, no matter what my mom told me. Besides, I’m pretty sure my mom is just making that up.”
“Why would your mom make that up? Do you think she is lying about you being in danger?”
“I just…” Aspen trails off. “What was that?”
“What was what—”
Everything happens so fast. I don’t have time to react until it’s too late. The large figure seems to appear out of nowhere, and with a loud roar, the bear is suddenly in front of us.
Not worrying about her leg, I drop Aspen to the ground and reach for my gun, but the bear is faster. He swings his arm at me, and his claw rips through my clothing and digs into the skin on my upper arm. It knocks me back a little, but I don’t feel the pain yet. With fumbling fingers, I grab the gun out of the cargo pocket just when the bear comes in for a second attack.
His arm is already in the air again when I raise the gun and pull the trigger. The first shot echoes through the forest, but the bear is not at the end of his strength yet. The bastard swipes me again, and this time I can’t stay on my legs and fall back on my ass with a thud.
Luckily, I keep my hold on the gun. I shoot him two more times, aiming at the chest. The bear stumbles back, but he takes another few moments before he actually falls to the side and lands in a giant heap on the forest ground.
“Oh my god. Quinton, are you okay? You’re bleeding. Your arm, it really hurt you!” Aspen’s voice is frantic as she crawls over to where I am.
I look down and find my jacket shredded, exposing part of my arm. There’s so much blood, I can barely see the skin peeking through.
Fuck, this is not good.
“No, no, no, Quinton. This is bad. You’re bleeding a lot.”
“I’ll be fine. Just find something to wrap it up.”
Aspen looks around for a moment like she will magically find something useful laying around in the forest. Sitting up, she pulls her jacket open and strips out of the sweater and shirt she is wearing underneath. Before I can ask her what she’s doing, she puts her sweater and jacket back on and uses her shirt to wrap up my arm.
She pulls the fabric tight, and I bite the inside of my cheek, so I won’t groan in pain.
“What the hell are we going to do now? There’s no way you can carry me like this. You’re going to have to leave me here.” Aspen swallows so loud I can hear it. Her bottom lip is trembling, and I know she doesn’t want to be by herself, but we are running out of options. I might have to leave her after all.
I want to tell her that everything is going to be okay, but our future is looking grimmer by the second. I’ve already shot off three rounds, which means I should have seven bullets left in the magazine.
“I’m going to leave you the gun just in case something else tries to attack you. There might be more bears out here. Aim at the chest and shoot at least two times.” I hand her the gun, and she takes it with shaking fingers.
I’m just about to get up and start walking when I hear a strange sound. I stay still and tilt my head to hear better. It only takes me a moment to realize the sound is not strange at all.
“A helicopter. Do you hear it?”
Aspen’s eyes widen. “Yes! Yes, I can hear it too!”