Vagabonds

Chapter Forty-Three: Blood and Guts

"Help me get him in the truck!"

"Jesus, Eliza, there's blood everywhere."

"Pull yourself together and help me!"

Eliza didn't wait for Tori to stop gaping as she lifted Ian Eckelson's shoulders, trying to ignore how much the carpet was stained an inky, sticky red.

Oh God, can someone even survive losing that much?

Eliza shook herself. She couldn't afford to give up yet.

"Tori, move!"

The blonde girl looked paler than ever, making even her straw-colored hair stand out. Finally, she bit her lip and nodded. Darting forward, Tori grabbed Eckelson's legs and together they managed to haul him into the open passenger side of Old Betty.

"What about Joe?"

"I'll get him," Eliza snapped. "You start the car."

Tori jerked her head in a nod as Eliza carefully folded Eckelson's legs in. She took a moment to check his pulse.

Still there, tremulous and quiet but beating steadily. Stubbornly.

"Hold on, sir," Eliza murmured before slamming the door and throwing herself around the bed.

"Joe! Joe, get up!"

The roar of the truck drowned out Joe's confused, half-conscious groan, but Eliza didn't wait for him to gather himself. Grabbing his armpits, she heaved with all her might and somehow managed to shove him to his feet.

"Can you walk?"

"Nnnn...."

Joe's lips could hardly form words, so Eliza slipped under his arm and dragged him to where Tori was spinning the truck around. They stumbled, almost going down, but Eliza just managed to keep her feet. She couldn't fall now. If Joe slumped, if he hit the ground again, she wasn't sure she had the strength to get him back up.

And who knew what would happen if they left him here.

The truck hadn't even stopped moving when Eliza popped open the back, hopped into the bed, and yanked Joe's limp, swaying body onto the metal floor.

"GO!" she screamed, Joe's legs still dangling out the back.

Tori slammed the gas and Eliza was almost launched from the truck as it accelerated wildly out of the tunnel, swerving into the forest with all the growling horsepower it could muster.

Every bump and hole in the dilapidated logging road felt like an apocalypse. Eliza shoved Joe against the truck cab and fought to keep them both from being ejected into the bushes with every bounce and tumble. She kept wondering what this kamikaze swerving would do to Eckelson's injury. What if they were too late? What if this was only making things worse? What if they were just drawing out his last few moments, making his end even more painful and agonizing than it needed to be?

No.

She couldn't think like that.

"Whathappened...?"

Joe's head was tilting from side to side as he mumbled, trying to blink through the drugs they'd pumped into him. Eliza ignored him, tossing the darts she'd pulled from his chest over her shoulder and carefully checking him for more as Tori swung them onto the paved road.

Eliza breathed a sigh of relief as they rocketed onto the smoother surface.

"Eliza...?"

"It's okay, we're okay."