ELBINA 2

Chapter 18

"Stop pacing Lucas."     
He shakes his head, ignoring me and continuing to walk back and forth. His feet grinding when he turns, walking in and out of the sun that I watch from the cover of the bridge.
It turned out to be a good enough day, despite the freezing temperature this morning that I was sure would cause my nose and cheeks to fall off. Once the sun came out, it didn't take long to warm up.
"We need to go Ella. He told us to move on if he wasn't here by the morning."
"I know." I say it a little quieter, he hadn't stopped telling me this since the moment we woke up.
"It's past the morning now." The sun had already reached its peak, now turning back down again.
"He'll be here." I bite my lip against the nerves, he had to be.
"I think he'd be here by now if that's the case." I stayed quiet because I didn't want to give him anymore ammo for him to shoot me down.
It seems we wait around even longer, the sun falling even further and the more it does the more agitated Lucas becomes. Suddenly, he decides enough is enough, he grabs his backpack, throwing it over his shoulders before handing me mine.
"Put it on."
I push it away from me, continuing to sit on the ground. "No! He's going to get here." I said shaking my head.
"No, he's not! We need to move on!" He pushes the bag into my hands, my fingers grab at the straps just to stop it smacking me in the nose. 
"Please. Just a little longer. Please." I beg him.
"We've waited more than long enough, It's time to go." I can't do it. I can't go knowing I'd be leaving him behind. We don't know for sure if he won't make it, it's still a possibility.
"But what if he does and we're not here." I stand up to face head on with him.
"Then he'll meet us at the farm."
"He won't know where it is, we only located it via the map. What if he forgot?" This time he leans down, so he's level with me. His eyes dead set on mine, a tone lower that has me chewing my lip.
"He's not made it Ella. You heard what he said, it's time to go. It's us now, just us."
We need him though; we've only lasted this long because of Fallen.
We would have died back on that road at the cottage if it weren't for him. I'd be dead, rotting away on that road, so would Lucas.
He picks up my bag again before grabbing my wrist, dragging me along. He's still strong even through his injury so I struggle against him. He pulls me out from under the bridge into the sun, warming my skin immediately.
I keep telling him no, that I want to wait it out.
Maybe we misheard him? Maybe he'd be here tomorrow morning instead and we just didn't hear it properly.
But then I keep seeing him surrounded, fighting them off but there's too many.
"We should of got out and helped him!" I stopped, ripping my wrist out of his grip.
"You shouldn't have stopped me!" There's a catch in my throat that I wasn't expecting and he looks down at me with a sigh.
"It's what he wanted."
"He doesn't know what he's doing any more than we do!" I shout at him.
He needed our help just as much as we needed his, no matter what Fallen believed.
"Excuse me."
Lucas jumps forward and grabs me the minute he hears the voice, dragging me behind him in such a scuffle I almost fall to the ground.
Suddenly someone hops down from the edge of the bridge, Lucas pushing us backwards and away.
I can feel him shaking, hear his breaths falter and how scared he is.
"I'd like to think I know a little more than you guys." They laugh, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I recognize the voice.
  I pull out of Lucas' hold and run at him, throwing myself into Fallen who gratefully accepts it, even if he groans from the pain.
"You made it!" I mumble into his jacket and he wobbles on his legs a little.
"Thought I told you guys to keep moving." He chuckles dryly. Releasing me from the hug and I step back to see him raising an eyebrow at Lucas.
He walks forward and steps beside me. "And you thought Ella would listen?"
"I hoped you would have more influence on her then me."
He pulls him in for a hug, patting each other on the back. It's clear that Lucas was happy to see him too. "Maybe you are going insane."
He laughs, nodding along with him. "Maybe."
They pulled away, Fallen adjusting the straps on his backpack when he looked at us.
"You took your bloody time though." Lucas said, glancing at me for a second.
Fallen chuckles dryly, "Yeah, well. I got here didn't I?"
Although not easily, clearly.
I can see the bruises on his face, his left eye is swollen and there's some dried blood coming from the end of his eyebrow.
"What happened to you?" I breathe out slowly, relieving the pressure on my chest.
We let it happen to him.
"It doesn't matter. I'm here, that's all there is to it." He rubs the top of my head through the hat, smiling even though I know he's in pain..
"Right now. I think it's time we get going." I want a better explanation; I want to know what happened and how he managed to get away. But I don't get that; I don't get anything but him starting to walk away from us.
I look over at Lucas and he only shrugs his shoulders, looking equally as worried as me but we don't expect him to say anything more.
And so we walk, following him again through the paths and side roads. Passing over an even larger river along a huge footbridge, white and well maintained since it's not far south from central Dumfries.
We take the risk because it's the only place we can actually get over the river.
The wind whips across us, Lucas behind me and Fallen ahead but he keeps looking back and smiling at us, trying to reassure us that he's okay.
But I don't believe him.