The Soulmate Curse

Perseverance - Part 2

"How are you doing?" Zhen asked as she drank the last sips from her bottle.

"I'm okay," said Finn, obviously lying through her teeth.

Zhen walked over to her, carefully unzipped her jacket. Their eyes met and Finn smiled. Zhen smiled back then quickly looked down at her jacket, trying to focus on the task at hand, rather than the sudden, all-consuming desire to kiss her. Under the jacket, Zhen gently lifted Finn's T-shirt to reveal the left side of her torso. The bruise was the same size, but the area around it was looking tender. Swollen. Zhen tried not to look too worried as she replaced the T-shirt and zipped up the jacket.

"That bad, huh?" said Finn, chuckling.

"I think we're lost," said Zhen, voicing her other major concern instead.

Zhen didn't want to think about Finn being worse than before. Didn't want to admit it. It didn't help to admit that they were lost. That just made everything worse. They sat there for a few moments. Zhen tried to convince Finn to drink some water, but she wasn't interested. She was bringing up anything she got down. Even water. Her skin was pallid. Zhen looked away, trying to look around them instead as she tamped down her runaway emotions. She couldn't lose it. Not now. Her panic usually turned to terror. She wasn't going to panic.

"If we can find a river, we can follow it," said Finn, her voice lower than usual. "People usually build stuff near rivers, right?"

Zhen nodded. It was a good plan. Besides, they needed to refill their bottles. Well, Zhen did. They started walking again. They would occasionally stop and take the time to listen for rushing water. It was hours later when they finally heard something. It was faint. Distant. But they were elated. With that sound came hope and a new shot of energy. They were now almost running through the woods, stopping only to listen to that sound growing closer.

Finally, they found it! A little creek with small rapids and a mighty noise that bounced off the rocks and trees. Zhen ran into it, happy to dip into the water to cool off. Finn didn't follow her, choosing instead to sit under a tree and just breathe. Zhen walked out of the river, soaking wet, but grateful to be nice and cool. She took off her clothes and lay them on the hot rocks to dry. In just her underwear, she made her way to Finn and helped her out of her jacket and T-shirt. Finn was soaked in sweat, her symptoms getting worse.

"Just sit tight," said Zhen.

She went over and dipped the T-shirt into the water a few times before coming back with it and gently dabbing it all over her. Finn closed her eyes with a sigh of relief. Zhen smiled, knowing that she'd made that happen. Her joy was short lived though. They had to find a way out of here as soon as possible or Finn would cross over to the point of no return. She stood up and put on her pants, ready to leave, but Finn stopped her.

"Please," said Finn. "Can we just... can we sit for a bit? Rest?"

Zhen's insides twisted at the pain in Finn's voice. She nodded. "Okay. We can rest. But just for a bit."

Finn nodded. "Thank you."

"Hey," Zhen said, "Come here."

She sat against a tree next to Finn and motioned for her to come sit with her. Finn obliged and sat between Zhen's legs using her as a back rest. Zhen carefully wrapped her hands around Finn, making sure that she didn't hurt her. They sat like that for a while. Listening to Finn's steady breath was comforting. She ran a hand lightly over the dressing on Zhen's wounded leg.

"How's your leg?" Finn asked.

"It hurts," said Zhen. "But I can walk on it. So, that's good."

They watched the ripples on the creek sparkle in the sunlight.