Circling Stars

🌟 Chapter 43 🌟

    Navigating the woods in complete darkness sucked. The moon would pop out from the clouds from time to time and give us a little help, but otherwise we moved slowly. It wasn't just the lack of light that slowed us down either. The adrenaline rush that had come from fighting Trent had worn off and we were both more beat up than we'd thought.

    Margie had slammed back first into that old car and now had trouble carrying Sean by herself. My side and wrist ached constantly and to make matters worse, I had tripped in some kind of hole and twisted my ankle. Margie and I were almost the same height, she had about four inches on me, so we decided to hold the boy between us like a log. I was in front with my right arm wrapped around Sean's torso and Margie was behind me holding his legs.

    I couldn't tell how far we'd come or how long we been out here, but we needed to get out of this fast. The cold was the biggest problem. I was worried the three of us would get frostbite if we didn't get out of the elements soon. My face and fingers stung and Sean was going to have it the worst because he wasn't moving at all. It was becoming clearer and clearer we might well freeze to death before we came across any help.

    "Theo."

    "Yeah?"

    "Thank you. For saving me from Trent that day. You and Shirley."

    "You're welcome." After we'd been discharged from the hospital neither of us had seen Margie at all. Considering that Shirley had been injured during that rescue Margie's lack of even a phone call seemed ungrateful. Shirley had said as much and I agreed. I couldn't hold that against her now, we had bigger problems.

    "No one has ever done anything like that for me before," she continued. "I know it didn't seem like it but I really appreciated your help. If we get out of this if there's anything you need come to me."

    "Well I think we're even now."

    "I don't. You know, I didn't mean to get so mixed up with Trent. He's my friend Rachel's cousin. That's how we met."

    "The same Rachel that put that brick through my window?"

    "Yeah." There was a flinch in her tone. "The one that's dating that Riley friend of yours." In a normal situation that probably would have stopped me in my tracks. After so long looking for Riley and turning up nothing could the woman I was with have the answers? "I'm sorry about that."

    "It doesn't matter," I told her. We went on in silence for a while until the barking of dogs made us freeze. It was coming from behind us. I cussed as we put Sean down.

    "Trent must of woken up," Margie's voice quivered.

    The moon came out and I looked up at the stars. Trent's voice could now be faintly heard urging the dogs on. My hand flew up to my stomach. "He's tracking my scent," I muttered.

    "What?" Margie's voice trembled. I turned to her and saw tears were running down her face. Margie wore a forlorn look like she'd already given up. Sean made a sound in his sleep and I looked down at his innocent face. He had to get out of this.

    "Listen to me!" I grabbed Margie's shoulders and shook her. "Listen to me." I demanded with steel in my voice. "Take this." I shoved the compass into her hand. "West is the direction you want to go. You're going to take my brother, you're going to get to the road and find help. If there are no cars, you're going to walk into town and get help. Then you're gonna get my brother to our parents and then lead the cops out here."

    Her wide frightened eyes stared at me in shock. "What? I can't do that. What about you?"

    "Trent ripped a peice of my shirt off when we fought. I bet those dogs are following my scent. If we separated they'd probably only follow me. You'll go faster with just the two of you."

    "I can't do that. I can't do that," she started to break down in hysterics.

    I slapped her hard, the echo of it rung in my ears. "Yes, you can and you're going to."

    She stood in shock with her hand on the side of her face I'd just abused. For a moment I considered taking Sean and running but then a defiant light came back into Margie's brown eyes.

    "Yes. Yes, I can do it."

    Sean was semi awake and I told him to hold on for dear life. Margie gritted her teeth as I got Sean on her back with his arms around her neck and legs about her waist. The dogs were getting closer, Trent's voice louder.

    "I love you Sean." I didn't wait for a response. The moonlight shone brightly and I spared a quick glance back to see Margie had taken off. I ignored the pain of my ankle, wrist, and side as best I could and booked it. Tree branches scratched my face and tangled my hair and I made as much noise as I could. I touched everything, the trees, the bushes, and felt my hands open up and blood flow as they hit against the rough bark.

'Follow me, follow me, follow me,' I prayed.