Chasing Adrenaline

03 | Rose

A chilly breeze awakes me slightly from my slumber. If I can call it that. My bed felt like rocks and my pillow must have felt off during the night, because my neck is stiff and sore.

Another breeze flows past my shoulder and wakes me fully this time. I let out a groan and sit up straight, or at least tries to. Something restrains me from moving and I open my eyes, only to be met by ground floor and tall trees standing in front of me instead of my bedroom.

For a split second I can't understand how I got here, but then all the memories floods into my mind and a strange shock spreads throughout body.

"Rose?" a strangled and pained voice, rasps out.

I look to my left and see the boy, lying on the ground but unlike me he's not bounded with ropes. Although he has a bruise forming on his left cheek and he's holding his stomach tightly. He opened his eyes and turned in my direction, seeming relieved at the fact that I'm next to him.

I tried to speak but realized that there was a rag in my mouth, and instead just groaned in response.

"Are you okay?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Again, I just make a noise.

The boy stands up with great difficulty and slowly walks towards me. He picks up a sharp rock and start cutting the ropes on my feet, before moving to my arms. As soon as I'm free, I immediately pull the rag of my face and help the boy sit down.

"What happened to you?" I ask and push the hair back from his face, so that it doesn't bother him. He grabs his stomach softly, grinding his teeth together in agony.

I gently lift up his hoodie and nearly fall over from shock. Dark, angry bruises line his entire stomach.

" I don't know. Woke up like this," the boy shakily grits out. It is pretty obvious that he's in a lot of pain. He's most likely been beat up by the same people who shot us.

"I can't help you much from here. Do you think you'll be able to walk for a bit?" I ask. "Or you could stay here and I could go get help?"

I'm barely even finished with my sentence when the boy grits out loudly, "No! I can't leave you alone. It's my fault this hap- penned. I'm staying with you at all times."

The boy struggles to get everything out. I just stare at him for a few seconds, thinking over my options and whether or not I should leave him. But I decide on the former, knowing that it would be dangerous to leave him in this state. He wouldn't be able to scare away a bunny. Much less a dangerous predator.

I look around me and spot a sturdy and long stick. I pick it up and turn back to the boy, placing the stick to the side.

The next step proves to be a bit more challenging. Slowly, I help the boy up and grab the stick from the ground, handing it to the boy. He takes it with a weak arm and puts his other arm around me.

"Ryder."

I look up at the boy in confusion. Even with him bending over slightly, he still manages to tower over me.

"You asked me what my name is," the boy, or Ryder as I now know, clears my confusion in an attempt to lighten the mood.

I give him a week smile, and together with slow effort we start moving forward. From what I can tell, we are in a much thicker part of the woods and the trees are a lot taller.

We walk in one direction for an hour, hoping to find the school or even just civilization. Ryder stops every few minutes to catch his breath.

After a while we stop at a small river to take a short break and drink some water. We don't say much too each other. Him, because he's in too much pain and me, because I'm still trying to comprehend where we are and what happened.