Nicole was the first to wake. She gently maneuvered herself from under Waverly and slipped into her clothing and boots. She slowly unzipped the door the of the tent and slid through leaving a gap in the zipper. She pulled herself upright and stretched her long arms above her head before bending down to grasp her ankles pulling herself down to stretch her back and legs. She thought about a quick run but decided against it since she was already starving. She headed off into the woods to gather some wood to start a fire.
It didn’t take long to gather enough. As she headed back toward camp, she noticed the forest was quiet this morning which was unusual. As camp came into sight, she was grabbed from behind a cloth covering her mouth and nose. Dropping the arm full of wood, she sucked in a deep breath which was a huge mistake. Her head began to swim and eye sight began to fade to black. She tried to grab the arms that held her, but her strength was dissipating quickly. As her strength lessened and her knees started to buckle, she heard a voice in her ear, “Don’t fight it. I’ve got you.” The world turned black. Waverly yawned and reached for her lover only to find an empty spot. She sat up brushing her hair from her face. “Nicole?” she called out. She heard nothing, not even the birds. She pulled on her clothing and moved toward the zipper exit. She was halfway out the opening when she noticed Nicole sitting across from her with a tear stained face and hands behind her back. “Nic….” was she managed to say before something from the left caught her eye. It blasted the side of her head. She never knew what it was. Waverly was still unconscious lying on the ground beside Nicole but out of reach. Her hands and feet were tied. She tried to open her eyes but the brightness of the sun was almost blinding it. She tried to reach up to touch the tender side of her head, but soon she realized her hands were behind her back…tied. She moaned as her head throbbed. She heard Nicole whisper her name. “Nicole,” she managed.
“Yeah. Waves, I’m here.” Nicole had to whisper. She had no idea where the man was at the moment. “What….what happened?” Waverly was trying to sit up. Finally she made it. She raised her shoulder to wipe the eye she was struggling to open. She hissed as her sleeve rubbed against the cut above her eye. “It’s him. He found us,” Nicole whispered. “What? How?” “I…I don’t know. He hit you with a stick. Are you ok?” Nicole asked wanting to get a better look at her girlfriend’s head.
“Yeah, I think so. I…..Just a throbbing headache,” she mumbled. “Nicole, we gotta get out of here.” “Yeah, I know. I’ve been trying to get out of these ropes, but he’s……they’re too tight and my wrists…..” “Maybe we can untie each other,” Waverly suggested. “Yeah, ok. Good idea.”
The two began trying to scoot to one another. They were almost there when Nicole saw him coming….”No…no…no…..” Nicole yelled as he grabbed her under the arm and drug her back away from Waverly. Waverly turned to see what was happening only to have a dark swirling tornado hit her full force. She moaned and turned her head vomiting in the dirt. It was just like the hospital when she saw the aura there. It was him. Waverly clinched her eyes closed tightly trying to still her mind. Maybe if she didn’t open her eyes. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked. When she didn’t answer, he kicked her legs and yelled louder. “I said, what’s wrong with you?”
“You,” she managed to say before the tornado of blackness whirled again causing her to hurl another time. “That’s not an answer!” he yelled kicking at her again. Spent, she laid back in the dirt looking at the sky trying to see something other than black hole. “STOP!” Nicole yelled. Turning to Nicole and squatting in front of her, he grabbed her by the shirt collar and hauled her closer to his face. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH HER?!”
“YOU!” Nicole retorted back angrily. “YOUR WHAT’s WRONG WITH HER!” He stared into the eyes. He didn’t understand what she was talking about, but he could she wasn’t lying. “She sees auras….and yours…..makes her like this.” He glanced between the two women trying to make sense of what the red head said. He finally shrugged and moved to the other side of fire pit. Nicole was still trying to wrestle her wrists free from the ropes. She could feel the blood wet and slick on her hands. The ropes burned as they twisted into the rawness. She didn’t care. She had to get free. She looked at Waverly still lying on the ground facing the sky. “Waves?”
“Stop talking,” the man growled. Nicole glared at him, but didn’t stop. “Waves, baby. You ok?” she whispered again. Waves gave a slight nod but said nothing afraid the hurricane in her head would start again. The man jumped up this time and headed toward Nicole. “I said, STOP TALKING!” he screamed as he backhanded Nicole across the face. Her head twisted. She gasped at the sharp pain that spread across her face. Turning back around glaring at the man in front of her, she licked the blood from her lip. “See what you made me do!” he growled at her. “I don’t want to hurt you, but you leave me know choice!”
“Why….why are you even doing this? Who are you, anyway?” Nicole asked. She didn’t know where her bravery was coming from, but she was not letting it go. Both her and Waverly’s lives depended on it. “You don’t remember me?” he asked seemingly hurt because she didn’t recognize him. “What? No…should I?” Nicole looked at him strangely. “Yes….” he said caressing her cheek which she quickly jerked away from his touch. He tried touching her leg. She kicked at him. He huffed and moved away again.
“I know you remember. You’re just not thinking clearly.” “What? No….no I don’t remember you,” she declared. “That night in the ER. You took such good care of me,” he explained. “I had been in an accident. My brain was bleeding and you fixed it.” Nicole’s eyes went wide with recognition. “Tucker Gardner,” she whispered.
“See I knew you remembered,” he said smiling at her. Nicole remembered that night. He along with a family who didn’t make it had been in a terrible automobile accident. He had severe brain damage causing a brain bleed and then swelling. He was in a coma for almost two months. She remembered some of the other doctors saying he was calling her name when he finally woke up. She never really knew why. Maybe it was because she talked to him in the ER while he was unconscious.
“I wasn’t the only one there that night. Why….why me?” she asked.
“Because,” he answered moving to squat in front of her again, “it was your voice that kept me grounded. That beautiful voice,” he said running his finger along the edge of her lips, “ and that red hair shining in the lights,”. He moved his hand to brush his fingers through the red locks. She jerked away.
Waverly had been working on her binds as she stared at the sky. She had managed to free one hand and then the other. When Tucker was focused on Nicole, Waverly used this opportunity to grab and throw a fistful of dirt at Tucker’s face. When he saw Waverly’s movements in his peripheral vision, he turned. All of the dirt filled his face and eyes. Nicole quickly reacted bringing her feet up kicking him backwards into the fire. His screams echoed across the forest. Waverly quickly untied her feet and reached for Nicole. Not bothering to untie her, she helped her to her feet and they took off running into the woods leaving a screaming Tucker rolling in the dirt trying to put the fire out that had engulfed his upper torso and back. They stopped, trying to catch their breath and so Waverly could until Nicole’s bleeding hands. Tucker’s screams had stopped. They needed to keep going. Looking back, they saw no sign of the man, so they headed off again. They hadn’t gone a few feet when Nicole screamed and fell to the ground. Waverly dropped to her knees trying to find the source of her girlfriend’s sudden change. She quickly found it. An arrow had pierced her left calf.
