SILVER EYES (GXG)

Chapter 49: Holes In The Ground

Bev's skin was burning like fire. Fuck. We should have watched her better. What had happened? She was fine so far. I checked on her before switching vigilance with Stella. She was alright then.

"Is she dead?" Stella asked, breaking the silence while I checked Bev's temperature.

"No, but her fever is extremely high." I said.

"I know why..." Heather said while lifting Bev's shirt. A rag stained dark red was tied around her stomach. I carefully removed the rag, revealing an ugly, inflamed wound. My heart sank. How had she kept this from us?

"Shit!" I muttered while holding Bev's hand.

Stella kicked a dead piece of trunk angrily. "This is a disaster!"

Heather shot her a look. "Hey. Calm down, right now."

Stella's eyes blazed. "How could any of this happen? I double-checked every step of the mission, and now everything's screwed!" She yelled.

"Nothing is screwed!" I snapped. "We're gonna cure Bev." I said.

Stella gazed at me, arms crossed on her chest. "Oh, really? And where's the medical box? Let me think... Inside that fucking SUV!" Stella yelled.

I took a deep breath and tried not to let her words get to me. We had to stay clear-headed and act fast.

"She's right," Heather said. "We forgot it when we ran away. We'll have to go back."

"Then, we will." I said.

There wasn't any other choice. We weren't that far, and while it was risky, we couldn't let Beverly die. She was one of us, and we had to do whatever it took to save her.

I took out my water canteen and handed it to Stella. "Use it to keep Bev cool," I said. "Heather." I looked at her. "You and I will go get the medical box."

Heather nodded and grabbed her backpack. "Let's go." She said, already moving.

"We'll be back as soon as we can." I assured Stella.

"The SUV might be watched." She warned.

"I know. We'll be careful."

Heather and I walked fast, trying to retrace the path we had taken the night before. In the daylight, it was harder to recognize. Everything seemed different.

"Pretty sure we went through those bushes." Heather said, pointing to the left.

"No. I remember this rock clearly." I said, pointing to the right. Heather nodded and followed me. She was different today, quieter, following my lead and supporting my ideas. It was a far cry from her attitude when we first met at the Nexus Court. Now, she seemed to trust me, to rely on me. Did this have something to do with our cozy chat the other night? I felt so pathetic doing that puppet shadows show. Why did I even do that? Damn, I thought my tendency to do silly things when I'm nervous had improved. But no, at least not with Heather. And the fact that she had grown even more beautiful over the past five years didn't help either...

"Hey." Heather's voice pulled me back to reality. "Where did you go?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to cover.

"You looked absent." She said.

"Oh... I was just thinking about..." I trailed off. Great, Grace. Great.

Heather arched her eyebrows, waiting.

"About... the weather... it's really nice, don't you think?" I finally said.

Heather gazed up. The sky was an ugly, grey mass of clouds. "If you say so..." She said.

And that's how I managed to look even more stupid than the night before. Making strides, clearly.