Escape

6

I almost can't feel my feet anymore, but I keep it to myself so I won't slow us down. We've been following a path in the wood for maybe an hour or two. Nate and I don't speak to each other all the way except for a few "watch your step"s from him when he notices an obstacle on the way or when he asks "how is your leg?" a few time and I simply answer that its okay even though it's not.

He is exhausted I can sense it but he doesn't say anything. Instead he keeps leading the way in silence. I am too. I want to sleep, eat correctly and more than anything else, I need a shower. I need to wash my skin, change clothes, clean my hair. My braids don't look like anything with all the running and falling and sweating. I feel disgusting.

We've lost the kidnappers after we ran away from the building. We kept running for at least twenty minutes until I couldn't breath anymore or force my body and mind to keep up with Nate and we were sure they weren't following anymore. I am once again impressed by Nate's physical abilities, first from how fought those guys and now how long he is able to run without being on the verge of fainting. While looking at his back in front of me, I just know he is forcing himself to go painfully slow just so I can follow.

Maybe he regrets forcing me to runaway too. He would probably have been better off without me. But he doesn't say it, because he is and feel guilty about my hurt foot. I don't really know what the plan will be when we get to the city. I mean, we still don't have anyone to call and no money.

Night fall on us so we have to stop near a pool of tall trees to rest for the night. We resume our travel in the morning at a slow pace. We still have a long way ahead of us and don't even know where we are, just that according to the map, we need to keep going forward.

When we start seeing big buildings, we both start walking faster. I don't know if we are in the right city but anyways, we are somewhere bigger than where we were before and that's a good thing. However, we still need to be on our guards, we don't how many of these people are looking for us since the men from the first shop said that the rumor is that we betrayed the head of state.
As we walk in the streets, we can see the way people look at us like we are from another planet. I think we feel like it too, at least I do.
"Anybody speaks English?" Nate asks when we enter a big building that looks like an administrative one, maybe an embassy or the city hall. It's huge and modern, nothing like the buildings in the previous city we were in.

"Yes" the receptionist answers from her desk and we both hurry to her. Thank God, finally someone we can speak to. "how can I help?" Nate turns to me with the first shadow of a smile I've seen since we met. Up until now, all he's done was sigh, roll his eyes, narrow them, glare and the one time he panicked.

He then proceeds to explain to the woman that we are lost changing the part where we got kidnapped and escaped with us getting separated with our tourist group and are in need of a place to stay until we can go back to the US. "Wait here I will see what I can find" she says.
I yank on Nate's arm and we move a few feet away from the woman "what if she finds out about us being wanted, they said the head of state is looking for us" I say and in return he tells me to wait where I am while he go speak to the women.
After a few minutes, she hands him a phone and he puts it to his hear. I sit on one of the waiting chairs while Nate is still at the front desk on the phone with his head down. Who could he be talking to? He is speak to low for me to here anything.

He comes back after maybe ten minutes on the phone and settles next to me. "Who where you on the phone with?"
He sighs loudly dropping his head back against the wall. His Adam apple moves up and down when he swallows then his jaws clenches hardly. He is mad. "Help is coming" he answers his eyes closed.
"Thank God" I sigh and feel him open his eyes to look at me. My heart is beating in my foot, I don't know how long I could have kept walking like that. "Do you know when?"
"I don't know, a few hours? We can stay here in the meantime."
At his answer, I settle as comfortably as I can on the chair and end close my eyes.