Grayson

Chapter Fifty Two

Grayson~

Emma's legs and arms had sustained quite a few cuts and while individually none of them were severe, as a whole she was losing quite a bit of blood with multiple opportunities for infection. Grayson's first priority was to get her cleaned up before they started moving. He knew that carrying her was an option, but that it would slow them down substantially.

"Let's get you all cleaned up." Grayson said, pulling Emma's legs toward him.

He cleaned each wound and applied ointment and bandages when needed, but Emma was silent.

"You good sweetheart?" Grayson asked without looking at her face as he continued to doctor her legs.

"I'm sorry." She finally whimpered.

The small apology pulled Grayson's gaze up toward Emma.

"For what? Getting hurt?"

"No, for this." She waved her hand around at the jungle that surrounded them. "I should have listened to you...to my brother. You were right and I couldn't see it, I wouldn't see it...I should have never come here Gray...I..."

Grayson shook his head and immediately moved so he could comfort Emma who was on the verge of tears. He held her closely and brushed loose strands of hair away from her face as he spoke to her.

"Don't do that." Grayson ordered softly. "Nothing good will come of you tearing yourself down when I need you to be strong."

Emma nodded in his hands with big tears welling in her eyes.

"Em, you made a bad choice for good reasons. It happens, sweetheart." Grayson's tone was gentle and comforting because he knew what that felt like. Many members of the teams he served with were guilty of the same thing at some point in their careers.

"The fact that I'm here and not on a plane with the rest of the team is evidence of that."

Emma's face scrunched in confusion.

"I came here against orders because I couldn't wait another 12 hours. I couldn't wait around while you were lost out here running for your life."

Emma blinked her big bright eyes causing the tears to fall down her cheeks.

"To make it out of here, we both need to stop focusing on what we did wrong to land ourselves in this situation and start focusing on an escape plan. Despair won't help us out here."

Grayson kissed both of Emma's cheeks and she nodded in agreement.

"Why aren't we going straight to the border like we had planned?"

Happy for a change in topic, Grayson pulled a map from his pocket and unfolded it for Emma.

"Intel says that since this is the closest border, but it's the most dangerous. Rebels know that people will most likely be fleeing here and here." Grayson pointed to the map.

"They've been cutting people off at the border and killing them before they can cross. So we're going the long way around. Slater is giving the teams instructions to split between our location at the border here and his location where Olivia was last located here."

Emma's eyes followed Grayson's fingers as he pointed out different locations on the map.

"The plan is to rendezvous with the team in the city after we cross. If all goes as planned, they'll be waiting for us here."

Staring at the location that Grayson was pointing to, Emma nodded her head and wiped away the tears from her cheeks. She swallowed her fear and shame and readied her injured little body for the rest of their journey.