Unity Commanded ( #JustWriteIt #Wattys2015 )

Chapter Four

Bullets penetrated the icy water that enveloped him, their muffled sounds still cause for alarm. He reassured himself that they would be long gone by the time the guards found their way down the cliff. Zoe made it to the shore several minutes before him. He knew the water would be cold, but the shock to his body was not something he anticipated. Despite the fact that it had been a warm summer, fall was approaching and the water rarely reached a temperature over 70 degrees. Struggling to make his limbs move, he crawled out of the water and took Zoe's hand as she helped him to his feet.

"We. Can't . Stop, Link." Zoe said through chattering teeth.

He nodded and motioned for her to continue and they made their way into the trees. Shivering uncontrollably, he wondered for a moment how long it would take them to die of hypothermia. Link stumbled often, finding it more difficult to regain his footing after each fall. They would have to find somewhere to hide, or guards would catch up. Searching his mind for an answer to their dilemma, he found his thoughts returning to one person in particular.

"Do you remember Coconut Joe?" Link called out to Zoe. She was several feet ahead of him.

Zoe called back. "Yeah, he died a few years ago."

He reflected for a moment. Coconut Joe got his nickname before link was born. Someone had said he was as crazy as a coconut tree growing in Maine, and the name stuck. The man was older than anyone he had ever seen in the village. Coconut Joe tended to wander off on his own a lot and one night he never came back. Link was part of the search party that looked for the old man. They found him almost three miles outside their village, his body mauled by an animal, most likely a bear.

"He used to talk about repurposing caves." Link mentioned.

Huffing, Zoe turned and looked at him. "He was a crazy old man, what is your point?"

"Do you think he did? I mean he was always wandering off for days at a time and sometimes with a bag full of supplies." Link explained his thoughts.

Nearly tripping over a large root, Zoe took a long step and then paused. "You think he outfitted some cave to be inhabitable? Even if he did, what is your point?"

Link responded. "What if we could find it? We need to warm up and rest. We can barely see where we are going and we are making it easy for them to track us."

"If we stop now there will be twice as many guards swarming this area tomorrow. Besides, we don't even know where to look." Zoe shook her head energetically to emphasis her point.

Feeling frustrated, Link said. "Zoe, that water was probably less than 60 degrees. We are tripping all over the place and I can barely feel my hands or feet. If we do not find shelter and take care of ourselves, we will not make it off this mountain, let alone the 160 miles to Sugarloaf."

Halting abruptly, Link had to stop himself from running into her. She turned to him and threw her hands in the air, shook her head, and then crossed her arms before turning and continuing on the path. He could hear her mutter under her breath and link reached out to stop her again.

"I think I know where to look. We found his body close to the entrance of a cave. Maybe he had been on his way there." Link suggested.

"Maybe you found his mauled body, because the bear didn't like him barging into its bedroom." She snapped.

Link sighed. "I guess that leaves us with a few choices then. Get shot by the guards that are probably closing in on us. Freeze to death trying to escape them. Or risk being eaten by a bear. I for one would like to know that I at least attempted to save myself."

He did not wait for her to respond, but moved in front of her and adjusted their course. She followed along silently. When they finally approached the area he had been looking for he told her to break away and circle back around, being careful not to leave a trail on the way back. While she was gone, he looked for the entrance to the cave. A small breeze blew through the dark night air, and with each small gust of wind, he found it more difficult to concentrate.

Zoe joined him, out of breath and shaking. "I went as far as I could Link, but I don't know if it will be enough to throw them off."

Concerned, he summoned up the will to forge another false trail in the opposite direction. "You keep looking here. I will circle back the other way."

He left before she could protest. Finding his way through the dark woods without even so much as a worn pathway proved more time consuming than he had planned. Managing to force his way through thick brush and over a few fallen tree limbs, he found himself uphill slightly. Deeming his false trail sufficient, he turned to head back, but found he had lost his direction. A few birds began their predawn chirping. Even as he hurried over the hill, hoping to start descending, his surroundings took on the orange hue of morning. Tripping over a crevice in the rocky surface beneath him, his foot caught in the small fissure. Tugging hard he freed his foot but sent himself sprawling onto his back.

Something hard collided with his head just above his ear. Trees rearranged themselves in his sight and the ground felt far away from his body as he tried to sit up. Blinking his eyes several times, he failed to clear his blurry vision. Leaning on one arm, he put the other hand to his injury just before his arm gave out. Rolling onto his back, he held his hand in front of him, squinting to make out the warm liquid that covered his fingertips. The consistency was not right for blood, but he wasn't sure. Sniffing his fingers, the strong scent of minerals tinged his nose. Confused, he tried to call out to Zoe, but his tongue felt thick and heavy in his mouth.

Pain erupted in his stomach, so sharp he was sure someone had stabbed him. He tried to sit up, but the discomfort sent ripples of aches through his body followed by a wave of nausea. Realizing what was about to happen, Link rolled to his side so as not to choke on the vomit. Fuzzy blackness edged his vision and the ground swayed violently. Closing his eyes, he tried to move from the spot where he lay, but his limbs would not cooperate. Cold hands startled him, his once nearly frozen body now fevered to their touch.

"Link!" Zoe's voice called seemingly far away. "Link you can't leave me like this. I need you. Our families need you."

He wanted to respond, to say anything. His breathing became difficult and hitched with each inhalation as the world darkened around him. The last thing he heard was Zoe's voice ring out into the silence around him.

"You!?" She said, before everything faded out of existence.