The last child of May (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 5- Creeping Cold

11,458 words. Heck Yeah, #justwriteit mission completed!!

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I followed closely guiding our way through the trees and slippery hills. We ran for about seven minutes as fast as we could under the conditions. The Hill people had to have arrived to the abandoned campsite but at least Mathew had a ten minute advantage and considering the effect g the water on the soil the washed up leaves would no soon cover the tracks made by the wheels of the wagon.

"Help, someone, please," we heard a voice call on the other side of a small hill.

"Sonia!" Adrian called as we climbed the hill.

"Over here!" She yelled back. "Adrian. Help me."

She was lying at the bottom of the hill, covered in dirt and wet leaves. The skied marks on the side of the slope told me she must have slipped or tripped on something.

We carefully descended to her and Adrian immediately began to examine hurt.

"I slipped on mud and fell. I think it's broken, my leg, it hurts and I can't move," she said as Adrian looked over her ankle. Touching it here and there.

He let out a sigh and said, "Well, it's not broken but you will be in a lot of pain for a while. Come on, let's get you out of here."

As we helped her up she looked at me and asked "what the hell are you doing here?"

"I guilt tripped myself," I said taking her weight.

She laughed and I would have too but I was more concerned with getting to someplace safe. "We need shelter," I said looking around.

"I think I saw a cave east of here. Or maybe we can just get back to camp."

"No the camp had to move," Adrian said turning us due east. "Some Hill people are coming this way. That's why Eve here came back."

"Eve?" I asked not really sure if I liked the short name.

He looked at me with a small smirk. "Do you like it?"

"Not so sure. But I don't hate it either."

Sonia led the way through the trees and the muddy winding game trails. She was in pain, and we were all wet, cold and tired. The wind was really picking up, which made the rain hit our face without mercy.

We walked for five minutes and started to head up a steep hill which was quite difficult with an injured person, let alone in the middle of a storm.

"It's up there by the boulder."

We could see the boulder but from this angel the rock hid the entrance. It was perfectly hidden. We hurried up the hill and went inside the dry cave. It was about ten feet wide and tall and about fifteen deep. It was dry because it was on a hill side and because the wind was hitting from the other side.

We set her down inside the cave careful not to cause her pain.

Adrian examined her some more as I looked around the cave. We needed fire if we wanted to keep warm and not get sick. I got up and stepped outside.

"What are you doing?" Adrian asked coming to my side.

"We need to start a fire or we are all going to get sick. The rain will hide the smoke, so just get the thickest logs you can find."

He nodded and searched with me. We found about ten big logs and brought them back in. I was cold, we all were and the wind was not helping.

Adrian and I cut the outside of the logs to expose the drier inside. I watched him as he worked on his last log. He was concentrated on what he was doing, his wet hair fell over his face casting shadows over him. His shirt clung to his skin showing me the strength in his lean muscles.