The Answer at the X

Chapter Three - The Last Day : 3.4

The road became an overgrown path after a few miles. It had circled its way up the side of the mountain, and in some places, they had to double back when the path forked, and the road that looked to take them in the right direction suddenly shifted course. They had walked slowly, their bodies battered and bruised after the river. A dull ache seemed never-ending in Isobel's head, and half her face felt numb to the touch. Simon looked in better shape, though the bite on his arm kept re-opening, fresh blood staining his jacket.

She knew they needed to keep moving, as the scent of fresh blood would eventually lead the dogs back to them. She knew better than to think they had escaped them for long. It was a race now, to make it to the end before the dogs found them. The river had taken them further away than she had first thought, but they were making good progress now, and as they were already on the right side of the river, all they had to do was make sure they did not double back on themselves and end up at the bridge again. That would keep them ahead of the dogs long enough to make it to the X on the map. She hoped.

It was midday when she first noticed that her hands were starting to shake. Her headache had been steadily rising throughout the morning, occasionally making her vision blur. Whenever it got too bad, they had taken a short break, but they couldn't rest for long. They had to keep moving. She swallowed, closing her eyes for a second, trying to will the pain away. Trying to make sure Simon didn't notice the state of her. He'd make her stop, rest, lie down for a bit, but they couldn't do that. The chill in the air spoke of snowfall to come, probably even tonight. They have been heading towards winter for a few weeks now, seems they'd found it at last.

Opening her eyes, she forced herself to take another step, gripping the sides of her summer jacket to stop the shaking. Then suddenly it stopped, and her headache stopped, and the air seemed so much warmer. Next thing she knew, she was opening her eyes to find Simon looking down at her with panic in his eyes. «Isobel?» he asked, and she swatted his hands away. Or, she tried to, but her arms didn't seem to want to listen to her at the moment. «I'm fine,» she said, though to her ears it sounded garbled. She closed her eyes again, didn't want to see the worry in his eyes right now.

A splash of ice cold water made her sit up with a jolt. «Don't do that» Simon said, kneeling next to her, empty water bottle in one unsteady hand. «Sorry,» she said, and he smiled at her. «You can talk,» he said, and the smile finally seemed to reach his eyes. His beautiful eyes, filled with worry, and thankfully, relief. «Yep. Give me a hand, and I'll show you a trick called walking».

He helped her up. Her feet were unsteady, but they held her weight. There was something sticky on her sleeve, and she realized suddenly that her mouth tasted like crap. «I threw up?» she asked, and he nodded. «Convulsions, vomit, eyes rolling to the back of your skull. You did it all» he said, his tone light, but she could easily hear the worry underneath. «My head,» she said, and he nodded. The head injury was worse than she'd thought then. It still hurt, the ever present throbbing a reminder of how close she had come to leaving Simon all alone.

«Can you walk?» he asked.She looked at him, then took a few unsteady steps forward. Her hands started toshake again, but this time she ignored them. She took it slow. One step, thenanother. Deep breaths. Stopping when the throbbing got too bad, giving it a fewseconds, then started to walk again. Simon didn't say anything but followedbehind her, ready to catch her if she fell again. He didn't mention the sun,how it had moved more than a little during all of this. She'd been out hours,hours they didn't have to lose.