Chapter 8
When I started to wake, Malcolm urgently called "Damian, she's waking up." I realized I was being carried because my ear was against his chest, and his voice sounded louder than it probably was.
"Already?" Damian blurted.
"She doesn't usually wake up this quick." Eva offered in explanation.
"We shouldn't stop, yet." Naomi said in worried tone.
"I agree. We're not far enough away." Jason offered.
"She needs a minute." Damian scolded.
I opened my eyes but couldn't keep them open, so I weakly offered "I'm okay. We can keep going."
"Here. Let me take her." Damian said.
"She's really weak." Malcolm said as he carefully held me out for Damian to take.
As my head fell backwards, I tried to pick it up but didn't have enough strength to. As Damian gently took me and held me tight against him, I thought 'Why am I so cold?'
"Easy. We've got you. Just relax." Eva said in a rush. "She's cold." She added in a whisper.
"I'll be okay. I just ... need a minute." I struggled to say as I relaxed against Damian.
"You need to rest. As soon as we can, we'll stop somewhere, but I have to agree with Naomi and Jason. We really need to keep moving." Malcolm said in a strange tone.
"What's wrong?" I managed to breath.
"I'm not sure if I killed them, or if I just slowed them down." Malcolm said quietly with a hint a shame.
"We don't know that they'll even follow us." Damian said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself along with everyone else.
"If they're not dead, they'll follow. Trust me. We need to cross the water and not leave a scent trail for them to pick up." Malcolm offered.
"You can't carry all of us." Eva sighed with slight irritation.
"As a matter of fact, I can. Two or three at time." Malcolm scoffed.
"Water?" I questioned as I thought about the last time we had to cross water.
"Don't worry. It's not as bad as before." Eva quietly said.
"Okay. Let's go. ... I'm going ... back to sleep. Wake me up, ... if you need to." I murmured as I weakly wrapped my arms around Damian's neck and tuck my head between my arm and his neck.
"Get some rest, Alexis. We'll take care of everything else." Damian offered with slight guilt.
'Why does he sound guilty?' I thought as I said "Okay."
Brushing my arm, Eva thought 'He's feels terrible because you look like hell.'
As the image she had of me passed through my mind, I thought 'That's what I look like?!' My clothes were shredded. My skin was a white as snow, and I wasn't completely healed, yet. 'I've only been out for a little while, haven't I?'
'Yeah to both questions.'
'No wonder he's upset.' I thought with a guilty conscience.
'We all feel pretty bad. ... Get some sleep, Lex.'
'Okay.' I thought, but I could quite fall asleep.
"Let's go." Damian said as a soft breeze washed across my skin.
"Where are we?" I breathed.
"Outside of Coal City." Damian murmured.
"Are we still ... in Pennsylvania?" I asked, trying to stay awake.
