Somewhere in Alaska

Chapter Ten

Stephanie and David were heading towards what Stephanie thought looked like the cabin, eager to see if Leon had made it there. Stephanie noticed that David had slowed down massively.

"Are you managing David?" She asked as she stepped to the side of him, she could see the sweat running down his face, he looked as though he'd been running for miles yet they'd barely covered any distance at all.

"I'm managing, just about. If I'm being honest, I'm not feeling very good at all." he replied whilst wiping his forehead and holding his side.

"As soon as we get to that cabin you have to rest, as I've said before, you're not going to be any use to Leon if you push yourself too much and make yourself worse."

"Yes I know, I'll rest," he said whilst grabbing a hold of Stephanie's hand.

She noticed instantly that the skin on his hand felt like it was on fire, not wanting to sound like she was going on at him, she didn't say anything about it. She just continued to hold his hand and helped him get to the cabin. Again Stephanie could see what appeared to be the cabin ahead of them. After almost half an hour of walking, they had finally made it there. Unable to even check inside the cabin, David slumped down on the porch step. He removed his backpack and took out a bottle of water for himself. Stephanie could see that it was a big effort just for him to open the bottle, he took a few sips and leant his head against the hand rail. Stephanie went ahead and checked inside the cabin.

"David?" Can you come in here please?" she called out to him.

Struggling to get to his feet, he just about managed to stand, he pulled himself towards the door and peered in,

"What is it?" he asked in a soft weak voice,

"Look at all this stuff," she said as she pointed towards a few bits and pieces around the cabin, "it looks fairly new, none of it is dusty like the rest of the stuff here, do you recognise any of it?"

David took a moment to check it all out, as he was looking at various items on a table top something caught his attention in the corner of is eye. He glanced across to the corner of the cabin and noticed a backpack leaning against the wall behind the door, he limped over to it.

"This is Leon's, one hundred percent it's his," he said as he picked it up, he had a good look at the rest of the dust free items around the cabin, "this stuff is all his, I can't see any blood here though."

"Surely that's a good thing, by the time he got here the bleeding could have stopped," she said as she glanced around the cabin again, "wait, look," she said as she walked over to the window, "there's blood on this sill, and there's a bit on the window, he must have leaned on it when he was looking out."

David limped over to the window, he to saw the faint blood stains. Struggling to stand, David's legs seemed to go wobbly underneath him, he almost fell to the ground but Stephanie noticed and quickly helped him.

"You need to rest now, have a lay down," she said as she slowly walked him over to a rusty old metal framed bed. Noticing a couple of small blood stains on the mattress, she quickly pulled the old dusty sheets across it. As she sat David down on the bed, he tried to get up again straight away.

"David don't," she said as she gently pushed him back down, "you have got to rest, look at you. Now please listen to me and lie down."

"Stephanie how am I supposed to rest now? All Leon's stuff is here, but he's not. I have to go and look for him."

"Yes all his stuff is here, which could mean he is staying here. He wouldn't have left his backpack if he had no intentions of coming back."

She walked over to Leon's backpack and looked inside, there were a few bits and pieces in there, but no food or drink. She glanced around the room again and noticed a couple of empty food wrappers on the side table.