Marie's Path

Chapter 54

Marie landed hard. The only thing she could hear was a high pitched ringing in her ears. She felt broken boards jabbing painfully into her side. Then there was a moment of panic when she felt her body slipping. Her fingers clawed frantically on rough broken bricks as her legs dangled into a black void before searching for a foothold on the slick sides of the well. In an instant, strong hands grabbed her wrists and she felt herself being lifted. Blood whooshed through her ears, her hearing returning and she knew she was pressed firmly against Axel's chest. Marc was against her back, he sandwiched her tightly between them. His face was in the back of her hair and she felt him inhale deeply.

Axel was the first to step back. Holding her shoulders, he looked into her face. "Jesus, that was close. Are you hurt?"

She stumbled away from them whimpering and fell on the ground curling herself into a ball. Her heart beat loudly in her chest, her entire body shuddered violently.

Not knowing what else to do, Axel and Marc got down on their knees beside her. Each with a hand on her back.

After a few minutes, she was able to pull herself together and rolled to a sitting position, wiping the tears from her face. "Is he dead?" she asked, not able to take her eyes away from the black hole.

The guys looked at each other before Axel answered, "We don't know. Making sure you were alright came first."

"Mother fucking bastard! Fuck!" Marc stood up quickly. With his hands on the top of his head he paced in small circles. "I hope he's dead, I hope he broke his miserable fucking neck!" He leaned over with his hands on his knees, catching his breath.

Axel glanced at Marc before helping Marie to her feet and leading her away from the old well and out from under the shade of the tree. Once he could see her in full sunlight, his hands shook so hard he could barely pull her shirt up to check her over. He stopped, letting out a shuddering breath and leaned his forehead against hers. "So close," he said in a low voice, "so fucking close. With all the tall grass we didn't see the old well covering. I knew Marc was going to grab his wrist and I timed my shot for that. But your face, I saw it. You thought you were going to die and you were preparing yourself. I knew I only had a split second before you moved. Thank god, you turned left instead of right."

"But I was going to go down fighting. . ." Her voice trailed off as she stared back toward the tree. She spoke softly, "You didn't kill him before he fell?"

"No, shoulder shot. I only wanted to immobilize him when Marc took the gun. The last thing we expected was him falling into a well." He pulled her shirt up. Her left side was scraped raw from the broken boards. "We need to get some antiseptic on that. Do your ribs hurt?" he asked feeling along her side.

Before she could answer a single shot rang out making her jump.

When Marc came around from the side of the house, she glared at him. Before she could stop herself her voice turned harsh. "What did you do? Did you shoot him just because you could?"

Marc frowned. His eyes narrowed and he glared at her. "After what he did? I'd sure as hell like to, Marie! He held a gun to your head!" He took a deep shaky breath. "But no, he's alive. There was a snake at the bottom of the well, I couldn't tell if it was venomous or not."

"He's alive?"

He nodded once, and in a flat voice said, "He's breathing, but barely." He turned to Axel. "The well's all but dried up, a little water, not much. There's rocks and debris on the bottom. I can't tell his condition unless I go down."

"I'll go down," Axel said. "He might have some rope in the camper. Make the call, I'll see what I can find in the truck."

Without another look at Marie, Marc took his cell phone from his pocket and walked a few yards away from her. Axel touched her cheek before walking away.