Protecting you

Prologue

Left, right, left, right....or was it left? For a while now he had been following the rhythm of his own steps to distract hunger and exhaustion, but Rian was so tired that he was not even sure of what he was thinking and he no longer grabbed the edge of Stefan's shirt, something he used to do frequently to follow his brother's usually lighter strikes. But it had been a while since the other lad started to walk almost as much or even more wearily than him, going forward almost by inertia without even really knowing where he was going.

The terrible nourishment, fear and the constant instinct of alert in which they had been for months, coupled with the horrible new experience that had assaulted them days before, had left them both in a state of exhaustion which exceeded any other sensation.

Even though already dry, their clothes were completely torn and muddy as they had to jump into the river that morning. Instinct told them that was the only way to mislead the three men that had started to chase them two days prior when they were still within inhabited areas, barely half an hour after that suffocating heat, that tension and that craving for...something they could not even identify assaulted them and that had tormented them as the worst of plagues until a few hours ago when it started to give in. Having to swim had not helped at all to their situation and the water had taken the few things that they still had with them until that day, leaving them with nothing more than what they were wearing. The sun had just disappeared after the mountain chain that accompanied them to their right, the wind was quite cold and, the worst of it all, that night the sky had decided, (like all the other nights from the moment they left the shelter house), that it was going to rain.

Stefan turned slightly to his left and saw Rian, who was only wearing a T-shirt, in an attempt to rub his bare arms. He stopped, took off his shirt and put it on his shoulders. The other looked at him dazed and shook his head.

"But now you have nothing on"

"Not nothing. I have my T-shirt, don't you see silly?

"But..."

"Put your arms in and walk, frankly I do not know where we are and at least we have to find where to sleep."

"Ok, we take turns then"

Stefan nodded but said nothing, for sure he would not let him take it off even if he had to tie his hands. If he had not been so tired, Stefan would have been startled when, while turning to continue, he felt a slight sting on his right side and passing his hand he found blood. Most likely he got the cut on one of the rock ledges in the rapids of the river where they had the genius decision of jumping. It remained open but he had not noticed it until that moment, so he thought it could not be that serious, the good news was that Rian hadn't noticed it. He resumed the walk without a word, he was at a point where little he cared what happened to him, he just wanted to guarantee Rian's safety... and a cigarette.

They had lost the detailed map with marks and instructions that Miss Marygold had drawn for them, when they began to flee from those guys. In the midst of all the confusion, Stefan got completely disoriented for a few hours and panicked when he realized he no longer knew if they were in the right track. But then they reached the edge of the forest and entered, when he was sure the mountain range was at their right, he knew they were doing fine despite having no idea where the "gravel road that leads directly to Moon Flower" was.

Another couple of hours passed and, with no other warning than a lightning that almost left them blind, rain started to pour down once again. With so much rain every night, the land under their feet was never completely dry and now everything was a mire. In those circumstances and in the dark they were in, without even the moonlight, Rian realized that they could have been on the gravel road in that precise moment and not even know it. He thought fleetingly that, given the chance, he would have felt even more hopeless.