Crossover

Chapter 10: Uphill battle

I heard birds when I woke. For a moment, I thought I was back in Luala.

I rolled over onto damp grass. It must have rained more while I slept. The thought of rain only reminded me that my mouth was as dry as the desert below.

I sat up, rubbing sleep from my eyes. It was a clear morning, the thin sun rays filtering in through the overhead foliage.

“Good morning.” Zedron said, as he walked over. He handed me a large green leaf, with water pooled in the middle. “Drink. It’s only a little, but it should do.”

I sipped it eagerly for a few moments. It tasted like rain, and absolutely nothing else; refreshing beyond belief.

“I’ll take off your handcuffs now. Then we should get going.” He took a small piece of rock and twisted it inside the small lock. With a click, the cuffs fell open and released my poor wrists from constant irritation.

“Ah.” I sighed. It was like taking off a pair of shoes after a long day. He took the cuffs and threw them into the bushes. The freedom to move your arms was something I had taken for granted.

“How’s your arm?” I asked. The bullet was still in, but I was more worried about infection. The bullet didn’t need to be removed as long as there were no bacteria trapped in the wound.

“It’s not too bad.” he said, pressing around it a little to check. “Your leg okay?”

I rolled my knee over to see the back of it. “I think so.” I said.

He took a look too. “It hasn’t bled through the bandage which is a good sign.”

I rose to my feet, extending a hand to him and pulling him up too.

We walked along the side of the road, avoiding the potholes and puddles. Grass grew almost up to my calf, and last night’s rain was transferred onto my legs. It kept me cool though, which was nice. We took the walk slower this time, achy and sore from sleeping on the ground all night. My leg didn't sting anymore, but was quite tight and achy, making it hard to walk.

"We should make the summit by evening time," Zedron said, after we rounded the next switchback. "I know a guy there who I can get horses from. If we stay overnight at the summit, I think we could be at oasis city by midday tomorrow."

“What if we don’t stay overnight?” I asked. Each passing day I felt more helpless and like I’d never get Alia back. Another day felt like torture.

“We don’t have to…” He said, flashing me a concerned look. “But I have a feeling whoever took your daughter won’t like you just showing up out of the blue and demanding her back. I mean, they probably aren’t going to give her up without a fight.”

I almost stopped dead in my tracks. I hadn’t even thought about that yet. I was so focused on just getting there that I hadn’t made a plan of how to get her out.

“And your body can’t take much more, I don’t think.” He continued. “You’re limping pretty badly again, and I know, although you won’t admit it, that you are having trouble breathing at this altitude.”

Nezaku, he was right every time. “I’m really horrible at this whole rescuing thing.” I confessed, almost laughing at my own stupidity. They weren’t just going to hand Alia over to me when I got there. How had I completely ignored that?

“Nah,” he said, giving me a soft nudge on my arm as we hiked up the steep road. “Everyone needs help sometimes. Look at me; without you I’d be dead at the bottom of that cliff.”

“But that’s different.” I said. “She’s my responsibility. I couldn’t protect her when she needed it most. They took her, and there was nothing I could do about it.”

“But that’s just it,” he pointed out. “You just said it yourself; there was nothing you could do about it.”

“That’s not what I..” I started.

“But it is.” He said, cutting me off. “Stop blaming yourself for things you have no control over.” He took a pause to catch his breath. “You just didn’t see this coming.”

“But I should have.” I said. Guilt welled up inside me.

“There was no way you could have known.”

“But I should have.”

“But you didn’t,” he said.

“But…”

He stopped right in front of me, cutting me off both physically and verbally. “No but’s,” He said.

“Fine.” I said.

He started walking again. “Okay then. Here’s what we’ll do. When we get to the summit, we can check into a hotel there, and plan out how we are going to get your daughter back.”

He kept pace with me and my injured leg, so that I could listen.

“That way, you can rest and also get something done. I’m not trying to keep you from your daughter, but my guess is that they aren’t going to hurt her in the meantime. It takes a pretty sick-minded person to hurt a small child.”

“It also takes a sick minded person to take some’s child in the first place.” I said in response.

He turned to face me, and stared right into my eyes with laser-like focus. “We’ll get her back.” He said. “I promise.”

This was the second time Zedron had promised me he’d help me get her back. When he had said this before, I didn’t believe him. I didn’t really know him then, and I certainly didn’t trust him.

Now I trusted him with my life.

He’d gone from a stranger to a very close friend. I’d threatened to leave him to die, true, but we’d both helped each other a lot along the way. He’d saved my life just as I’d saved his. So when he promised it this time, I didn’t dismiss it as him being nice, or trying to comfort me.

I knew he meant it.