Rebirth (John Taylor #1)

Chapter 3

The sound of something snapping close by brought me back to consciousness. It took a few moments for me to regain my senses and figure out what was going on. The first thing I noticed was that it was starting to lighten. I had apparently been out cold the rest of the night in the ravine where I still lay.

Then the pain returned. I was lying on top of my injured left arm and both it and my left shoulder were screaming in pain. I was about to shift to take the pressure off my wounded limb when more sounds grabbed my attention. First another snapping sound, which I was pretty sure was a twig or piece of wood being broken, followed by voices.

"I don't think we will find him," the first voice said.

"Shut up and keep looking. If we do not find him, Qasim will have my head. I will make sure he gets yours along with it!"

I was looking from an almost upside down position, and saw legs followed by bodies stepping over the ravine just meters in front of me. They weren't really paying that much attention, and I couldn't imagine how they did not see me, but they walked on by.

The one in the middle I recognized. It was Moe. There was no way I was going to be able to get them before they got me. I might be able to shoot one of them, but firing an assault rifle with one hand would be difficult in the best of conditions. No, the smart play was to let them get some distance, and try to scoot past them.

I wasn't sure where I was, or where I was headed; but what I did know, was that I needed to get the hell away from that village. They would find me, eventually, if I didn't high tail it. I lay there for a long ten minutes, giving them some time to get some distance. Then I pried myself out of the ravine. Standing, I found my right ankle was also pretty screwed up, and I was having trouble putting weight on it. I pulled the rifle up and switched the selector to 'safe'. Holding the barrel, I used the weapon as best I could, as a makeshift cane. It wasn't much good as a weapon, anyway, as I had lost the bag of ammo while I was twirling down the hill.

I veered to the right as I walked, to put some distance between me and the trio in case they doubled back at some point. Thankfully, I never saw them again. After walking about twenty minutes another ravine showed up, heading perpendicular to the first. I stopped and listened for a few moments, to make sure those guys weren't headed in this direction and in my immediate vicinity. Hearing nothing, I continued down the new ravine.

As I walked, I worked on the problem. I had no food and no water, and I wasn't sure when I would find any. I could wander around, but I had no idea where I was. I could be in Pakistan, for all I knew. The area still looked like what I saw in Afghanistan, but it was a good bet that the area along the border looked the same, whether it was Pakistan, or Afghanistan.

Still, if I was in Afghanistan, there was a chance I might stumble across some friendlies. There were a lot of people living here who didn't like the Taliban, or groups like Al Qaeda. Empty villages like the one I'd been kept in weren't unknown, and the people who were forced out would resent it.

No, my only real hope was finding a village and asking for help. They would either turn me back over to the insurgents ... in which case I would be killed ... or they would help me. But if I kept wandering around this mountain range, I was a dead man anyway.

Without water, I could have made it three or four days, max, in my best condition. In thin clothing, injured, and in a weakened state; the odds were good that exposure would get me before dehydration set in.

So, I walked. As I walked, my vision blurred and then returned, over and over. Odds were good that I had managed a concussion at some point, also.

I walked for the better part of the day, and rested that night. As I leaned against a rock, I was mildly concerned that if I fell asleep I wouldn't wake up again. At least, that's what they used to always say about people with concussions: don't let them fall asleep. That is actually what I was thinking as I drifted off.