jess made it two miles on her own feet— at the rate they were going, that was over forty minutes, and the pain was getting worse by the second. "are you good back there?" aly called back more at nick than jess because jess had not talked for several minutes. "yeah" nick yelled back just as jess caught her foot on a root. nick lunged forward and caught her, but without thinking, he caught her around the middle causing her to scream— loudly. the entire group rushed back when they heard. "i'm sorry? oh shit, i'm so sorry" nick repeated over and over again while adjusting his grip on jess and setting her down. jess choked and let out actual sobs. this was not good. she curled into a ball and cried as nick bent down "we have five miles left" he told her "can you make it!" nick scolded himself for asking; she didn't have another choice. he was not going to give her the option of not making it. he was going to make sure she made it out of this. "yes" she gasped out and let him help her stand. this time, she reached out for his hand with the arm she wasn't clinging to her side with. "let's go jessica" nick encouraged softly as they continued to walk. he felt like a jerk because he was basically dragging her. he could hear her whimpers and gasps behind him. he checked back every few steps even though the sight of her with tears down her face made his stomach flip. "jess..." he argued "keep going, nick" she said firmly.
about ten minutes later, though, nick was pulled back because jess had completely stopped. "hey—" nick started but turned to see her tugging on his arm because she was beginning to collapse to the ground. "oh no no!" nick said and quickly rushed to scoop her into his arms and cradle her on his knee so she wouldn't fall painfully to the ground. "i-i can't" she gasped "i can't k-keep g-going" she choked out ducking her chin into her chest trying to curl into herself. "okay—okay" nick assured her "it's okay" however he really didn't know what to do. "this is bad" coach appeared out of nowhere and knelt down next to nick "no shit" the other man snapped at him. making jess cringe away from him. "i'm sorry, jess, i'm sorry" he said quietly pulling her closer to him so that her head was on his shoulder. "hey!" coach nudged nick and breaking his focus on jess "i'm just telling you: we have to get her back, and we need to move faster than she can walk" nick looked into coach's eyes. "okay" he nodded firmly and started to stand up with her in his arms "no, no, no, no..." she whimpered while trying to stand up. she made it part wait and then winced and started to collapse again. nick took his chance though, and he quickly scooped her up from under her knees and her lower back. "mmmm" jess groaned at the movement and leaned forward back in her little ball. "i got you" nick said quietly "you're going to be fine" he said even quieter because it was more to reassure him than her. "let's go" coach said quickly to the group, and without a word, everyone marched forward.
