The Survival

Chapter 50

I can feel my heart race slowing down, my sweaty hands never leaving Nathan's curls. I'm shaking of fear and shock, the idea of what happened to Nathan minutes ago and what could have happened sends a painful bang into my heart.

He takes deep breaths while on top of me, his face buried in my chest.

I rest my head on the ground and take a huge sigh only to raise my head again and look down at him, his eyes are closed, his lips slightly parted and I end up being hypnotized by them, you can see the skin cracked because of the cold weather and the hot cloud of air that leaves them with every intake of breath he takes and lets go.

I reach out and gently pass my finger over his jaw, he finally opens his eyes and stares at my green ones that were already looking at him. My mind replays the moment where the bridge gave up and I saw Nathan falling down and disappearing from my sight to the end of the abyss, or so I thought till I found him hanging there by the ropes and woods.

My eyes close immediately at their own accord, the memory causing tears to fill my eyes and a knot to appear in my belly. The thought of losing him, for the second time since we got to the woods makes bile rise to my throat.

I suddenly feel something harsh but warm on my cheek, I flutter my eyes open to now find him staring at me. I look at his hands that are bleeding and have gashes in it because of the strength that he had to spend to climb what was left of the, now, vertical bridge.

"Hey cupcake." Are the first words that leave his mouth, I try to control my tears not wanting to be weak at the moment, so instead I roll us over and hide my face on the crook of his neck. A hiss leaves his mouth and I stand on my knees to see what is wrong.

I check him over from head to toe, I can see numerous bruises on his hands, a gash on the side of his forehead but nothing on his body that would cause him to hiss when I hugged him. So, I, softly, start touching him on the chest, the sides, and when I reach the ribs he grunts in pain.

I lift his shirt and inspect the place, I can see it turning a bluish colour and I know that he probably hurt himself on the fall. I run my fingers over it but never leaving my eyes from his face so I can know his reaction. I gently press on the place and he bits his lower lip.

"It doesn't seem broken to me, maybe it's only sore, but I'm not the best doctor or nurse." I tell him while moving my hand from under his shirt.

He doesn't say anything, he only remains silent and watches me over. He does to me what I did to him moments ago, he is making sure if I'm okay. Eventually he stares back at my eyes and slowly stands up so now we're face to face, our chests are touching and I'm straddling his lap with one leg on each side of his hips.

"You better not be hurt under your clothes, not even a small bruise because if you are I'll beat the shit out of Ed, and he will beg me to en--"

"Ed!" I shout his name and I jump from Nathan's lap remembering that he was by my side and Beth's when all hell broke loose. I look everywhere, the space without trees is empty except for us and a dumbfounded Beth that has teary cheeks. The clearing is clean so I look over the line of trees, but I can't see anything, not a shadow, not a vulture, not a movement... not an Ed.

"I'll kill that bastard when I find him." I feel Nathan wrapping his arm around my waist as I stay with my focus on the forest ahead of me, maybe just waiting for Ed to pop out and hurt us when I'm distracted, but the only sound comes from us and the wind and the only movement that my eyes can catch is from the leaves.

I press my back against Nathan's front and thank the God the fact that he is safe and with me, I turn to look at Beth as she takes small steps over to the end of the cliff. "Beth!?" I question.