“Natalie!” She’d only gotten a few more steps before she heard him behind her. She turned and ran back in the direction she’d come, arms in front of her in the smoke.
“Ren. I’m here!”
She felt his arms come around her. “Thank God,” he whispered against her hair. “I didn’t know where you were.”
“I couldn’t just stay and do nothing. I was worried you might be hurt.” She reached up and touched the blood that had dried on his temple.
He kept one arm around her as he led her farther away. “I’m fine. But we’ve got to get out of here. There’s definitely some explosive materials, not to mention we’re going to have to find some shelter.”
“Is everybody...” She couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“They are. I’m sorry, Natalie. It looks like everyone was killed in the initial impact. Somehow we both made it, but we’re goingto have to get moving if we’re going to keep it that way. We’ve got to go. Right now.”
He pulled her, half walking, half running, before wrapping his arm around her and leading them into darkness. She had no idea where they were going, but Ren was determined to get them away from where they’d been.
She understood why a few moments later when a loud fireball burst behind them. Natalie let out a little shriek and fell forward, only saved from falling face-first into the snow by his arm around her.
“Oh, my gosh, was that the train?” She could finally see him a little more clearly now that they were coming out of the smoke.
“Yes, that’s why I wanted to get us out of there. But I didn’t expect the explosion to be quite that big. Are you okay?”
It was so out of character for her, but she just wanted to lean into him. Into his strength. She didn’t know this man at all. Didn’t know if he could be trusted. But it didn’t stop her from resting her forehead on his chest for just a moment.
They’d almostdied. Surely it was okay to take just a second and rest here against him.
After a breath she pushed away. She realized he had both her larger backpack and the smaller one.
“I found both your bags—they got thrown from the passenger car. I couldn’t find mine, but at least I got my coat.”
He set her backpacks on the ground, and Natalie immediately knelt and opened the bigger one, pulling out a dry sweater. No point in putting on dry pants, they were just going to get wet again as they walked.
But at least they were alive. Unlike the others. Tears filled her eyes.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah, I just can’t believe this is happening. That everybody’s dead and we’re not.”
He nodded. “I know. Me, too. But we’ll have to process it later. Right now survival is the most important thing.”
He was right. She would cry for these strangers, but it couldn’t be right now. Like he said, survival was the most important thing. That thought helped cut through the fog in her brain a little more.
Survival.
She had been doing that for six years. She had survived everything Damien had done to her, and she would survive this crash. That was what Natalie did:survive.
Already, she felt a little better, a little clearer, a little stronger. She clenched her jaw against the chattering of her teeth.
“You’re right. Survival is the most important thing.” She began digging through the backpack again.
“I don’t guess you have hiking boots in there?” Ren asked.
“No, only the tennis shoes on my feet.”
“Yeah, me, too. But that’s better than nothing. Get as warm as you can, and if you’ve got an extra sweater to wrap around your head, that will help, too. The body loses a lot of its heat from the head. I have an extra pair of gloves, so use those.”
She did as he suggested and handed him a second sweater. He looked a little surprised before taking it and wrapping it around his own head.
“Thanks.”
