“Here.” He’s to my left and a little farther ahead. “Keep going.”
I do as he says and a bullet whizzes past my ear—way too close for comfort—before it hits a tree to my left.
More gunshots ring out behind us, but they’re getting farther away. Every time they shoot, they stop moving; it’s slowing them down. There’s another shot and my foot catches a fallen tree. I don’t even have enough time to put my hands out and break the fall. I smack my head on the ground and pain explodes from my side and it feels like I’ve fallen onto a rock, but I don’t have time for the pain.
I’m back up, unsteady for a moment.
“Andrew,” I say quietly. The men’s voices are farther behind us now.
“Jamie.” His voice is up ahead. I make my way through the woods toward him. My legs are going a little numb but I can make it.
“Andrew,” I say again. He doesn’t answer and my heart lurches.Leaves crunch near me and a hand takes my arm.
“Shh, this way,” he says. We move slowly; the voices of the Fort Caroline militia are closer. “Down here.”
There’s a hill. He leads the way and I try to take it sideways but pain shoots up my leg and I collapse, rolling down the hill. I feel woozy. It must be the bump on my head from falling, or the tree branch to the face; I hope I don’t have a concussion.
Andrew’s calling to me. He sounds so far away but I don’t think I could have fallen that far.
He’s next to me, grabbing my arm again. He shakes it and leans close to me, his warm breath in my ear tickling as he asks if I’m okay, and for a moment I’m back. I smile. I open my mouth to say yes, but I can’t. The words don’t come out.
I’m breathing heavily, each breath bringing a fresh throbbing pain to my side.
“Jamie, talk to me,” Andrew manages to say.
I’m wet. Are we lying in a stream?
I don’t even know where the militia are. Andrew’s talking quietly but they’re bound to hear us if he keeps it up.
“You’re hit.” He sounds like he’s panicking and he keeps pushing on my side where I fell on the rock.
I try to cry out but the pain brings me crashing back to reality. It hurts so badly and he’s making it worse. I try to push his hand away from my side where the pain radiates like fire. But he won’t let me move him away and my hands come back wet.
“You’re hit.” It’s all he says. The pain in my side, it wasn’t from a rock.
The baby fawn from the clearing near the cabin flashes to my mind. I never could have shot it, nor its mother. Not if it felt like this.
We never should have left the cabin.
“Jamie,” Andrew whispers. “Jamie, what do I do? How do I stop the bleeding?”
It’s the last thing I hear before his voice fades and all that’s left is...
Andrew
“JAMIE, YOU HAVE TO HELP ME, OKAY?”I ask him, but he’s still not responsive. He’s breathing, but it’s in short, sharp inhales.
I press down again. This time he doesn’t make that sad hoarse cry like he did before. Like he wanted to scream in pain but knew it would attract the men behind us.
I listen. Jamie’s breathing and the voices of the men of Fort Caroline. They’re all farther off.
I take my hand from the wet spot on Jamie’s side and fling off my pack. I reach in, searching for the first aid kit, but my stomach lurches and I feel like I might vomit. Cara has the first aid kit. It’s in her pack because Jamie and I took more food to distribute the weight across ours. And I think her bag is back in the clearing. No idea where she is.
That doesn’t matter now. I grab two shirts. He’s bleeding, a lot. I have to stop that first.
“Jamie?” I try again. No response.
His breathing is slowing.
