I took a final deep breath, savoring the cool air before pushing off my feet and gathering all my might to go on. I gritted my teeth, ignoring the protests of my weary back and legs.
Within two feet, we collapsed onto the soft ground.
A yelp tore out of me as a nasty cut was added to my leg, right in the center of my kneecap. My eyes moved on their own accord, observing the damage. I hissed at how deep it was. Not as deep as the other one, but enough to be an issue.
“Damn it.”
I scanned Georgie and the sweat gathering on her forehead as I reached a conclusion—I wouldn’t be able to carry her.
The world came to a halting stop around me as I thought. With no time constraints, I could move slowly, ensuring we reached the finish line eventually. All I had to do was stay calm and walk until my legs gave out. When I needed a break, I would take it. As long as we both got out alive, I was going to push through.
Yet, as I glanced at Georgie, the sight of her skin, marred by purple and blue bruises, made me realize I was mistaken. I might have time but Georgie, with chattering teeth, certainly had just a little longer before her body shut down from the cold.
Shit.
So I started over until I dropped her. Again. And again. And again. And again.
At this pace, we would never make it out of the woods. I had to come up with something else.Fast.
I dragged us to the edge of a tree, supporting Georgie’s back on its trunk. “I’ll figure it out,” I told her, though I knew she couldn’t hear me, too lost in the horrors of her own mind.
I sat next to Georgie, my fingers tangled in my hair, elbows resting on my knees, trying to find a solution that would keep us both safe.
I struggled to maintain focus. Georgie repeated the words like a mantra, branches fractured in our wake, and the vision of Arianna’s lifeless form plagued my thoughts. I shook my head in an effort to banish the memory.
My eyes squinted as I tried to picture a board in front of me, but it vanished into particles of air, and it was replaced by her face. The way her mouth hung open, the way her eyes wouldn’t move.
“Focus,” I whispered to myself.
I built the board in my mind once again, ignoring Arianna’s voice crying in my ear as she told me her name. There would be a better time when I could allow myself to grieve, to not push away the image of her leaving this world, but right now I had to bury it as deep as possible. Ihadto get us out of here.
On top of the board, I placed a piece of paper that read“Things that require lifting”, then started listing them.
1.Hikers with heavy backpacks for long distances.
1.Coming home with bags of groceries.
2.A mother carrying her child.
Itskedinternally. None of this required that kind of weight, but I went on, trying to find a common theme between the three.
Hikers carried their backpacks on their backs, the weight becoming part of them. Groceries involved two hands to balance the heaviness, with fingers wrapped around the bags. Mothers wore baby slings tied around their backs, shoulders, and torso to distribute the weight in more than one place.
Each of the three used a strap-like mechanism, so now I had to figure out how to make something like that with what I had. I looked around—branches, dirt, leaves—nothing was going to be helpful. I needed something elastic with enough material to?—
I had my clothes.
At the thought, I jumped to my feet, only to sink back down. They weren’t sufficient. I was going to need at least one more pair of clothing to accomplish something of that nature.
Arianna. Her clothes were still intact.
No. I would not undress a dead woman and strip her of her dignity. It felt wrong. But . . . I wasn’t doing it out of curiosity, malice or pleasure, I was doing it to keep someone else alive. And right now, it seemed like the only way to save Georgie.
I have to do this. She’s going to die.
I was going to hate myself if I took that poor girl’s clothes off.
And I’ll hate myself even more if I let Georgie die.
