She pushed up onto her elbows and glanced around. “We’re in Korea.”
I sat up. “You’re kidding.” Then my gaze fell to her stomach, the large patch of red immediately tightening my chest. “You’re hurt.” She glanced down at the patch as I moved up onto my knees. “Let me take a look.” When she nodded, I rolled up her t-shirt. “You’ve been shot.” I gaped, panicking.
“Gianna, look at me.” Blood oozed out of her wound and I couldn’t take my eyes off it. “Gianna, focus,” she shouted. This time I lifted my eyes to meet hers, registering that she’d just used my real name. I hadn’t told her my name, had I? My mind was too dazed to remember. “I need you to go on without me.”
“What?” I cried out.
“Look, I’m only going to slow you down.” I was already shaking my head before she could finish. She grabbed my arm. “Listen to me,” she ordered. “You can do this. Just follow my instructions and you’ll be safe.”
“No,” I whispered, my heart in my mouth, nausea already playing dominoes with my stomach.
“We didn’t come all this way for you to wimp out now. This,” she pointed to her stomach, “would be in vain if they catch you. So, you need to go. Now.”
I was sure fear shone in my eyes because I could definitely feel it tighten every muscle with the need to retch. “What about you?”
“We have a much better chance of one of us making it out of here if we split up.”
“But you’re hurt—”
“And you’re stronger than you know.” She took a moment to inhale hard and fast. I knew she was in pain. “Listen to me. You merely need to remove a snake's venom to make it less dangerous. No need to kill it.”
I frowned. “You’re fucking dying and you’re giving me riddles to solve,” I scoffed. This had become a daily game between us. She’d give me some cryptic clue and ask me to solve it but there was always a hidden message beneath it.
“This one’s not a riddle, it's for you to remember when you’re at that moment of loss. When you hit that crossroad of right or wrong and you’re not sure. What you’re going back to is not necessarily what you came out of. Everything I said to you has some impact, you just need to remember.”
I nodded. She spent the next five minutes giving me directions to the ferry that would be waiting for me, contacts, and codewords.
And after one final glance, I shot off parallel to the river, as she told me to. I ran with all the force my legs could muster. My lungs burned as my feet thudded heavily against the ground. It was either still early or late night, the sky a midnight black, the air cold and the ground wet. When I finally stopped for a breather, I sucked in lungsful of air, quickly. Sweat dripped down my face, burning my eyes on the way. My fingernails sunk into the skin of my palms. I wasn’t going to die in this place.
A twig breaking caught my attention, and without giving much thought to it, I darted deeper into the woods, running toward the light Lotus had told me to look out for. Footsteps sounded behind me, and adrenaline pumped gas into my tired legs. This was no time to slow down. I weaved through trees and undergrowth surprised at how in sync my agility and perception were.
And when I finally hit the clearing that led down to the ferry, I dropped to my knees and kissed the ground, not caring that people looked at me. They were strangers and even if they weren’t, I cared two fucks. I was about to get my life back.
Straightening, I made my way down to the embankment where the ferry bobbed in the water. An Asian man signaled for me to hop on. I climbed up and neared him. His gaze raked over me in a slow appraisal yet it wasn’t lewd, more admiration, and I supposed he knew where I’d come from.
“Red river,” I said.
He nodded and gestured for me to follow him. It wasn’t a big ferry and I glanced around as he led me toward the only closed structure in sight. When he opened the door, I figured it was a cabin for either him or the ferry’s driver—comprising of a single cot, chair, toilet, and sink.
“You can rest here,” he said in Japanese. “There’s a bag with clean clothes and money as arranged.” He pointed to a duffel on the cot and a paper bag next to it. “And some food. I’ll come for you when it's time.”
“Thank you,” I clasped my hands together and bowed my head. Gratitude sailing through me. He nodded. After he left, I cleaned myself at the sink, changed into the jeans and three-sizes too big shirt and sneakers, just glad for the warmth. Done, I opened the paper bag and not caring what the food was, I ate it then settled down on the cot, my body welcoming the rest.
