“Hephgmn.” Someone tried to speak, but it was muffled, and there was a sick gargling noise to it that made the hair rise on the back of my neck.
The female tone to the voice was the only thing that spurred me forward. It reminded me of Marmal and how she’d saved me from being near death.
What if I could do that for another?
“I’m coming!” I shouted, and ran faster, holding my belly with my right arm to keep it from jostling the baby too much, and gripping the twine with my left. I was running so fast, so focused on the sound of the woman, that I didn’t realize the string was getting shorter until it pulled taut, yanking my ankle out from under me. With a hiss, I threw both hands out and caught my fall as I stumbled onto my knees.
That was close.
I needed to slow down or I could hurt the baby. The twine was pinching my ankle and I knew that if I wanted to go after whoever this voice was, I needed to leave it and venture a bit farther … blind. The thought scared me, but I couldn’t leave a woman out here to die and miss out on my chance at having a companion.
“I’m coming!” I shouted one more time as I untied the twine and ripped a nearby branch off, pinning the twine into the earth like you would stake a tent. The trees might move while I was gone and yank the twine away, so this was the best I could do.
I popped to my feet and got my bearings. “One more sound! Just one more and I’ve got you,” I called out into the woods.
“Mmmmm!” they grunted deeply, and my hands shook as I spied a naked leg peeking out from beneath a tree trunk. Pulling my knife, I stalked slowly toward the leg, wondering where the hell the rest of the person was. Then I realized what I was seeing. The tree had fallen on her, and she was hanging down the hillside, where I couldn’t see the rest of her body obscured by the large trunk.
“I see you!” I cried out, and then looked back over my shoulder to make sure I had a good sense of where I’d left the twine rope tied off. I could see it; I had a good sense of direction. Turning back around, I scrambled the last fifty feet with my heart in my throat.
The one exposed leg was wearing a familiar black Nike tennis shoe … and I really wondered if I’d gone insane and was hallucinating. I didn’t think so, because everything about this encounter was terrifyingly real.
Peering over the top of the log, a sob ripped through my throat.
A shock of red hair splayed out in a fan. It was Sage lying face-down in the dirt, the heavy tree pressed across her entire back, pinning her into the ground. I’d know that red hair anywhere, and I stood there for a moment in complete shock that she’d come looking for me.
“Sage!” I half sobbed. “I’ve got you. I’m getting this off of you,” I screamed as she began to weep, her whole body shaking with sobs. I scrambled backward and looked for a large, sturdy walking staff or branch that I could use as leverage to roll the log off of her. I was over six months preggo and there was no way I was going to try to deadlift that thing and have my baby come early.
I’d made a lot of improvements to the cabin land over the last three months, building a small nursery addition to the main cabin, and I’d done so by using a lever and pully system to move heavy logs.
There!I spotted the perfect fallen tree limb and grabbed it, quickly snapping away useless branches until just the large staff was left. Running back over to Sage, I tried to mentally work out whether I should roll the log down over her head using gravity but risk hurting her brain, or over her legs and risk breaking an ankle…
You could heal a broken ankle in the woods but not a broken brain. Positioning myself at her head, I wedged the staff under the log and she screamed in pain, until I realized I’d stabbed her arm, which was trapped beneath the log as well.
“Shit, I’m sorry.” Moving a few inches over, I tried again and got a good firm grip on the staff. “I’m going to roll it off you … but it might hurt.”
She didn’t say anything, and I took that as a sign that she’d either passed out or consented. One. Two…
“Now!” I shouted, and jumped up into the air, bringing all of my weight down on the staff. The giant log popped free of her back and rolled over her butt, slamming down on the backside of her knees.
A wail of complete misery ripped through the forest and tears rolled down my face. I’d unpinned her arms, but she hadn’t moved them, and I didn’t know if that was because she was scared to or paralyzed.
“One more and that’s it,” I told her. “Hang on.” Wedging the wood under the log again, I leapt into the air and came down with all of my weight. The giant log popped up and then rolled off of her tennis shoes, barely missing her ankles.
She was free.
Panting, I fell to my knees and brushed the red hair off of her face, before bursting into quiet sobs as I barely recognized my bestie.
She had three thin scars running from her eye to her chin, dirt and blood caked her eyebrows, and her once fierce look she always wore was now dull and hopeless.
I took in her dirty, torn clothing, and her handmade suede backpack. She’d been here a while … maybe even months.
I was having a hard time believing this was real. Maybe I was imagining her because I’d been so lonely … but why would I imagine Sage hurt like this?
I wouldn’t.
“You came for me.” I cupped her cheek, getting onto my elbows so that she could see me at her odd angle. Her neck was bent weird and she hadn’t moved and I didn’t know what to do.
Her vacant eyes searched my face, and she chewed on her lip before looking past me at nothing. “Rab was right. I’m cursed. This whole place is cursed.” Then her entire body shuddered and she went limp.
