Reckless (Wrecked) (36 page)

Kevin slid down the tree she’d leaned him against, only cringing a little at the burning sensation it made as it scraped the skin on his back.

“Stay here.  I’ll be right back with James.”

“Okay,” said Kevin, sighing because sitting made the dizziness not as bad.  And man, was he tired.

A little while later he was jarred awake by Candi’s approach.  She was carrying a dirty carpet in her arms.

“Watch him while I’m gone, and don’t fall asleep,” she commanded.

“Who?”

She set the carpet down in his lap.  And now that it was closer, he could see it wasn’t a carpet; it was a dog. 
James
.  “Hey, little guy.  What’s up?  Taking a nap?”  Kevin jiggled his left arm in an attempt to wake him up.  “Yo, sleepy head.  Time to get up and bite someone.”

“He got hit too, just like you.  I’m not sure how badly he’s hurt, but he’s breathing and his neck seemed fine, which is why I moved him.  Just hold him until I get back, okay?”

“Okay,” breathed out Kevin, closing his eyes.  “I’ll wait right here.”

A shuffling sound following by an awful blazing pain at the back of his head had his eyelids flying open and his mind much sharper.

“Don’t fall asleep, I said!” she whisper-screeched at him, her face only inches from his own.

“What the hell’d you just do?” Kevin asked pitifully, reaching behind his head.

“I pushed on your lump to wake you up.  You cannot fall asleep, do you understand me?  You could go into a coma or something.”

Kevin stared at her, speechless.

“Don’t you look at me like that!” she yelled.  She dropped her voice, tears now in her eyes.  “I had to do it to wake you up!  I can’t carry you if you go to sleep and don’t wake up.  And the others are in trouble, so I need you to be able to go on your own, do you understand?”

Kevin nodded.

“Anytime you feel yourself falling asleep, push on your lump.”

He scowled.  “Hell no, I’m not going to do that!  Are you nuts?”

“Do it!” she yelled, slapping his face hard.

Kevin’s head spun again once and then seemed to right itself.  He stared at the sweet little gumdrop who he’d fallen in love with - the one who’d been scared and crying for half the trip.  Right now she looked like she was about to go all Rambo on someone’s ass, and he was a little frightened … for them.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stay awake.  Geez.  No need for physical violence.”  He pulled his arm out from under James’ back and rubbed his jaw.  “Nice left hook by the way.”

“Thanks.  Good.  Now, I have to go.  Stay quiet.  Don’t let anyone know you’re here.  If James wakes up, keep him with you.”  She stood.  “I’m counting on you, Kevin.  Don’t let me down.”

Kevin nodded, wincing only a little at the pain.  It did have the effect of waking him up more.  “Gotcha.  Be careful, would ya?”

She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.  “I will.  Wish me luck.”

Before he could get the words of his response out, she was sprinting out of the forest.  He quickly lost sight of her through the trees.

***

Jonathan got to the lake with a big headstart.  He panicked, not knowing what to do.  He could keep running through the forest, his stamina such that he could probably go for hours without slowing; but he knew that eventually the guy would give up and go after his family - the ones who couldn’t run like he could.

He spied the dock and made a split-second decision.  It was reckless and completely un-reasoned, but there was no time to reconsider his instinctual thought process.  He ran down the length of sun-faded wood planks and slipped into the water at the end of it.

Xena stopped at the edge and watched him go under, turning and dropping down onto her haunches to face the woods, once he was fully submerged.  Jonathan could see her form just above him, wavering with the ripples he’d created in the water.  He focused on breathing slowly and calmly, trying to keep the water from being disturbed and sending out signals showing exactly where he was.

He couldn’t hear anything under the water, and he was almost out of breath, when he saw Xena’s tail come out straight and then her hind end get closer to the edge of the dock.

He’s here!  He’s coming!

Jonathan wasn’t sure at first if he should stay underwater and swim away, surface and attack, or try and hide under the dock.  But when he heard Xena’s muted growling through the water, he surfaced, deciding that he’d rather face the danger and deal with the consequences than just wait for it to reach down and get him.

He came out of the water as smoothly and quietly as possible, the first thing he heard upon surfacing the frenzied growls of Xena.  Whoever was upsetting her was close.  There was no questioning the tone of her warning.  One more step and whoever it was would be toast.

Jonathan couldn’t wait any longer.  He peeked up over the edge of the dock.

Standing just a few feet in front of his dog was the attacker, his knife out and held pointed in Xena’s direction.

“Come on, you fucking mutt!  Come on over here and get a taste!”

Jonathan reached up and touched Xena’s ankle, praying she wouldn’t swing around and bite him, but wanting her to know he was there.  For some reason the idea of her protecting him and possibly sacrificing herself for him was more than he could bear.  They’d gotten the dogs for protection, but now when faced with using them for that purpose, he felt very guilty - as if he’d valued his own human life more than her canine one, when she was just as valid a creature as he was.  She’d suffered in her life and come out loving and protective to mere kids, even after having her own children murdered.  He was ashamed to know that he had a lot to learn from a dog about how to treat others.

“Xena, back down.  It’s okay, girl.  Just go back to the cabin.”

She ignored him completely, her eyes never leaving the knife in the guy’s hand; and as a result, she was more prepared for the guy’s move than Jonathan was.

One minute the killer was standing there, and the next he was lunging for the dog, knife out and ready to slice and dice.

Xena moved so quickly, it was hard for Jonathan to put all the pieces together about what happened.  The knife looked like it had met its mark, but then the guy was falling forward, faster than he seemed to want to, yelling.

The knife dropped to the dock, but his hand stayed on the dog.  He rolled onto his side, coming to rest with his back to Jonathan’s face.  Whatever focus the killer might have had previously on getting Jonathan into custody had been completely taken over by his instinctual drive to save his hand from being torn from his body.

Jonathan used the distraction to his advantage.  He grabbed the guy by the hair and pulled him back as hard as he could, using the leverage of his feet against the dock’s support piling to extend the man’s head out over the water.

The man screamed, now facing threats from two fronts.  He struggled against Jonathan’s pull, but his efforts weren’t very effective.  Jonathan held tight, despite being jerked around by the force of Xena’s attack.  She had the guy’s wrist in her jaws, and she wasn’t letting go for anything.

“She’s tearing my hand off!” screeched the man.  “Get her off me!  She’s taking my hand off!”

Normally, Jonathan would have helped him out, maybe even putting himself between the furry killing machine and her victim, but in this case he knew it was the man or him.  If he helped him escape the dog’s attack, the man would turn around and use the knife on both of them.  He’d come here to kill and that’s what he would do if given the chance.  Jonathan couldn’t allow that, so he just held on, refusing to help, refusing to let go.  Just like Xena.

Something warm hit Jonathan in the face.  At first he didn’t know what it was, but then when he saw the arc of red liquid flying through the air, he knew. 
Arterial spray.  Xena’s hit an artery.  He’s going to bleed to death
.  The idea of a human being dying in his arms was too much.  Jonathan let him go, intending to climb out of the water and hold him at bay with the knife, giving the man a chance to staunch the bloodflow.

But he underestimated the man’s will to live.

The killer sprang up, the dog hanging from his mutilated arm.

He grabbed the knife off the dock in his other hand, raising it up to shoulder level.

Jonathan leaped out of the water and grabbed the man’s ankle, but he was too late.

The knife came down hard and fast, burying itself in Xena’s shoulder.

She growled anew, but didn’t let go of his arm.

Jonathan was sure he was next for a knifing.  He half-crawled and half-threw himself the remaining distance towards the man, bowling him over sideways.  The dog went right along with him, her legs no longer working.

Blood sprayed everywhere, covering the dog’s face and shoulders in a gruesome veil of red.  Jonathan slipped on it, trying to gain purchase so he could end the mayhem once and for all.  He fell over the man’s legs, and his face landed very near Xena’s.

It was the look in her eye that did it for him.

Patience.  Dedication.  Love.  Loyalty.  Death coming for her.

Jonathan grabbed the hilt of the knife and eased it out of her shoulder before lifting it high and plunging it down into the man’s chest.

Gurgling sounds came from the killer’s throat, but Jonathan ignored them, knowing the man was no longer a threat to him.  He kneeled on shaky legs and leaned down to gather Xena in his arms.  “Let him go, Xena. 
Release
.  We need to get you to the doctor.”

Her jaws finally unlocked.  Jonathan’s stomach turned over at the hand that fell limply to the dock, almost completely severed from the man’s forearm.

He struggled to his feet, the nearly seventy pound dog almost bringing him back to his knees several times as he made his way back to the cabin as quickly and as quietly as he could.  With every step, Xena’s blood ran down his arms to drip into the layers of dead leaves beneath them.

***

Jack the kidnapper and probably soon-to-be murderer had been pacing the floor when the door flew open and Jonathan came running in, blood all over him and the dog he carried in his arms.

“Stop right there!” Jack yelled, holding out his gun.

Sarah saw him pointing the weapon at her boyfriend and lost her mind.  She leaped up out of the chair and ran for him, intent on stopping him but with zero plan for how she was going to do it.

Jack saw her coming and swung the gun over at her.  “Stop!” he yelled, just before she reached him.

She tackled him at the same moment that the gun went off.

Blinding pain seared her shoulder, but she ignored it in favor of ending the loser underneath her.  They’d hit the wall behind him, giving her the perfect set-up to knee him in the balls.  And knee him in the balls she did, as hard as she possibly could.

The gun fell from his limp fingers and was immediately snatched up by Jonathan.

The guy took Sarah down with him as he fell, his hands latching onto her shirt as he went nearly comatose with the pain.

She struggled to get him off, punching him in the face twice using her good arm before his hands finally came loose.  The satisfying crunch of his nose breaking made the bleeding mess of her shoulder just slightly less awful.

“You’ve been shot!” yelled Jonathan, his voice going up an octave in his panic.  “Oh my god, you’ve been shot!”

“Shoot him,” gasped Sarah, rolling away from the killer and kicking him hard on her way.  “Shoot him in the balls!”

“No, I’m not going to shoot him!  I have to get you to the hospital!”  He leaned down and pulled her away from the guy, dragging her over to the dog’s side.  “Stay here with Xena.  She’s injured too.  I’m going to get the car.”  He put the gun in her hand and pointed it with her at the guy still writhing on the floor.  “Only shoot if he comes after you, okay?”

Sarah nodded vaguely, looking first at the slimeball in front of her and then at the dog next to her, who was obviously suffering.  Xena grunted whenever she tried to move and was whining at a barely discernible volume.

“It’s okay, Xena,” said Sarah, her voice sounding groggy to her own ears.  “We’re going to be fine.  Jonathan’s going to fix us up, you’ll see.  He’s a total genius.  I promise.”

The gun sagged a little, so she let it rest on her leg.  She had cramps down low in her belly that reminded her of period pain.  The warmth spreading out from her shoulder was a weird contrast to the cold that was taking over her body.  She began to shiver.

The man in front of her moved, acting as if he were going to crawl in her direction.

She tried to lift the gun, but it was so heavy.  “Stay over there or I’m going to blow you away, you sonofabitch.”

He kept coming and Sarah began to panic.  The dog growled and whined, struggling to move closer to Sarah.

“Don’t move, asshole,” Sarah begged, crying at the pain in her shoulder and the valiant attempts by her dog to help her.  “I’m going to fucking shoot you, you idiot.”

He kept coming, getting up on his hands and knees to cover the rest of the distance.  He reached her foot and put his hand on it.

Sarah screamed, lifting the gun and pointing it at him.  “Get off me, you
fuck!”
she howled, just before she pulled the trigger.

***

Candi saw Jonathan tearing out of the cabin and racing towards the shed.

“Jonathan!” she yelled, jogging now in response to his obvious panic.  “What are you doing?!  Why are you soaking wet?”

“Getting the car!  Sarah’s been shot and Xena’s been stabbed!  Go help her!”  He yanked the shed door open as Candi raced by.  “Direct pressure on their wounds!” came a muffled yell from inside.

Candi made it to the cabin so fast, she didn’t even notice her feet touching the ground or the fact that Jonathan hadn’t answered all her questions.  She took the stairs two at a time and burst through the door just as the sound of a gun went off, partially deafening her.

A man who’d been in front of Sarah fell back from the force of the bullet hitting him in the chest.  He landed near the bedroom door, one of his arms twisted behind him.