Page 58 of Searching Blind

The sound of frantic panting and scuffling approached. He reached out with a shaking hand and Zelda licked it. She flopped down on top of him, knocking the air from his lungs, and pushed her face against his, whimpering as her tail flew like a whip.

He didn’t even care that it hurt and hugged her. “There’s my good girl. She’s the best, bravest girl.”

Lucy threw herself down next to him, wrapping her arms around both him and Zelda. “God damn it, Sawyer. You could have died.”

“Hey now, you started this. Jumping off a cliff…” He managed to wheeze out a laugh between coughs. His whole body was shaking uncontrollably from the cold and adrenaline.

“Fell,” she corrected faintly, but the fight had gone out of her voice. He felt a hot tear hit his cheek and gently nudged Zelda aside so he could pull Lucy into his arms.

She fit perfectly against him, her body molded to his despite the layers of wet clothing between them. She was shivering and burrowed deeper into his side, burying her face in the crook of his neck. He held her tighter, stroking her damp hair with trembling fingers.

“I was so scared,” she whispered. “I thought… I thought you were going to die.”

“I didn’t,” he said gruffly, smoothing a hand over her back in comforting circles. “I’m here. We’re okay.” When she gave a soft sob, his heart all but shattered. “Shh, sweetheart. We’re okay.”

He pressed a kiss on her forehead, his chapped lips lingering on her cold skin. She was crying quietly, her body shaking with silent sobs. He was freezing, and as the adrenaline faded, bone-deep exhaustion set in, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was the woman in his arms, the woman who meant everything to him.

Finally, Lucy shifted against him and lifted her head. “We can’t stay here. Whoever was shooting at us could still be out there. It will take him time to cross the river, but we’re wasting our head start.”

There she was. His strong, brave park ranger was back, taking control of the situation. Relief unfurled in his chest, loosening the knotted muscles around his shoulders. He never would’ve said it out loud, but he’d been worried there for a moment as she clung to him, terrified the stress of the last few days had finally broken her. Hell, she hadn’t even sobbed like that in the cave after the Shadow Stalker left her for dead. But he should’ve known his Lucy was made of stronger stuff than that.

He slowly sat up, grimacing as his battered body protested the movement. Every-fucking-thing hurt. “Right now, I’m more concerned with getting dry and warm. You’re shaking like a leaf.”

“S-so are you,” she said through chattering teeth.

Thankfully, the sun was coming up. He could feel it burning away the dampness of the night and it promised to be a hot one. They needed to find shelter, let their clothes dry out, and then keep going toward the?—

Fuck.

Cell phones.

His stomach dropped as the thought struck. He groped around for his backpack and dug a hand in one of the pockets for the phones. When he pulled them out, they were all dripping.

“Oh, shit,” Lucy muttered, and he heard her digging through her bag. “Mine are soaked, too.”

“Do any of them turn on?” He picked through them until he found his phone in its rugged case. He hit the button to turn it on, then raised it to his ear to listen for the tones indicating it was starting up. Nothing. He pried it out of the case and shook water off it, then tried powering it up again.

“Come on. Come on.”

The stupid thing was supposed to be waterproof.

“Nothing,” Lucy said after a long moment. “They’re all dead.”

No phones meant no way to call for help, no lifeline to the outside world. And a killer was out there somewhere, hunting them.

He shoved the phones back into his bag and pushed himself to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain that lanced through his shoulder and ribs. Zelda pressed against his leg, and he reached down to stroke the wet fur of her ear. It steadied him. “Let’s stick to the plan. Find a safe place to dry off, and I’ll see if I can get one of the phones working again.”

chapter

twenty

He was hurting.

Lucy could see it in the stiff way he walked, but he didn’t make a sound of complaint as they trudged through the dense underbrush. Since he lost his cane in the river, he kept one hand on Zelda’s harness, and Lucy stayed close by his side, ready to steady him if he stumbled. Her hand brushed his every few steps. She told herself it was to let him know she was still at his side, but that was only partially true. She needed the physical reassurance that he was still there with her. The icy river water had leached the heat from her body, and her muscles ached with cold and fatigue. But it was the chilling fear that squeezed her heart that made each breath a struggle.

If she had lost him…

A shudder ripped through her that had nothing to do with the cold, and dread sat like a stone in her stomach.

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