Page 17 of Ruined

He finally gets the lid up. The sun is getting low in the sky, which means I won’t have to protect my eyes, worrying about the light, as I come up fast and aimed right for him.

He has my gun pointed at me. I throw my arm out, knocking his aim off. I pull the knife from my boot as he tries to shoot me again. I drive my blade into his flesh, slicing him from his stomach to his chest and higher. He screams and twists away from me. I jump toward him and aim for his neck as he fires the gun off wildly. A burning in my side gives me pause for a moment. I twist the knife, and he drops down to his knees.

I don’t relent. I keep my blade imbedded in him until he slumps forward and the gun isn’t firing any longer. I move tostand up and instantly drop to my knees. I look down and see I’ve been shot in the side, hip, and arm. I remember the first shot, but not the other two. If I want to live, I need to find shelter until I can get my wounds dressed, and hope I’m found before I have to hike out of here.

The bullet in my hip is the worst. I stick my finger in the hole and realize it’s not a through and through like the one at my side. I push up again, and a searing pain causes me to cry out as I flex my hip. The bullet must be lodged against my hip bone. I grit my teeth and push up again. This time, I get to my feet. I limp around, checking out my surroundings. We are on a dirt runway. A cabin sits in the short distance, and I see a river behind us. There is still ice around here, and the river is frozen over.

I have to get to the cabin before the night creeps in, or I will die from exposure, or the wolves will kill me. I don’t know about bears, but I’ve heard they are still in their dens at this time.

I start to limp up the path, praying Wilder doesn’t have a partner this time around. You’d think they would’ve come out while the gun was going off.

I fall several times, and it takes so much energy to get up and continue moving forward. Blood oozes from my body as I stumble up the inclined trail to the cabin.

It takes a while, and I’m exhausted by the time I make it up the slope to the cabin. I push the door open and step into the darkness. My senses are on high alert, but everything is still. No signs of trouble. I find a flashlight and turn it on, using it to double-check the space.

The cabin is small. It’s only the one room with a woodstove, bed, sink, and a small table. No bathroom. I close the door behind me and latch it securely. Then I search for a first aid kit or anything to wrap my wounds. I’m losing blood fast and getting not only weak but tired.

There’s no food or bottled water. I manage to pump some water from the spigot. It’s depleting my energy faster, but I keep pumping the handle until I fill the basin full. I’ll have to use the water straight from the tap because I don’t have the energy to look for matches to start a fire.

Tearing up the sheets from the bed, I use them as bandages as my eyes start to get heavy. I finish bandaging myself up and use the broom to make myself a crutch. The pain in my hip is getting worse, and I don’t want to cause more damage to it. Hobbling to the door, I push a chair against it, then move back to the opposite side of the cabin. I lean against the wall as I sit on the bed, facing the door. I’m ready to pass out when I hear a helicopter buzzing overhead.

The sound is like a burst of adrenaline to my system. I rush around the room, trying to get out and locate where the helicopter is in the sky. I brace my body against the doorframe, my hand shaking slightly as I wave the flashlight into the darkness. My heart pounds as I spot the blinking lights moving steadily toward me.

He found me.

Dylan

Iwanted to fly, but I deferred to Thad on this and let him get a helicopter. It could land in less space than a plane. We were at the airport when I got the call that Wilder was getting fuel and then took off without paying because they tried to stop him. No one saw her, but we assumed she was in the airplane still.

Zero and his men offered to help us, but Riddler told them she and the Handmaidens had it from here.

She and Jinx wanted to come, but with both of them being pregnant, we made them stay back. Instead, Ginger and Vixen are sitting in the back seat. One of the men from the airport said that Wilder mentioned he had a place up off the Yukon, so we are heading that way now. I hated putting all our eggs in one basket, but we have to trust the witness reports. Alaska’s wilderness is too vast to just search it willy nilly.

I’m trying to figure out why he would have had her go to Anchorage only to bring her back up here. Unless it was all a distraction to throw her off track. He must have been watching us for a while to know about me, and if that’s the case, he’d have noticed she’s been trained in self-defense. He knew that if he could get her off step, he could get to her faster and easier.

“There’s a light down there,” Ginger says, pointing to the northern shore of the Yukon River.

I move the spotlight over the area. The light illuminates an airplane and a small, newer runway.

“There!” I point for Thad when I see the flashlight waving. “There she is.”

Thad puts us down near the plane, and Vixen and I rush up the path to where I can make out Minuet sitting on the ground with the flashlight. Ginger and Thad stay back to make sure Wilder is taken care of.

I drop to my knees beside her, and she smiles up at me as her eyes start to close.

“I knew you’d come,” she whispers, before slipping into unconsciousness.

“Wake up, honey,” Vixen begs her.

I quickly assess her, peeling back the bandages on her body. “We need to get her to the hospital. She’s been shot,” I tell Vixen as I lift Minuet into my arms.

As I’m walking down the path toward the helicopter, I see a body lying on the ground. I know it’s Wilder, but I don’t care. We will report it. Saving Minuet is more important.

I let Ginger sit up front so I can ride in the back with my girl and Vixen. Carefully, I position Minuet on the backboard and secure her so we can take off. She jostles awake and looks up at me, her eyes wild.

“It has to end,” she says in a soft voice before she loses consciousness again, and I’m shaken to my core.

It’s just like her professor said. I have to walk away so that she can heal. I make the vow that I’ll do whatever it takes to save Minuet.

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