The Darkness

Chapter 39

The water sucked us both down with Colin's body acting as an anchor, I struggled to get from under him to avoid drowning. I kicked furiously until I escaped Colin's unconscious, sinking body. I grabbed his arm trying to bring us back up to the surface. I broke through the surface gasping for air but my hold on Colin's arm was slippery. The water swirled around us attacking us from all sides as we were carried with the current. The water battered us as we were flowed down river and dropped the river swallowing us up again. My hold on Colin was gone and I bobbed back up to the surface. I searched for Colin and saw his dark covered head several feet ahead of me.

I desperately tried to swim towards him but the currents were swift carrying us at the same speed. It seemed like the river kept us in its clutches for hours carrying us to parts unknown. I allowed the waves to carry us conserving my energy. The waves started to calm down and I managed to swim closer to Colin. He had been tossed around and was now floating on his back as I got closer I breathed a sigh of relief to see the slight movement of his chest. Thank god he was still alive. I grappled him with my arms under his arms swimming to the side of banks.

After struggling to keep hold of him in the less turbulent waves, I managed to drag us both to land. I collapsed with Colin half laying on top of me while the other half laid in the water. My backpack dugged into my back and I shoved Colin off of me. Rolling onto my stomach I looked around us wondering if we were safe from Todd. I didn't want to take any chances, I needed to find us a hiding place. First I needed to get us away from the shores of the river. We were too exposed, I got up linking my arms under Colin's arms pulling him into the trees. Pulling him was tedious because he was so heavy. Dang! He weighed a ton.

Huffing and puffing I had gotten Colin into the woods. The warning about my scent floated to my mind. I had to cover up our tracks and our scent. I remembered that Smithy told me that the water will temporarily help mask my scent. I went back to the spot I crawled out of the water and quickly tried to hide the drag marks. Going back into the trees, I placed my backpack under Colin's head. I needed to find a hiding place. but it couldn't be too far because I was sure I would be unable to carry Colin that far.

I ventured into the woods to find that the trees here were a lot thicker. The tree trunks were so wide that i couldn't even wrap my arms around half of the tree. Roots of these huge trees protrude above ground and I found a set of roots that were entangled leaving spaces. I chewed on my bottom lip pondering if I had enough nerve to crawl under the roots. It would be the perfect place to hide with a little more camouflage. I steeled my nerves and peeked down half expecting to see an animal hiding under the roots. The ground was covered with branches and dead leaves and I stuck my foot stabbing the ground to see if anything was moving. My legs were too short to search the entire area. I looked around and spotted a thick branch that I could use as a prod. I took the 3 foot long branch and poked and stirred the leaves clearing the area. No animals. It was safe. Well as safe as it could be. Although I knew a large animal wasn't hibernating in there, I knew creepy crawlies were definitely present. I push that thought to the back of my mind. I rushed back to Colin and he hadn't regain conscious yet. I wanted to do a quick check of his body and the bites that had covered him earlier were almost healed only ugly blue, blackish bruises were in their places. I turned him onto his side when I notice that something wasn't healing and maybe the reason why he hadn't regain conscious.

There were two bullet holes in his upper back and black ooze was coming out of them. First I need to get us to our hideaway, then I would tend to his wounds. I tried to link my arms under his and pull him while I walked backwards. This prove a little impossible when trying to get over some of the tree roots. I kept falling on my butt and once I lost my hold on Colin and he hit his head on a tree. A bump started to form right above his eyebrow.

I changed tactics crouching in front of Colin and pulling his arms around my neck. I slowly raised up heaving his upper body on my back. Once I had a good grip, I began making the slow painful walk to the hiding place. By the time I got us both to our hideaway, sweat was pouring down my face and back and I let go of Colin. I rolled him under the raised tree roots and took a few minutes to rest. I retrace my steps grabbing my backpack and pulling it on. I gathered an arm full of branches with leaves that I would use as cover. Once I covered the tops of the roots that served as our roof I had to find something that would mask our scent.

I tried to stay close to the hideaway so that I wouldn't get lost searching for something, anything. I almost gave up when a smell hit me full force. I ran towards the smell and stopped when I saw a huge black bear. Oh my god, the bear was taking a dump. I covered my mouth and nose because the smell was foul. I stayed out of sight of the bear and watched as it left its dumping ground away from me getting swallowed up by the forest. I waited a few more minutes before I stepped out and walked towards the bear poop.

Gagging I looked at the pile of bear shit! I can't do this! I have to do this! I stared at the offensive pile and my stomach churned. I pulled off my backpack and pulled out the biggest t-shirt I had splitting it in half. I threw the torn t-shirt on top of the pile of shit. I bent down using the t-shirt to scoop up the poop. Ewwwww....Ewwwwww.... The poop was still warm. I wanted to cry but it was life or death. Come on, Celeste you can do this. Put on your big girl panties. I sucked in a breath and scooped up the shit, flipping it over and tying it off. I carried my heavy load back to our hideaway and started smearing the bear shit all around the entrance and over the roots. I dried heave in my mouth a few times when the bear poop actually touch my skin.

I wanted to scrub my skin clean. I was too scared to go back to the river in case I would be spotted by Todd or anyone in his pack. Now it was time to take care of Colin. I dumped everything out of my backpack, seeing what I could use for the bullets. I knew I had to get them out if they were not in that far. Wet clothes, soggy photo album, dry cash in ziplock bag, toiletry items were still dry because they were zipped up in a plastic bag. I took the clothes and hung them on the branches above our heads that was not cover in bear poop. I unzip the toiletry bag and pulled out my nail file. It was better than nothing.

I turned Colin over onto his stomach and stared at the ugly bullet holes. I was no medic nor did I have a stomach for it. I touch the first punctured hole and placed the fingernail file near it. I closed my eyes and slowly dug into the hole. I cringed as it felt squishy and I pressed into his body further until I hit something. Was it the bullet or bone? I wiggled the file around the object to see if I could get under it, all while keeping my eyes closed. I feared if I were to see what I was doing I might pass out. I placed my free hand near the wound and I felt something wet and hard touch my fingers. My eyes popped opened as a bloody silver bullet was between my fingers. Yay! Oh no! The sight of blood and black ooze made my stomach lurched and I barely had time to throw up in the corner. Since I really didn't have anything to eat in hours, nothing came out. However my stomach hurt like I threw up dinner. I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. I had one more to go. I can do this.

I repeated the process, but the bullet must have been deeper than the first one. I made contact with it but I couldn't get under it. I wiped at a few frustating tears as I continue my quest for locating the last bullet. I made several attempts and was just about to give up, when I tried one more time with success. I knew that Colin's werewolf abilities could heal him but I also knew that silver was like kryptonite. I took out the travel size mouthwash and took a small swig myself to get rid of the acid taste of dry heaving out of my mouth. I then poured the rest of the alcohol mouthwash onto both bullet wounds, hoping it was enough to disinfect them.

Now clothes were next. Hmmmm.. Now this would be interesting. After dressing him and securing our hideaway, I laid down and cuddle next to him. Today's events caught up to me and exhaustion slammed into me. I didn't have time to worry about little creepy crawlies, because I could barely keep my eyes open.

(((((( A/N )))))))

Another update so fast....whaaaat... You have all been patient over the last few weeks over my slow updates. So here is your treat! I promise faster updates! Enjoy!

So would you pick up the bear poop if your life depended on it? Hmmmmmm, inquiring minds want to know!

Next chapter will be in Colin's POV!

Don't forget to vote/ comment.

Nicci