I turn on my flashlight and the room lights up, then I pull out a bottle of water and open the cap, taking a swig of the cool water before putting the plug in the bathroom sink and dumping the rest of the water in. The dog finds the open toilet seat and starts drinking noisily from. I wrinkle my nose at the dog, even though I very nearly had to drink out of a toilet bowl too, and then I start to wash the gravel and dirt out of my wounds.
It stings like crazy when I lather my hands up with a bar of soap that I find sitting on the edge of the tub, but I do it anyway because I don't want to die from sepsis. I rinse my hands off in the water and repeat the whole agonizing process again before patting them dry with a towel.
I dig through my backpack- Silas's backpack, but I've begun to think of it as mine. I'm not sure which one of us will claim it when he gets back. The thought of us fighting over the ratty piece of canvas brings a smile to my lips. I find the antiseptic lotion and rub some on, cringing at the burn, and then I wrap my palms with gauze and tape over it. Next, I shimmy out of my jeans and sit on the sink to examine my knees and wipe away the dirt and crusted layer of brown scab. It starts bleeding again, and I rub some antiseptic lotion on my knees as well, then cover it with more gauze and tape.
I put my jeans on and turn to the dog. It's sitting in the corner by the toilet watching me with an avid expression on his face and despite everything we've been through, I start to feel a little nervous at the way the dog is staring at me. I make a little chirping sound with my lips and the dogs ears perk up and it gets up and walks over to me and the tension is broken as it wags its tail and seems genuinely happy to see me.
I look at a long scratch on the side of the dog's face that was obviously bleeding at one point but is now dried up like my own wounds. I wonder if the dog will bite my arm off if I try cleaning it. I dip the facecloth back in the water, careful not to get my own bandages wet and then gently wipe the dogs face. It doesn't seem to mind.
I'm as gentle as I can be. The dog puts on a much braver face than I did when I apply the antiseptic. I know it must burn, it certainly did for me, but the dog doesn't so much as blink, or whine. I pet the dogs enormous head and scratch underneath the collar.
A faint jingling sound draws my attention to a small silver tag shaped like a dog bone. "Mike?" I read out loud, ignoring the accompanying phone number, and the dog's ears perk up at the name. I giggle a little bit at the name. What kind of name is Mike for a dog?
I rub the dogs head. "Good boy." I tell him fondly, and I like the sound of that. I've been thinking of him as an it, and its nice to be able to know for sure. I sit for a few minutes rubbing the dogs head and nearly fall asleep, but I catch myself. I need to find a piece of mail that will have an address on it, then I can compare it against the map.
I luck out and find a phone bill on the kitchen table and I take it back into the bathroom and spread the map out on the counter.
I'm only about two miles away from the outskirts of Louisville. I try and remember how long it used to take me to run a mile back in gym class and I think I was hovering right around ten minutes. So even if I walk, I should be able to cover that distance in about an hour.
It takes me a while, but I finally find a small clock that is battery operated and is still functioning, at least I hope the time is correct. The clock tells me that it's a little bit past midnight, and I'm shocked that it isn't later. It feels like it should be close to dawn at the very least, but I guess if it got dark at six, I've been at this for the last six or so hours. It felt like an eternity and I'm bone tired, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's one hour away.
I tell myself that I have to at least get to Louisville tonight, and then depending on what I see, I can either spring Silas out of jail right away, or at least hole up for the day with enough information to form a new plan.
Chapter Thirteen
Start from the beginning
