Wind

• • S E V E N T E E N • •

Jeremey reached the forest a few seconds ahead of me. Once he got a dozen or so yards into the trees, he slowed down to a brisk jog. I caught up to him, panting from the sprint. My heart pounded against my chest. I wheezed, unable to catch my breath. The trees around us swayed, groaning in the wind like they were alive and haunted.

Jeremey looked back over his shoulder. I looked back as well. The dogs hadn't followed us. They didn't like the woods.

I didn't like it either.

We slowed to a walk.

"Fuck," I finally said when I regained my breath enough to speak.

"Are you all right?" Jeremey asked.

A wet warmth soaked my ankle, but I felt nothing else. "I'm okay."

"Let me look at your leg."

"I'm fine, let's just get out of here."

We continued through the forest, the trees moaning and moving around us. I wheezed painfully. It was like a hole had been poked in my lungs, sucking all the air out of me with each breath. I coughed, and my entire body shook. My leg began to throb in pain as the adrenaline wore off, but I didn't want to stop.

As it got worse, I started to limp, clutching my leg but continuing to trudged on. Small branches and pine needles crunched beneath my feet. Tree branches scraped along my face and arms, but I did nothing to protect myself. It was like my mind was being swallowed, leaving my in a dark fog.

My vision faded in and out. When I was finally able to focus for a few seconds, I realized Jeremey had somehow gotten a few yards ahead of me. My head spun, and I staggered off to the side. I reached out and my hand met the bark of a tree. I leaned against it for balance. The beam from the flashlight I'd been holding dropped to my feet. The pant leg of my jeans was mangled, dark and damp. An unsettling amount of blood dripped onto my shoe, staining the white fabric a dark red. My stomach turned. It was like I was looking at someone else's leg. It couldn't be mine.

"Hey!"

Jeremey was standing in front of me.

"Harper, come on." He slapped my face lightly, and I tried to focus on him. He looked down at my ankle. "Shit."

"I'm okay." I pushed myself off of the tree and took a few more limping steps. Every time my leg moved, pain seared through my entire body. I felt like it was going to crumple beneath me whenever I put weight on it.

"You can't walk," Jeremey told me. "Sit down."

I didn't so much sit as collapse into the bed of dirt and pine needles on the forest floor.

Jeremey took the flashlight from my hand and pushed the leg of my jeans up to look at the bite.

"How bad is it?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer. I definitely didn't want to look.

"I can't tell. There's too much blood."

"Well that's a good sign." I winced as another wave of pain shot through my body, followed by a rush of nausea. "Am I going to die?"

"You're going to be okay." Jeremey stood up, still holding the flashlight. "We're almost out of the woods. The street's just a couple hundred yards that way, I think." He pointed off into the distance. "How about this, you wait here, and I'll walk the mile and a half down the road to where we parked the car. Then, I'll drive back and park right out on the road and get you."

The trees groaned and shifted as the wind roared through them. The sounds of crunching branches and snapping limbs echoed from deep within the forest. I shivered, my teeth chattering as I suddenly realizing how cold I was.

I didn't want to be left there alone.

"No, I can walk," I said, trying unsuccessfully to pull myself to my feet.

"No, you can't." Jeremey pushed me back down. "Just wait here, Harper. I'll be back in twenty minutes. Thirty tops."

I nodded, realizing I didn't have any other options. "Okay," I finally agreed.

Jeremey handed me the bat. "Just in case." He paused. "I'll be back soon. I promise."

I winced and nodded. Then he turned and jogged off. The light of the flashlight slowly faded into nothing in the distance, and I was alone.

I leaned back, allowing myself to lay down on the ground. My leg throbbed in pain, and my entire body felt light. I watched the trees sway back and forth above my head. They looked like hands in the sky, reaching up to the stars. I wanted to reach up to them too, but my arms were too tired to move.

My vision faded as a haze clouded my mind. I was so cold, but I was paralyzed. I couldn't move to attempt to keep myself warm. I wasn't even shivering anymore.

I counted my breaths. I struggled to get oxygen.

One. Two. Three.

I blinked my eyes, fighting to keep them open.

Four. Five. Six.

In the distance, more tree branches snapped.

Seven. Eight. Nine.

I didn't get to ten.

The wind gave an enormous gust, and then the earth opened up beneath me. I fell into the void, and everything went dark.