June 15th, 1813

Luke

Lucy goes limp in my arms and when I loosen my grip her head falls back. Her eyes are closed. Her face is so pale it’s blue. I pat her cheek once, twice, a little harder. She doesn’t flinch. My hand comes away bloody, but when I lean down close I feel her breath on my face.

What the hell happened?

One minute I was running across that damn arch, sure as shit I was about to fall off the side… I remember grabbing Lucy’s shirt. She fell backwards into me.

And then that weird twilight zone stuff. Weird lights and pressure and falling…but not.

Emma.

Holy shit. What happened to Emma?

Did she fall? Did Eli catch her?

Oh god. What if she isn’t okay? What if he didn’t get her?

Oh god.

She could be dead.

Oh god.

I want to run back to the edge so I can look down and prove that she’s not there, but even though I don’t know much right now, I do know that even if she did fall she won’t be down there for another 200 years.

Oh god.

Caleb’s down there.

Oh god.

That crazy bastard was my grandfather…

I just killed my grandfather.

“Uhhhhhhhh…” Lucy groans against me when I gather her closer unconsciously.

I lay her down on the rocks and look hard. There is a long cut along her hairline and I breathe in and out a few times, switching over to lifeguard mode, remembering the steps. Step one is that I can’t do her any good if I’m losing it.

Her face looks bluer. I run my hands over her mouth and nose again. She’s still breathing, but it doesn’t sound right.

“Lucy? Lucy!” I grab her chin and shake a little, running my hands down further to find her wrist and take her pulse. That’s when I notice that her shirt is wet. I lean down and squint at the dark stain, but I can already smell the blood.

Lots of it.

“Shit! Lucy! Lucy, hold on! Oh god!” I press down on the wound and look frantically around for something to give me some light. I can’t see to stop the bleeding and I have to stop the bleeding or she’ll die.

Shit!

“Is she dead?” The voice is so close that I jerk back, losing my grip on Lucy.

An Indian is crouching down next to me. An Indian with perfect English.

“Move over.” He steps over her and kneels down, reaching into a pouch at his side without waiting for me to move, kneeing me in the shoulder in the process. I grip his shoulder, ready to fight, but he shoves me backward again. My brain is two steps behind what is happening around me and by the time I recover enough to scramble back over I realize that it looks like he knows what he’s doing. I grab Lucy’s hand and squeeze. Her fingers are freezing.

He pulls Lucy’s shirt up and I see a small dark line in her lower abdomen. Blood is slowly and steadily running out of it. My throat closes and I squeeze her hand harder.

“Keep your hand here.” He barks and I reach over to do it thinking again of Caleb, no longer feeling guilty that I pushed him, only that I pushed him too late.

The guy finds what he’s looking for in his pouch and shoves it into his mouth, chewing briefly before spitting into his palm and batting my hand away to pack whatever it is into her wound.

“Hey!” Hours of blood borne pathogens training bang around in my brain.

He doesn’t stop or acknowledge that he heard me at all, just reaches down with one hand. I hear a ripping noise. A moment later he is winding a long strip of something around her middle.

“Lift her up!” Like I’m an idiot for not doing it already.

I scoop her up and he reaches underneath and over several times, pulling the fabric tight before leaning down to start a rip with his teeth and tying a knot.

“This dressing won’t last long. She needs medicine and stitches and I need to make sure he’s dead. Stay hidden, follow this path and go to the first house on your left out of the woods. You’ll be safe there. Don’t talk to anyone other than the woman who lives there. Don’t be seen.”

He turns to walk away and I reach out to grab his sleeve. When he turns back his eyes are hard and impatient.

“How do I… What path? Who are you? What the hell, man?” I’d glanced around when he first started talking but I didn’t see anything that looked like a path. And how was I supposed to carry Lucy through the woods without making her bleed worse? And what if we are seen? Then what?

His jaw clenches and I suddenly know he doesn’t like me. The feeling is pretty damn mutual.

“Be careful of her wound. Try not to disturb the dressing. The house you want has a brace of rabbits hanging on a spit outside. The woman who lives there is my sister. Her name is Kateri. Do what I said or don’t. But if you want to live, if you want Lucy to live, you’ll figure it out. Tell her that Levi sent you.”

And then he was literally gone. One minute he was there glaring at me and the next I was standing next to Lucy and he had disappeared over the side of the arch.

So that was Levi.

Somehow we managed to end up in the right place and time.

This shit is crazy.

I look back down at her. Somehow she figured it out. I’m not surprised. She’s not the kind of person to let things stop her, I knew that right away. She’s someone who gets things done and means what she says. She’s someone who could help me figure that out for myself.

And now it’s up to me to make sure she’s okay since her brother doesn’t seem to be too worried about it.

I have to make sure he’s dead.

Better you than me, buddy.

My brain feels clearer, every moment I spend here makes it easier to think. I crouch down now and check her breathing again. It seems more even and her cheeks look a little pinker. The bandage is still white, no blood seeping through yet. I slide my hands under her body and stand up, nestling her head against my shoulder and brushing my lips over her cold forehead.

Levi said that if I wanted to keep us alive I’d better figure it out, and I will.

I look around one last time. There are some bent twigs disappearing into the woods in the direction that Levi came from. I can hear Lucy’s breathing and I try not to think about what might happen to her, what happened to Emma, whether Caleb’s still alive or whether Levi will ever come back.

Time to be a boy scout.

***

Everything looks different, but also the same. I’ve spent a lot of time in these woods, especially after my mom disappeared. I imagine her walking...Continue Reading