Sacrificing Sloan (Sloan Series Book 3) (12 page)

If I prayed, I would have, then. Not for the right words, but for words that didn’t do more harm than good.

If
I prayed…

“Doesn’t seem right to me. If it were up to me, I’d never forgive you. That’s the truth. But I’m not God. He seems to be more patient with people than I am.”

I expected some sort of answer. I waited for a long time, but nothing.

I wished I could see Boyd. See what he was doing. Just out of sheer curiosity, I told myself because there was no way I was feeling anything but hate for him. None…

The rain beat against the rock above me, and my body got more and more relaxed as I waited for Boyd’s reply. Sometime later, I dreamed about Sloan.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Sloan

4:00 AM

The Fall

“
W
E CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!”
I
yelled at Ray, who wouldn’t stop walking. We’d been at this too long. We should have found them by now, if we were going to. My legs ached from trying to stay upright on that stupid “dirt” road, and my body shivered from the rain. I didn’t think I’d ever be warm or dry again.

“My brother is out here. I’m not leaving him. You go back to the car if you want.” Ray was more determined than I’d ever seen him. He just kept right on going, using tree trunks to steady himself, as he descended the road.

How long was the stupid thing anyway?

I’d given up screaming hours ago because I didn’t think it would help, and I wasn’t sure my throat could keep it up.

And I didn’t think Ray could keep going, either. The man had a bullet graze his head not long ago. He needed his rest. He needed to be at least warm. This would hurt him in the long run. I knew it would. Getting him to stop, to even rest, was a long shot.

“Hello!” He yelled into the woods. Then he’d get quiet like he was waiting on a response. There never was.

I wouldn’t tell him, but the farther we got into the woods, the more I thought this was a bad idea. A wild goose chase. Who knew where they washed up? It could be five miles downstream where the police were looking. It could be at the falls.

It could be nowhere.

I shook that thought from my head quickly. That was a lie. They had to have gotten out somewhere because if they didn’t…

I didn’t care if Boyd died. He deserved it, but not Aaron. He couldn’t be gone.

In my heart, I would have known it if he were gone. I would have been able to feel it because I didn’t think I’d be able to breathe. I didn’t feel that way. I felt like he needed me, and I had to find him, except I didn’t know exactly where to look.

The forest at night was an eerie thing. Add a storm to the mix, and it was horrible. Every sound made me think that an animal or a ghost was coming to get me. Animals were likely. Ghosts probably couldn’t hurt me, anyway.

The creek roared. It sounded pretty close, even though I couldn’t see it yet. I was glad to have those flashlights, but I wished they had been a bit more powerful.

“Sloan, look at that.” For the first time in however many hours we were out there, Ray stopped. I made it to him and shone my flashlight in the same direction he did.

I saw it.

And it scared the fire out of me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Aaron

Time: Unknown

I
WOKE UP SCREAMING, EXCEPT NO
sound came out of my mouth. In my dream, I was yelling at Sloan, telling her I was there. Screaming for her to come and get me. But when I woke up, no sound came out, even though I had my mouth open.

That scared me again, and I braced my back against the rocks to try to calm down and get my bearings, which was difficult, since I couldn’t see a blasted thing. I saw outlines of things. Shadows of trees and things like that, but nothing concrete. There was no moon. No stars. Nothing.

And Sloan wasn’t in danger.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and tried my best to catch my breath.

Boyd wasn’t hurting her. She was safe back in Chapel Hill.

She was with Ray. She had to be with Ray. And they were fine.

It took a while before I could even focus again. It had shocked my entire system, and my throat was incredibly dry.

Except for the rain, it was quiet… much too quiet.

Then it hit me.

I reached over to where Boyd had been sitting. My hand kept gliding through the darkness until it reached a cold, stone rock. I moved my hand again, trying to reach him.

Nothing.

My heart pounded my chest, and I went into panic mode. He couldn’t have left me. He wouldn’t have left me….

Well, yeah, he would have left me, but he couldn’t see. How could he get out, if he couldn’t see? Unless he’d been playing me all along. Unless he pretended and took me out into the woods, so it would look like the elements did me in, while he escaped.

It had all been a lie.

A stupid lie!

He had never been sorry!

In that moment, every bit of anger I’d ever had against that man tripled, and I wanted to break his neck.

It wasn’t like I could move.

I couldn’t do anything.

I was stuck there.

At least until morning, and I’d do the only thing I could do.

I’d slide on my belly up the trail and hope to make it to the main road.

No matter what Boyd did… I would not die out there in the woods. I wouldn’t give Boyd the satisfaction of his plan working.

I tried to rest and reserve my strength because when the sun came up—whenever that would be—I’d need every bit of strength I had to get out of here.

I’d see Sloan again.

I’d run my fingers through her hair and kiss her like she’d never been kissed before. I might even ask her to marry me, if eighteen year-olds married twenty year-olds, nowadays.

But first, I needed to rest. As hard as that would be. I closed my eyes and focused on Sloan’s face. It was the only thing in the world that mattered to me at the moment, besides Ray, but he didn’t have as pretty of cheekbones…

I heard something in the distance, but I didn’t move. Didn’t flinch.

I rested.

I pictured Sloan.

And all the things I’d do with her when I got back.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Sloan

4:05 AM

“
T
HAT’S A TREE.”
I
SAD, AS
dumbfounded as I felt.

“It’s a tree on top of a jeep.” Ray corrected as he shone his light in the windows. I did the same, and sure enough, Mr. Lawrence’s teacher ID laid in the front seat.

“It’s him! It’s Mr. Lawrence’s jeep!”

“Looks like it.” Ray didn’t sound as excited as I did. Maybe because we hadn’t actually found Aaron yet, but I had hope.

“Is that the cabin?” I asked, half-surprised to have actually found it, and half-surprised that Mrs. Lawrence had been telling the truth. I remembered the picture and pulled it out to compare.

Sure enough…

“Well, it’s a cabin. I assume it’s the one Mrs. Lawrence told us about.” Ray took a few steps toward it, and I grabbed his shoulder.

“The creek has to be two feet high around that. It’ll knock you down and drag you away.”

Of all the things, to have our destination in sight and then have it so far away. God didn’t make any sense to me, sometimes.

Ray got as close as he could to the water and shone his flashlight at the cabin. “Aaron! Aaron! Are you in there?”

I joined him and shone my light in a few of the other windows. I couldn’t see anything, except the front door was opened slightly.

“Mr. Lawrence! Are you in there? Are you hurt?” I yelled in. I leaned my ear closer to the cabin and shut my eyes, trying to block out the sounds of the creek and the rain and the wind and focus only on sounds from inside the cabin.

Finally… I heard it. A cough.

“Someone’s in there.” I grabbed Ray’s shoulder, ecstatic.

“I heard it too. Now… how are we going to get across the current?”

“Slowly?” It was all I had. Without even thinking, I took off across the creek and was halfway across, before I realized how stupid I’d been. Ray passed me… obviously having the same stupidity.

I prayed with every step. Believed in every step that we’d get to the cabin okay and the water wouldn’t sweep us away. If God could part the Red Sea, he could get us ten feet across a flooded creek bank.

Somehow, I got in front of Ray again. I reached the porch first, and nearly collapsed with happiness. I didn’t wait for Ray. I scrambled up the stairs and into the cabin. “Mr. Lawrence…” My words trailed off because it wasn’t Mr. Lawrence in the cabin.

It wasn’t Aaron.

It wasn’t Boyd.

Sitting in the glow of the flashlight was a very pale, very sickly Mackenzie Woodard.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Aaron

Dawn

I
STRETCHED MY FEET OUT, BEFORE
I remembered, and when I did remember, I had to hold my mouth to keep the scream from echoing though my little rock home. The magazine Mr. Lawrence had used to support my broken leg had dissolved into nothing, and the piece of wood just barely clung to it. I ripped it off because it didn’t do any good.

I wanted to pass out.

It hurt that bad.

I’d never felt pain radiating though my entire body, as I did then. I guess the shock of the initial break wore off, and I felt incredibly sick.

I also felt incredibly alone.

The rain had slacked through the night, thankfully. Slacked, but still fell. At least it wasn’t as dark today, and I saw light coming from the sky. It wasn’t bright light, but any bit of the sun was a welcome sight, anyway. I missed the sun. I missed light. I missed being warm and dry.

I bet I was pruned in places I’d never pruned before. Especially sitting on the muddy ground all night.

Despite my desperate need not to, I missed Boyd. I missed
someone
. Company. I missed having a plan because as it was, it was going to be an incredibly long day.

There was no way I could walk. I couldn’t even hobble, without support. So I would have to crawl on my belly like a snake up the trail and hope I found someone. Or hope I was close to the road and someone would find me there.

Surely… surely I was close to the road. We walked so far yesterday. If I wasn’t as close as I thought I was, then I wanted to cry.

I was starving.

I was alone.

I was exhausted.

And part of me, actually, a pretty big part, just wanted to give up. I wanted to just lie in my semi-dry shelter and wait for help to come. Someone had to be looking for us, right? Mr. Lawrence went to get help. Everyone knew they were missing, so there would be a search party.

Unless…

Unless they decided Boyd and I weren’t worth finding.

Unless they determined that there was no way we survived the fall.

Then they might not come after us.

My body trembled, and I started to panic.

I couldn’t stay there.

Not in the woods, and I couldn’t rely on someone else to come get me. I had to get out on my own, before something bad happened to me.

There was no way around it, so with every bit of strength I had, I gritted my teeth and rolled over on my stomach.

It hurt so bad!

Every muscle, even muscles I didn’t know I had, hurt. Everything… I wanted it to be a nightmare.

I pictured her in my mind… Sloan… Sloan… I had to get to Sloan. She was waiting on me, and I couldn’t let her down.

I couldn’t.

I loved her too much.

I scooted until I got outside of the “comfort” of my rock home and tried to turn off any sort of feelings. I wanted to be numb to the pain. I knew it would hurt, so I couldn’t think about it. It was inevitable, so why think about it?

Breathing.

In and out…. in and out…

That’s what I focused on. Breathing. Sloan. Moving. By the time I made it to the trail, I was muddy and exhausted. I didn’t stop. I had all day, and I wouldn’t waste it like I had yesterday.

Right arm.

Left arm.

Pull.

Grunt.

Right arm.

Left arm.

Pull.

Don’t scream.

Right arm.

Left arm.

Pull.

Sloan.

I kept my focus on the trail and my breathing. I’d make it. I knew I would.

I reached for a rock to help pull myself along, when my fingers slipped, and I scooted down about five feet. It was then than I nearly lost it.

My fingers balled up, and I beat the ground, yelling when would this end and when would I get a break?

It wasn’t fair.

None of this was fair!

Boyd was long gone.

Mr. Lawrence was gone.

No one was looking for me.

No one…

Except.

I noticed something I should have noticed before, but I was too focused on ignoring the pain.

Footprints.

In the mud, I saw footprints heading—or rather sliding—down the path.

Someone had been down the trail! And from what I could tell, it was two sets.

I let out a scream, and I laughed. My spirits were lifted immediately, and I had to decide what to do. Should I slide back down toward the cabin, or should I go up to the road? Why hadn’t I seen anyone last night? I guessed I slept harder than I thought, and what about Boyd? Had Boyd heard them?

Was one of the tracks Boyd’s? Had he gone back down to the cabin with someone, for some reason?

“Hello! Help! Is someone out there?”

I listened.

Nothing.

“Hello! I need help!”

Nothing.

My head hurt.

It didn’t exactly matter who the tracks belonged to. What mattered was there were tracks, and those tracks led to a person. I wasn’t alone out there, and that made a world of difference.

My decision was to go back up the trail because I knew if someone went down the trail, someone else either had to be up there, or there was a car I could… “borrow” or something at the top. Plus, I’d gone all that way the day before, it seemed wrong for it to mean nothing.