Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) (21 page)

   Ll
oyd didn’t answer her as he tugged his belt off. I wa
tched in wide eyed horror as he dug a small hole underneath a stone and built a quick fire beneath it. The stone blocked the flame from above and helped to keep the smoke from rising. When the flame was a decent enough size and glowing red with heat
, Lloyd placed the
large belt buckle
into the fire
.
The buckle
was square and flat, but I was fairly sure that I had
once seen
a horse engraved upon the front of it. I was about to be branded by a freaking belt buckle, and tattooed with a horse. Or at least I hoped it was a horse
,
it may have been a camel for all I knew I had only glimpsed it once.

   “Your belt
buckle?” Bret demanded incredulously.

   “Do you have anything else that’s metal and big enough to get
that wound
all at once, or do you just want me to hold the lighter to her skin for awhile?”

  
All color vanished from
Bret
’s face;
he looked like he was going to be sick as he looked back at me.
For a brief moment I wanted to stand up and run. Wanted to spit out the gag and flee screaming into the woods.
How had my life become this? All the technology and advancements I had grown up with were gone, and I was about to receive a medieval cauterization in the middle of the twenty first century.
With a freaking
belt
buckle
of all things!
It all seemed so impossible, so surreal, and
wrong.
If it wasn’t for the three people sitting around me
,
and the trail of blood I was leaving behind, I would have
run.
There was only so much a human being could take after all
,
and I was rapidly nearing my snapping point.
But to run now was certain death. This had to happen or I would be hunted down and captured before I could even make it a full mile.

  
A small trail of black smoke began to come off the belt buckle. It was taking on an ominous orange
and glowing
hue that caused bile to roll up my throat.
Lloyd slipped his shirt off and wrapped it around his hand. It took me a moment to realize
that he was going to grab hold of that buckle and press it to me. Dismay filled me as I realized this was going to burn him too, maybe not as bad, but he was going to be hurt.
I closed my eyes, I couldn’t watch anymore.

  
“I’m going to need you to hold her.” There was no saliva left in my mouth as I tried to wet my parched throat. Bret’s hands were gentle as he grasped my good shoulder. “Not like a baby Bret, I’m going to need you to hold her
still
,
”
Lloyd said impatiently.

  
I didn’t open my eyes, I refused to, but I knew the minute that the metal pressed against my skin. A garbled scream boiled up my throat,
and froze there. T
he smell
,
and sound of sizzling flesh
,
reached m
e
moments before I passed out.
 

CHAP
TER 8

   It was nearing dawn when I
a
woke to a bouncing swaying motion that caused my stom
ach to heave violently. There were hands holding my calves, and another set grasping me gently under my ar
m
pit
s. “You can put me down,” I managed to croak out, surprised by how dry and wounded my voice sounded.

   “You’re awake.” The relief in Bret’s voice was palpable as his hands tightened upon me. I felt him bend over me as they stopped; his breath blew against my cheek. My eyelids fluttered open. It was momentarily disconcerting
,
and dizzying
,
as Bret appeared upside down over top of me. “I was so worried.”

   “Please put me down.”

   They had stopped walking
,
but now Lloyd gently lowered my feet to the ground as Bret supported me for a long moment. I took stock of myself, acknowledging all of the aches and pains in my overused, overworked, and beaten
body
. I took in the throbbing pain of the burn high on my shoulder
.
An
ugly
, large
blister had formed over it. I couldn’t quite tell if
it would
eventually
become a horse
,
or some other four legged creature yet. My
entire
shoulder was an ugly mottled color of black and purple, but it was no longer bleeding.
The blood had been scrubbed from my body; I hated the fact that they had probably used some of our precious supply of water to do this.
Someone, probably Bret as it seemed extra large, had taken a shirt and wrapped it around my chest
. It
was
tied
under my arms and knotted
in the back by the sleeves.

   “I was so worried.”

  
Before I could
react, before I even knew his intent
,
he bent and kissed me. I was so stunned, so startled by the familiar comfort of his lips against mine that for a moment I didn
’
t react. For a moment I was swept into a time when everything had been boring, safe, and secure. I was swept into a time when I had been with Bret and content to stay that way
,
even with the lack of feeling and desire I
had
felt for him
. I
had been willing
to stay with
Bret
simply because I
did
love him and I cherished his friendship, even if he didn’t cause my heart to race,
didn’t strengthen me, and love me unconditionally,
and
simply ha
dn’t ma
d
e me feel the way
that
Cade had.
His kiss
swept
me
into a time before I had experienced the loss of everything I knew.

   A time before Cade, and the hole
his death
had left upon my tattered soul.

  
I wanted to stay this way, wanted to forget and go back and never return to the stark reality of my loneliness
and this cruel world
. Never return to
the pain that hounded me constantly, even before the brutal assault I had just endured. But I couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to any of us if I did.

   I pulled away, barely able to meet Bret’s hopeful gaze as I shook my head at him. There was so much I wanted to say
to
him, but the words caught in my throat.
What could I say? I turned away from him and took a staggering step
back
. I felt weak, unsteady, but I was alive and that was all that mattered.

   “Where are we?” I asked quietly.

   “Almost to the hospital.” I turned to Lloyd, my mouth parting in surprise. He looked exhausted
.
D
irt and blood streaked his pale face
;
h
is nearly orange hair was standing on end. It was
apparent that they hadn’t stopped to rest.

   “You need a break,” I said softly.

   “We need to get to the hospital first. You need antibiotics, and
we need to get this over and done with. There will be time to rest afterward.”

   “If you drop…”

   “We’ve made it this far.” It was the first time I noticed that Jenna was carrying my bag
and gun
. “It’s not much further.”
   “I was out for a long time,” I mumbled.

   “You lost a lot of blood.”

   I nodded
absently as I gazed around the forest. It was thicker through here; there were more maples and oaks dotting the landscape.
Even with the denser protection,
I somehow felt even more exposed. Maybe
it was because I was wounded, maybe it was because I had a shirt tied around me
for clothing
, or maybe it was simply because I resented my weakness
.
Or maybe it was m
y
selfish
need for some kind of comfort in this hostile environment, even if it was from Bret.

   “It’s only another mile.”

   Lloyd was already walking again
;
I fell into step beside
Jenna, staying close by her side as I avoided Bret. I cursed my cowardice, but I needed to avoid
him
right now. Jenna glanced at me, looking as if she wanted to say something, but she remained silent. Barney returned to my side, brushing against
my legs as he danced
a
round me.

  
We reached a small incline and climbed to the top of the hill. Beneath us the hospital spread out like some glittering mirage in the desert. The windows were alight in the gleam of the setting sun
. It was oddly beautiful
,
and out of place
,
in the world surrounding us now. Jenna inhaled sharply; she grasped hold of my arm, her eyes gleaming with the light around us.

   “I didn’t think we’d make it,” she breathed.

   I squeezed her hand gently. I didn’t think any of us had thought we
’
d
actually
make it, but here we were, and there
it
was. And I was terrified.