someone who could actually help us. It zoomed low overhead, kicking up mighty clouds of dust that got in my eyes.
It was getting hotter and hotter as the inferno surrounded me, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. The slope I fell down was too steep to climb up, and besides, the only thing waiting for me at the top was the fire. No way could I dodge it now.
I'd been in bad situations before, but there was always someone from my team there to help. Now, I was alone. Nobody knew I'd fallen. They thought I went to get water. And the odds of them cutting a path through the burning woods to search for me? Not so good.
Then another tree fell. I saw it in slow motion, really. Its wide trunk swayed and then toppled right in my direction. A branch, sharp and pointed enough to penetrate a man's flesh, came at me like the executioner's ax.
If I didn't move – now – that thing was going straight through my chest. I would die, no question.
So I did the only thing I could. I dropped to the ground and tried to roll away.
It was in vain. The tree, hundreds of pounds of wood, fell square on my leg. Before I could even scream from the pain, the old oak rolled over the ledge and took me with it.
Down I plummeted, like a stone sinking in the water. It must have been only a couple seconds, but in my mind, I felt it as an eternity.
In that moment, a vision of Anna came to me. Her sweet, pretty face. Her smile. I could see it now.
“ Fuck!”
I landed on my knees some thirty feet below. Every bone in my leg felt like it had shattered; every muscle torn. The pain in my head was nothing compared to this agony. It was so awful I couldn't move, couldn't even breathe.
This was it. I was gonna die here, and nobody would ever find me 'cause my body was burned to ashes by the flames. Trey would lose his brother, just when we were starting to be friends again.
And Anna... How would she react when she heard the news? Would it bother her? Did I matter to her at all?
Used to think I knew what I wanted in life. Laying in a pit, delirious from pain and about to burn to death, sure changed a man's perspective on things.
What surprised me most was the regret. Where did it come from so suddenly? Why did it make me so sad?
My consciousness waned; my vision blurred. I was bleeding from more than one place now. Getting woozy from blood loss. If I didn't do something, anything, I was doomed.
I felt for the phone in my pocket. Managed to pull it out and turn it on, but it died before I had a chance to even dial 911.
Something white sticking out of my leg caught my eye. Took me a moment to realize it was my own bone.
I threw up, closed my eyes, and said a prayer to the God I stopped talking to years ago. It didn't help, and I knew why.
God didn't save bastards like me.
Chapter 9 - Anna
I was just about to slip into bed when the phone rang. Trey gave me the message that made my stomach sick.
There had been a terrible accident in the woods. They'd gotten the fire under control, but Max...
“Damn it, Max.” I cursed as I sped through the stop sign. “I told you to be careful. You always were a reckless idiot.”
He'd been hurt bad, Trey said. Real bad.
Soon as I heard that, I threw a jacket over my night shirt and sped off to the hospital. Why? What exactly was I going there for? I didn't understand it, but I had a powerful urge to see him, to make sure he would be okay.
He could be a dimwit who spoke without thinking sometimes, yeah. And he was a selfish jerk who clearly only cared about his own needs in life.
But he was the only one who knew my secret – and had thus far managed to keep his trap shut about it. He tried to help me, even if his “help” was the misguided sort. I felt that somehow, I had to pay him back.
The hospital was about twenty minutes from my place. When I got there, it was so late I had no trouble finding a parking spot right in front.
Inside, a lone nurse sat at the front desk, boredly swiping
It was getting hotter and hotter as the inferno surrounded me, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. The slope I fell down was too steep to climb up, and besides, the only thing waiting for me at the top was the fire. No way could I dodge it now.
I'd been in bad situations before, but there was always someone from my team there to help. Now, I was alone. Nobody knew I'd fallen. They thought I went to get water. And the odds of them cutting a path through the burning woods to search for me? Not so good.
Then another tree fell. I saw it in slow motion, really. Its wide trunk swayed and then toppled right in my direction. A branch, sharp and pointed enough to penetrate a man's flesh, came at me like the executioner's ax.
If I didn't move – now – that thing was going straight through my chest. I would die, no question.
So I did the only thing I could. I dropped to the ground and tried to roll away.
It was in vain. The tree, hundreds of pounds of wood, fell square on my leg. Before I could even scream from the pain, the old oak rolled over the ledge and took me with it.
Down I plummeted, like a stone sinking in the water. It must have been only a couple seconds, but in my mind, I felt it as an eternity.
In that moment, a vision of Anna came to me. Her sweet, pretty face. Her smile. I could see it now.
“ Fuck!”
I landed on my knees some thirty feet below. Every bone in my leg felt like it had shattered; every muscle torn. The pain in my head was nothing compared to this agony. It was so awful I couldn't move, couldn't even breathe.
This was it. I was gonna die here, and nobody would ever find me 'cause my body was burned to ashes by the flames. Trey would lose his brother, just when we were starting to be friends again.
And Anna... How would she react when she heard the news? Would it bother her? Did I matter to her at all?
Used to think I knew what I wanted in life. Laying in a pit, delirious from pain and about to burn to death, sure changed a man's perspective on things.
What surprised me most was the regret. Where did it come from so suddenly? Why did it make me so sad?
My consciousness waned; my vision blurred. I was bleeding from more than one place now. Getting woozy from blood loss. If I didn't do something, anything, I was doomed.
I felt for the phone in my pocket. Managed to pull it out and turn it on, but it died before I had a chance to even dial 911.
Something white sticking out of my leg caught my eye. Took me a moment to realize it was my own bone.
I threw up, closed my eyes, and said a prayer to the God I stopped talking to years ago. It didn't help, and I knew why.
God didn't save bastards like me.
Chapter 9 - Anna
I was just about to slip into bed when the phone rang. Trey gave me the message that made my stomach sick.
There had been a terrible accident in the woods. They'd gotten the fire under control, but Max...
“Damn it, Max.” I cursed as I sped through the stop sign. “I told you to be careful. You always were a reckless idiot.”
He'd been hurt bad, Trey said. Real bad.
Soon as I heard that, I threw a jacket over my night shirt and sped off to the hospital. Why? What exactly was I going there for? I didn't understand it, but I had a powerful urge to see him, to make sure he would be okay.
He could be a dimwit who spoke without thinking sometimes, yeah. And he was a selfish jerk who clearly only cared about his own needs in life.
But he was the only one who knew my secret – and had thus far managed to keep his trap shut about it. He tried to help me, even if his “help” was the misguided sort. I felt that somehow, I had to pay him back.
The hospital was about twenty minutes from my place. When I got there, it was so late I had no trouble finding a parking spot right in front.
Inside, a lone nurse sat at the front desk, boredly swiping
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