Tal had a raging headache. No matter how much he blinked, everything was a blur, including the face of this young man who’d saved his life. Tal hurt from head to toe, but he was barely able to believe he was walking away from a crash like that. Not just him but Corey too. When Tal had seen the truck coming straight at him, he’d yanked at the wheel, figuring trees offered better odds than slamming straight into a heavy vehicle moving at speed, but the truck had clipped his car and he’d lost control. He’d been dimly aware of the airbag inflating before the vehicle overturned and he lost consciousness.
Luckily, it appeared the car had flipped back again, but how the hell had Corey managed to get him out? He looked nowhere near strong enough. When they’d sat in the back of Corey’s car, Tal had thought he’d seen blood on Corey’s face. How badly was he injured? His head hurt too.
As they walked past the burning vehicle, he shuddered. If not for the blast of heat, he might have thought again about the portal thing because for them both to be walking away relatively unscathed was nothing short of miraculous.
And while his mind was misfiring, he briefly wondered if he’d died in the accident and was having some weird subliminal experience. But no, here he was, slithering along the road in ridiculous leather-soled dress shoes, his socks already wet, one hand deep in his pocket in an attempt to keep it warm, the other hand freezing as he dragged his case through the snow alongside this guitar-toting…youngster who’d saved him from a horrible death and given him a pink fluffy hat to wear that in any other circumstances, Tal wouldn’t have been seen dead in.
When Tal slipped for the third time and nearly fell, Corey said, “Wait.” He took his bag from his shoulder, unzipped itand pulled out a pair of socks. “Put these over your shoes. They should give you some traction. Not much, but some.”
Tal wobbled but managed to pull them on. “Thank you.”
“Hopefully we won’t have to walk too far. At least we can stay in the tracks the truck left. It makes it a bit easier.”
But it would be a trek of at least a mile, then up the lane to whatever the lights were illuminating. Maybe theyshouldhave stayed with the vehicles.
“I’m sorry you’re in this mess too,” Corey said. “But I’m glad I’m not doing this on my own.”
Tal knew what he meant. “Yes.” He realised that was an inadequate response. “I feel the same. What the hell was that truck driver thinking? He could have killed us. If we’d been badly injured, we’d have had no way of getting help. Why didn’t he stop? Irresponsible bastard.”
Corey was breathing more heavily and Tal glanced at him. “Are you okay?”
There was no answer but Corey clearly wasn’t okay. He was weaving in and out of the tyre track and beginning to hyperventilate. Tal was concerned. Maybe Coreyhadbeen injured, but in a way they couldn’t see.
“Stop a moment,” Tal said.
“I… Oh God.” Corey dropped his bag and leaned over, hands on his knees, gasping. “I can’t breathe.”
“Does anywhere hurt?”
“Everywhere.”
“Where in particular?”
“My head. I can’t breathe.” He was gasping for breath.
Maybe it was a panic attack. Once upon a time, Tal had occasionally had them. “You need to slow your breathing. We’re okay. Count to five before you exhale. Breathe with me.”
Tal put his hand on Corey’s shoulder, squeezed then let go. He wanted to keep holding, to reassure him but… “Everything’sfine.” It wasn’t. “We’re not hurt.” Maybe… “We’re walking towards help.” He really hoped that was true. “Slow and steady. Count. One, two, three, four, five.”
Eventually, Corey’s breathing steadied and he straightened up. “Okay. Not dead. Panic over. Sorry. I just… I just got overwhelmed.”
“Yes.”
“You knew what to do.”
“I did. So did you. Sure you’re all right?”
“Yes.” Corey started walking again. “Sorry.”
“No need to apologise.”
Tal was slipping less now. Wearing socks on top of his shoes was definitely helping. He might have thought to do that if his aching head hadn’t been so…woolly. His vision was clearing a little, not that there was anything to see but snow, more snow and the shadowy hooded figure at his side.
For the first time in a long while, Tal felt thankful to be alive. Maybe it was a wake-up call. Time to evaluate his life. After Dorian, he’d slid into a ditch and it was about time he climbed out instead of continuing to trudge through mud and leaves and a whole load of other crap while telling himself he’d be fine. New year, new him. As far as he could make that happen.
Not that he believed in New Year resolutions. If he had a goal he wanted to achieve, then he set out to achieve it whatever the time of year.
“I’ll keep trying my phone,” Corey said. “It might be better when we’re away from the trees though we’ll be out of their shelter then. Where were you heading?”
