“Great. You’re tasked with carrying her. Marcus wants my hands free to shoot if it’s needed.” His response is immediate and sounds a bit carefree for my tastes, considering our current circumstances.
Hands free… that makes sense. Those words spark an idea. Pulling my idea together on the fly, I open my pouch and grab a scarf I suddenly remember placing inside and walk over to… I wish I had a name to call her. This is just getting ridiculous. “I hope you forgive me for this, sweetness,” I whisper as I tie her hands together, making sure there's an even amount of scarf on each side left over.
Maneuvering myself into place, I sit on the ground with my back toward her. Lifting her arms so they’re on either side of my head, I then grab the legs on both sides of my waist and use the scarf’s leftover ends to tie them. Now it’s like I’m giving her a piggyback ride. I’ll still need to support her weight but if we get in a scuffle I’ll be able to go hands free.
I stand up and make sure everything is secure. Yep, good to go. With a murmured “Let’s head out, man,” I follow Klaus out of the cave, only pausing briefly so he can make sure the coast is clear. Once he continues, I speed up to walk next to him so he’s able to swiftly guard either our front or back as needed.
Wanting to put as much distance between us and these mercenaries, we keep up a fairly vigorous jog even though we may want to run full speed right now. It’s better to keep some energy stored in the reserve. The floor of the woods isn’t too challenging to jog on either. We need to keep light on our feet because there are roots and rocks protruding every few steps hidden by scattered foliage. Rolling an ankle right now would be ill-advised. It may heal quickly but would definitely slow me down for a while.Wish I had a pair of hiking shoes on, instead of these useless tennis shoes.
I concentrate on keeping my breathing even and my stride smooth. Even though Sleeping Snow is still in a coma, I wince each time her head is jostled. Being the only one who knows about her condition is a heavy burden. Maybe once all four of us put all of our experiences together, we can figure out the mystery surrounding her. But until I can tell them everything, it’s all on my shoulders. Fucking mercenaries getting in the way of our plans.
∞∞∞
My lungs feel like they’re on fire. You know what, so do my legs, and while I’m thinking about it, my shoulders are feeling a burn too. My feet… I’m worried if I glance down, I might see some smoke billowing off of them. Okay, so my whole body has been lit on fire. I’m taking deep gulping breaths, but it doesn’t seem to help my condition at all.
My eyes glance over to Klaus, and he appears exhausted as well, even though he hasn’t been carrying as much weight as I have. It’s now early evening and the sky is just beginning to change colors. I love how late the sun sets in the summer, but it also makes for long days. We should probably make camp for the night. Klaus finally peers over at me, and I nod toward the sky trying to tell him without words that it’s late and we may want to stop.
Klaus nods his head in the affirmative, and I stop my jog in relief seeing we’re currently in a small clearing. Trying to unsuccessfully catch my breath, I bend over to put my hands on my knees, hoping it will aid me in my desperation to gain oxygen. I've grown so used to having Sleeping Snow’s weight on my back that I briefly forget to compensate for her being there. Her weight begins to shift, throwing my equilibrium off. I try to catch myself but over correct and end up toppling to my side.
Ahh, this is much better. My cheek kisses the soil beneath me in sweet surrender, my body finally admitting defeat. As much as my form screams at me to just lay here, I don’t want my weight to cut off circulation to either her leg or her arm, which I’m currently laying on. By some miracle, my muscles listen and I’m able to sit up and tilt my head back to rest on her shoulder. My eyes close while continuing the quest to catch my breath. Her warm arms wrapped around me help to lull me into a half sleep state where I slip into a daydream. My imagination constructs an actuality where she’s holding me, running her fingers through my hair with one hand while her other hand rests over my chest feeling my heartbeat. I would love to daydream something a bit more explicit, but it seems disrespectful to her while she’s in a coma.
By no means am I fully rested, but I do gather enough energy to finally reach into my pocket to take out my phone. I know there’s at least one message waiting for me. About forty-five minutes after we started off this morning, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket but I didn’t pause to check it. I assumed it was either Derrick or Marcus checking in, after taking care of the problems that showed up. Even if they’d been giving us the all clear, it wouldn’t have changed our plans. We still needed to put some serious distance between us and the place the mercenaries tracked us to.
Derrick: Marcus is planning on taking us for a joy ride on the chopper that ends with a boom.
Derrick: I think he wants to kill me. Please, for the love of Fates, wish me luck.
Derrick: If I survive his murderous ways, I’ll text you when we’re on our way to your location.
Well, shit. Putting Derrick’s joking aside, I hope they’re staying safe. A chuckle bubbles up from my chest just thinking about Derrick making a brave face, but probably still scared shitless with Marcus flying a chopper. What a typical thing for Marcus to do, crashing a chopper to prove a point. I type out a reply and hit send.
Me: So which one of you is gonna rub my feet when you get here? I’m not sure they’re going to carry my weight ever again without some sweet, sweet TLC. Any takers?
Me: Marcus, I know you wanna!!!
Me: Obviously, I’m your main concern, BUT in case you’re wondering… Sleeping Snow is safe and sound.
As an afterthought, and to fuck with Marcus some more, I send another text right after.
Me: Can’t wait to cuddle up to her and get some good rest. These built-in pillows are calling my name.
I don’t wait long before my phone dings with new text notifications. Momentarily, I get distracted from opening their replies when I hear a groan. Glancing over at the sound’s origin, I observe Klaus laying in the dirt with his limbs sprawled out, face a bit flushed with sweat making his slightly shaggy blond hair stick to his forehead. He slowly drags his arm down to his pocket to grab his own phone to see why he’s suddenly getting a bunch of notifications.
Derrick: Oh snap! I’m so pumped up on adrenaline that I forgot to text y’all when we started to head back. My bad.
Derrick: When did you develop a death wish, Alex?
Marcus: Make sure one of you stays on guard while the other gets some sleep. It’s important both of you get some rest, but keep alert at all times. Alex, I have a right hook with your name on it.
Derrick: Sleeping Snow?
Alex: You know our girl here…
Marcus: Why are you calling her that?
Alex: Isn’t it obvious? You know Sleeping Snow from that Disney movie with the seven dwarves. Our girl here needed a name. She’s probably been called fifty different nicknames between all of us.
Klaus: Dude, you have her name wrong. It’s Sleeping White.
