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“Neither of us can move without help.” I point out the obvious and continue. “I’m guessing you can’t see what I see.”
“A kid I’ve killed in the past?” he says with bite. “No, I don’t see that.”
“Not him.” I shake my head, not wanting to think about the vision on the ledge above, let alone talk about it. “The position of the rock next to your leg.”
“Where?” Bastian twists his neck around.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to see it, but it’s jammed up against your leg, holding it to the ice. With that angle, there’s no way you can pull it out. The rock has to go.”
“So what are you going to do? Yell at it?”
“I’m pretty sure I can move the rock up against your leg out of the way with my foot. Once it’s gone, you should be able to pull yourself out and keep your leg intact. Well, as intact as it is now. It’s broken.”
“Yeah, I can tell that.”
As much as it has to hurt now, it’s gonna hurt a lot more w
hen I kick it out of the way, but he knows it’s better than dying where he is.
“Do it,” he commands.
I don’t hesitate.
“Fuck!” Bastian yells. His body tenses as he grips the edge of the hole with his fingers.
“Almost got it,” I tell him.
“Fucking hurry.”
I raise an eyebrow at him.
“That’ll hurt more.”
“I don’t give a shit!” he yells back. “Just fucking do it!”
I pull my leg up to my chest and slam it forward as hard as I can. He screams like a wounded animal as it rips its flesh on the teeth of a trap. The rock tumbles down the edge of the mountain, and Bastian manages to move his leg a little.
He looks like he’s about to pass out from the pain. I can see him fighting against the urge to vomit, but he manages to get himself back together.
“I think that did it,” I inform him as he curses.
“I should have asked for a bullet to bite on.” He shakes his head and blows out puffs of vapor from his mouth.
“I have a few,” I say with a smile. “I should have offered.”
“Bastard.”
He tries to pull his leg out again as his face goes red with the exertion. My stomach knots as I begin to think he won’t be able to do it—he’ll pass out before he can free himself. He doesn’t. He grits his teeth and keeps pulling even though I can hear tearing sounds as he finally moves another couple of inches.
There’s one more rock, and I start to tell him to hold on a second so I can kick it away but decide to just do it instead. He screams and curses at me, but he finally gets his leg loose before he drops his head against the ice, panting.
Bastian’s eyes are closed, and I think maybe he did finally pass out from the pain. He only takes a few seconds before he opens his eyes again, twists and turns his body, and eventually pulls himself out of the hole and drops to the ground beside me.
I’m beyond tense as I wait for him to catch his breath. There was no avoiding this moment, and I don’t know what he will do. As it is, he has the option to just pick up a rock and bash my skull. There’s no way I can stop him if he decides to end me now.
I can see the debate in his eyes, and my mind considers all the things I might be able to say to convince him to live up to his end of the deal. I can remind him about my promise to kill Franks, but he already knows that. How will he react if he knows we are half-brothers? I lick my lips, and just as I’m about to give him that little piece of information, he grins at me.
“Shall we get you out?”
