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The dread that haunted her leading up to their drop-off. The anxiety of being on the river. The terror of being taken by a bird. The fear while being separated from her partner, followed by the horror of watching him get hurt in the second hawk attack. The emotions threatened to swallow her.
All of that, on top of the knowledge that she hadn’t been able to escape the lab after all.
Ellie had been swallowing those feelings all day, pushing them further and further down into her gut, ignoring their very existence. She didn’t have to feel them if she could pretend they weren’t there. That none of it was actually happening.
It worked until her cup of emotion overflowed, and she became a blubbering mess.
She could hardly believe it was happening, that she was sobbing like this in front of someone. That was not who she was. Ellie was the type of person who would be the captain on the bridge of a ship, steering through open waters as cool as a cucumber while the flames of the vessel surrounded her, eating at the very floor she stood on. She would sail on while the craft around her sank to the bottom of the sea. And now she was drowning.
Tears streaked down her hot face. She sniffed, not wanting Brett to see snot dripping out of her nose. She tried to talk, but the lump in her throat prevented her from doing so. Instead, she hid her face in her hands and sobbed, shoulders shuddering as if she were a volcano erupting.
Brett’s warm arm wrapped around her, pressing her against his body as he hugged her into him. “It’s okay.” His voice was soft and gentle. It was as if he couldn’t understand the precariousness of their situation. Ellie wanted to explain it all to him. She had this fear that he would think she was overreacting. She was supposed to be a future FUC agent, and she was having a difficult time mastering her emotions. It was all so much. The possible failure of their class, them probably being stranded in the Canadian wilderness forever, or him being killed while she was kidnapped.
As if her feelings were connected to Mother Nature, thunder boomed overhead, shaking the earth around them. It fueled Ellie’s despair. She nestled her face into Brett’s chest, wiping tears and snot onto his shirt. He wrapped his other arm around her, holding her tight. She leaned into his embrace, feeling the safety that it offered. It was a warm blanket, suffocating her fears, stifling her guilt.
Her body began to relax, loosening the tension in her muscles. Like a tidal wave, her emotions ran their course and now subsided. With a long sniff, she brought back her composure, peeling herself away from Brett to dab her face on the hem of her shirt. Exhaustion pulled at her. Her breakdown was draining.
“We’re going to get through this one thing at a time,” Brett finally said. “So, to make sure the hawk doesn’t catch us unaware while we’re sleeping, we’ll take turns standing watch. In fact, you should probably get to sleep now before it’s your shift.” He offered her a smile, and his beautiful, magical sloth grin did its thing—comforting her and making her feel like he’d sent a small flicker of joy into her dark and sad soul.
Guilt threatened to pull Ellie back under, but she thought it would be easier for Brett if she didn’t argue with him. Instead, she asked, “What will you do so you don’t feel alone and bored?”
Another crack of thunder roared as the drum of rain started on the roof of the tent. Brett jumped at the sudden sound and, after a chuckle, responded, “I smuggled a sudoku book in my waterproof bag, and I have a flashlight.”
Ellie nodded, feeling herself relax once more. She spread out her bedroll and sleeping bag before lying down. The sounds of the storm lulled her off to sleep.
Brett felt terrible. That was the only way to describe it. Cheerful, bubbly Ellie had just turned into a mushy mess in front of him. He didn’t mind that she cried—in fact, he was glad she could get her emotions out—but he didn’t like the reasons behind why she was upset.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what her stressors were. Their assignment had gone to shit, and some evil bird was after her. Not just after her. Trying to kidnap her.
His arm stung where its large talons had pierced his flesh. Sure, shifters had accelerated healing abilities, but as a sloth, his were faster than a regular human’s but slower than the average shifter.
His arm throbbed as he tried to pry his sudoku book and flashlight out of his backpack. Brett felt dumb packing it at first, but now he was glad to have it. To take his mind off of what was going on. To help him focus.
The rain raged on the material roof of the tent, tattooing out a soothing rhythm as the darkness of night settled in around them. Thunder quaked the ground a few more times, following the lightning that ripped through the air, flashing a white light through the tent for a brief moment. Soon the rumbling and blinding light diminished as the storm moved on past their valley.
Ellie seemed to sleep through it all. Brett glanced up from his book every now and then to check on her. If she were still awake, she made no sign of it.
How would he protect her? It was difficult to keep his eyes on her every second. He supposed the real question was,How does that hawkkeepfinding us?His mind swirled with possibilities. It was as if it knewexactlywhere they were.
Brett pulled his knees into his chest, thinking. There had to be a tracking device on them. It was the only thing that made sense.
He opened his backpack, spilling all the contents onto the floor of the tent. He sorted through the food and supplies he’d carefully packed. The silver pouches reminded him that he had forgotten to eat dinner. After getting attacked, it was the last thing on his mind. He sifted through his change of clothes, finding his pocketknife buried in the middle of them. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There wasn’t one single thing that shouldn’t have been there. Next, he thumbed through the pages of his book. Nothing was tucked inside of it.
He didn’t remember noticing anything that didn’t seem to belong on the tent. He inspected his bedroll next, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Brett wasn’t even sure he would recognize a tracker if he found it—if it even existed—but he had to keep searching for one.
Once he decided all of his belongings were probably in the clear, he stared at Ellie.Should I wake her? Or go through her bag without asking?It felt like a violation of her privacy.
Brett glanced at the black waterproof watch that circled his wrist. It was almost ten o’clock. She had been sleeping for about three hours. He hoped it was the perfect length for a catnap.
“Ellie.” He kept his voice soft, not wanting to startle her. Her shoulders raised and lowered as she took a deep breath, but aside from that, she did not stir. After a moment’s hesitation, Brett reached out and gently shook her. “Ellie.”
She groaned and rolled onto her back, throwing an arm over her eyes as if the beam from his flashlight was too strong for her to handle. “Is it time to switch?” She peered at him from under her limb before rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Not yet. I need you to do something for me.”
“Okay.” Ellie propped herself up on her elbows and yawned. Afterward, she raised a curious eyebrow.
Brett smiled at her. He couldn’t help it. Her usual perfectly neat blonde bob stuck up in various places around her head. He had never seen her hair so messy. Not even after she removed her helmet earlier after they went for their unplanned swim.
