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A nudge on my waist draws my attention to Ryan on my other side. The concern is evident in the way his eyes moisten whenever he looks at me. Instead of lingering on how much pain I'm causing him, I shove my glasses up my nose and finally walk into the woods.
Ry takes up the rear, with Amiri in front of me and Kor leading us behind the detectives. I barely notice the sweat dripping down the back of my neck or how twigs yank on my curls. My focus is solely on the surrounding forestry, hoping to catch a glimpse of my raven-haired beauty.
Nothing.
Nothing for so long that I can't help but cringe at the way my shirt sticks to my chest and the sun trying to burn me alive. I'm trying to calculate how long we've been hiking, judging by the sun's placement directly above us, when a hushed yell at the front of the line has my heartbeat doubling.
Gulping back another bottle of water, I lean onto my tiptoes, trying to catch a glimpse of what they might have found. We've been walking in a single file line, hoping to keep noise to a minimum and follow the thin trail that has been pre-stomped. Now all I want to do is bolt around everyone and see for myself.
Fuck it.
Stepping my right foot off the path, I collide with a hard body. Ryan must have had the same idea; unfortunately for him, though, I managed to check him right to the ground.
"Ow, fuck!"
Thankfully his yell is whispered, but the giggle that slips out of me isn't. He pops his head up over a particularly gnarly bush and gives me the evil eye until he sees the humor dancing in mine.
"The hell, guys?" Brown hisses under her breath.
"Sorry," I mouth back to her before smirking down at my boyfriend and offering him a hand up.
His lips turn down in a mock pout while a scrape on his cheek wells up with blood. "Where's my apology?"
"Sorry, babe." I give him a gentle kiss on the lips and wipe off some of the twigs stuck to him. I may linger on his ass for a moment longer than I should, but remembering his scratch, I pull a tissue from his backpack and dab it dry.
"S'okay." He gives me a soft smile that makes my heart flutter with happiness.
"Ry, Nolan, come take a look at this." Korren's voice snaps us out of our moment.
The group is now huddled a few feet away from us. Bustling over, I look down at what they found. To the right of their semi-circle is a bunch of broken brush and tree limbs that trail from where we are to a tree a few meters away. The path is no longer straight and calm; now it's jagged and looks like an animal ran through that way.
My brows furrow, the idea that we have just been following animal tracks makes my stomach roil at the wasted time. That is until I see droplets of blood streaked across another root.
"Son of a bitch," Korren grits out through pursed lips. The idea of Eve spilling more blood is an awful fucking reality.
"Is this her?" Amiri asks no one in particular.
"I think so. It's the only lead we have." With that, Smith makes his way over to the tree before crouching down next to it. The look he gives us isn't one that gives me happy vibes...no he dreads whatever news he's about to break. "I think she stayed here for a bit; there's another pool of blood that suggests she might have taken a rest."
Moreblood. More fucking blood.
My self-loathing and depression kick into rage the closer I get to the damn tree. I notice the blood and ripped bark at my stomach height and the bloody sand beneath it.
Whatever happened, she hurt herself even more...but she still got up. She kept fighting. Just how long ago, though?
"This way," Brown's gentle tone raises my hackles, but Amiri's touch on my arm has me containing my anger.
I drown out the sounds of Dominic on his walkie-talkie and take in the damaged forest branching off the left side of the tree. Honestly, it's been a bit too easy to follow her trail for my liking; I can only hope Kyle chased after her in the dark. Thankfully, had we not picked up on her trail initially, this one wouldn't even look like a path to us.
Except...this is the path of an injured woman running for her fucking life.
"Keep moving," Smith rushes past us, his tone clipped and urgent.
Bile rushes up...maybe I should have been listening in on his conversation with the other teams.
This time instead of being quiet and slow, we are basically fucking running single file. My arms and legs are buzzing with adrenaline and terror; my head feels woozy, like it's moving in slow motion.
Slamming into the back of Korren's hulking body was not how I expected to be snapped out of my panic. My glasses stabbing the bridge of my sweaty nose serves me right for zoning out.
