Page 106 of Chained

"So you knew she had the knife?" Laurie asked Coal as Alicia finished her inspection.

"No, but I presumed she had some sort of plan," he smiled.

"What the hell kind of plan would I have had if I didn't have that knife?" Alicia rolled her eyes.

"You always have a plan." He shrugged again as he reached for me. I leaned against him and he hissed with pain, I pulled away quickly and looked at him with concern. "It's fine, just a bruise. I had the crazy thought that I saw you fall from the tree tops." He smiled crookedly, pulling me under his arm again, I sat carefully without putting any weight on him.

"I didn't fall," I clarified. "A vine broke. Total accident."

"And I suppose you landed on your feet with a cat-like grace then?" Alicia teased.

"Something like that," I said to my boots. "Laurie really saved my ass," I added.

"Well I think the two of you saved me enough times," Alicia said, making guns with her fingers and miming shooting down from the sky. The look she gave me held something more than it had before and it took me a moment to realise it was respect.

"Is everyone okay? No serious injuries right?" Laurie asked.

"Might have a cracked rib or two, plus my looks may be compromised," Coal said, indicating his bloodied face.

"Just this," Alicia said, raising her shirt to show a nasty run of four gashes along her side. "I think it was fingernails." She curled her lip in disgust.

We were generally bruised and covered in an array of scratches but our inspections didn't find signs of anything life-threatening. I could feel a dull ache resounding through my brain from a lump on the back of my head.

"Any chance the GPS survived the crash?" Laurie asked as she moved towards the wreck of our truck.

Alicia went to help her search and I got to my feet, every muscle in my body protesting. I stretched and felt my shoulder pop excruciatingly. I tried to take a deep breath but pain blossomed again sending my vision dark momentarily.

I waited for the darkness to fade and glanced about at the dwindling fires that surrounded the clearing. The wind had dropped and the smoke was drifting up through the canopy. As the fuel was consumed, the soaked vegetation was better able to resist the flames and they were dying out.

Coal stood beside me and grimaced, a hand moving to his side.

I stepped towards him and laid my hand gently on top of his. He let out a breath and smiled reassuringly at me.

"I've had worse," he said.

"I hope not." I reached up and gently touched his face, looking at the damage. "You could have kept a hidden knife or something too you know." It was impossible to tell how badly he was hurt without cleaning him up but one of his eyes was swelling and his lip was split.

"I offered him a fair fight." He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Well, honour won't do you much good if you're dead," I huffed. The concept of honour and morality seemed alien to the situation we had just experienced.

"But I would have died honourably." He shrugged like it was an obvious choice to make and winced again.

"Don't talk like that," I muttered, kicking at the mud that clung to my boots. Coal caught my chin and turned my gaze to his.

"I was fairly sure I could beat him," he said, trying to reassure me.

"Fairly sure?" I said scathingly.

"At least sixty percent."

Before I could protest his idea of good odds he pressed his lips to mine. I forgot all of my injuries and my heart stumbled mid beat before he pulled away just as quickly.

"Stop that right now!" Alicia called. "I'm already feeling unwell." She was walking back towards us holding the GPS. She shook her head disbelievingly at Coal. I could see Laurie staring at me with her mouth slightly open and I tried to avoid her eye.

"Any luck?" Coal asked, ignoring the looks they were giving us. His hand dropped from my face but he still stood close enough that I could feel the electricity passing between us.

"Yeah it's a go. We'll have to make it on foot obviously." Alicia waved a hand at the destroyed truck. "You think Hunter will wait if we're late?"