Page 109 of Chained

"Need a hand?" Alicia had appeared, laughing shamelessly at me.

She set to work using her knife to free me from the briar patch while I tried to avoid Kaloo's tongue. Eventually, with much hacking from Alicia and tugging from me, I managed to break free of the thorns and regain my feet. Kaloo was able to land more licks to my face, taking full advantage of the fact that I was incapacitated and within reach.

Luckily my clothes had taken the brunt of my fall and I'd managed to avoid much injury. I'd gained a few deep scratches from the brambles along the side of my neck which were sore but obviously not too serious. I could just add them to the tally of injuries that I had acquired.

We clambered back up to the path where Coal and Laurie waited for us. Coal had sunk down to the ground and was breathing heavily. The wound on his leg where he'd removed that huge slither of metal from the truck wreck had bled through his pants and was dripping onto the ground.

"We're moving too slowly," Alicia announced abruptly. "I didn't point it out before because there was nothing we could do about it, but now we can."

"What?" I asked.

"You two are slowing us down." She pointed at Coal and me.

"Thanks," Coal said with a scowl. "Broken ribs here, and a dodgy leg."

"It looks worse than dodgy," I pointed out.

"I know, and Maya has hit the ground a few too many times," Alicia continued.

"I'm okay," I protested.

"You're dead on your feet. I think you're concussed." She raised an accusatory eyebrow at me and I conceded defeat, sinking down next to Coal.

"What's the plan then?" Laurie asked.

"Hunter won't wait because he'll have to presume we didn't make it. If Laurie and me get back there and tell them you're on

the way then they will wait. It'll give you time to make it otherwise we're looking at a much longer walk home."

"Makes sense." Coal nodded.

"I didn't want to suggest it before because, quite frankly I'm not convinced either of you are able to defend yourselves properly."

"Since when can't I defend myself?" Coal frowned.

"Don't be an idiot Coal, if you can't run you obviously can't fight. And there's the problem of only having one GPS but now that Kaloo is back-"

"Okay, we're past half way. I need to rest for a bit to bind my ribs and stop this bleeding, if you two run on my guess is we'll be two or three hours behind you by the time you reach Hunter," Coal said finally.

"How will we find our way?" I asked, trying to suppress a yawn.

"Kaloo will follow their trail," Coal supplied.

"And protect you," Alicia said.

I smiled fondly at the big dog.

Alicia rummaged in her bag and pulled out a first aid kit. She tossed it to me before pulling Coal into a quick, gentle embrace.

"See you on the other side." She gave us a salute and a grin then turned and ran out of the clearing. Laurie squeezed my shoulder reassuringly then sped after her.

"Do you need help?" I asked Coal as I pulled some bandages out of the first aid kit

"We just need to strap them up tight, there's not a lot more that we can do but it will help." He started to pull his coat off but hissed in pain.

"Let me." I moved over and gently eased it from his shoulders, then I carefully pulled his shirt over his head. He didn't react but I could see the pain written on his features.

"He got a few kicks in." He smiled nonchalantly, showing me the right side of his chest where a nasty purple and yellow bruise had taken root. "Do you think I should have killed him?"