Page 64 of Stay With Me

Her shallow breathing hitched and she clutched Nick’s chin a little tighter. She closed her eyes, which was involuntary. Things appeared the same whether or not her eyes were open, and closing them seemed to be an instinctive reaction to her steadily increasing panic.

“Javelinas,”came Nick’s voice, as steady and casual as the first moment he’d spoken to her.

Her eyelids shot open and she leaned over his face, expecting to see his eyes reflecting the moonlight.

“Nick!” she gasped. “You’re awake!”

But she saw no reflection of light in his eyes. She ran a hand across his face. They were still closed and he was as motionless as ever.

She turned her face to put her ear next to his lips. Same shallow breathing.

“Nick?”

She patted his cheeks and became silent, waiting for him to respond. The cacophonous activity was now in the base of the canyon, mere yards from where she sat behind his head.

Her breath hitched again and her hands began to shake.

“Oh God,” she whispered.

A long series of guttural grunts.

“Like pigs?”came her voice.

Her brow furrowed. She hadn’t said a word.

I’m officially insane.

Her breath puffed in and out in series of short pants as her heart rate picked up.

“Not really,”Nick went on.“They look like a species of wild pig, but they’re in a different family.”

Samantha’s gaze shifted as she attempted to cling to reality.

“Do they ever attack people?”she’d asked.

In her mind’s eye, a picture materialized. She and Nick were crossing the flats beyond the campsite.

She exhaled sharply.

Not insane. For now, at least.

“Nah,”he’d answered.“They’ll sometimes approach a campsite if food is left out, but they avoid people. They’re herbivores so they eat lechuguilla, roots, prickly pear, seeds, and fruits if they can find some.”

The flurry of scrapes and thumps and scattering gravel made its way behind her as the herd traveled over the minefield and through the maze. Then everything became quiet again, other than the distant yips and howls.

She exhaled heavily and released Nick’s cheeks to rub her hands over her face and push her hair back.

“I don’t know how much longer I can take this,” she muttered.

But whether she could take it or not, she’d have to.

There was nowhere to go; nothing she could do until morning when she’d be able to continue flashing the mirror in hopes of someone seeing it.

Then,ifsomeone saw it, she’d have to wait for them to get to her.

She had become unbearably tired. She hadn’t slept much the night before, only had a brief nap in the car before they’d arrived at the park, and then hiked five miles in the stifling heat.

But, tired as she was, there was no hope for sleep. Even if she was comfortable sleeping in the open wilderness, she couldn’t. Surely if she slept, Nick would die.