Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
She couldn’t hear much over the grumble of the ATV engine, but she thought that the men chasing them on foot were some distance behind.
It was still too dark to see much, and Hallie hadn’t bothered to try and find out whether the ATV had headlights.
There was enough light for her to keep the ATV on the road and that was what mattered.
“We’ve lost the followers for now,” Girard said, pitching his voice to carry over the engine. Hallie realised that she hadn’t heard the shotgun for a few moments. “Once we’re around this bend we’ll be out of sight for a bit.”
“Easier if we split up,” Hallie suggested, calling over her shoulder. “It won’t be long before there are more vehicles after us.”
There was a short pause and she could almost hear Girard wanting to argue with her.
“Is there any food and water in the back? We should each take some,” she suggested. Even though her heart was thumping, she was aware of being light headed and dry mouthed. It had been a long time since either of them had stopped for anything to eat or drink.
“There’s bottled water and protein bars,” Girard said. He sounded reluctant, but willing. “And another weapon. A handgun.”
A moment later and a small canvas sack slid over her shoulder, dropping into her lap. From the weight of it, Girard had included the gun in her provisions. “Thank you,” she said.
“I don’t like the idea of splitting up,” Girard said, “but it will help keep our pursuers on their toes.”
“We’re coming up on the sharp corner now,” Hallie said, seeing the bowed shapes of the ancient trees to one side of the road.
As she wrestled the ATV around the turn she saw that the road forked.
Or, rather, that there was a trail leading off the road and up the hill.
Hallie almost turned the ATV up the trail, sure it must eventually lead to Jonah’s base.
She held her course, though. There were more armed men up there and she didn’t want to announce their arrival with a noisy vehicle.
“Pull over once we’re around the corner. You get out and run, find somewhere to hide in the forest. I’ll lead them away, get to the packs. I’ll come and find you as soon as I can,” Girard said.
Their pursuers would almost certainly follow the noisy ATV rather than head into the trees, so driving was more dangerous.
Hallie wanted to argue, but she knew she’d be lost in moments and with his greater experience of life outside a city, Girard was much better placed to lead their pursuers on a fine dance through the trees.
“I’ll rest for a bit. Then head up the hill, see what intel I can get on Jonah’s operation,” she told him.
“Be careful. Observe only,” Girard told her, raising his voice to be heard as she gunned the engine, putting on a burst of speed around the final curve to make absolutely sure that they were out of sight.
Once on the straighter stretch of road, she took her foot off the pedal, letting the vehicle slow.
She didn’t wait for it to come to a complete stop - Girard would need the momentum - instead bundling the sack of provisions under one arm as she jumped out of the moving vehicle, then taking off from the road at a dead run into the forest, moving as fast as her legs would take her.
It was a miracle that she didn’t trip over a tree root, or run straight into a tree in the first moments after she’d left the road, all her senses overwhelmed by the scents and sounds around her, the early morning darkness and thick canopy of leaves overhead making it impossible to see anything clearly.
But she stayed on her feet and kept going.
From what she remembered, the hill was very high, so she had a long way to go.
The canvas bag of provisions slipped out from under her arm and she paused, assessing where she was.
Right in the heart of the forest, absolutely lost apart from knowing that if she headed uphill she’d eventually get to Jonah’s base.
Her vision wavered and she remembered telling Girard she’d rest for a bit.
That seemed like a splendid idea. There was a thick clump of head-high shrubs not far away and she eased her way inside, finding there was just enough room in the middle for her to settle on the ground, every muscle protesting as she did so.
She rummaged in the sack and came up with one of the water bottles and a protein bar.
When she’d finished both, she took the handgun out and put it into the holster at her hip.
It was a bit large, but it seemed secure.
Girard had given her another water bottle and a few more protein bars and she slipped them into her pockets so they would be easier to carry.
Then she curled down on the hard ground and closed her eyes, slowing her breathing. The forest floor was uncomfortable - hard and lumpy - but it was dry and no one was trying to kill her just then. It was enough to let her get a bit of rest.
Hallie woke with a start, breath caught in her throat, aware of a vague headache and a dry mouth, and for a horrible moment didn’t know where she was.
She struggled into a sitting position, putting her hands on the bare soil around her for extra leverage.
The soil and the cold air against her face reminded her.
She was lost. Deep in the forest near the bottom of the hill where Jonah had his base.
The next thing to wonder about was what had woken her up.
She lay as still as possible, listening as hard as possible, but couldn’t hear anything or sense any danger.
She had a vague memory of a nightmare with some terrible creature with rough brown fur and long, curving white fangs lunging at her.
Not so much a nightmare, but a memory. The creature was dead.
Hallie had watched its death, on the floor of the main library in Cotovatre’s house, feeling an odd sense of pity even though the creature would have killed her without a second thought.
It made a certain sort of sense that she would have thought of the creature now, when she was worried about either the gunners or Jonah’s men finding her.
But they hadn’t found her. That knowledge let her relax a fraction.
She’d actually slept for a little while.
Enough to take the worst edge of her tiredness, and to let her muscles stiffen up.
It was still dark, from what she could tell, so she hadn’t slept for long.
And Girard hadn’t found her. A trickle of concern ran through her.
She’d fully expected him to catch up with her not that long after they’d gone their separate ways.
For a moment she wondered if she should try and find him and almost laughed at the thought.
She had no idea where she was, and didn’t have the tracking magic that Girard possessed.
It was possible that, disoriented by the trees and lack of knowledge of the island, she would end up in the middle of nowhere.
If she was very, very lucky she might manage to find her way back to the road, but that was likely to lead to her meeting up with either Jonah’s men or the gunners, or possibly both, and both Nicholas and Jonah seemed to want her dead, so that was not a good option.
She could stay where she was. She considered that for a few moments.
It was relatively safe where she was. She had some more food and water, and a gun, and was fairly sure that she’d hear anyone or anything trying to approach her.
But it didn’t sit well with her to be doing nothing while Jonah and Nicholas went about their lives and made awful plans for other people’s deaths.
Besides, she’d promised herself that she would try and stop Jonah and Nicholas, and that wasn’t going to happen with her sitting in the middle of the shrub. She needed to move.
Getting off the ground and out through the leaves and branches was horrible. Every part of her hurt. She’d done more running that day, or the previous day, or whenever it had been, than she did most months and her muscles were letting her know it.
She emerged into the forest and stretched, which didn’t help much. The only things which would help, she knew, were time and movement. Time wasn’t something she could manufacture, but she could move. Using the slope of the ground as a guide, she turned herself uphill and began walking.
She lost track of time, and any sense of distance, forcing her body to keep moving, to keep climbing, muscles protesting even more loudly at the effort of the constant uphill gradient, scrambling over tree roots and a fallen tree at one point where there had been a small landslip.
The canopy had broken there, and with a shock Hallie realised that dawn had broken, early morning light bathing the small clearing and letting her see her surroundings.
Enough to confirm that she was completely and utterly lost. She was out of sight of the road, though, and that was what mattered.
And she was heading in the right direction. Uphill.
She ducked her head and kept going, past the clearing and on into the closely-packed trees.
Hallie had to stop. She was coated in sweat under her clothes, breathing hard, chest hurting from the effort of simply drawing air in and out.
Her legs were trembling with the effort of the climb.
She staggered a couple of steps and leant against the nearest tree.
For a few moments all she could hear was a terrible gasping, wheezing noise.
It took a pause for her to realise it was her own laboured breathing and not some fearsome forest creature about to attack her.
Focusing on taking one breath at a time helped.
A little. She badly wanted to flop down onto the forest floor, but she had a feeling if she did that she might not be able to get back up again.