Chapter 39
Sarah cursed as she shrugged off her bag and tied George to one of the bunk bed posts.
There wasn’t much room, but they would be safe for a little while until she planned her next step.
Every time she moved, pain shot through her side as she pulled up her shirt and inspected the wound.
Thankfully, the shot had been a through and through.
Another inch over, and it would have hit her internal organs.
If that had been the case, George would be on his own and never make it back to either of his homes. Sarah wasn’t going to let that happen.
Fumbling through her bag, she found the liquid stitch she’d packed for George and quickly squirted it over both sides of the wound.
It really needed stitches, but she didn’t have the time, skills, or tools.
She’d be lucky if it didn’t get infected or she didn’t bleed out.
Pressing down on the wound to help the stitch hold, she quickly wrapped a bandage around her waist to keep the gauze in place.
Finally, she sat back against the wall and drew a ragged breath. She was exhausted and covered in blood.
Given the wildlife that lived near them, she didn’t want to stay in the blood-soaked clothing for long, but she couldn’t bring herself to move from the chair.
All she wanted to do was go to sleep for a little while.
Her body needed time to heal; it needed rest. Every voice in her head pleaded with her to stay awake, but she had never felt sleep pulling her with such ferocity before.
It had to be the blood loss. Slowly the world started to fade around her until she heard George nickering across the room.
Sarah groaned but rose slowly and moved to the bed beneath where he was tied.
“Well, George, I think I really messed up this time. I just don’t know how much longer I can hold on. I’m so tired. Maybe I’m not going to make it,” Sarah muttered.
While her brain was still trying to process the situation and work through her feelings, her eyes became heavy.
She tried to force herself to stay awake, but sleep called to her like a wild animal in the night.
There seemed to be no way to fight it off.
Suddenly, she felt George nudge her, and then he nickered.
Sarah knew she wasn’t alone and that George would have her back.
She chuckled lightly at the thought of George fighting for her survival.
“I’m sorry, buddy. I’m just so tired right now…
Sarah was slowly starting to lose consciousness.
She continued to fight the feeling of exhaustion, but it didn’t seem to be of any use.
It was only a matter of time before she passed out, and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop it.
Her mind rushed through some memories and random thoughts as she fought off sleep.
When George nudged her again, she jolted and looked into the eyes of the horse which had carried her such great distance.
“Thanks, George,” Sarah muttered. “Listen, I know you’re trying to take care of me right now, but if I wake up and you’ve eaten my arm or something, I don’t think we can be friends anymore.”
Sarah chuckled lightly. While horses were more known for eating hay and other things, it was even lesser known that if they got hungry enough that they would eat meat as well.
The thought was almost comical to her now.
For a few seconds longer, she fought off the darkness.
Within a minute of laughing, Sarah could no longer stay awake and gave in to the sleep that awaited her.
Sarah rose hours later, feeling like death had tugged her close to the edge.
Had it not been for the incredible animal nudging her incessantly, she might not have come back around at all.
Her body felt like it was on fire as beads of sweat rolled down her forehead.
It was chilly outside, even in Florida. As soon as she was back in the world of the living, Sarah could hear something outside the cabin.
It had to be why the horse had tried so hard to wake her.
With danger approaching and no way to flee, the horse’s instinct was to seek help.
Despite knowing they had to get out of there, Sarah struggled to move.
She grabbed her side and hissed when she pulled away her hand.
The bandage was holding, but it still felt like she was being shot over and over again.
Something was definitely wrong with the wound, but there wasn’t time to think about it.
The only thing Sarah needed to focus on was getting her and George as far away from the approaching people as possible.
Stifling a groan of pain, she pulled herself to her feet and grabbed George’s reins.
It took every ounce of willpower to get her bag off the ground and looped over the horn of George’s saddle.
While she knew it was a terrible idea and could fall off at any point in the forest, Sarah’s options were limited.
She couldn’t even think about getting it onto her shoulders.
Trying to walk was challenging enough. She didn’t know how she was going to get them both out of there without being noticed by whoever was now stalking them at the edge of the campgrounds.
Sarah quietly and quickly loosened the reins that held George in place for the hours she was asleep.
Moving herself and her trusty steed through the cabin, they made their way to the door leading them out.
The entire process took less than a minute, but the searing pain and the unknown now lurking outside made it feel much longer.
She could still hear the movement and light voices around her, closer than they had been moments earlier.
Suddenly, she felt the gravel beneath her feet.
They were right where they needed to be, and Sarah felt a rush of relief.
Nothing had been certain when they had rushed from the prison, but she knew they were moments from freedom once the rocks moved under her.
The path was theirs for the taking, but they had to be careful.
George was leading, aside from a few readjustments along the way.
Her head was still fuzzy, and the pain was beginning to get to her, but she knew the only way they would survive was to keep moving.
Trying to stay as silent as possible, Sarah kept the pair pushing forward down the path.
Though her heart was racing, she understood she could keep them both safe from the dangers around them if they just stayed on the path.
Though they hadn’t stopped moving, the voices and sounds of the people searching behind them continued to grow louder with every passing moment.
Sarah knew they needed to push forward. Any stop would only allow the followers more time to close in on them.
She was still fighting through the pain and trying to keep her head from spinning, but they weren’t going to stop.
They had to move faster. She couldn’t let them be caught by whoever was following them.
As close as they still were to the prison, Sarah was certain it wasn’t friendlies just looking for a place to stay.
Sarah had spent enough time around inmates to know when they saw a pretty woman—or any woman for that matter—they could and would do dangerous things.
Sarah wouldn’t ever paint the entire inmate population in that same color, but the ones they’d deliberately left locked away were being kept there for a reason.
The men running the prison were not friendlies.
The wound draining her life was proof enough of that.
The footsteps and muffled voices were slowly starting to grow closer to them, but she wasn’t going to let them take her down.
Pulling George to a stop, she knew what needed to be done.
If they were going to get out of there alive, they needed to go at George’s best pace.
That meant she needed to get into the saddle so he could carry them both to safety.
It pained her to reach for the horn, and despite trying to keep her weight off the wounded side, Sarah still gasped in pain when any weight at all was put on it.
Even after she let go of the horn, the renewed sharp pain in her side stayed on.
Sarah was struggling to catch her breath as she gripped her side.
Even though it was dark all around her, she could still feel the world spinning.
Sarah stumbled, still keeping hold of George’s reins as she collapsed onto the hard gravel.
There was nothing she could do; she was slipping into unconsciousness. No one would be saved because of her.