Gil Marsh by A.C.E. Bauer

Author:A.C.E. Bauer [Bauer, A.C.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-375-98311-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-02-29T05:00:00+00:00

When Gil came to, he thought he had gone blind. He could not see anything at all.

Painfully, he dragged his hand up and touched the side of his head. His fingers came away wet. He must be bleeding. He’d need to put something on it. He stretched out his hand, hoping to find his duffel, but instead he scratched himself on the prickly stems of a bush. He had somehow rolled, face-first, up against the bushes.

He heard the roar of motorcycle engines, the screech of tires on the gravel and the sound disappearing into the distance. The men. They had escaped.

He rolled backward and saw stars. His eyes worked fine after all. The moon shone between clouds over the opposite shore, casting a faint light.

Gil was alone. He sat up gingerly. His head hurt at every motion. He scanned the small area, his sleeping nest, and realized that his duffel and sleeping bag were gone. The men must have taken them. He rescued his toothbrush, half out of its case, and a small bottle of acetaminophen that had rolled behind a rock. They had stolen everything else—including his half-used toothpaste and floss and the old toiletry bag.

At least he had been wearing his sweatshirt and jacket. They didn’t take those!

That was when he remembered his pouch—the one he kept safely around his neck. He quickly patted his chest, the sudden motion sending shooting pains through his head.

Nothing. Nothing was there. They had stolen that, too!

A feeling of intense violation overwhelmed him: they had pulled him out of his bag, lifted his shirt, patted around his body to find the pouch. They had touched him all over! He wanted to rip his clothes off, jump into the river, wash away his revulsion. But even the thought of moving caused him more pain.

And then it sank in. Nothing was left. No passport. No ID. No money. No change of clothes. Not even the bus ticket to L’Annonciation! He clenched his fist, his thumb reaching up to his ring finger. That was when he noticed that the ring was gone, too.

Enko’s ring. His last connection to his friend. Taken by thugs!

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

He clutched his toothbrush and bottle of pills and scootched backward while curling inward like an armadillo. He felt the bush’s branches poke into him. He pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, shut his eyes and let blackness reclaim him.

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