Wild Alabama by Everly Hansen

Author:Everly Hansen [Hansen, Everly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-30T22:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

The rain was still falling when Felix pulled the gate open at eight-thirty the next morning. The woods smelled piney-er than ever, but I welcomed the break from the sun and humidity.

"Are you going alone again?" Shazo asked.

I glanced at Felix. He gave me another encouraging smile, but also looked a little disappointed.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm ready to do the job full-on."

"Atta girl," Shazo said. "I thought you might say that, so I made this last night." He pulled out large map and Felix helped him straighten it out. "Here's the path where we are, here are the forks. See, I've marked all the portals that we know about with these X's which are not to be confused with the X's we mark on tents. Shit, I should've picked something else. I'll redo this. Okay, anyway, for now, the X's mark the portals."

I didn't dare mention my history with maps. They didn't like me. One of the few times I had been outside Colorado was a total accident because I thought I was following a map correctly. The Wyoming state line said otherwise.

"Thank you," I said instead. "This will make me feel a lot more confident out here."

They helped me put the map in my bag and then we split up. I went further down the path than yesterday before I shook rain off my bag and took out some fresh ribbon. I was supposed to toss ribbon after about three uses to make sure it didn't break, but I still had my first wad at the bottom of my bag as a bit of a memorial to my first real day on the job. With the ribbon tied securely around a pine tree, I headed into the forest.

I stepped over branches and made my way deeper into the trees than yesterday. A little further each day, I told myself. Whether it was five minutes or half an hour more, I was determined to explore more of the forest each day. I needed to prove to myself that I could do this.

The rain picked up and large drops that ran off the leaves began to hit the top of my head and roll down my face. I wiped a few away and stepped over a fallen branch. My shoes skidded on the slick moss below and I grabbed a nearby tree for support.

"That was close," I said with a shaky breath.

Another ribbon wrapped around the tree, another wipe of my face. The rain was falling even heavier, so I decided to turn back. Within seconds, my feet froze on a twig. Leaning against a tree, right against my ribbon, was the same guy I had seen near the house.

"Well, hello," he said. His voice was rough like he had just woken up. He was in the same tattered clothes - a plaid shirt and dark jeans, and, being this close to him, I noticed he had blood splattered across most of his exposed skin. He didn't look much older than me.

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