The Night Will Find Us: A Novel by Matthew Lyons

Author:Matthew Lyons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

12

The rocks were a lot heavier than Chloe remembered them being yesterday. Straining against herself as they four-handed them back to camp, she went slow and steady, trying to avoid tearing the throbbing hole in her side open again. One at a time, she and Nicky lugged the stones from the trees to the place where they’d left Josh.

While Chloe had been out scouting for rocks, Nicky had remained by his side, both her hands curled in his, staring off into the distance. But when Chloe returned from the trees, Nicky was all business. Together, they piled the stones around Josh, wrapped as he was inside his sleeping bag, the stains from his exposed insides still bright red on the green polyester, even in the sallow morning light.

When they’d drawn a full outline around him, Chloe wiped away the lines of sweat from her flushed neck and cheeks. Leaning hard on her improvised crutch, she turned back to Nicky.

“Okay, I think we can start stacking them now,” she said. “This should be enough.”

Nicky made a pinched face.

“What?”

Nicky shook her head.

Chloe took a step closer to her. “No, seriously, what?”

“I thought about it, and…” The redheaded girl let out a choked-back moan and wiped at her teary eyes with dirty hands. Clearing her throat, she said, “Can I do it?”

“What do you mean?”

Nicky nodded toward Josh and the pile of rocks. “Would you just … let me handle this part of it? For him?”

Chloe studied her face for a moment, the dirt and the sorrow and the absence tattooed there, never to be banished or scrubbed clean again. She glanced down at the wounds carved through the soft, exposed skin between Nicky’s shoulder and her breast, the scabby, parallel lines left there by something they couldn’t understand or explain.

“Sure,” Chloe said. “I can sit and chill. Probably need to rest, anyway.”

“No, I mean—”

“What?”

“Can I … Can I be alone? With Josh? Just for like, a little while, so I can …”

Right. Of course. “Oh. Sure. If that’s what you need, then absolutely. I think I heard a creek down that way, anyway.” With her free hand, Chloe pointed off into the trees. “Might head down and see if I can find it. We’re running low on water, so probably isn’t a bad idea to keep us from dying of thirst.”

If we even live that long, her brain snarled at her from the depths. Two of us gone already, three if you count Adam. Leaving Nicky alone might not be such a good idea—

She cut the thought off midsentence, clapping her brain shut with a heavy clack like a bear trap.

“So, yeah,” Chloe said. “I can make myself scarce for a little while. You take your time here.” She hobbled over to the packs and unclipped both of their water bottles from the sides, carrying them in one crooked arm. “Just wondering, how long do you think you’ll need?”

Nicky shrugged. “I don’t know. I never did anything like this before.”

“Okay,” said Chloe. “I’ll shoot for an hour.

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