They Left Her to Bleed, So She Healed the Untouchable novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Sleet

The next morning's challenge was a fire, in sleet, on a gravel bar by the creek.

The rules were printed on a laminated card. Each team got a kit, a steel pot and a quart of creek water.

The first fire hot enough to boil the pot won the supply drop.

That drop held everything my team had lost when the cache rope was cut.

"A team of two against a team of one," Ben said, hoisting the camera. "The odds are very fair if you don't think about them."

"I'm thinking about them."

"Don't. Think about your hands instead."

I had been doing that since last night.

I kept hearing Keir's quiet *oh*, and seeing his shoulders drop half an inch.

Twice before breakfast I had caught myself rubbing my thumb across my fingertips.

I made myself stop.

Colson and Tiffany stood at the other end of the gravel bar in matching blue jackets, with their kit on a flat rock.

Tiffany saw me and waved, and then she walked over with her hands out of her pockets so everybody could see them.

"Sue," she said. "I just wanted to say good luck. No matter what happened, I want you to win."

"That's generous."

"I brought you this." She pressed a chemical hand-warmer into my palm. It was hot and fresh. "Your fingers will freeze in this sleet. Keep it in your pocket."

She was gentle about it, and she held me there with both hands around mine.

Behind me, my kit sat on its rock with nobody near it.

I had turned my back on it for the whole of her speech.

The air horn blew.

I went to the kit and knelt with my bad leg stuck out sideways.

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