The Third Message novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Left on the Mountain

"You wait here for the rescue team," Burke said. "I'll take Bree down and come right back."

I grabbed his hand with both of mine.

"Don't go, Burke. I can't wait here."

He looked at my fingers on his.

Then he peeled them off, one at a time.

My hand stayed open in the air after he let go.

"Your leg isn't that bad. The pill will kick in."

He turned his back to me and crouched, and Bree climbed on.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and put her face against his shoulder.

The rest of the team fell in behind them with their lights bobbing.

One of the girls stopped and looked back at me.

"Come on," someone called, and she hurried after the others.

Bree looked back last.

She was not scared.

She looked at me with one wide, wet-eyed look, and I understood she was checking that I stayed.

Then the light went down the trail and the trees closed over it.

I sat on the ground and listened to the dark.

Every sound was big. A branch cracked, then a long bird call, then my own breath.

My leg pulsed with a heat that had nothing to do with the painkiller.

I thought of my open palm in the dirt and of Burke's face above me, and I cried hard for exactly as long as I allowed myself.

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