Read The Last Revenant (Book 1): The Crash for Free Online Page B

good ideas?”
    I glanced up at where the guards had run. “Not really.” I was betting I could follow them to Martha just fine, but I wasn’t sure if the rest of the men around her would be exactly beneficial to our well-being. Still, better that than nothing. “Come on.”
    We struggled to move. Each step had to be a careful balancing act as to spare him from his own pain as well as to keep the strain off my shoulder.  I took the moment to stare at his face, inches from my own. We had nothing in common except that we were both hurt and being held captive, yet he might as well have been my best friend for all that it mattered.
    We pushed each other back towards the maze of tents until we could hear voices again and painstakingly shuffled our way inside what I guessed was the correct one, the struggle finally paying off to see Martha surrounded by the men that had just past us.
    One of them turned to gawk, but he didn’t seem to care.
    I sat Jeremy down onto an empty cot and carefully lowered his back to watch him grimace. I wasn't sure of what to do with my hands. I turned to watch Martha work on the wounded man that had been brought in. I didn't understand why I ought to care what happened to him, but the hovering group continued to press.
    Martha shook her head and put a hand on the wounded’s neck, pushing someone back and shouting over everyone's questions. “His pulse is too low. If we can’t stabilize this bleeding...” The rest of her words trailed off as she looked up and everyone else slowly followed suit. All the sound in the room was sucked out in an instant.
    I swiveled to find why and immediately regretted seeing Ryan stare back. He stood in the entrance and looked everyone over before eventually taking a step towards the small crowd. “I don’t suppose anyone would care to explain to me what the fuck is going on here?”
    One of his men walked forward only to get poked in the chest.
    “Not you.” Ryan pushed him to the side and peered down at the bleeding man. “You.”
    I took a step closer to see the pain on his face, a pale mess covered in smudges of blood that ran around his sunken eyes. A gaping wound flooded the top of his stomach, too big to be covered by a single rag, while a torn piece of flesh hung from a side as if it were a simple, wet, raw piece of meat. I couldn’t guess what could have caused that kind of damage, especially once I saw the set off deep paralleled lines embedded into his skin.
    Claw marks.
    The man tried to catch his breath as a non-sympathetic Ryan took in the wound.
    “You might wanna hurry up.”
    His breathing quickened and turned shallow in response, forcing any words out by their end. “Sh—she—she’s here…”
    We all looked back at Ryan to see his reaction, but he only narrowly furrowed his brow. “Who?”
    The man reached up against his blazer and smeared a line of blood across the patched fabric, dropping his shaky hand just in time for Ryan to catch whatever he had held up. His voice came out coarse and dreadful. “J-Jessica...”
    I could feel my entire body tense at the sound of the word.
    What?
    I dared myself to look around the room, yet if the name meant anything to anyone, nobody showed it. It must have just been a coincidence. Maybe the man was just delirious or there was another Jessica besides me. It could have been anything. I had to remind myself that Ryan was the only one that knew my name, anyway. At least, Ryan and...
    Martha.
    I glanced over in her direction and was actually relieved to see her do the same. It seemed that she didn't know what was going on either.  After all, I had never met the bloody man on the cot before. I had nothing to do with him.
    Ryan continued to stare down at his cupped hand and stood motionless, revealing just the top of something small and shiny. He barely lowered the tiny object, about to say something, but quickly changed his mind and surrounded it with a fist.  “Get him the fuck out of