“How did you find me?”
“Google maps.” Obviously, he felt the need to lighten the mood. Why, I don’t know.
Turning his attention to Drew, Bo reached through the broken windshield and checked his pulse.
“Is he alive?”
“Yeah,” Bo confirmed. “Just at a glance, I don’t think his injuries are that severe. Probably hit his head after the airbag went off, when you rolled. Yours must’ve been punctured by the tree,” he concluded.
Backing away from the car, Bo disappeared for a few seconds. I heard the rustle of leaves and gravel as he moved around. When he reappeared, his expression was grave.
“Ridley, I’m going to get you out, but you’re gonna to have to trust me, ok?”
I nodded.
“The branch is still attached to the tree. I have to break it off so I can pull it out of you, ok?”
Again, I nodded.
“It’s gonna hurt,” he warned.
I looked out at the piece of wood protruding from my left side and I felt my heartbeat speed up in fear and dread.
“Ridley, look at me.” When I looked up into the eyes that plagued me day and night, I felt a strange sense of calm permeate me, body and mind. “You’re going to be fine. I promise.”
I nodded again, believing his words despite what my eyes saw as a life-threatening injury and an impossible situation.
Once more, Bo disappeared. I heard some crackling and then a loud snap followed by a jarring to my side that felt like it was pulling my guts out. My head swam dizzily, the pain was so incredible. I bit my lip to keep from crying out.
When Bo popped up in front of the windshield again, the air he stirred cooled the clammy sheen that was covering my face.
Bo’s brow was furrowed in obvious worry. He reached in and cupped my cheek.
“Hang in there. It’s almost over,” he said softly.
He dropped his hand and I saw him wrap his fingers around the branch up close to where it entered my body. I took a deep breath, trying to steel myself against what was coming. Bo looked at me and I nodded, giving him a silent go-ahead.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, closing his eyes.
Then, with a quick and violent jerk, Bo yanked the huge stick from my side. It hurt, but no worse than it had when he’d broken the branch from the other end. I looked down to make sure it was gone and what I saw made my stomach churn nauseously.
Dark red blood was gushing from the hole in my side. I felt the warm wetness of it all down my hip and stomach and between my legs where it pooled. Strictly from the amount of blood I was losing, I knew the tree had pierced something important, either an artery or my spleen. Not surprisingly, at that moment I was not very successful at retrieving information from my anatomy class.
I looked up at Bo and he was staring at the blood, his face looking paler, his skin thinner than usual. Right before my eyes, it seemed to become more and more translucent. I wanted to touch it, but I was finding it increasingly difficult just to focus on his face, much less touch it. It was already blurring before my eyes. My head was growing lighter by the second, as if someone was lowering a dimmer switch on my consciousness and I was slowly fading into darkness.
“Bo,” I whispered, short of breath, too.
Bo’s abnormally pale green eyes flickered up to mine and through my wavy vision, I could see the instant that he returned to me from whatever hungered state he’d been in, like he was seeing me for the first time. As I watched, I saw the color seep back into his irises, assuring me he was Bo once again.
“Hold on,” he said, reaching in to release my seatbelt and snatch me from the car.
Even if I hadn’t been hovering between consciousness and oblivion, I doubt I would’ve been able to keep up with where we were going. Bo carried me deep into the woods, whipping through the trees and across the uneven terrain at a speed I knew wasn’t humanly possible.
“Hospital,” I managed breathlessly. I knew I needed serious medical attention.
Finally Bo stopped and lowered me gently to the ground. His face doubled in front of my eyes and I blinked to bring him back into focus.
“Ridley, you need to drink from me. If you don’t, you’ll die before I can get you help,” he said, sounding like he was a million miles away.
“Then we can be together,” I whispered.
I felt my lips pull up into a weak smile at the thought of being with Bo somewhere, anywhere, for eternity.
“Ridley,” he barked. “Stop it! You’re not dying. You’re not leaving me.”
I blinked my heavy lids, trying to keep them open long enough to look into Bo’s one last time.
“It’s alright,” I said.
“No, it’s not. Open your mouth,” he ordered, sinking his teeth into his bare forearm.
With every passing second, I was exponentially more exhausted. I didn’t think I could open my mouth like he wanted me to. I tried, but my jaw just wouldn’t work.
“Ridley!”
I felt rough fingers at my cheeks, pinching them together to force my lips open.
A drop of tepid liquid hit my tongue and the taste of it, both salty and sweet, was the most amazing thing I could ever remember tasting, though it did seem vaguely familiar. I smacked my dry lips together and managed to open my mouth the tiniest bit, feeling a ravenous thirst for more of the thick fluid.
Several drops hit my tongue and I closed my mouth to swallow. I felt something cool press against my lips and I opened my eyes a crack. Bo was holding his forearm over my mouth, a panicked expression on his handsome face.
“Drink,” he said simply.
I opened my lips and wrapped them around his skin and sucked, drawing a pool of his blood onto my tongue. It made my mouth feel warm and tingly, and my throat as well, as it traveled down.
I’m not sure how long he fed me that way. I’m pretty sure that I passed out at least twice, maybe more. Little snatches of time were lost to me, but the one thing that never changed, never left me, was Bo. I could hear his shallow breathing. I could taste him on my tongue. I could feel him inside my veins, as if I’d taken in some living part of him that was now a part of me.
Little by little, I felt energy, feeling, life, return to my body, but as it did, an overwhelming need to sleep began to drag at my eyelids. I fought it, wanting to stay with Bo, to spend every available second with him, staring into his eyes.