Candi shut the folder quickly and threw it back down on the seat. Pushing the door almost closed, she focused on not making a sound. She didn’t want to make any more noise than necessary, now that she knew someone was here specifically to find them - someone who’d been searching lots of other cabins in the area, probably for the last week.
She rushed back to the motorcycle, standing it straight and pushing it with all her strength over to the other side of the road. She got it as far back into the trees as she could before abandoning it there, putting the keys in her pocket while hoping like hell she wouldn’t have to get it out of there in a hurry later.
As she walked down the edge of the road, she thought about all the time and effort they’d put into setting up their warning systems and training the dogs for security, wondering if had been well-spent or wasted.
When she came upon the still form of James lying in the middle of the road, she thought she had her answer. Tears welled up in her eyes as she rushed to his side.
***
Kevin moaned. Someone had hardcore tackled him on the rugby field. It was even possible he’d been slammed into an un-padded football field goal pole in the in-goal endzone area, the way his head felt. He tried to sit up, but the earth was spinning too much.
“Holy shit,” he moaned again. “What the hell?” He looked down at his hands, realizing for the first time that there were leaves under him and not turf. “Where am I?” He lifted his head, blinking his eyes several times to get his vision cleared up. When things finally came into focus, he realized he wasn’t on the rugby field; he was in the woods somewhere.
And then the memories came flooding back: prom, the tophat, gunshots, Barry in the ER, the FBI, an assassin, running away, getting this cabin, setting up security for … He sighed and then punched the ground with a tight fist. “Fuck!” The bad guys had gotten through somehow, and he’d been lying on the ground passed out for who knew how long. He had to get up and find the others. Maybe it wouldn’t be too late.
He struggled to his feet, battling nausea and intense dizziness. He held onto a nearby tree as his thoughts cleared and left him with the most amazingly awful headache he’d ever experienced. He took a few tentative steps forward, knowing that he probably looked like a drunkard, but not caring at all. His family was at risk, and he had to get to them, no matter what.
Ten feet into his trek he had to stop and vomit. The pain in his head was overwhelming, and the spinning was making him feel sea sick. He hadn’t felt this bad since he’d been on that lifeboat in the middle of the ocean.
He continued on, trying like hell to stay quiet; but no matter how high he tried to lift his feet, they still made too much noise shuffling in the leaves and grasses. He fell twice before he reached the road.
“Left or right?” he asked out into the air around him. He couldn’t tell were the cabin was in relation to where he was standing, and the dizziness that wouldn’t go away wasn’t making it any easier.
“Kevin?”
He rubbed his ears, not sure if he had imagined the sound of Candi’s voice or not. There was a ringing there that accompanied the dizziness, making it difficult to get things straight in his mind. “Candi?”
“Kevin!” came her yelled whisper. “Where are you?!”
“Here,” he said weakly, the idea of shouting making him want to throw up again.
Candi appeared around the corner to his right, her face way too pale and her hair sticking out in all directions. Sarah was going to be really upset when she saw it. Heck, so was Candi. He was wondering if he should say anything or just keep quiet about it. It probably wasn’t important. Something was important, but he couldn’t remember what it was. His head was hurting too much to concentrate.
Candi reached his side and hugged him hard. Kevin swallowed with effort, trying to keep from barfing on her head.
“Oh my god, I thought you were dead!” she cried.
“Dead?” he asked, wondering what she was talking about. “Why would I be dead?”
“Because! Someone’s here to kill us!” She stared up at him and frowned. “I think. What’s wrong with you?”
Kevin rubbed his head, wincing at the big bump his hand ran over in the back of his scalp. “Someone hit the shit out of me. I have a huge lump back here.” He touched it again, more gingerly this time. It hurt like hell.
Candi reached up and touched the back of his head, her eyes going wide. “Holy crap, Kevin! It’s as big as an egg!”
“Yeah. Hurts as big as an egg too.”
“Lean down so I can see it,” she commanded.
Kevin tried, but it made him fall a little to the side. He barely caught himself before going down again.
“You have a concussion, don’t you?” she asked.
“Not sure. Maybe. Hold on a sec.” He held up a finger for a couple seconds, then leaned over to the side and threw up again. He stood up straight and wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand. “Yeah. Maybe I do. Sorry about that.”
Candi took him by the upper arms and pushed him back into the woods.
“Where are we going?” he asked, not really caring at this point. He was just glad to have her at his side again and safe. All he needed to do now was take a little nap and he’d feel all better.
“You’re going to stay here where no one will see you while I go find out what’s happening at the cabin.” She pushed on his shoulder, forcing him to bend his knees. “Sit! And don’t get up.”
Kevin slid down the tree she’d leaned him against, only cringing a little at the burning sensation it made as it scraped the skin on his back.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back with James.”
“Okay,” said Kevin, sighing because sitting made the dizziness not as bad. And man, was he tired.
A little while later he was jarred awake by Candi’s approach. She was carrying a dirty carpet in her arms.
“Watch him while I’m gone, and don’t fall asleep,” she commanded.
“Who?”
She set the carpet down in his lap. And now that it was closer, he could see it wasn’t a carpet; it was a dog. James. “Hey, little guy. What’s up? Taking a nap?” Kevin jiggled his left arm in an attempt to wake him up. “Yo, sleepy head. Time to get up and bite someone.”
“He got hit too, just like you. I’m not sure how badly he’s hurt, but he’s breathing and his neck seemed fine, which is why I moved him. Just hold him until I get back, okay?”
“Okay,” breathed out Kevin, closing his eyes. “I’ll wait right here.”
A shuffling sound following by an awful blazing pain at the back of his head had his eyelids flying open and his mind much sharper.
“Don’t fall asleep, I said!” she whisper-screeched at him, her face only inches from his own.
“What the hell’d you just do?” Kevin asked pitifully, reaching behind his head.
“I pushed on your lump to wake you up. You cannot fall asleep, do you understand me? You could go into a coma or something.”
Kevin stared at her, speechless.
“Don’t you look at me like that!” she yelled. She dropped her voice, tears now in her eyes. “I had to do it to wake you up! I can’t carry you if you go to sleep and don’t wake up. And the others are in trouble, so I need you to be able to go on your own, do you understand?”
Kevin nodded.
“Anytime you feel yourself falling asleep, push on your lump.”
He scowled. “Hell no, I’m not going to do that! Are you nuts?”
“Do it!” she yelled, slapping his face hard.
Kevin’s head spun again once and then seemed to right itself. He stared at the sweet little gumdrop who he’d fallen in love with - the one who’d been scared and crying for half the trip. Right now she looked like she was about to go all Rambo on someone’s ass, and he was a little frightened … for them.
“Okay, okay, I’ll stay awake. Geez. No need for physical violence.” He pulled his arm out from under James’ back and
rubbed his jaw. “Nice left hook by the way.”
“Thanks. Good. Now, I have to go. Stay quiet. Don’t let anyone know you’re here. If James wakes up, keep him with you.” She stood. “I’m counting on you, Kevin. Don’t let me down.”
Kevin nodded, wincing only a little at the pain. It did have the effect of waking him up more. “Gotcha. Be careful, would ya?”
She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. “I will. Wish me luck.”
Before he could get the words of his response out, she was sprinting out of the forest. He quickly lost sight of her through the trees.
***
Jonathan got to the lake with a big headstart. He panicked, not knowing what to do. He could keep running through the forest, his stamina such that he could probably go for hours without slowing; but he knew that eventually the guy would give up and go after his family - the ones who couldn’t run like he could.
He spied the dock and made a split-second decision. It was reckless and completely un-reasoned, but there was no time to reconsider his instinctual thought process. He ran down the length of sun-faded wood planks and slipped into the water at the end of it.
Xena stopped at the edge and watched him go under, turning and dropping down onto her haunches to face the woods, once he was fully submerged. Jonathan could see her form just above him, wavering with the ripples he’d created in the water. He focused on breathing slowly and calmly, trying to keep the water from being disturbed and sending out signals showing exactly where he was.
He couldn’t hear anything under the water, and he was almost out of breath, when he saw Xena’s tail come out straight and then her hind end get closer to the edge of the dock.
He’s here! He’s coming!
Jonathan wasn’t sure at first if he should stay underwater and swim away, surface and attack, or try and hide under the dock. But when he heard Xena’s muted growling through the water, he surfaced, deciding that he’d rather face the danger and deal with the consequences than just wait for it to reach down and get him.
He came out of the water as smoothly and quietly as possible, the first thing he heard upon surfacing the frenzied growls of Xena. Whoever was upsetting her was close. There was no questioning the tone of her warning. One more step and whoever it was would be toast.
Jonathan couldn’t wait any longer. He peeked up over the edge of the dock.
Standing just a few feet in front of his dog was the attacker, his knife out and held pointed in Xena’s direction.
“Come on, you fucking mutt! Come on over here and get a taste!”
Jonathan reached up and touched Xena’s ankle, praying she wouldn’t swing around and bite him, but wanting her to know he was there. For some reason the idea of her protecting him and possibly sacrificing herself for him was more than he could bear. They’d gotten the dogs for protection, but now when faced with using them for that purpose, he felt very guilty - as if he’d valued his own human life more than her canine one, when she was just as valid a creature as he was. She’d suffered in her life and come out loving and protective to mere kids, even after having her own children murdered. He was ashamed to know that he had a lot to learn from a dog about how to treat others.
“Xena, back down. It’s okay, girl. Just go back to the cabin.”
She ignored him completely, her eyes never leaving the knife in the guy’s hand; and as a result, she was more prepared for the guy’s move than Jonathan was.
One minute the killer was standing there, and the next he was lunging for the dog, knife out and ready to slice and dice.
Xena moved so quickly, it was hard for Jonathan to put all the pieces together about what happened. The knife looked like it had met its mark, but then the guy was falling forward, faster than he seemed to want to, yelling.
The knife dropped to the dock, but his hand stayed on the dog. He rolled onto his side, coming to rest with his back to Jonathan’s face. Whatever focus the killer might have had previously on getting Jonathan into custody had been completely taken over by his instinctual drive to save his hand from being torn from his body.
Jonathan used the distraction to his advantage. He grabbed the guy by the hair and pulled him back as hard as he could, using the leverage of his feet against the dock’s support piling to extend the man’s head out over the water.
The man screamed, now facing threats from two fronts. He struggled against Jonathan’s pull, but his efforts weren’t very effective. Jonathan held tight, despite being jerked around by the force of Xena’s attack. She had the guy’s wrist in her jaws, and she wasn’t letting go for anything.
“She’s tearing my hand off!” screeched the man. “Get her off me! She’s taking my hand off!”
Normally, Jonathan would have helped him out, maybe even putting himself between the furry killing machine and her victim, but in this case he knew it was the man or him. If he helped him escape the dog’s attack, the man would turn around and use the knife on both of them. He’d come here to kill and that’s what he would do if given the chance. Jonathan couldn’t allow that, so he just held on, refusing to help, refusing to let go. Just like Xena.
Something warm hit Jonathan in the face. At first he didn’t know what it was, but then when he saw the arc of red liquid flying through the air, he knew. Arterial spray. Xena’s hit an artery. He’s going to bleed to death. The idea of a human being dying in his arms was too much. Jonathan let him go, intending to climb out of the water and hold him at bay with the knife, giving the man a chance to staunch the bloodflow.
But he underestimated the man’s will to live.
The killer sprang up, the dog hanging from his mutilated arm.
He grabbed the knife off the dock in his other hand, raising it up to shoulder level.
Jonathan leaped out of the water and grabbed the man’s ankle, but he was too late.
The knife came down hard and fast, burying itself in Xena’s shoulder.
She growled anew, but didn’t let go of his arm.
Jonathan was sure he was next for a knifing. He half-crawled and half-threw himself the remaining distance towards the man, bowling him over sideways. The dog went right along with him, her legs no longer working.
Blood sprayed everywhere, covering the dog’s face and shoulders in a gruesome veil of red. Jonathan slipped on it, trying to gain purchase so he could end the mayhem once and for all. He fell over the man’s legs, and his face landed very near Xena’s.
It was the look in her eye that did it for him.
Patience. Dedication. Love. Loyalty. Death coming for her.
Jonathan grabbed the hilt of the knife and eased it out of her shoulder before lifting it high and plunging it down into the man’s chest.
Gurgling sounds came from the killer’s throat, but Jonathan ignored them, knowing the man was no longer a threat to him. He kneeled on shaky legs and leaned down to gather Xena in his arms. “Let him go, Xena. Release. We need to get you to the doctor.”
Her jaws finally unlocked. Jonathan’s stomach turned over at the hand that fell limply to the dock, almost completely severed from the man’s forearm.
He struggled to his feet, the nearly seventy pound dog almost bringing him back to his knees several times as he made his way back to the cabin as quickly and as quietly as he could. With every step, Xena’s blood ran down his arms to drip into the layers of dead leaves beneath them.
***
Jack the kidnapper and probably soon-to-be murderer had been pacing the floor when the door flew open and Jonathan came running in, blood all over him and the dog he carried in his arms.
“Stop right there!” Jack yelled, holding out his gun.
Sarah saw him pointing the weapon at her boyfriend and lost her mind. She leaped up out of the chair and ran for him, intent on stopping him but with zero plan for how she was going to do it.
Jack saw her coming and swung the gun over at her. “Stop!” he yelled, just before she reached him.
She tackled him at the sam
e moment that the gun went off.
Blinding pain seared her shoulder, but she ignored it in favor of ending the loser underneath her. They’d hit the wall behind him, giving her the perfect set-up to knee him in the balls. And knee him in the balls she did, as hard as she possibly could.
The gun fell from his limp fingers and was immediately snatched up by Jonathan.
The guy took Sarah down with him as he fell, his hands latching onto her shirt as he went nearly comatose with the pain.
She struggled to get him off, punching him in the face twice using her good arm before his hands finally came loose. The satisfying crunch of his nose breaking made the bleeding mess of her shoulder just slightly less awful.
“You’ve been shot!” yelled Jonathan, his voice going up an octave in his panic. “Oh my god, you’ve been shot!”
“Shoot him,” gasped Sarah, rolling away from the killer and kicking him hard on her way. “Shoot him in the balls!”
“No, I’m not going to shoot him! I have to get you to the hospital!” He leaned down and pulled her away from the guy, dragging her over to the dog’s side. “Stay here with Xena. She’s injured too. I’m going to get the car.” He put the gun in her hand and pointed it with her at the guy still writhing on the floor. “Only shoot if he comes after you, okay?”
Sarah nodded vaguely, looking first at the slimeball in front of her and then at the dog next to her, who was obviously suffering. Xena grunted whenever she tried to move and was whining at a barely discernible volume.
“It’s okay, Xena,” said Sarah, her voice sounding groggy to her own ears. “We’re going to be fine. Jonathan’s going to fix us up, you’ll see. He’s a total genius. I promise.”
The gun sagged a little, so she let it rest on her leg. She had cramps down low in her belly that reminded her of period pain. The warmth spreading out from her shoulder was a weird contrast to the cold that was taking over her body. She began to shiver.