Surviving Raine 01 (16 page)

“I should have killed him,” I grumbled.  “He didn’t even get charged.  He told them I beat him up after he caught us in the bathroom together.  I got fifteen months for assaulting him and the statutory rape of Theresa, posthumously.”

“Oh my God.” Raine’s hand reached up and covered her mouth.  “Didn’t you tell them what had happened?”

“Of course I did!”  I was angry now.  Maybe at her, maybe at the world, but she was the only one there, so she was destined to get the brunt of it.  “Who do you think they believed – the counselor or the delinquent?  Yeah, it’s an interesting system we got, huh?”

“You dream about that, don’t you?  About finding her, I mean.”

It wasn’t really a question, and it made me wonder again just what I had maybe said or done in my sleep.  I tried to rein in my anger a little and nodded in response but didn’t look at her.  I reached my hands up to my head and twisted my fingers through my hair, tugging at it and closing my eyes against the slight pain in my scalp.

“She found her own way out,” Raine said.  “It was her choice and not your fault.”

“She wouldn’t have done it if I had been there for her.”

“Maybe not,” Raine said.  “Maybe it would have just been on a different day.”

“I still fucked up,” I insisted.  “Her only mistake was thinking she could rely on me.”

“You aren’t all bad, Bastian.”

“Yeah, I’m a fucking philanthropist.”

Raine started to push herself on to her elbows like she was going to get up and move towards me, but her hand went to her head and she started to slump to one side almost immediately.  I moved over to her, fighting my own dizziness, and caught her before she fell back to the floor of the raft.  I slowly lowered her onto her back again.

“Stop that shit,” I told her.  “Just stay where you are.”

“See?” she said with a sly smile.  “You aren’t so bad, are you?”

“Whatever.”

“My hero,” she giggled, which turned into coughing.  For a minute I thought she was going to gag up bile, but I got her rolled onto her side and her coughing quieted.

“Go back to sleep, Raine,” I said.  “You need to rest.”

“I don’t want…”

She was out before she finished the sentence.  I decided to try fishing again.

* * * * *

My head swam as I pulled myself out of the water and fumbled with the tether around my waist.  I was empty-handed again, but at least Raine hadn’t been disturbed by either my fishing expedition or my subsequent return to the raft, so she wasn’t going to notice.  She was still asleep, as she had been for the last few hours.

There hadn’t even been any dew on the canopy this morning.

Raine’s pale, dry cheeks puffed out a moment as she seemed to sigh in her sleep and roll slightly to one side.  Her darkened, hollow eyes opened for a moment, searched around the raft, and closed again without any signs of recognition.  I dried myself off, pulled my shorts on, and crawled over to her side.  The last two times she woke up she had been pretty incoherent.  I needed to know if she was still the same or getting worse.

“Raine?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you awake?”

“I’m not sure,” she said after a moment.  “I thought I was, but everything is so red.”

“Red?”

“Yes, red,” she repeated.  “Like clown hair.  It’s so soft.  Your hair is soft.  I want to touch it.”

“You’re being silly,” I told her.

“Maybe,” she said.  “It
is
soft though.  Can I have some more water now?”

“Not yet, babe.”

“We still don’t have any, do we?”

“Not right now.”

“It’s been too long, though – hasn’t it?”

“Hush, Raine,” I finally growled.  “Your questions drive me nuts.”

“I didn’t mean to,” she said quietly.

“It’s not you,” I said.  “I’m just a moody asshole, remember?”

Her dry lips curved up just a little before falling back into place.  I watched her tongue come out and trace over them, but there wasn’t any moisture to leave behind.

“I’m dizzy,” Raine said.

“I know,” I replied.  “Just stay where you are.  Don’t try to move around so much.”

I lay down on my back, staring up at the dark canopy of the raft.  As much as I didn’t want to think about it, my overactive mind figured she might have as many as six hours left but not much more than that.  I was starting to shake and itch again, and I seriously doubted I would have the strength or muscle control to pull myself back onto the raft another time, so no more fishing.  I wouldn’t be far behind her – a half day, maybe.  A half day lying here with her body.  I didn’t think I’d be able to just toss her overboard, not unless I went with her.

“Bastian?” I heard her soft voice struggle to get enough volume to reach my ears.  I leaned a little closer and saw her hollow eyes looking deep into mine.  “Bastian, I’m scared.”

I rolled and reached around her torso with one arm, slipping the other one under her shoulders so I could pull her close to me.  I held her head against my chest and wrapped my arms around her tiny, gaunt frame.

“Don’t be scared, Raine.”  I closed my eyes and hugged her to me.  My eyes squeezed shut, and my lips pressed into her hair.  “I’ve got you.”

I could feel her body slump into mine, and I had to listen close to her breathing to make sure it remained steady as she drifted off to sleep.  I tried to take a deep breath myself, feeling the dark unconsciousness of deprivation overcoming my mind and body.

“I’ve got you,” I repeated, wondering if she still believed I could save her.

* * * * *

Dizzy, dark, chilled, dusty…I ached when I tried to move, so I stayed still.  Even opening my eyes required far too much effort.  My back and arms were chilled, but my chest and legs mingled with the warmth of another body.  Had I let some chick stay with me after I fucked her?  It seemed out of character, to say the least.  I never kept someone in my bed.  I didn’t like it.

This felt different.  I
did
like it.  Whoever it was, she was warm and soft but very small and felt frail in my arms.  I immediately wanted to hold her close so I could keep her safe – protect her from whatever else might have been out there in the dark.

I had to be dreaming because none of this made any sense.  I couldn’t be dreaming because I didn’t have dreams about warm, pleasant, feminine bodies pressed up against mine.  I had dreams about blood, death, and pain.

There was a strange sound in this dream, if it was a dream.  I couldn’t place it.  It was a tapping, plopping sound.  I opened my eyes to see what it was, but they immediately closed again without focusing on my surroundings.  It was easier to stay where I was and hold on to…this body…this woman…this…
Raine
.  It was Raine.  That’s who I was holding.  If I could just figure out what the damn drippy noise was, I might regain a little sanity.  A memory of one of my foster parents taking me camping with two of the other boys they fostered danced around in my head.

We had hiked up to a camping area, set up the tent, and then spent the next three days playing cards while sitting on top of damp sleeping bags.  Eventually, the trench we dug around the tent wasn’t enough, and the whole place flooded.  The sound was annoying, and I ended up punching one of the other kids for getting his muddy feet all over my pillow.  When we got back to civilization, I was sent back into group care again.

I moved my head from side to side, enjoying the tickling feeling of her hair under my chin.  Some of the strands were stuck in my beard.  That was all right, too.  I felt light and…well…kind of happy, which I didn’t really know how to handle.  She felt good against me, and I wanted her to stay there.  It was probably trying to figure out happiness that made me realize something was really wrong here.  It could have been that plinking, plopping, dripping sound as well.  It seemed to be a little louder.  Raine’s breathing didn’t sound quite right, and her heart was beating awfully fast for sleep.  Raine needed something – something important.  I needed to know what the strange, reminds-me-of-camping sound was, and I needed to remember what Raine needed.  Her name provided me with the single answer to both questions.

“Rain.”

I pushed with my hands on the bottom of the raft while my mind raced in abrupt, sharp focus.  If the collection system was working properly, it should be collecting the rain pelting the top of the canopy.  We should already have water to drink.  Raine needed the water.  She was going to die if she didn’t get it, but the muscles in my arms groaned and argued with me, refusing to hold me up.

I dropped back down again, trying to cradle Raine’s body against mine so I didn’t crush her.  The rest of my body gave up, too, and I lay on the floor, hugging her to me and feeling the slow rise and fall of the waves underneath us.  I tucked my forehead back into her hair and tried to breathe normally.  Being here felt good – much better than trying to move.  If I just rested here for a little while I could go and get…whatever it was I was supposed to get…or do…whatever.  I’d do it later.  I needed to rest now.

“Get the fuck up.”

“Screw you, Landon,” I grumbled at him.  “We’ve been at this for five hours.  I’m taking a fucking break.”

I heard the soft click of his Glock and slowly opened my eyes to see it pointed between my eyes.

“You rest, you die,” he said.  His voice was cold and emotionless.  “You think they’re going to wait for you to wake up for a fair fight?  If you aren’t up for this, just say the word and I’ll end you right now.  I’m not going to waste my time on some pussy who needs a fucking
nap
.”

I shoved against the floor of the raft again, cringing a little when Raine’s head dropped off of my arm and onto the floor.  My stomach lurched, and my head pounded.  I had to force my eyes open and look down to my legs to make my muscles move.  It wasn’t that far to the collection containers, and the first one was already nearly full.  Through the haze of the pain in my brain and the shaking muscles of my arms and legs, I switched the valves so water would run to the second container and pulled out the nearly full one.

In the event of loss of cabin pressure, please place the oxygen mask over your head before assisting children or other passengers.

In other words, help yourself first, even if you don’t really want to.  You can’t help anyone when you’re dead.   I had to have enough strength to help Raine drink, or neither of us would make it.

The hardest part of extreme thirst is convincing yourself that a little water is better than a lot.  Your body doesn’t believe you no matter what the logical part of your brain is saying.  I sat down slowly, tucking my legs in and holding the cup in my shaking hand.  I poured slowly, just the single cup, and took a sip.

My throat was dry enough I don’t think the water actually reached my stomach.  It hurt to swallow.  I sipped again, swishing the water around in my mouth first and licking my lips afterwards.  I drank half a cup, and then sat unmoving for a while.  I wasn’t sure how long it was exactly – my “waterproof” watch had stopped working after my second fishing expedition – but I tried to wait at least fifteen minutes before I drank the rest and brought the second cup to Raine.

She wouldn’t wake up, so I had to hold her up by her shoulders to get her head in the right position to drink and tilt her chin up to get her to swallow.  Honestly, it was probably easier that way than having to fight with her to keep her from drinking too much at once.  I got half the cup into her before lying her back down.

I lay next to her after drinking another half cup.  The rain was still coming down steadily, and at this rate, we’d have another week’s worth of water before morning.  I refused to lie back down at this point because I was afraid I would fall asleep and I needed to get more water into Raine.  I started counting her breaths, and after one hundred and eighty I sat her up and gave her more.  Raine’s eyes opened for a moment, and her hand reached up, like she was trying to touch the cup, but it dropped back to her lap instead.  At least I didn’t have to tilt her chin up to get her to swallow this time.

We went back and forth like this for a couple of hours.  Raine had consumed four cups at that point, and I had drunk five.  It was enough for now, and I finally allowed myself to lie back down beside her, immediately pulling her against my chest and holding her head to my shoulder.  She sighed and her warm breath tickled my skin.

“I knew you would,” she mumbled against my shoulder.

“Would what?” I asked, but she was already out.  I took some more deep breaths, trying to keep my mind from thinking anything before I hugged her to me again, closed my eyes, and let myself drift off as well.

…there is darkness all around and cloth touching me on my shoulders, tickling my skin like spider webs strewn across a forest path.  I shudder and try to close my eyes, but then I can’t see the darkness, and I have to watch it.  If I don’t watch it, I’ll never know when something comes at me.  I hear footsteps and hold my breath, as if that would help.  Bright lights fill the tiny room, and a strong arm hauls me out and into the room.  Screaming…yelling…fists against my back...I try to curl up into a ball, but he holds me up higher so he can reach more of me…

…blood everywhere – all over me, all over the knife in my hand.  I am pretty sure I have been shot near my shoulder – not bad, but it burns like a bitch.  I took a good blow to the head, too.  How many are left – two or three?  There is movement off to my right, and I jump up, ready to face the next one…

…the ring sparkles in the light when I place the little satin black box, lid open, on the dash and drive out of the parking lot.  The prisms go off in every direction, flicking into my eyes through my sunglasses.  I can’t stop myself from smiling.  I’ll wait until the weekend and give it to her then.  I can’t wait to see it on her finger…

My eyes flew open, and I had to stop the scream trying to come out of my mouth.  There was sweat on my forehead, which I’m sure I should have seen as a good sign.  Before the rain, there wouldn’t have been any moisture on my skin at all.  I stared at the ceiling for a while, drank more water, gave Raine a little more water, and then stared at the ceiling some more.