Stranded with My Stepbrother

Chapter 19

The older man laughed. Then there was a crunching noise, and the laughter stopped abruptly.

I peeked one eye open and saw Caleb, bleeding from his temple, standing over the old man, who was now on the ground. Caleb was holding a bloody rock in his hand.

“Caleb!” I ran forward and wrapped my arms around him. “Caleb, I was so scared! What happened? You’re bleeding!”

Caleb dropped the rock and held me tightly, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “It just grazed me. It knocked me over for a bit, but... I really think he planned to kill me.”

I looked down at the older man on the forest floor. His eyes were wide and sightless, and his skull was dented in. It didn’t take a medical degree to determine this guy was dead.

“It’s okay, Caleb,” I said, noting my stepbrother was also staring at the man with wide eyes. “It’s okay. You had to. He was going to hurt me.” I stroked his back, hanging onto him tightly.

Caleb swallowed and turned his face away. “Let’s just go, Jacey. He came from somewhere, so there must be a road near here.”

I nodded vigorously and took Caleb’s hand, tugging him away from the grisly scene. “Yes, let’s go. Let’s just get out of here. You never know if he was expecting company, and if they’re anything like him, we don’t want to meet them.”

“Right,” Caleb said. He hesitated then picked up the gun with his free hand and let me lead him away.

We walked in silence for several minutes.

“Caleb, he really was going to hurt me,” I finally whispered.

Caleb dropped his hand from mine, only to slide his arm around my shoulders. “I know. I... I couldn’t let that happen to you.”

The blood from his temple had dried in rivulets down his cheek. I wanted to get Caleb to civilization to get him to a doctor. Of course, with my head injury, he probably wanted the same for me.

“I can’t believe no one came to that part of the lake in two days,” I observed.

“It’s probably the rocks.” Caleb squeezed my shoulder. “I’m okay, Jacey. You don’t have to worry.”

I looked up at him. “I’m going to worry anyway. I know what you did isn’t easy, and you got shot at and your shins and everything... plus you don’t have shoes and we’re going over all these pine needles.”

“I’m getting used to it,” Caleb said manfully.

With a sigh, I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “We’ll talk about it later, I guess. I don’t want to upset you, but I want you to know I’m listening.”

Caleb bumped his hip against mine, and that was how I knew we were going to be okay.

We found a clearing eventually with some scrubby grass. Neither of us knew much about edible plants or berries, so we left things alone even though we were starving. Mostly, we were thirsty. I wished we’d had the good sense to take some things from the cabin before leaving it this morning.

I sat on the ground, and Caleb laid down with his head in my lap. Despite what he’d said, he still looked troubled. I combed my fingers through his hair and hummed for him.

“We shouldn’t rest long. We should try to find shelter, or the road, while it’s still daylight,” Caleb murmured, his eyes heavy.

“Mhm,” I replied softly, still carding his hair. “We’ll rest just a little bit.”

Caleb’s eyes fluttered closed, and I was careful not to jostle him while he slept.

I was beginning to doubt this road existed, but the man had to have come from somewhere.

Then I heard a rumbling not far off, and my eyes widened.

“Caleb!” I shook his shoulder. “Caleb!”

“Snrk?” Caleb came around, but was still groggy.

“It’s a logging truck!” I said.

-Caleb-

I sat up from Jocelyn’s lap, listening as she was. Sure enough, there was a familiar rumbling sound, the same sound we’d heard when we pulled off the road coming to the lake for one of the big bastards to pass.