Marie couldn’t contain a whimper when she heard the gunshot echoing through the forest. She stumbled slightly at the sound and was only saved by Logan’s arm which wrapped immediately around her waist.
“Don’t worry, Marie. It’s not them,” Logan whispered as he pulled her back up.
Sniffling away tears that Marie hadn’t even been aware she was shedding, Marie looked up at Logan. “Are ya sure? Ah mean... Ah mean how d’ ya know? It could be them.... They could be comin’ fer us, Logan. They could take us back there an’ start hurtin’ us again. Ah can’t go through that again. Ah can’t. Please don’t make me go back there!”
Logan cupped her face in his hands, pressing a kiss against the top of her head. “I swear to you that it’s not them, Marie.”
“But ya can’t be sure, Logan. Ya can’t....” Marie sobbed, her fears taking over.
“I’d never put you in danger, Marie. Never,” Logan promised her.
Marie longed to wrap her arms around Logan and hold him tightly. She just wanted to hold him and never let him go. Logan made her feel safe in a way that she hadn’t felt in so very long. In a way that she hadn’t thought she would ever get to feel again. But she couldn’t so much as touch his hand without hurting him. There was something very wrong about that. As far as Marie was concerned, she and Logan should be able to touch each other without any problems arising.
Even knowing that Logan wouldn’t do anything to put them in danger didn’t stop her from crying out when a second gunshot interrupted the silence of the night.
“Logan...” Marie whimpered.
“Don’t worry, Marie. Whoever it is ain’t aiming at us,” Logan was quick to assure her, tightening his hold on her waist. “They’re shooting too far in front of us for it to be intentional.”
Marie nestled herself against Logan, wishing that it was his skin she was touching and not the filthy blanket. Marie knew that she should be thankful she was covered at all. Disgusting as it was, the blanket offered her at least some protection from the cold. Unlike Logan. That kept her from complaining about the cold even when she was half frozen.
“I’ll keep us safe, Marie,” Logan promised her as he continued to lead her through the thick forest.
Wanting to prove to Logan that she was brave, Marie did her best not to flinch when the sound of a gun discharging filled the silence of the night. He could undoubtedly feel her, though, because every time Marie would try not to flinch, his hold on her waist would tighten fractionally until she was calm once again.
Even though she knew that he would never say anything about it, Marie could tell that she was slowing him down. Logan was used to wandering the wilderness. Marie was not. Add that to the fact that she was barefoot and wearing nothing more than a bra, panties and a blanket on a cold night didn’t add to the experience.
When she felt Logan tense next to her, Marie knew that something was wrong. Logan had been pretty calm and relaxed so far and for him to tense meant that something was wrong.
“I’m going to pick you up in a second, Marie, so make sure you’re completely covered,” Logan whispered quietly out of the side of his mouth.
Marie looked up at Logan in alarm. “What’s wrong?”
“The guy with the gun is headed this way. We need to get out of here real fast so I’m going to carry you,” Logan explained, shifting his arm that was around her waist up to her shoulders.
Shifting one corner of the blanket up to covered the side of her face, Marie waited for Logan to pick her up. When it did happen, it happened with such a suddenness that shocked Marie. One moment she was walking silently beside Logan, the next she was in his arms and he was running full tilt through the forest.
After watching for a few moments as Logan dodged through the forest, Marie had to shut her eyes. She hadn’t thought that it was possible for a person to run so fast. Marie would have been lucky to make her bike go that fast.
This time when the gun was fired, the blast sounded much closer than it ever had.
Marie tried to remain silent, but when she and Logan began toppling head over heels down a ravine of some sort, Marie couldn’t remain silent any longer. Oddly enough, while she was making her rapid descent, Marie was attempting to cover all of her exposed skin with the blanket so that she wouldn’t hurt Logan.
Whether it worked or not, Marie wouldn’t know.
By the time they reached the bottom of the ravine, Marie was unconscious.
Marie awoke to the forgotten sensation of warmth.
She was nestled under layers of blankets on what she assumed was a bed. There was a pillow under her head, that much Marie knew for sure. The rest was still a little foggy. Except for one thing.
“Marie?”
At the sound of Logan’s voice, Marie struggled to wake the rest of the way up. She felt fuzzy all over. In a good way, though. Fuzzy in the sense that she had spent an entire night in a warm bed after having been cold for over a day. Marie was at loathe to wake up, but she could clearly hear the worry in Logan’s voice and wanted to assure him that she was all right.
“Marie, are you all right? Talk to me, Marie.”
Shifting her head, Marie cracked her eyes open. “Logan.... Ah’m all right.”
As soon as her vision came into focus, Marie was greeted by a disheveled Logan who was hovering over her. His face and hair had been freshly washed and Marie couldn’t help but smile when she saw that.
“Oh God,” Logan moaned as soon as their eyes met, lowering his head beside her on the mattress. “I was beginning to think that you were dead.”
Marie shook her head slightly, lifting a hand out from under the blankets to place on the top of Logan’s head. She stroked the still damp strands of his hair, rolling onto her side so that she could see him better. “Ah’m all right, Logan. In fact, Ah’m better than all right. Ah’m warm which is something that Ah hadn’t thought Ah’d be fer a long time.... Where are we?”
“You would be in my home.”
Marie’s head swung from Logan’s bowed head towards the doorway at the sound of the deep male voice. Standing there was a tall man whose blanket hair was not speckled with white ones. Bushy white eyebrows shielded dark brown eyes that seemed to suck in every thing in the room.
“It is good to see you awake, Marie. Logan has been quite worried about you,” the elderly man said as he stepped further into the room. “My name is Thomas.”
“Thank ya fer helpin’ us, Thomas. It feels amazin’ t’ be warm again,” Marie said, smiling brightly at him.
Some time during her and Thomas’s exchange, Logan had crawled into the bed and was now lying next to her. One arm was wrapped around her waist and his head was pillowed on her breasts. Marie couldn’t help but grin at that and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
“Now that you are well I am sure that you can convince Logan to get some rest,” Thomas said, grabbing hold of the door knob and pulling the door shut. “I’ll see you both in a little while. I’ll be in the living room.”
With that, Logan and Marie were left alone once again. This time, however, there was no desperation. They could simply relax and enjoy each other’s company.
“How did we get here?” Marie asked, once again smoothing her fingers through Logan’s hair.
“Thomas was the guy with the gun,” Logan murmured, snuggling up against her. “He clipped my ankle with a shot, thinking I was a deer. Felt real bad about it, so he’s gonna let us stay here till we figure out what we’re gonna do.”
Marie chewed nervously on her bottom lip. “An’ what are we gonna do? Ah really don’t like knowin’ that we’re so close t’ that wretched place.”
Logan lifted his head, smiling softly at her. “I know, Marie. I don’t like it either. But I want to make sure that you’re all right before we take off again.”
“Ah’m fine, Logan,” Marie assured him, sinking deeper into the pillow. “Ah’m nice an’ warm. Ah feel better than Ah have in weeks. Have Ah mentioned that Ah’m warm?”
Logan grinned at that and rolled his eyes. “The way you’re talking, you’d think you’d never been warm before.”
“Ya ferget that Ah’m a southern lady,” Marie said, putting on fake airs. “We’re used t’ bein’ nice an’ warm at all times.”
“That so? Then why were you on your way to Alaska?”
Marie blushed slightly and rolled her eyes. “Ah was goin’ t’ Alaska ‘cause Ah wanted t’ see snow. An’ Ah’m not talkin’ ‘bout that pansy-ass snow they have in the rest o’ America. Ah’m talkin’ ‘bout real snow. Alaska snow.”
Logan started to laugh and lowered his head back onto her chest. “There’s snow in places other than Alaska. Canada for one.”
Marie could hear the exhaustion in Logan’s voice and remained silent. She figured that if she kept quiet long enough, Logan would eventually fall asleep. He looked like he needed it too. Marie knew that she had taken a lot from him when he touched her and would need time to build his strength back up. In the end, it took all of two minutes for him fall asleep.