Tyson had just turned off the radio when he saw Jayde shoving the pack on and covering it with the poncho as she ran back to him. “They’re coming, Tyson! I heard Spanish and saw light reflecting off the walls!”
Tyson didn’t say a word, just grabbed her hand and led her out into the deluge. Shit! He took them down into the jungle, weaving in and out of the wet trees. As he stumbled, Jayde removed her hand from his, allowing him his good arm for balance.
He lengthened his stride and hoped she would say something if their pace was too fast. Knowing she carried the pack, he didn’t want to push too hard; but if she’d heard them in the passageway, they were way too close to his woman. With his injury, he didn’t like those odds.
For the next hour, they stumbled in the mire and mud, up and down through the woods. “How are you doing back there?” his stage whisper came back on the wind and rain.
“Okay. I’m doing okay,” Jayde responded.
“We can stop for about two minutes,” he said as he leaned against a tree.
Jayde whipped off the poncho and shoved it in the bottom of the pack after pulling out a piece of fruit for Tyson. “Here, eat this. You look like you could use it.” His breathing was hoarse. She shrugged the pack back on her shoulders and readjusted the straps.
“Why did you take off your poncho?” he asked, enjoying a bite of the rich pawpaw that tasted like both mango and banana.
“It is way too big for me. I don’t think I will get much wetter, but I can move faster without it,” Jayde said without hesitating. “Ready? Let’s go.”
Tyson threw the remains of his fruit into the jungle and started down the path he’d chosen. The sky had gotten a tiny bit brighter, but the clouds were still an ominous black, full of rain.
At the bottom of one of the hills, Tyson stumbled and swore as he hit his shoulder on the ground. Sec-onds later, Jayde was kneeling next to him. “Hang on, Tyson. Let me help you sit up. Then I will check the wound.”
Struggling, Tyson leaned against the tree. Jayde bent over him and moved his poncho to the side. Tyson stared at the woman in front of him.
Rain had completely drenched her body. Her hair was back in a ponytail except where the strands had escaped to plaster themselves to her forehead. Her shirt was cut off just below her breasts and it had molded itself to her chest.
The olive pants were covered in mud and he smiled as he glimpsed the gun at her back. Amazing was the only word he could think to describe her. Just as he started to say something, a large crashing noise erupted in the jungle.
Jayde jumped and spun around just in time to see a wall of mudslide down over the path they had just traveled. As quickly as it started the jungle fell quiet. “Jesus,” she panted, her hand over her heart.
Tyson struggled to his feet. “Let’s go. That will slow them down or stop them completely.” He stag-gered off, his exhaustion apparent, but he kept pressing on.
For another hour, Jayde followed him in silence as they headed for their destination. The rain picked up. It seemed for every step they took, they slid back five.
Tyson was not faring well. He slipped several times and was barely able to stay on his feet.
“Tyson,” she called up. “Can we stop for a bit? Please?”
“Sure.” He gratefully slid to the ground and scooted back against a tree for support. “Just a bit though.” His skin was pale and drawn from exertion and pain.
Jayde took the pack off and dug through for the last MRE, opening it and handing it to him. “Eat.”
“You need to eat. I’m fine,” he protested.
“I will eat fruit. You need it.” Jayde shoved the MRE into his face. “You are losing your strength. Eat Tyson.”
Tyson watched the trail behind them, reluctant to pause for more than necessary.
“I will keep watch,” Jayde promised, as if sensing his concern. “I have the binoculars and a gun. Eat.”
His sensible little rose. With a nod, he dug into the food with relish.
“How are we doing time wise getting to the extraction point?” she asked as she bit into a banana.
“Good. We are ahead of time. I think when we get there we will just hunker down like we did the first time. It is just over this hill and on up to the meadow. Then we’ll have to do is keep out of sight until the ride gets here.” He finished his MRE and eagerly took the banana she offered him, not realizing it was the last one they had.
“Well, let’s get there, then. Just let me make sure your bandage is tied on tight.” She crawled over to him in the mud and checked that her knots were still holding the material in place. “Looks good.” With a muddy hand she wiped her face, leaving a streak across her forehead. Standing, she shrugged the pack on and waited for Tyson to rise.
It took him four tries before he could get his feet under his body and stand, and he was still weaving.
Jayde looked between him and the hill they were about to scale. “You aren’t going to make it without help,” she said matter-of-factly. Not waiting for an answer, she removed the pack and began to dig in it again, pulling out the non-fire blanket.
She nodded as she withdrew her knife and cut it into strips the length of the blanket. Jayde had about six pieces of material when she was done. Tyson had slipped back down and passed out. Moving fast to get his face out of the mud, Jayde began to cry.
“What am I supposed to do now?!” she yelled. It looked like a mud pit, and given the amount of rain, another slide wasn’t far from her mind. “Damn it, can’t I get a break here?” She looked around through the tears and the rain. “Think Jayde think. What would Tyson do if he were awake and in your position? Probably throw me over his shoulder and sprint up the mountain!” She chuckled with hysteria, then she snapped her fingers.
“That’s it!” Jayde pulled out the fire blanket and rolled Tyson’s unconscious body on it, leaving about one quarter of the material above his head empty. “Well, Kincade, your feet will hang out, but considering the circumstances, I don’t think you will mind.”
Using the long strips she cut earlier, Jayde fashioned an x-pattern harness around his chest, tying it off with square knots so she was sure it wouldn’t come undone. Then she attached two of the strips from his harness that would eventually be attached to her waist. “Don’t want you slipping away from me here.”
Jayde stuffed the radio into a leg pocket and tied on the machete to hang from her waist. The gun Ty-son had been carrying was shoved into the front of her pants so she had one in front and one in back. The map was stowed in her back pocket.
With the pack empty, Jayde cut it so the bottom would slid over Tyson’s head and keep most of the rain out of his nose and mouth; the rest she slit so it would lay flat and wrapped it around his wounded shoulder to give him the most protection she could. With the last strip of blanket she had, she secured it to his shoulders where the straps were of the x-pattern. Jayde lifted the corners of the blanket and tied the strips onto her. Finally ready, she looked over her shoulder at the man lying there.
Grabbing the corners of the blanket, Jayde began the arduous journey to the top of the hill. “Holy hell, you weigh a lot,” she grumbled as she dug into the wet ground and inch by tortuous inch moved them upwards. Sure as shittin’ don’t look like he weighs this much!
Using the blanket to help slide him over the soft ground, as well as having him anchored to her, eventu-ally Jayde had a rhythm going. She ignored the way the straps dug into and cut her skin. Still, the last hill took her over an hour to climb.
As she hauled herself and her heavy load up over the top, she just about wept with relief. There were salty tears mixing with the rain and sweat that poured down her face. The blanket strips had cut into her arms and hands, drawing blood.
Making sure Tyson would not slide down the hill, she knelt down, wheezing and panting. It took her a while before she realized she was sitting out in the open and made a pretty good target in the rainy morn-ing.
Although exhausted, Jayde got to her feet and looked for the meadow. It was off in the distance but she knew there was no way she could pull him anymore. Her hands were torn raw and it hurt to close them. But maybe she could manage to get them in the woods off this path.
Fresh tears fell as she wrapped the strips around her cut hands. She tugged and pulled, crying in pain and frustration as his body seemed to fight her every straining step of the way. It took her another fifteen minutes to move them under some cover. Then she tried her best to erase the tracks they’d left behind.
Trembling with fatigue, Jayde used the streaming rain to wash the blood off her hands and arms, not to mention the sweat pouring off her body. A crackle by her leg caught her attention.
“Gray Two. Gray Two. Answer me!” The pocket of her pants had begun to speak. “What is your status, Gray Two?”