The pain was still there, but it was more of a dull ache now than a sharp, stabbing pain.

“Can you put weight on it?” he asked.

“I’m not sure but I can try it and see,” I said.

“Just be careful, not a lot of weight - just a little.”

He helped me to stand up while holding onto his shoulder, and then I tried to put weight on both my legs and stand by myself. I did manage to do it, although my leg was still very sore and felt a bit weak in the knee.

“I can put weight on it,” I said. “But I feel like my slow pace of trying to walk is an impediment. It’s going to be even slower than being carried.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “We can do a little of both. You can try to walk a bit, and I’ll carry you if it gets to be too much. Either way, I think we need to start heading back before we end up having to spend another night out here.”

“Agreed,” I said. “I really want to see if Adam or Rob have made it back to the cabin yet.”

“So do I,” he said. “But if Rob isn’t there, I really don’t think we should keep searching the woods by ourselves anymore.”

“But you said that we would resupply and head out in the other direction,” I said, worried that he was giving up on finding Rob at all.

“Yeah, but there’s no way you’re going to be able to keep hiking right away with that leg.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “I can do it.”

“Lisette,” he said patiently. “If you really want to help find Rob, then limping around the forest isn’t the way to do it. Once we get back to the cabin, and get you fixed up and meet back up with Adam, we’ll go into town and get the help of the police.”

My skin bristled at the thought of involving the cops.

“Do you really think that’s the best idea?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “I do. There’s just too much wilderness to cover and with this many days passed, Rob could be anywhere out here. We need more resources and more manpower, and they have those things.”

I nodded in agreement even though I wasn’t quite sure that I agreed with going to the cops. I didn’t trust police.

It was a slow hike back to the cabin, and it took longer than just a day. But Michael was right about his route being shorter and we made it there just before we were both ready to pass out from exhaustion and hunger and thirst. I was ecstatic to see that Adam was already there too, just like Michael had predicted. It made me have hope for a second that maybe Rob was there too, but he wasn’t. He whereabouts still remained unknown.

“Yeah, I figured that you two would likely end up finding each other and coming back here,” Adam said when we got inside the cabin. “What happened to you?”

He reached to take me off of Michael’s shoulder since Michael looked like he was about to fall over at any minute. Between carrying me fully half the time and putting my weight onto him as he helped me walk the other half of the time, Michael was pretty shot. That terrain in the wilderness is a difficult hike even when you’re doing it alone. It’s even more taxing when you have to drag another person along with you. Adam set me down onto the couch and Michael plopped right down beside me. Then Adam went to grab us both some food and water.

“When did you get here?” Michael asked him.

“I left as soon as I woke up and saw that neither of you were coming back. I headed straight here, thinking that this would be the most likely place you would come to once you found each other,” Adam answered. “What happened to you guys?”

“I fell off the mountain,” I said.

“You what?”

“It was dark, and I couldn’t see where I was going and tripped. I fell off the side of the mountain and landed, thankfully, on a rock slab that was jutting out from the side of the mountain. Michael found me and saved me.”

“Of course he did,” Adam chuckled. It sounded like he was half grateful and half jealous that Michael always seemed to be my knight in shining armor that came to rescue me every time I needed help.

“Well, I’m just glad you’re both okay,” he said as he looked at Michael. “Even you.”

Michael laughed. “Thanks. Any sign of Rob?”

“No, none,” Adam answered. “Are we still going back out to search more?”

“No, Lisette can’t walk well enough and it’s pointless to continue after this much time has passed. We need the help of the police now.”

Adam’s face gave away that he felt just as nervous about asking the cops for help as I did.

“Yeah, I know it’s not ideal,” Michael said. “But we really don’t have a choice now if we want to find him. Especially not if we want to find him alive.”

There obviously was no arguing with that. As soon as I fixed up my leg, we would go into town. It wasn’t broken, just torn up a bit; nothing a shower and an ace bandage wrap wouldn’t be able to help with.

The shower felt so good. I stood there and let the hot water cascade over my body until it washed all of the chill out of my bones. When I was finished, I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my body as I walked into the bedroom. Michael was already there waiting on the bed for me with a bunch of antiseptic wash and bandages, and even a brace that would make walking a lot easier.

“I thought you might need some help with it,” he said as he slid the stuff over to make space for me to sit down on the bed.

“Thanks,” I said, coming to sit down beside him.

He lifted my leg up gently and started to take care of the cuts. It stung and I reflexively grabbed his hand. Michael looked up at me and stopped what he was doing. My wet hair hung in dripping strands that ran down my back, and the only piece of clothing that I had on was a pair of panties beneath my towel. Michael was still dirty from the woods and needed a shower too, but all I could think about was how badly I wanted him to pull my towel off from around me and lay me down on the bed. His look was deep and darkened, and I could tell that was what he was thinking about too. I yearned for this torture to be over. Even in the midst of the disparaging things that we were going through, it would all be so much easier to tolerate if there wasn’t this invisible barrier between us. I knew that he felt the same way. After a moment, he looked back down at my leg and finished wrapping it up.

“There,” he said as he set my leg back down on the floor. “Good as new.”

He stood up to go take a shower and I reached out to grab his hand, which made him stop abruptly. He helped me up and I stood up against him, then wrapped my arms around his back and hugged him. I knew that I could at least do this for now. I could hug him and feel his arms around me. That much, at least, was safe no matter who we were to each other. Michael held me too, and we both sighed deeply. We stayed there for a few long minutes, before finally letting go. He went to take a shower, and I got dressed, while I could hear Adam out in the kitchen making more coffee.

When all three of us were ready and looked more like we were walking the earth again, instead of just having crawled out of a cave or been thrown off the side of a mountain, we got ready to go into town and ask the police for help.

I still wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but it was the only one that we had.

4

I hated going into the police station; like absolutely hated it. I was uneasy and I didn’t even think that the police were going to be that forthcoming in helping us find Rob.

“I want to leave,” I whispered in Adam’s ear.

Michael gave me a look that either meant he was curious about what I was saying, or he didn’t like the fact that I was sitting so close to Adam.

“I think we should at least—”

I was looking at Adam while he was talking, and by the way that he abruptly stopped mid-sentence, I figured that a cop had probably walked up behind me and was ready to talk to us. But when I turned around, I was too shocked to speak. A cop did walk up to talk to us, but it wasn’t just any cop; it was Rob. I was so stunned that I just sat there staring at him as if I was looking at a ghost. Maybe after everything that I had been through this far, I was finally starting to lose my mind.

“Rob?” Michael asked.

Rob looked at all three of us as if he was only mildly surprised to see us here at the police station.