Author Note: For those of you that endured Part 1 and still came back for Part 2, thanks for indulging me. There was some dark content in the first part that I didn't want tainting Parts 2 and 3...kind of wanted the three parts to stand on their own...
That out of the way, on with the story...
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As if the air had suddenly been pressed out of an over inflated balloon, Rochelle Stewart literally collapsed down on her knees when she realized she'd made it out of the car with her life. Her left hand cuffed to Gavin's right, she nearly brought him down with her when she tucked her head between her knees and started to cry.
A pair of hazy outlines in the pitch black forest, Gavin bent down and hugged the Mother of his best friend as she sobbed, the chilly night air biting at each, signaling that the next stage of their ordeal was just beginning.
"What time do you think it is?" Rochelle asked as she tried to regain her composure. "It's too dark..I can't see my watch."
"Got to be a little after 9....It was getting dark the last time we stopped...," Gavin started to say then stopped himself remembering the indignity that had happened between Rochelle and Ernesto at dusk.
"Do you think they're looking for us?" Gavin sighed, desperate for anything to take Rochelle's mind off what had happened leading up to the crash.
"I'm sure they are by now...I told my Husband I'd be home in about 45 minutes and that was 4 hours ago. I'm sure he's called my cell and got no answer....its just that we're so far out of town..," Rochelle's voice drifted off as the gravity of their predicament settled in.
Silence hung in the air for a very long time, as thick and murky as the fog that would clot the river bed they'd call home for the next two nights.
"If no one's coming to get us..we're gonna have to find some way of getting word back to town," Gavin finally shook his head and said dejectedly.
"No way the car's gonna make the trip anytime soon," Rochelle noted as she stared back at the wreckage of her Volvo station wagon.
"Not to mention there's a dead guy slumped over the steering wheel," Gavin tried to be humorous but his words simply echoed with a dull thud through the woods.
"You really think he's dead?" Rochelle asked with queasy unease.
"I'm pretty sure..he wasn't breathing when we slipped out the back door," Gavin offered, not wanting to tell her how he'd heard Ernesto's neck snap a millisecond after the crash.
"I've still got my bike in the back...I could take that out and see if they're any houses in the area," Gavin kicked at the dirt in the darkness.
"It is gonna be kind of hard riding that bike handcuffed together," Rochelle gently reminded with only a hint of pessimistic irony.
"Oh yeah," Gavin whispered.
"Where do you think we're at anyway?" Rochelle asked, feeling much better the more they kept talking.
"East of town...the guy kept taking crazy turns...I dunno.....the tracks in the road looked like they did some logging up here but the tracks aren't fresh. I'm guessing no one's been up here since last Fall maybe," Gavin pondered.
Once again the two held their breath, listening for any sign of civilization around them. There were no stars out and the temperature had easily fallen 15 degrees since dusk.
"Right now...all I want to do is get away from that car," Rochelle finally put her free hand to her head and cringed, leading Gavin several yards down the road by their cuffed hands until she could once again breath.
"We'll be alright without any food...not that either one of us is going to have an appetite for awhile," Gavin tried to offer without sounding too much like a boy scout," but we're gonna have to find some water....there does sound like of river or big creek flowing a little ways up."
The two trudged along, hands tethered in the dark, both suddenly and acutely aware of how primitive their plight was about to become.
Cautiously making their way towards the sound of the rushing water, Gavin and Rochelle hadn't realized how much starch the ordeal had taken out of them until the adrenaline started to wear off. It wasn't until they could hear the water flowing endlessly over the rocks directly below that both of them felt their throats tremble with thirst. Like two wayward souls pulling themselves through a desert towards the promise of an oasis, they walked anxiously hand in hand along the ledge, trying to find the easiest path down in the dark.
As with everything else, nothing came easy.
A rock had given way beneath Gavin's right foot and in that frantic moment of decision he instinctively extended both hands out to try and keep Rochelle upright. In the process however all Gavin did was clumsily throw off his own balance, causing the pair to tumble down through the rain-soaked weeds and bushes towards the riverbed below.
Hopping and skipping as they tried grasping for any limb they could, the inertia finally let up with they both splashed into the edge of water.
"AAAHH...GOD... DAMN... Gavin..are you alright?" Rochelle croaked, knowing he was a foot or two further out.
"..I think so," he muttered, soaking wet now from the waist down.