With every inch the Sun clicked higher in the sky, Rochelle and Gavin couldn't help but bask in the warmth, each almost genuflecting with their free hands as they tried chasing the chill from their bones. They were wet, muddy, hungry and haggard, but they were still alive and the fact that they survived the night gave them each the will to keep fighting.
The memory of what had happened right before Sunrise faded from Gavin's mind for the time being, replaced by the pressing need to get themselves rescued. Taking a few minutes to fill their bellies full of cold water from the river, Gavin and Rochelle knew they better get a move on while they still had the strength.
If they needed any reminder of their predicament, all they had to do was see the wreckage of Rochelle's Volvo once they'd scaled the river bank. There seemed to be an invisible but definite aura of dread surrounding the crumpled vehicle, mainly because of what was laying eternally lifeless in the front seat.
As badly as she didn't want to stomach the thought of ever going back near her station wagon, Rochelle racked her brain about what may be inside it that could help with their efforts. Having a teenage Son, she knew there were several opened bags of chips and such in the backseat. Even though she'd quit smoking six months earlier, she was also pretty sure there were a few lighters in the glove compartment. Sadly, she'd decided not to keep an emergency packs of smokes in there because she could have really used one. There was also the matter of Ernesto's gun. It wasn't doing him a bit of good in his current condition, and with all the potential surprises lurking around the forest, a little protection couldn't hurt.
_________________________________
With the previous night being so unseasonably cool, the smell of decomposition hadn't taken root as of yet, but Rochelle didn't want to contemplate what the inside of her battered car would smell like in a couple of days. It didn't take long for her stomach to begin to roll.
Their haul from the car had been worth it however.
Thankfully the passenger door still opened, so getting the lighters out of the glove compartment had been a snap. Looking like a kid reaching over the rail at a ballgame to retrieve a foul ball, Gavin looked silly blindly throwing the left side of his body over the seat to try and recover what food he could from the floorboard. He remembered a 3/4 full bag of Doritos back there from the day before and he also grabbed a stale bag of popcorn that had been in the car for over a week. Straining as far as he could, Gavin was also able to salvage most of a bag of Reece's miniatures as well.
The entire time Gavin was stretching himself to grab the junk food, Rochelle was forced to kneel by the opened door, less than three feet from the slumped corpse of the man that had kidnapped her. The only redeeming part of the process for Rochelle, since she'd lost whatever appetite she may have had, was picking Ernesto's pistol off the floorboard beneath his feet.
Helping Gavin out of the car once he was done collecting the food, Rochelle couldn't help losing what was left of her lunch from the day before in the bushes beside the Volvo.
Even though he wasn't a firearm aficionado, it didn't take long for Gavin to notice there were only two bullets resting inside Ernesto's gun. Clicking the safety on, he and Rochelle felt a cool and sobering chill collectively sweep through the pits of their stomachs knowing each one of those bullets could have easily found a permanent home in their skulls if they hadn't acted when they did.
"Let's find a big rock and see if we can somehow shoot the chain on these cuffs in half," Gavin eagerly offered.
"Only two bullets...?" Rochelle asked.
"Yeah," Gavin double-checked as they walked up to the makeshift road.
"Then we probably better....," Rochelle started to say before she screamed in agony.
For a second Gavin thought Rochelle had literally been swallowed up by Hell itself. His right arm nearly coming out of socket when she fell, Gavin quickly crumpled down to his knees beside the large hole she'd fallen into.
"My God...," he stammered. "Are you OK?"
A long and gut-wrenching groan leapt from Rochelle's throat when she tried using her right foot to push herself out of the three foot deep weak spot in the ground where a tree stump had been before the loggers came along.
"Slow down..take your time," Gavin muttered, still startled himself as he sensed clearly the pain in Rochelle's voice.
It took a couple of minutes, but Gavin was finally able to extract Rochelle from the hole. By the time he'd gotten her upright and dusted some of the dirt that covered her all the way up to her sternum, Gavin quickly noticed she was having a problem putting weight on her right foot.
"I think I twisted my ankle..maybe wrenched my knee too," Rochelle spat some leaf pieces out of her mouth and assessed.
"Let's get over to the clearing and sit down," Gavin prodded before wrapping his arm around Rochelle's waist like a battlefield medic.
"I don't see any bones sticking out," he tried to add a touch of humor even though it was clear a nasty knot was beginning to rise inside Rochelle's right sock.
"I should have been looking where I was going," Rochelle berated herself, knowing she had momentarily lost focus seeing the bullets in Ernesto's gun, knowing one of them could have been meant for her.
Gavin reassured Rochelle not to worry and keep her chin up but deep down he knew walking together for help was probably not an option now.
"We probably ought to think about getting a fire started asap," he thought to himself. "Get that smoke up in the air with plenty of daylight left...maybe someone will see it."
"Probably need to start getting some dry brush together before her ankle really starts to tighten up," the wheels inside Gavin's head continued to turn.
