a slow constant sprinkle. The lightning was almost frequent enough to light their way, and the thunder rumbled every few minutes.
“Do you th-th-think they will come looking for us? Wouldn’t there be something on the ship, a computer or something, to tell them it crashed?”
Bannon shrugged.
“Bannon, your family loves us. Surely they’ll look for us, right?”
If they didn’t think Bannon and Louie were dead. Maybe he should have left some sort of message near the crash site. With what, he had no idea, but there had to be something there in the debris. Why hadn’t he looked? Bannon glanced behind him, but the smoke was a thin line now. Or was it his imagination? The clouds were so dark, maybe he was seeing things. He pushed the thought away and concentrated on their immediate problem. Was that a cave? “Louie, what is that?” He pointed toward the horizon of rolling hills. There was a black spot in the gray rock face. It was only about a third of the way up. They could make it there. They had to.
She shook her head, jostling his chin. “All I se-se-see is rain. It’s really coming down now.”
It was. A curtain of water surrounded them. Even the tall, purplish flowered grass they waded through started to lean over from the weight of it.
“No one lives here.” Her voice wavered. “Bannon?” She turned toward him, gripping his waistcoat in her fingers. “We’re going to die, aren’t we?”
“Don’t give up on me.”
Lightning crackled down only a hundred feet or so from them, shaking the ground and letting out a deafening roar.
They both jumped, and Louie began shaking even harder. Her legs bent, and she slithered down his body to the ground and collapsed into a heap.
“Come on, get up. We can’t stop now. If we sit here, we’ll freeze to death.” Or drown. He reached down, trying to catch her under the arms and pull her up, but his shoulder protested, and she shrugged out of his grasp.
He bit his bottom lip to keep from whimpering and clutched his shoulder with his other hand. Gazing up at the mountain, he couldn’t find the long black spot. It had moved. He turned his head, frantically searching. There. It hadn’t moved; he had. He was closer now. The cave was not nearly as high up as he’d thought. He judged it to be at least one hundred yards till they reached the base of the mountain. “We have to make it to that cave.”
Blinking up at him with tears in her eyes, she shook her head. “I’m tired. Let’s rest for a few moments.”
He shook his head hard, his entire body protesting. He didn’t want to die. He couldn’t die. Not without his family knowing how sorry he was…. How much he loved them. “Louie, get u….” Damnation! She’d stopped shivering. Her last plea had been without a stutter. She was in shock. Even now as she lay down and stared up at him, her teeth weren’t chattering. She didn’t even try to blink the rain out of her eyes. That was a bad sign. Maybe he should cuddle her close and warm her. Get out of the wind.
Bannon tried to sit down next to her gracefully, but his knee finally buckled beneath his weight, and he crumpled to the ground. Pain shot up his thigh to his hip. He tried not to bellow but wasn’t entirely successful. Rubbing his thigh, he lay on his back, staring up at the darkening sky and furious spray of water. The sky was nearly black. Within an hour it would be night, the temperature would plummet. A sick feeling washed over him, followed by nothing. He felt numb, not just from cold, but his brain finally gave up. He couldn’t think, it hurt to breathe, and it hurt to move.
Louie crawled over, laid her head on his shoulder, and snuggled close.
Wrapping his arms around her, Bannon blinked back tears, knowing they couldn’t stay here. But perhaps they could just rest for a moment…. He didn’t want this to be the end. He hadn’t done anything with his life, not like his brother had. Tears streamed from his eyes. This was one mess Blaise wasn’t going to be able to rescue him from. The image of his brother’s smiling face haunted Bannon. He’d never imagined that Blaise’s wedding would be the last time he saw his brother and his parents.
Something jabbed him in the ribs, and a loud clacking reached his