Chapter 21 Chasing Jeff
Bogg's assailants stood in shock, until one of them looked at Jeffrey and grunted, "get him." Jeff jumped back down to where he'd first landed and turned and ran as fast as he could, across the road and into the woods. He ran blindly, in a panic, sure those men would hunt him down and kill him. He stumbled, caught himself, and kept running, aware of a pain in his arm, but also that the threat chasing him was much more serious. He ran through the woods until it was pitch dark and he couldn't see even his hand in front of his face because there was no moon at all. Then, suddenly he stopped and lay down on his side, too exhausted to think. He listened intently and tried to make his breathing be as quiet as possible. There was silence all around him, maybe they had given up the chase.
He lay still, and as he calmed down, he thought about his situation. Bogg would be back, and he'd be looking for him, Jeff was sure of it. But he was nowhere near the spot the omni had put them down. That would be where Bogg would start his search, and Jeff had to get back there. But where was it? He'd run so far, and he'd been in a panic. He wasn't sure he could find that place again. Where would Bogg look if he wasn't there? All of a sudden, he knew that he had to try to find water. In the morning he would listen and search for running water, and he'd leave signs for Bogg to find.
His arm hurt and he put his hand over the injured area and held it still. It was moist and sticky but it was too dark to see how much blood there actually was. He sighed, resigned to the idea of a long, dark, chilly night alone, but comforted by the thought that Bogg would be doing his best to find him.
He wasn't sure how he'd decided to pitch the omni at Bogg, but at the time it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world. He'd been trying, off and on, to imagine what he'd do if he had the omni and Bogg had fallen off the cliff at the edge of that waterfall a week or so ago. He'd thought he hadn't come up with a solution, but now he realized his brain must have been working on it all along. The solution to that problem had obviously been rattling around inside his brain and had taken hold even without any conscious thought. It was definitely a good game, but even though he'd found a way to help Bogg, he now had to face the reality that although he'd sent Bogg back to headquarters, Bogg didn't know where he was and Jeff had no way to communicate with him. He didn't even know for sure if Bogg was okay, he'd been hit pretty hard with the butt end of that 2x4.
"Please be okay Bogg, I need you" he whispered.
Author's Note: Again, this is one of the sentences I wrote before I wrote the story, "He wasn't sure how he'd decided to pitch the omni at Bogg, but at the time it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world."