Chapter Thirteen
TENNESSEE, FRIDAY 7:05
"Water." Danny's
eyes widened as they exited the clearing to see water.
They
had found themselves in a canyon; open and airy. It was one of the
most glorious spaces CJ had ever seen; the white mountains and white
rushing water. CJ ran to the water, walking briskly at first until
her stride turned into a run. She reached the water, and knelt,
cupping water in her hands. Danny knelt next to her and did the same,
taking a drink, which felt strange on an empty stomach.
CJ
threw water from the river on her dirty and sweat-ridden face, and
let out a sigh. It felt good.
"We should clean your wounds."
Danny took his other sleeve, ripping it and soaking it in the rivers
edge. CJ flinched as Danny went toward her neck.
"CJ!" He
yelled but stopped the action. "They could get infected. Let me do
this." He said sweetly.
"Ok." CJ realized she needed to
let herself be helped.
CJ slowly pulled off her mud caked
blouse letting it fall off her shoulders and lightly fall to her
waist. It hung on her arms, revealing her bare neck and shoulders.
She slowly lowered her head, causing her hair to part, Danny raised
his hand and looked at the beauty of the shape of her arch and took a
breath. He was awed by its form and hurt by the broken state it was
in. In all circumstances, Danny was after all in love with the woman
who sat wounded in front of him.
Danny laid the wet cloth on
the wound at the base of her head. CJ winced a tiny bit in reaction
and Danny let up. He dabbed the areas he needed to cover-- the spot
from her head to her neck. CJ moved her head to the left and lowered
it as Danny squeezed out the remainder of the water on her shoulders.
He took the cloth back to the river and repeated the process
again.
It was a surprisingly sensual moment as Danny tried to
wipe everything away inside and out. CJ felt it and Danny knew it,
but, as usual, they both tried to pretend it didn't exist. Danny
ran the water over her shoulders smoothly cleaning the mud and grass
off her back that had seeped through her shirt. CJ turned her head
and looked Danny in the eyes and he looked in hers. Danny took her
wrists lightly.
"Dunk your wrists in," he said removing
her bandages.
CJ kept her gaze on him for a moment then looked
away as she ran her wrists under the cool water, soothing the burning
of her injuries. Danny reached in and took her wrists from the water
and dried them with the other part of his ripped sleeve. CJ watched
him as he carefully and with precision ran the cloth softly in and
out of her rope burns. He took the now red, wet cloth and ran it one
more time over her wrists. He held her wrists in his right hand,
leaving her only for a moment to squish out the excess water before
returning one more time. He dried the wounds again and laid her
wrists on his knees as he re-bandaged them. For a moment after, the
two of them kneeling in front of each other, they didn't move while
they looked into each other's eyes.
"Thank you." CJ said
softly.
"Anytime." Danny smiled. CJ smiled back, but her
smile became a frown causing Danny to give her a bewildered look
back.
"Your head?" CJ said moving her hand to Danny's
face as for the first time she noticed a patch of dried blood peaking
out from his hair.
"It's nothing." Danny spoke reaching
for CJ's arm, holding his fingers there, feeling her cold and
smooth skin. He caressed it with his fingertips.
CJ took the
wet cloth and ran it over Danny's cut. He winced at the first touch
of the wet cloth.
"Don't be such a baby." CJ
remarked.
"It's cold." Danny defended himself, but soon
came under the trance of CJ's touches. CJ pulled away.
"Thank
you." Danny said to her sweetly.
"Any time." CJ gave the
same in return. "How's you head?" CJ extended her fingers
around Danny's head and through his hair where he had been
hit.
"I'll live." Danny smirked at his choice of words.
CJ didn't laugh as she spread her fingers through Danny's hair
holding her hand in place. Danny never wanted to kiss CJ more in his
life. CJ took a breath as they stared at each other. It was like they
were the only ones in the large canyon, forgetting how small they
were surrounded by the cavernous wilderness of mountains and water.
The sun was beginning to set.
Suddenly they heard a sound.
Danny and CJ turned their heads. Danny saw it first and then CJ. It
was the movement of a person, small and in the distance, at the edge
of the wilderness. CJ's stomach closed as they saw the figures of
one of the men who had taken her.
"Dave." CJ spoke in
fright. Danny grabbed CJ's hand and took off down the bay.
"Where
are we running?" she yelled. "We have no where to run."
"Just
be quiet." Danny told her.
"Hey!" yelled Dave as he saw
them. CJ heard gunfire, making it the fourth time in her lifetime she
was shot at, but not the last time she would jump at the
sound.
Danny took her up the river and down another group of
trees; all CJ could see were browns and greens. No dimension or
space. They hit a clearing as CJ felt a branch stretch against her
face and run through her hair. It made CJ thankful for her hour on
the treadmill every morning.
CJ could hear the rushing of
water, louder than she had heard before, as they entered the clearing
onto another river's edge. They ran over the rocks as Danny stopped
for a moment, not believing their luck.
"A boat." CJ said
in surprise as Danny took a look behind them to see who was
following. Danny and CJ ran to the small boat that resembled a small
kayak or rowboat.
"Get in." Danny told her.
"We
don't' even know where this thing goes," she said referring to
the river.
"We'll find out. Get in." CJ got in as Danny
pushed it slightly into the water.
"What are you doing?"
"I
have to set it out before—"
"There's only one
oar—"
"It's fine."
"I'm not good with
water, Danny."
"Do we have another choice!?" He let go
of the boat as it hit the edge of the water. "I'll be here the
whole time."
"Stop right there!" A voice was heard. CJ's
eyes lowered as she saw Dave's face holding a gun in their
direction. Danny moved his body in front of CJ as he turned toward
Dave, flushing his body against the boat. CJ stood.
"Don't
think just because my brother's in love with you doesn't mean I
won't shoot you," Dave said to CJ as he motioned her with the gun
to stay still. CJ crept back down in the boat.
"Let her go."
Danny tried to plead with him. "You can have me."
"What
do I want with you, reporter?" Dave stepped closer until he was
close enough to Danny to touch him. "I should just shoot you. Shoot
you both for all the trouble you've caused." CJ took a
breath.
"Just hear me out---" Danny still badgered the gun
toting man.
"Why do I need to hear you out?" Dave asked as
Danny moved his hands forward and back with his pleading. He could
feel the oar from the boat digging into his back.
"'Cause
I think there's one thing you're forgetting—"Before Dave
could speak Danny took the oar, with a move no one saw coming, and
flipped the gun out of Dave's hand, slamming him in the face. Dave
fell to the ground, knocked out cold.
"I can't find the
gun." Danny yelled looking around.
"Just get in!" CJ
yelled. Danny threw her the oar and pushed the boat even further out
of the water. CJ grabbed his arms as Danny climbed in.
A shot
was heard and Danny cried in pain.
"Danny!" CJ yelled as
he fell into the boat.
"GO!" Danny yelled to her as the
current took them. CJ saw the figure of Pete coming down the hill as
she ducked down and tried her best to paddle. CJ ducked as she heard
another bullet. Soon the boat began to drift rapidly with the
current, away from the shore, and away from Pete.
CJ stopped
rowing as water careened past them, slapping the boat.
"You
can't stop rowing." Danny told her, slumped in the corner. CJ
tried to continue rowing from side to side.
"I can't."
She seemed like she was about to really panic. "Danny!—"She
looked back, concerned for his well being.
"I'm fine.
Paddle! Ahh." Danny took a breath. "Don't you wish you took me
up on my offer to teach you to kayak?"
"One shut up! It's
not funny! Two, are you ok?" CJ looked at him. "And third shut
up!"
"How can I tell you how I am if you want me to shut
up?"
"I swear to god--- if I get out of this thing, I'm
finding people to work with who think sarcasm is not the only way to
answer a question."
"Look who's talking."
"That's
it. I'm letting this thing ride the current." She dropped the ore
and crawled to Danny's side.
"Where did they get you?"
CJ looked over his body as she noticed how pale Danny looked. This
was more serious then she thought. CJ saw a blood seeping from
Danny's shoulder. "Danny." Her eyes grew with tears at the
sight of Danny's shoulder.
"It's only a flesh wound."
He said in a haze. CJ took off her blouse and ripped the shoulder
like she'd seen Danny do.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"
"Ahh." Danny took a breath in with the pain. "Ok." He knew he had to do what she said now. He could feel himself losing blood fast. CJ moved Danny's shirt out of the way to reveal his bloodstained shoulder. CJ knew she had to breathe and get through this. They rushed down the river still. CJ took her sleeve and wrapped it around Danny's shoulder like a tourniquet.
"And here I thought you were stripping for me." Danny was in a low-blood haze, almost as if he was drunk. "Ahhhhhh!" Danny yelled as CJ tightened the last pull to secure it.
"I'm sorry." She cried. Tears falling off her nose hit Danny's chest. The sun was starting to set, fast.
"CJ, you have to paddle." He screamed with still enough of his full voice.
"I can't—I don't know how?."
"CJ, look at me." She looked at Danny. "You have to do this. One of us has to paddle, and it's not gonna be me. Ok? I'll be with you—I'll be here. I'll tell you what to do." He gave CJ a push with his hand on her shoulder. She took his hand, mixing his blood with her sweat. "I'll be here. Just listen to my voice."
CJ sucked in her tears and took the oar.
"Ok, CJ, now dip just the end in the water, push the water back and twist your body to repeat on the other side." The endearing way he spoke made CJ want to cry, but she held it in and did what Danny said.
"Danny, I can't."
"CJ, listen to me, don't rush. Just skim the top of the water with the end of the paddle, like you are pushing it out of the way. Twist your whole upper body, use those beautiful arms CJ, think of it as your workout for the day."
"Okay..okay! Wait...do you think I need to work out?" She tried to laugh through her tears.
"Of course not, but I know how much you love to use your workout as personal time."
"Yeah, well this is a little different Danny."
"Ok, then don't just paddle. In the water and push, lift and the other side. In, push lift and other side." Danny took his hands and placed them on her waste. CJ jumped at the touch, but Danny didn't move, he had to get her to paddle them out of there. He slowly moved her torso back and forth to show her the movements. Danny had to stop because it hurt to move, but she was getting it.
"Okay, okay" CJ felt the loss of his hands and shivered a little. She wanted so bad to just hold him, but she had to get them away from those madmen.
"That's it, CJ! Watch out for the swells of water; just hold the oar up when you hit a swell. If you don't you'll lose the oar in the water." Danny encouraged her. "You got it." The boat jumped up a current causing Danny to fall back against the boat. It hurt like hell, the pain from the bullet hurt like hell, and he tried for a moment not to pass out from it.
The water rushed even more as CJ's stomach rose and fell not only with the current, but also with the rise and fall of Danny's body. His agony pained her.
"CJ! Watch out!" Danny yelled to her. They hit a bump and CJ was set off her course. She could feel her grip loosen on the oar, but it was too late, as it fell overboard.
"NO!" CJ screamed. "No, no. No. No. No." CJ reached out into the darkness, hoping she could grab it.
"What happened?" Danny yelled form the back.
"I lost the oar." She cried. "It---
'You—"
"It fell overboard--" She lifted her head. "No. No!"
"CJ, it's ok. Don't worry." Danny's voice was low and hushed.
CJ crawled toward Danny. A bump in the water sent CJ next to Danny with a thud.
"You ok?" Danny asked.
"Yeah." She raised her head, catching Danny's eyes. Danny saw her worry as she saw how bad he looked. Danny was yellow and his eyes seemed off somewhere for a moment. "Danny?"
"We've passed the bad stuff---we can drift till someone finds us."
"What if no one--." She stopped herself. "Yeah."
"You're humoring me now."
The boat tossed, pushing CJ into Danny. He winced.
"You don't look good." CJ tried to hold back her tears.
"I thought you were humoring me?"
"You want me to?"
Danny paused for a moment. "No."
Danny leaned in and kissed CJ on the lips. It sent shivers through CJ's entire body.
"Why did you do that?"
"Cause it could be the last time I'll be able to do that--."
"Don't say that—"CJ stopped her sentence as Danny sent his hand over CJ's head smoothing down her hair and then sending it around her ear.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
CJ's eyes filled with tears again and she bit her lower lip holding in her emotion. CJ leaned her head to the left of Danny's and he continued stroking her hair. Once CJ had placed her head softly on Danny's chest he leaned in and kissed her on the head. The boat drifted.