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It was pain that woke Beth. Pain in every part of her body, from her feet right up to her head, the kind of pain that stole her breath and had her wishing she'd never woken at all. Even opening her eyes hurt, light searing her eyes and it took several careful, shallow breaths before she even dared to try to move, and several more before she managed to push herself upright and look around.
It was daylight, and the car was empty. The seat she vaguely recalled Jamie being in the night before had no one in it, and for a moment, something inside her clenched. Had he left her here? All alone, exposed to anything? It wouldn't have surprised her.
She clawed for the door handle, gritting her teeth as she eased herself across the seat. Her ribs screamed at the movement, her gasp lost amongst the thumping of blood in her ears. It took another, cautious few breaths before she dared to push herself further, until her feet were dangling from the car and she braced herself for the small drop. However small, it jarred her whole body, and the cuts and bruises that covered her feet instantly protested the new position, her breath hissing out between her teeth.
Her body was a multicoloured patchwork, she noted, barely an inch that wasn't split open or purpled or stained with dried blood. But her shoulder… she gave it a curious poke, noting that there was a stained dressing covering the bullet wound. Jamie must have patched it up when she'd been unconscious. That provoked a whole new rush of emotions that she wasn't willing to examine too closely, shoving them down as she continued to inspect the worst injuries. There was definitely something going on with her ribs, although whether they were broken or just badly bruised was anyone's guess. The cut on her head almost faded into the background compared to some of her other injuries, albeit it didn't seem to be bleeding anymore. Although considering she seemed to be covered in dirt, she wasn't certain that was necessarily a good thing.
With a slow, careful steps, she limped around to the back of the car. And almost immediately stopped again. The two men from yesterday were no longer recognisable- their abdomens split open, clothes torn away and Beth knew what it looked like when animals scavenged a kill. She just didn't know how the sounds of it mere metres away hadn't woken her up.
A noise from behind her had her turning and after a moment's hesitation, she stepped forwards, venturing away from the car. It took her longer than it should have, her painstakingly small steps a far cry from her usual stride as she moved through the dry underbrush. But eventually, she was stood on the crest of a small hill, looking down.
Jamie was crouched down, his back to her but still looking as battered as she felt. It certainly wasn't relief that swirled in her stomach at the sight of him, she decided, licking dry lips and tilting her head to the side. "What are you doing?"
He jumped, looking round at her. Her voice was hoarse and uneven, and it was difficult to read her expression. "You're awake."
"You sound more surprised than you should."
He shrugged. "You took quite the knock to the head."
She blinked at him, apparently trying to decide how to answer that. "What are you doing?" She repeated instead, and he gestured to the ground in front of him.
"Tyre tracks. We might be able to follow them back to the road. The problem is, I don't know how far that is."
She looked at him disdainfully. "There's a perfectly good car back there."
"One that doesn't have any keys."
She stared at him, and he shrugged. He'd searched for hours, rifling the pockets on the bodies of the men, searching the jeep and the ground around them with painstaking care as soon as the sun had peeked over the horizon. He was sure that the keys weren't here.
"Roarke," Beth realised, and he nodded, rising to his feet.
"He took the keys. My guess is he didn't appreciate them screwing up and taking me. Or reducing the number of witnesses was always the plan."
"Shit." Beth wrapped her arms around herself, a frown settling onto her face as she stared at the landscape around them. They were miles away from anything familiar, she had no doubt that reaching a road by foot would be quite a journey. But equally, there wasn't a choice. No one was coming for them, there was no alternative.
"Can you walk it?" Jamie's gaze bore into her and she set her jaw, glaring back at him.
"Can you?"
He backed off, reached over to the pile of fabric that was once his suit jacket and pulled out a plastic bottle of water, holding it out to her. "I found it in the glove box. It's all there is."
The bottle isn't quite full, and she understands what he's saying all too well. The water is warm, with an odd aftertaste that has her grimacing as she swirls a sip around her mouth. It stings as much as soothes as it slides down her throat and she doesn't even care that it had been sat in that car for an unknown amount of time. She hands it back to Jamie, and for the first time realises he isn't using one hand. "Your fingers are dislocated."
He took a deep breath, ground his teeth. "I know that."
"Why haven't you fixed them?"
"I tried. Couldn't get them to go."
She searches his expression for a lie, but sees only annoyance and a hint of embarrassment. Without another word, she grabs his wrist and has the damaged fingers in her grasp before he can so much as protest, flexing and pulling them in one smooth motion.
"Jesus Christ! Beth!"
"Don't move." She tears a strip of fabric off of the bottom of her already-ruined dress, binding the fingers together before Jamie has even fully processed what was happening.
"What…?"
"Grow up on a ranch and can't fix dislocated fingers," she mutters, quickly tying off a tight knot before stepping backwards. "You're welcome."
He looks from her to his fingers and back to her again. "You know there's a bandage in the crappy first aid kit I found."
Her voice was as sugary sweet as possible. "I could dislocate them again if you like?"
Jamie blanched. "No. Thank you."
She scoffs, turning away and tracking the tyre tracks with her eyes. "What are we waiting for?" She begins to walk, and it takes him only a moment before he follows suit, supressing his sigh. Beth is silent as she steps between grass and various plants, and it's only partially from pain- each step she takes feels as if a knife is sliding into the soles of her feet, a sharp, burning pain that has her gritting her teeth and clenching her fists as she walks. In combination with the pain from the other bruising and cuts, it's almost unbearable. Almost. She has been hiding pain for as long as she can remember, and she sees no reason why that should change now. She pretends not to notice the covert glances Jamie shoots at her, fully aware that he's modifying his pace, walking slower to match her in a way he's never had to do before.
He's walking awkwardly too, one arm across his rib cage and for the first time she realises that he must be hurting as well. She might have been too out of it to see most of the scuffle, but she can't imagine that two men against one was an easy fight. Still, he hasn't said a word and she grants him that, not mentioning it when she sees that he starts to limp.
The sun is high in the sky when they stop for the first time, both sinking to the ground. They've been walking in silence for hours, but remarkably, it hasn't been tense. Jamie hands her the water without a word and she takes a sip, narrowing her eyes when he recaps it without drinking himself. "You need to drink too," she says without thinking, but winces when her voice is raw and pained. Jamie grimaced, and she thinks it's supposed to be a smile.
"I will if I need to."
She studied him with a small frown, head tilting sideways. "Why'd you do it?"
"What?"
"Fight."
He whips his head up so quickly she's surprised he doesn't hurt himself. He's gaping at her, looking so gormless that for a second she's tempted to poke his face just to see what would happen. But the temptation passes when he closes his eyes and shakes his head, letting out a quiet scoff. "Fuck's sake, Beth."
She raises an eyebrow. He raises his head to look straight at her, and she sees the muscle in his jaw twitch. "You really think I'd sit there and let them rape you?"
She flinches. Hopes he didn't notice. The truth was, she was surprised at how hard he'd fought (and even more so that he'd won). Surprised that he'd jumped out his car and come running to help. It would have been painfully easy for him to just… not.
"Beth." His hand is on her chin, gripping tightly as he turns her face towards him and he's wearing an expression she doesn't fully recognise. "You… we're family," he said, his eyes never leaving hers. "No matter what else there is. I would never let them touch you. You hear me? Never."
She stared at him in stunned silence. He has tried reaching out to her before using the 'we're family' phrase, albeit less and less as the years had passed. But this… this is something else entirely. A new beast, a new Jamie and she hates how she feels on the back foot with him.
He doesn't seem to be expecting an actual reply though, because he pushes himself to his feet and holds out a hand to her. "We should keep moving."
She hesitated for only a moment before she allows him to help her up. Both wince in pain, and both pretend they didn't. It works for them as they walk on, even as Jamie's limp becomes more pronounced and Beth is almost breathless from the effort it takes to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The cuts on her feet reopened long ago, and with each step she leaves a smear of blood in the dirt. Jamie doesn't appear to have noticed, but she's uncomfortably aware of just how easy it would be for a predator to track them. Or anything else, for that matter.
To both of their surprise, it's Beth who stumbles first. Her legs giving out beneath her, a hiss of pain escaping her as her bruised body is jarred. She remains on her knees in the dirt and sand for a long minute, not quite able to catch her breath, vision just a little blurry. Jamie crouched in front of her, face pinching in worry. "Do you need to stop?"
She answers him with a glare. Clambering back to her feet took more effort than it should have and once she's there, she sways on the spot, unaware that Jamie's hand is hovering a mere inch from her elbow, ready to catch her if she falls. She's sheet white as waves of pain rock over her, and it takes a minute before her eyes focus properly. Once they do, she sees the worried expression on Jamie's face. She scowls. "Stop looking at me like that."
But it lacks her usual bite, which does nothing to placate him. She turns away, hoping he doesn't notice how careful she's having to be as she begins to walk, gaze flicking down every so often to follow the tracks from the tyres. It's several seconds before she hears her brother scramble to catch up.
"Beth…"
"Shut up, dipshit, and walk. Unless you want to be out here after dusk?"
He doesn't bother trying to argue with her. Instead he merely keeps pace, ignoring the throbbing of his ribs and the way he can taste blood from his split lip as they trudge on, the landscape deceptively identical as they walk. Until without warning, Beth stops dead. "Look."
Her gaze is fixed into the distance, squinting in the sunshine. It takes him only a second to see what she's seeing. A cloud of dust, sprayed up by a car that was cutting across the space maybe a mile in front of them. Jamie looked grim. "What are the chances that we'd encounter a random car out here?"
Beth was already moving before he'd finished, limping away from the tyre tracks through the brush, bending as low as her ribs allowed. Jamie's a mere step behind her, but nowhere near as calm. "We're too exposed out here!"
She shoots him a glare over her shoulder. "He doesn't know to look for us yet. We're fine."
"Yet."
But despite his irritation at her apparent lack of care, he still catches her when she stumbles. This faster pace is no good for either of them, but they don't have a choice. There's little shelter out here, nowhere to hide. For the first time in years, Beth doesn't shake off his touch and they run together, a half lurching, half tripping run where they're basically holding each other upright while casting anxious glances over their shoulder.
Jamie spots it first. "There."
They change course, veering to the right and Jamie doesn't hesitate, sliding down the shallow bank with little heed to his injuries. The dip was once a riverbed, maybe, or perhaps simply a quirk of the earth. Regardless, it can hide them both from view, and he reaches up to help Beth without even thinking about it, supporting her weight until she's on firm ground and they both collapse to the floor, panting and breathless as they listen. The quiet openness of the land means that they can hear the car's engine clearly, despite the distance from the tracks. There's no need to peek out from their hiding place, and it's mere minutes until the sounds grows to its loudest, before it begins to fade again. They both exhale relieved breaths, and once the sound of the engine has faded into the distance, Jamie glanced over to Beth. "Do we stay here? Or risk running?"
She's pale, even more so than normal, breathing harder than was warranted. Which answered his question for him, he supposed, frowning when he sees that there's fresh blood on her shoulder. Beth followed his gaze, and grimaced.
"Let me see." Jamie reaches out to move her dress back, but she batted him away.
"Unless you have a fresh dressing hidden in that tailored suit, there's no point."
But something else had caught his attention. Before she could react, his hand snakes out and presses to her forehead. She practically snarled, hitting out at him but he barely notices. "You're burning up."
"Don't be such a fucking mother hen."
"Beth…"
"We should keep moving."
He frowned. "We might not find another place to hide. The chances of them finding us here are slim."
"The chances of us dying here are not," she snapped. "You stay if you fucking want to, you pussy."
And before he knows what's happening, she's on her feet and walking away, a little wobbly but determination in every step. If Jamie strains, he can still hear the faint sound of the car's engine in the distance and he cusses under his breath, hurrying to fall into step with Beth. She doesn't acknowledge his presence, but he wasn't really expecting her to.
It's an odd sort of tenseness, waiting for the sound of a car somewhere behind them. They return to the tracks, following them made easier by the multiple sets now etched into the ground. At one point, they dare to leave the tracks and cut across the landscape to where they think they'd seen the Morris drive across, but it had taken nearly an hour for them to find the tyre tracks again. It did cut off a large portion of walking, though, so neither said a word and simply continue their trek.
More than once, Jamie thinks he hears noises from behind them and they both freeze, spinning on the spot and listening intently. But each time it's a false alarm and they hurry on, painfully aware that they are exposed out here. As time passes, they each grow tenser, more aware that Roarke must know they escaped and will be looking for them- by this point, they're both tripping frequently, Beth's breath coming in small gasps while Jamie clutches at his ribs with every step. It's difficult to tell the time out here, but Jamie has enough practice at looking at the position of the sun to know it's now late afternoon. Beth will definitely have been missed by now, he thinks, squinting up. Not that that helps much. Who would think to look for them here?
A loud thump jolts him from his reverie. Beth has fallen to the ground and he waits for her to swear, the push herself upright and climb back to her feet. Only she doesn't. She doesn't move at all, and Jamie feels something inside him clench as he drops to his knees beside her. "Beth?"
She's always been pale, but now her skin is a shockingly white colour, the dried blood all the more striking against it. Jamie shakes her, his own heartbeat racing. "Beth!"
But she doesn't respond. Her eyes are closed, her breathing painfully shallow and of course that's when Jamie hears the faint hum of an engine somewhere behind them. They're in the middle of a flat, his tattered suit and her dress doing nothing to disguise them within the landscape and he can't carry her, doesn't have the strength between his bruised ribs and the lack of water. "Beth, you have to wake up!" He shakes her again, casts a frantic look over his shoulder. "Beth!"