Determinant: a gene or other factor that determines the character and development of a cell or group of cells in an organism.
Chapter 17: Walls of Jericho - A Long Walk
Logan's past comes back to haunt him and Jamie as they trek through the Canadian wilderness.
Two weeks after she'd graduated the second grade, Jamie had broken her ankle playing down by the creek with her cousins. Stephen had dared her to do something stupid - truthfully, she couldn't even recall what. But, being the only girl in her generation and constantly surrounded by competitive boys, she'd done it. Because back when she was eight, the only thing that she'd ever had to worry about was being home in time for supper.
The pain had been awful. Jamie remembered the scream that had come almost immediately after the sickening crack of her bones. Even now - over twenty years later - she remembered being confused at the sound until she realized it was coming from her. Reese had carried her back to his house with the twins trailing frantically behind. Her aunt and youngest cousin, Charlie, had met them on the porch with worried expressions and words of comfort. And even though her ankle was swollen and discolored, even though it throbbed with every beat of her heart, she felt better because she knew her family would take care of her.
She was safe.
Jamie stifled a hiss of pain as she stepped wrong, her foot unused to balancing with only four toes instead of five. Logan hadn't been lying when he'd said it would hurt despite the numbness in her foot. His aim had been good at least; her large toe had been amputated right at the joint. It hadn't bled much because of the cold. Jamie guessed she should be thankful for small miracles.
"You okay?" Logan's voice was loud in the stifling silence of the forest.
"Yeah," she dismissed his concern and hid her pain when he looked back over his shoulder. He frowned but kept walking.
"We should take a break," he pushed. "We've been walking for hours."
"We need to get as far as we can before nightfall," she countered shortly. She was still royally pissed at him, and her anger combined with the agony to make her terse and grouchy. Her stomach growled to remind her that she hadn't eaten in - was it almost a full day now? She added hunger to the list of things that were shortening her temper.
Ahead of her, Logan - whoever he really was - grumbled something under his breath. She guessed it was probably unflattering so she ignored it. If they didn't find shelter before the sun set they'd likely freeze tonight. Their food stores had run out the night before, and without the added energy boost there was little chance they'd survive another night of sub-zero temperatures.
She stumbled again and was unable to contain the curse that slipped out. Logan turned and crossed his arms stubbornly.
"We're stopping," he told her.
"I'm fine," she insisted, shuffling a few more steps to walk past him and take the lead.
His arm came out and barred her path, pressing against the jut of her collarbone through her jacket. "Just a few minutes," he bargained. "I need to change your dressing anyway."
He was right, but Jamie was still mad at him so she didn't say it. Instead, she let her pack fall from her shoulders and hobbled to a nearby rock. Logan dug through her bag and pulled out the meager first aid kit she'd found in Anik's basement. The medication inside had long expired, but there was a roll of medical tape, a few strips of gauze, and several bandaids inside.
She swatted his hands away when he tried to help her with her laces. He frowned but said nothing, letting her pull the string almost fully from the boot in order to get her foot out without jostling it too much.
The bandage was saturated with reddish-brown blood, but as he carefully unwrapped her foot she was glad to see that the rest of her foot looked good. The infection had been stopped. Logan wiped away the seepage on the gaping wound as Jamie shoved a handful of snow into her mouth to keep from screaming. It melted and slid down her throat as Logan rewrapped her foot with a clean bandage.
"We're running out medical supplies," he told her when he was done. "How close are we?"
Jamie shrugged and slid her boot back on. "Not sure how far off course we got." She laced it and cinched it tight. "Shouldn't be more than a day or two."
"You think we can last that long without food?" he growled.
"Yeah, well," she pushed herself to her feet and lifted her pack from the ground, "if you had been upfront with me from the beginning, we might have gotten there by now."
She couldn't see his face but she could hear the derision in his tone as he rose to follow her. "Yes, because that's the reason we're lost, not the fact that beavers redirected an entire river to flood a mine."
She knew it probably wasn't fair to blame their delays on him, but he was the only target she had at the moment so he could just deal with it. They walked for a bit longer over rough, craggy land. A gentle breeze swayed the trees, and through the intermittent cloud cover the sunbeams danced off the rocks. Jamie might have enjoyed herself if this were a simple day hike (freezing temperatures notwithstanding) but having been out in the elements for almost four days now, she was tired of it.
"It's getting dark," Logan pointed out.
"Yeah, I can see that," she hissed. She really had hoped to find something resembling shelter for the night. Without it, their chances of making it to morning dropped drastically.
"We should find some firewood." She knew he was trying to be helpful, but every moment she spent in his presence only reminded her that he'd lied to her. They separated enough to look in different areas for anything useable, but the snow had soaked every branch and twig lying on the ground.
Jamie stooped to pick one up from beneath the shelter of a tree root, thinking maybe the cover had protected it from the elements. But it squished between her fingers as she lifted it, and Jamie scoffed.
"You know," Logan called from several yards away, "something tells me you're still pissed."
He was doing this now? Okay, then. "You lied to me." The stick made a dull thud as she tossed it hard against the tree trunk. "Over and over again. About your girlfriend dying, about why you're out here."
"That's because I didn't want you to run away. Which," he pointed out, "you did anyway. And for what it's worth, now I've told you everything."
It wasn't worth much.
Off in the distance an animal growled. It sounded like a wolf, and Jamie shivered. Logan raised the gun and pulled the hammer back.
"Hey, what are you doing?" She tried to reach for him, but he was too far away.
He aimed high. "I'm scaring him away."
"No, you're ringing the dinner bell," she chided. "They hear that, they're all gonna come running."
Logan paused, then relented, releasing the hammer and tucking the sidearm away. "Why'd you have to mention dinner? Now I'm freezing and starving."
She guessed he was probably starving before. She was, too. Maybe at least a fire would raise their spirits and keep the animals away. She looked for a dry stick - even a dry twig would be good now - but it was futile.
Logan wasn't having any better luck. "This is useless; everything's soaked."
She turned to him and her eyes fell on the duffel bag resting against his side. "Not everything." She knew for fact from her earlier snooping that he had a large bundle of cash inside. His duffel was well insulated, and had kept everything inside nice and dry.
He followed her gaze and shook his head. "Not my money!"
"We have to," she reasoned.
"No, there's not -"
"It's the only dry thing we have."
"No, there's not a chance," he argued.
"Hey!" she cut him off angrily. "We are going to die out here. It is negative degrees. We have no shelter. If we don't get a fire lit soon, a severed toe is gonna feel like a massage."
He grimaced, then sighed. Defeated, he slid the strap over his head and tossed the bag to the ground. "You're right," he said. "We're gonna die out here anyway."
Sounding more confident than she felt, Jamie knelt and began unzipping the bag. "Not tonight."
It took some doing, but eventually they found an area that was relatively protected from the wind. She piled the money up neatly and laid sticks around it so they could dry to be used later. Jamie had grabbed a lighter from Anik's before she'd left in case she had to build a fire. Luckily it still had fuel.
The bills caught quickly, and in no time at all they had a nice campfire going. The heat felt like heaven, and they both huddled as close as they could without getting singed. After they had both warmed up a bit, Jamie filled the water bottle with snow and set it by the fire to melt. Logan collected some rocks and set them in a rough circle around the flames, and when they'd grown warm enough he stuffed them inside his coat.
"Does that work?" Jamie asked him.
"It doesn't hurt," he countered, and she did the same. The heat from the rock seeped through her layers of clothing and warmed her chilled skin.
"We'll sleep in turns," Jamie offered. "You can go first."
"You sure?" Logan looked about ready to fall out.
Jamie wasn't much better, but she could manage a few more hours. "Yeah, go ahead. I'm too wired to sleep right now."
They slept in two hour shifts. Jamie woke Logan up with a rough kick, greedily taking his place by the fire as he perched on the log. She'd warmed some stones while he slept, and now they were nestled snugly at her waist as she bedded down. Her pack wasn't the best pillow she'd ever had, but it beat lying her head on the cold ground.
Despite her previously wandering mind, Jamie didn't dream. She supposed her body and mind were trying to recover from the grueling ordeal she was subjecting them to. She took her second shift a little less eagerly, forcing herself to wait just a few more moments before waking Logan for his turn.
He blinked blearily as she woke him, and as his mind tried to hold onto the last vestiges of sleep he looked different. The hard lines of his face were softened slightly, as though he had slipped off a mask. Then his eyes locked with Jamie's in the flickering firelight, and he frowned.
"Already?" he croaked.
"'Fraid so." She waited rather impatiently as he vacated what had quickly become their sleeping area. He yawned and stretched as she laid down, and as she drifted off she heard him toss the last of the cash onto the burning pile. The sticks she'd dried out earlier were piled just out of reach of the embers, ready to be used whenever their first fuel source dwindled. Jamie couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, and as they fell closed she thought she heard someone whisper her name.
"Jamie," it came again, and she spun around. Only she wasn't on the cold ground any longer. All around her the trees moaned in the wind, creating a frightening cacophony that sent a shiver down her spine.
"Jamie," the voice called once more, and this time she knew it.
"Mitch?"
"Jamie!" Mitch's voice was all around her, slipping in and around the tree trunks like a snake, but no matter which way she turned she couldn't pinpoint his location.
"Mitch, where are you?"
"Jamie, run!"
From the shadows a wolf emerged, larger than she'd ever seen before. Its eyes were yellow as it snapped viciously, pulling its lips back from its gleaming white teeth. Jamie felt its growl shake her very bones, and finally her body heeded Mitch's warning.
She ran.
At first she tried to outmaneuver it, zigzagging through the trees. But no matter which way she twisted and turned, the wolf was always on her heels, snarling and snapping. She hit a clearing and sprinted, straining her muscles to their absolute limit as she tried to outrun the beast. Still it gave chase, easing its gait to give her just enough room to feel safe before closing the distance with a menacing bark.
"Run, Jamie!"
Gee, thanks Mitch. I hadn't thought of that!
Jamie knew she couldn't keep this pace forever. Sooner or later the wolf would catch her, and she would die. She turned her head to see how close the beast was. In that instant it lunged, slamming into her back and sending her crashing to the ground under gnashing teeth and the feel of its hot, acrid breath on her neck.
Jamie bolted upright, her eyes wide and wild as her chest heaved with the effort of the distance she'd never run.
"Jamie?" Logan's quiet voice was tinged with concern, and over the fire she could see he'd half-risen from his place on the log.
"I'm fine." She ran her fingers through her grimy hair, longing for a warm shower and a hot meal. "Just a nightmare."
"Worse than the one we're living right now?" For all his faults, Jamie had to give him his due for trying to lighten the mood with his dry humor.
"No," she chuckled, but then shook her head. "Yes. I...it was just a dream."
"Alright," Logan stood. "It's almost dawn anyway. At least I think it is. You've been asleep for about two hours or so."
"Okay." Jamie pushed herself up and stretched, wincing as she overbalanced on her right foot.
"How far do you think we are from Caraquet?" Logan asked as she limped over to his side of the fire.
"We should get there today." Truthfully she had no idea, but they couldn't be far.
"What then?"
"My friends will find us there," she answered confidently. "We can take you wherever you want after that."
"And if they're not there?"
"They will be." There was no alternatives, no maybes. Her friends would be there. Mitch would be there.
Logan pursed his lips, but said nothing more on the subject. "I need to change the dressing again," he pointed to her foot.
For all the comfort and security the fire provided them, it had also restored most of her circulation. When Logan peeled the bandage off, she felt the hot stab of pain shoot up to her hip. He grabbed the bottle, now full of hot water, and poured it over the bloody area.
"Son of a bitch!" Jamie hissed.
"Almost done," he promised. "Don't want you losing your whole foot."
Jamie tried to focus on something else as he wiped the bloody water and grime away. "Yeah, you just don't want to carry me."
He chuckled and reached for the last of their medical gauze. "What makes you so sure your friends are gonna meet you in Caraquet?"
"Before I took off from the compound, I left a message on the roof," she braced herself back on her arms and watched him tape the gauze to her foot.
"A message?" he glanced up.
"Caraquet," she explained. "I spelled it out in rocks."
"You think your friends are gonna be able to spot a town name that you wrote on a roof?"
"Yeah, they will." The pain was subsiding back into the dull ache that seemed to be ever-present. She wondered if it would ever go away. She wished Mitch was here so she could ask him. Hell, she wished Mitch was here period. Jamie wondered what he was doing right now. Was he looking for her?
Of course he is, she scolded herself. If their situations were reversed, she'd be searching for him every waking moment.
"Mitch will," she went on.
Logan's brow raised curiously. "Mitch?"
Was that a note of jealousy in his voice? Oh no, she thought, this can't be happening. "Yeah, Mitch. He's my…" What was he again? They hadn't done much more than kiss, so she couldn't call him her lover. Boyfriend sounded too trite and, though he was significant in her life, she wasn't sure if that label fit either.
Logan either didn't notice how she'd trailed off or had ignored it. "Well, you're sure putting a lot of stock into this Mitch guy if you think he's gonna spot your little rock message, know that it was you who left it, and make his way all the way to Caraquet." His demeanor had changed at the mention of Mitch and Jamie groaned internally. That was all she needed right now.
Jamie hadn't let herself think about Mitch for the last few days, focused as she was on surviving. Daydreaming while trekking through the Canadian wilderness just didn't seem like a great idea. Now that they were relatively stationary for the time being, she allowed her mind to wander. She remembered how focused he had been during those early tests, not invested in the outcome but in the mystery that had been presented to him. His dry, sometimes blunt remarks had actually endeared him to her somewhat, and she had been pleased to see that he dropped his brash, snarky facade whenever they were alone. He was smart as well as witty, and he made her laugh - something that had been lacking her life. And, not only had he taken her seriously, he'd gone out of his way to help her on her personal quest. The implication of that hadn't been lost on her, and as their time together grew so, too, had her feelings for the cynical scientist.
Jamie hadn't had a lot of people in her corner in a long while. Watching Mitch effectively place his life on hold for her had a profound effect. He'd flown halfway around the world and back, been shot at, held hostage, mauled by a bear, survived a plane crash...all because she'd asked him to accompany her to Louisiana with a flimsy piece of evidence and a theory. If he cared about her that much - loved her that much - then a little thing like 20 kilometers or so of bleak wilderness wouldn't stop him from finding her.
Jamie settled on the only thing she could think of to reply to Logan's jealousy. "Yeah, well, you don't know Mitch." It seemed like enough, because Logan remained quiet. She hoped that was the end of it; she did not relish the thought of being the target of Logan's affections if he hadn't gotten the hint.
Moments later a sound pierced the hush around them, and Jamie feared she was hallucinating. She hadn't slept well in days, and the only thing she'd eaten in 24 hours was handfuls of snow. The hypervigilance their situation warranted didn't allow for any respite, and she'd read stories of people going crazy in similar circumstances; she just never thought she'd be one of them. Then she saw the headlights that accompanied the purr of an engine and her heart leapt.
"Hey!" She jumped up and started waving her arms frantically. "Hey! Hey!"
Logan stood beside her and she expected to hear his voice add to hers in a cry for help. But it didn't. His arms came out to grab her and haul her back down while his feet worked to kicked dirt over their campfire.
"What are you doing?" Jamie watched as their only source of heat was snuffed out. "What's wrong with you?" The car drove by them and showed no indication they'd seen the two travelers in the middle of the forest.
Still, Logan sounded worried. "Maybe I didn't tell you everything," he admitted. "We need to go."
He pulled her to her feet hastily, and Jamie hissed in pain. Her foot was definitely not appreciating the rough treatment.
"Are you kidding me?" she yelled at his back, but his only response was to turn with a finger at his lips.
"Shh!"
He set a grueling pace, ignoring her protests and only slowed slightly to allow for her injured gait. Every time she tried to ask a question he shut her down, insisting that they keep moving. Finally Jamie had had enough.
"Logan, wait!'
"We have to keep moving," he repeated.
"No," she resisted. "I want to know what's going on. Are those the guys that hired you?"
"Yes."
'Well, just tell them the truth. Tell them the leopard's gone." There was more to his story - he'd admitted as much himself - but getting it out of him was going to be difficult.
"It's more complicated than that," was all he replied.
Well, Jamie could be stubborn, too. She came to a halt in a small clearing. "I'm not moving until you tell me what's going on."
He turned with an expression that was part frustration, part fear. Whoever these guys were, Logan was terrified of them. "You're gonna get us killed."
Obviously, there was only one way to get the information out of him. "No," Jamie glanced around, "I'm gonna find a place to sit down. Because, uh, running around on nine toes kind of takes it out of a girl."
"Okay, okay, fine," Logan relented. "They paid me. Hired me, like I said. But they only paid me ten grand."
That couldn't be right. "You had a lot more than that in that bag."
"I know," Logan hedged. "I wasn't mine. It was a...down payment. From a buyer."
"You're a thief," Jamie clarified.
"No, I'm a dead man. And so are you if they find out we burned their money. I mean, not a man," he stammered nervously, "but a...you know, you'll be dead."
"Alright, just -" Jamie stopped him before he could ramble further. "They can't find us. Let's go."
In what was probably the world's fastest acting spite the world had ever sent her way, another voice cut through the forest.
"Hi, Logan." The man was in his thirties, with scraggly brown hair and hard eyes. He held a gun lazily in his right hand, but Logan raised his arms anyway. Around them, two more men emerged from the woods. "You have something that belongs to us," the first man continued. "We'd like it back now."
"I don't have it," Logan answered quickly. "We got attacked by a pack of wolves, I had to leave it."
It was a flimsy lie, and the man didn't look convinced. Still, he humored them. "Where?"
"About a mile back that way," Jamie pointed.
He looked at one of his companions and gestured with his gun. "Go." He did, leaving Jamie and Logan facing two very angry looking men. "You two, over there," he herded them between a pair of trees then gestured at Jamie. "Give me that bag."
She slid it off her shoulders and handed it over quickly before raising her hands to mimic Logan's pose. Their captor kept the gun in his hand as he rifled through the pack.
"This is all you have?" he laughed. "I'm honestly surprised you two haven't died from exposure or starvation yet. You're like a cockroach, Logan. Hard to kill, huh?" Logan wisely kept his mouth shut as the man upended the bag and dumped its meager contents on the ground. "I don't see any money," he teased. He knew they didn't have it.
"I told you," Logan said finally, "I tossed it when we started running. Just figured you guys would find it."
"Well, we didn't," he tossed the bag to the ground. "And if we don't, I'm gonna throw you off a cliff."
Jamie had no idea what possessed her to stick her neck out for Logan, but she couldn't let him die for this. "He's telling the truth. I watched him do it."
In the distance, some animal made a horrifying sound that startled all of them. Well, all of them except for the man with the gun.
He just smiled. "Sounds like the clock is ticking."
Jamie recalled her dream and thought being eaten by wolves would be a horrible way to go, but being shot to death by people who weren't even after her was worse. As Logan tried to reason with the man, Jamie searched for a way out. If he came closer, she could try for the gun. She didn't like her chances against him, but she had the element of surprise on her side.
"Mace!" The other guy was back. "Found it a mile back next to a burnt out campfire."
The bag was clearly empty and Mace's expression was almost incredulous. "You burned the money?" He edged closer to Logan, murder in his eyes.
"It was my idea," Jamie insisted. "We needed to not freeze to death."
Mace looked at her for a moment, as if gauging the truthfulness of her statement, then laughed. "Nice try." He didn't believe her. "It's a good way to throw us off, but I'm not buying it." He took a few more steps until he was within arm's reach. "Tell you what, though," he cocked the gun and lifted it toward Logan's face. "I don't need two of you to show me where it is."
"Please," Logan begged, "I will get you your money, okay."
Jamie calculated her odds of survival if they killed Logan. Once they realized they really had burned the money, she was as good as dead. They wouldn't want any witnesses, and Jamie was a very troublesome loose end. She watched Mace's finger squeeze the trigger and she knew it was time to act.
Her right hand shoved his arm up as her body collided with his. The shot went high and wide, and Mace snarled.
That wasn't Mace, her brain warned.
"Watch out!" It was the last thing Mace's companion said before his throat was ripped out by the brindled wolf that had leaped from the treeline. The men screamed as two more wolves emerged, and she heard Mace howl in pain as one descended on him. Jamie managed to roll free before the beast could get her as well, and she fled without looking back.
She had no idea how long she ran, but cloud cover and a thick canopy made it hard to see even just a few feet in front of her at a time. Her foot and the crisp air required her to make frequent stops, and finally she couldn't go any further. She slowed to find a place to rest, hoping the wolves hadn't followed her.
Jamie grunted as something ambushed her from behind and she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the pain of teeth tearing at her flesh. But then she was jerked back, pulled from her feet to land hard on her back, and she saw him. Mace had found her.
He was bloody from the wolf attack but he must have gotten free somehow. She wondered idly if that meant Logan was already dead. Mace reached down with a vicious snarl and yanked her to her feet. She cried in pain as he slammed her against the nearest tree trunk. He was furious, and Jamie used all of her remaining strength to fight him off. It wasn't enough.
The glint of a knife blade made her pause, and Mace sneered. "Where's my money?"
He was holding her at arm's length with his left arm, pinning her to the tree as he brandished the blade near her throat. Reasoning with the man was no longer an option; he was ready to kill her.
But Jamie wasn't ready to die. "We burned it," she growled and lashed out with a well placed kick between his legs. Mace howled and dropped the knife to clutch at his trousers, giving Jamie a perfect shot at his jawline. She swung her fist and connected, sending him sprawling to the ground as she made a break for it.
She didn't get far. Mace reached out for her boot, grabbing her bad leg and sending her into the mud with him. She could feel him clawing at her, using her to crawl closer. But Jamie saw her salvation, and quickly grabbed at the discarded knife just inches away. Her fingers closed around the hilt as Mace scrambled up on all fours. His hands moved to her chest, then her throat as she thrashed beneath him. She kicked up with her good leg and he moved to block, sending them both tumbling over a small embankment. He kept a hold her as they rolled, bouncing off the rocky ground until they came to rest at the bottom. His weight on her was heavy, and Jamie grimaced as his leg connected solidly with her bad foot.
Suddenly he stilled, and Jamie realized that her hand had been trapped between them - the hand that had grabbed the knife. Mace recoiled slightly and Jamie shoved, pushing him off of her as she clamored for freedom. The blade was sunk to the hilt in his chest, and Mace's anger and rage had been replaced by something like fear. He was afraid to die.
Jamie watched his mouth move to form words that never came, his hands floating aimlessly as he shuddered and drew his last breath. Just like that, she'd killed another man.
Revulsion swept through her and she turned her head to be sick. She hadn't eaten anything in a couple of days, so her stomach just lurched over and over again. Finally it was over, and Jamie rinsed the taste of bile from her throat with handfuls of dirty snow.
Exhausted and weak, Jamie tried to stand, but her legs wouldn't cooperate. You have to get moving, she scolded herself. Get up.
But it was no use. She crawled away from the dead man on the forest floor and rested her back against a rock. She had no supplies, no food, and no shelter. Even if she could get up, she had no idea where she was anymore. Tonight was the night she died, and even though she was dehydrated, she felt tears slipping down her cheeks.
I'm sorry Mitch. I tried. I'm sorry.
Finally her eyes slipped closed, and her last thoughts were of a wry smile and warm brown eyes.
"Jamie." She knew that voice. "Jamie, get up." It was Mitch. He'd found her!
She wanted to obey, wanted to get up and go to him, but her body simply wouldn't let her. I can't.
"Yes, you can." Had she said that out loud?
Her eyes opened slowly, and Jamie almost expected to be lying in a hospital bed somewhere. But when her vision focused she saw only trees and snow and she shivered. A dark form stood just a few feet away, and Jamie very nearly cried at the sight of him.
"Mitch?" she groaned. "You found me." A little too late, she thought. I'm going to die.
"You're not going to die today," he corrected. "You need to get up."
Jamie wondered why he wasn't trying to help her, why he wasn't by her side cradling her against his warm body. Then she realized the truth.
"You're not real," she breathed.
He chuckled then, in that way she missed so much, and Jamie didn't care that he was just a figment of her mind. Seeing him again, even in a near-death delusion, was like coming home. "Come on, Jamie. You have to get up. You can do it."
Her entire body felt like a misshapen block of lead, and her muscles screamed at the very idea of movement. But she moved anyway.
"That's it," Mitch encouraged. "I can't find you in the middle of the forest, but I can in Caraquet. You have to get to Caraquet."
Slowly, like honey on a winter's day, she managed to pull herself to her feet.
"Keep moving," Mitch told her. "I'm coming."
Jamie closed her eyes against the throbbing pain in her head, and when she opened them again he was gone. Echoes of the vision rang in her ears, and she suddenly felt warm enough to continue on. She knew it was just a dream, that it was just her subconscious telling her not to give up, but it was still good to hear Mitch's voice again. She had to stay alive long enough for him to find her, and he couldn't do that if she died in the middle of nowhere. She had to get to Caraquet.
Her eyes fell on the body lying a few feet away, and she clenched her jaw to keep from gagging again. He'd come in a truck - she remembered the headlights - which meant it was still parked somewhere waiting for them to return. Jamie swallowed thickly and bent to search the body for keys, hoping Mace had them and not one of the other two.
"Jamie?"
It was Logan, far away and frantic, but alive. She snatched the keys from Mace's belt loop and stood. "Logan! I'm here!"
She was cold and hungry and in pain. She was tired, exhausted beyond anything she'd ever experienced before. But she was also alive, and she intended to stay that way.
Caraquet, she repeated her mantra once more as she set off in the direction of Logan's voice. I have to get to Caraquet.
A/N: The title for this chapter comes from a song of the same name by the band, Walls of Jericho.