Dogfight

Stay To The Shadows

                  ~Azazel~

   We have been traveling for close to three weeks now staying out of any cities or groups of people. I'm not sure where we're going but Jess says there's a land bridge that we must reach which means there's only one way in and one way out. I have no one to turn to myself so this is our only hope. We travel at night by the light of the moon and we sleep in anything that can cover our sent such as a moss covered log or a cave. If we can't find one we don't stop. The longest we pressed on was close to seventy two hours. This time around we are getting close to eighteen hours. 

   Tonight there is a thick fog as we climb down a rocky cliff to a large body of water. It is dark and every time the water hits the cliffs it sprays a cool mist making it even colder tonight. It doesn't help when Jess distances herself from me. I don't think it's intentional but when she's on high alert like tonight she is as cold as the stones we're climbing down. 

   We finally reach the bottom and it appears we have came to a dead end. Jess just stares into the vast unknown waters like she's looking for something. 

   I place my hand gently on her shoulder and she slightly jumps but then puts her hand on mine to my surprise. Without turning around she says "right now is high tide. When the water recedes we will only have a twenty minute window to cross. If it gets too high while we're crossing the currents will drag us out to sea." She turns around to look at me. "We are going to have to run most of this." She watches me awaiting my response. Even though this woman is cold I feel like I can trust her with my life so I just nod my head in response. 

   She hugs me catching me off gaurd but I wrap my arms to embrace her and take a deep breath in as I bury my head in her neck. "Let us get mate something to eat" Cole suggests and I think this is a great idea. I go to the edge of the water and gather anything I can find. I use my shirt as a make shift basket stuffing muscles and crabs into it when I see a few seagull eggs on a ledge. After I climb up and successfully grab the eggs I grab seaweed and place it over a stone making something kind of like a griddle. We haven't ate in two days but tonight we will eat like kings. 

   After I'm done I bring her to set by the fire and I heard her stomach growling and her face glows a cute pink and she rubs her hands up and down her arms. Something I've noticed she does when she's not sure how to respond to a gesture. I chuckle and shake my head leading her over to have a seat. 

   "Thank you" She says as I hand her two of the eggs and she doesn't hesitate. 

   "No I need to thank you..." I said and she looks up at me confused. "If you wouldn't had got me out of there I'd surely be dead and I'm sorry I have nothing to give you in return" I hang my head in shame.

   Jess growls "Don't you ever say something like that again! You are mine the only one who can see past me being a monster I don't need anything else than that." She grabs me under my chin making me look her in the eye. "You make me want to be better." I look into her beautiful green orbs and I see all the scars of her past but they aren't as dominate in the light of the fire. Instead I see pride, and love. 

   I clear my throat trying to breaks from our trance so we can have the strength we need to get over this land bridge. Jess breaks away and picks up her eggs but doesn't take her eyes off of me. She stares into my eyes as she eats her food and I pick at mine. 

   "You need to eat too or we won't make it" She says and with that encouragement we eat the rest of our food in a comfortable small talk. I got to know her better in this past hour than the entire time we have been together. I even seen her smile once which took my breath away. We talked until the sun started to reach the horizon. 

   We felt a gust of wind come from no where and the earth began to shake. I looked up to me and her serious face was back. She grabbed my hand and led me to the edge of the water. I know I should be more focused at the task at hand but I was relishing in the tingles that ran up and down my arm. She squeezes my hand as a stone bridge arose from the water and the race was on. 

   We ran as fast as we could. She let her beasts out to help push across the bridge faster. My lungs are burning and my muscles feel like they are on fire. We don't talk but you can hear both or hearts beating hard as we focus on breathing in through our nose out through our mouth. 

   We reach the three mile marker when I feel like I can't go on much longer when we see land on the horizon and a sense of relief washes over me until we start to feel the bridge beneath us shake. The bridge is slowly receding back into the sea from where it came. We push ourselves even harder. The water is just at our ankles but you can feel the current starting to push just like Jess said. We are about a fourth of a mile out when the water is at our knees knocking my legs from under me but Jess doesn't  let go. Instead she pulls me along with her until I can get my feet back under me. We finally reach the shore line pulling ourselves up the rocky shore as the current pulls our legs back. 

   I finally get where I can stand and I grab Jess because she was too tired to stand. I look around for cover just as I watched her do and found a fishing dock. She is now completely unconscious so I pick her up and carry her. I put her head to my chest and let her sleep. Once I get under the dock I lay against a rock and fall asleep from exhaustion myself while she lays on my chest.

   "Good night my love" I mumble letting my arms fall to my side.