I woke up warm lying on my pallet in my tent. It took me a couple of minutes to open my eyes and see the familiar top of the tent above me. All I wanted was to close my eyes and fall back asleep, but I knew Brennan wouldn’t be happy if I delayed their departure any longer, so I forced myself to keep my eyes open.
Only for it to hit me that I shouldn’t have woken up at all.
I had walked as far as I could from that tree. Each step had been agony and I could feel my slippers getting more and more soaked with my blood. The pain from the infection had gotten worse with every step, and with no one in sight, I had known I wasn’t going to make it.
Still, I hadn’t panicked. I’d thought I would, but there had been a strange calm in my mind as I had searched for a place to rest, and found that ro
