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He lowered himself against the inside of the cave, leaning against the wall. It was rough and uneven, but it gave his back some much needed support. His leg stretched outright, it throbbed with pain. Bret couldn’t move it without feeling the intensity stretch and vibrate out through his muscle fibers like it was a growing spider web.
Stephanie dropped to her knees beside him and opened her backpack. She took out a first-aid kit and some tape. Apparently, she had come with more supplies than he originally asked for. Smart girl. It was Bret who had been dumb in all of this but when he woke up and she was missing...when he had seen the mountain lion, is brain kicked into autopilot.
And he made one stupid mistake after another. Some Wilderness Billionaire he was.
“How is it?” She asked him. She shined her flashlight onto his leg wound.
“Not bad,” he lied. He had lost a decent amount of blood and could feel it running down his leg. It wasn’t a critical amount but enough to keep his energy low. Getting out of here was going to be downright impossible even if he discounted climbing the ledge to the waiting helicopter.
“It’s deep. You’re in pain.”
“Apply pressure and clean the wound,” Bret said but Stephanie was already a few steps ahead of him. She was back in her bag pulling out gauze and disinfectant spray. She washed the wound and he winched.
It stung like a thousand bees. He tried to sit still, turning his head. Stephanie paused but didn’t stop all together. A few minutes later she wrapped is wound in gauze and strips of bandages. She tied cloth on top. It wouldn’t imoblize his leg but it would hopefully help with the bleeding.
“Take this,” Stephanie said.
Bret opened his eyes as she dropped pain killers into his hand and gave him a canteen of water. He wasn’t one who took medicine but this seemed like a good night to make an exception. He swallowed the pills and rushed it with water.
Stephanie sat cross legged facing him, her hand on his chest. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, even though he wasn’t sure. “Just need some sleep. Tomorrow I’ll walk this off.”
The flashlight was on in its resting spot on the ground and it illuminated her face enough to tell him she hadn’t bought a word of it. She was worried and Bret felt sick about it. How had things gone sideways so easily? There weren’t supposed to be mountain lions out here. Stephanie wasn’t supposed to wander that far from camp. And he sure as heck wasn’t supposed to get injured during her rescue.
Who had rescued who? Bret had never seen anything like a woman fighting off a wild large cat with a stick before. It had been stupid but boy, had it been impressive. She had saved him from further injury and maybe even death. This wasn’t the sort of thing that would lend credibility to his cause or his brand but in his current situation, he couldn’t really worry about that.
Stephanie’s lips pursed tightly off center. “I think you’re downplaying it but I do agree you need rest. Is there anything I can do?”
Bret shook his head. “Oh, there is maybe one thing.”
“Oh?” Her eyebrows rose sharply.
“Don’t run off to the bathroom,” Bret said with an exhausted chuckle.
“Funny,” Stephanie rose her hand like she might hit him, playfully of course. She lowered it to her side. “I’m sorry I needed rescuing.”
“I’m sorry you ended up being the one to rescue me. Some story this will make for your local station.”
Her mouth flinched in surprise. “Oh, I guess I forgot about that.”
“Get your camera out. We’ll take a shot before we try to get some more shut eye.”
“I don’t know...”
“Unadultured truth,” Bret said. “It’s what I promised you.”
It took Stephanie a few more minutes to be convinced. Then, she retrieved the camera from her bag. She setup the shot, using the flashlight to improve the lighting. “This is as good as I’m going to get it. Go ahead.”
Bret nodded. “The wild is the wild. Something after years of hiking and exploration, you can’t take for granted. An encounter with an animal can catch you off guard but never turn your back. Never run. Or else you might end up worse off than me. A torn or ruptured thigh quad. Now tomorrow, we’ll need to be creative about making it to the rendezvous point. For tonight, I need to focus on sleep, hydration and icing my muscle as much as possible.”
Stephanie turned off the camera. “I ran from the mountain lion. This is my fault.”
“Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t know.” Bret tried to adjust himself but ended up grimacing. “Can you go through my bag? At the bottom there’s a plastic pouch. Bend and shake it. Should activate the cold.”
Stephanie nodded and did what he asked. “I should’ve known,” she admitted as she snapped the blue plastic pouch and gave it a shake. “Everyone knows not to run from an animal.”
“You panicked. You were scared. There’s no shame in that. I’ll be fine. Things are just going to be a little tricky.”
A lot tricky.
Stephanie placed the cold pouch on his leg gently but she left her hand on it. “I’m just really sorry. I....don’t know what else to say.”
“That you’ll get my good side on your next few shots. What do you say?” Bret placed his hand over hers.
“I’ll do my best. Hard to pick. I mean, you have no good side.”
Bret laughed and was glad she was still able to give him grief. It made things easier if they could joke around. He sipped water out of his canteen and rested his head back.
“I’ll let you get some sleep.”
“Stay,” Bret asked gently. “I can’t trust you not to run off if you’re not by my side and...I could use the company. Even if I’m going to be asleep.”
“Okay.” Stephanie scooted closer to him, resting both her hands against his chest. “I’ll be right here. If you need anything....”
“Other than being unconscious, I don’t think I need anything but thanks. Thanks for being here and helping me back to the cave.”
“Any time. Though I hope we don’t need to do this again.”
He gave a brief, tired smile. “Me too.”
Stephanie stroked his hair back briefly and he felt a rising closeness between them. It was because of the injury. He was sure of it but still it felt nice. Bret was too tired to be afraid and he couldn’t run from his feelings in any regard.
“You get some sleep too. I’m afraid tomorrow’s going to be hard on both of us.”
“I can handle it,” Stephanie whispered but with confidence.
“I’m imagining you can.” Bret closed his eyes. He leaned down and let his lips brush against hers gently. He didn’t know if Stephanie welcomed it or even liked it. Sleep hit him hard before he could read the expression on her face. The only thing he remembered was the throbbing in his leg and the closeness of a woman beside him.
*****
Bret awoke to first dawn, the sunlight nearly blinding him as he squinted directly at it. Stephanie slept beside him, her head on his shoulder and her hand curled into a tight fist on his chest. His nose in her hair, he sniffed, and he stroked her hand. She was soft and smelled like a bouquet of fresh flowers.
“Steph?” He said gently and stroked back her hair to see her face. Beautiful and serene, he didn’t think he’d ever forget this quiet morning moment.
She stirred and stretched, rolling her head to the side to gaze at him. Stephanie gave im a dopy smile, sleep still dancing in her eyes. “Hi,” she said shyly.
“Hi yourself. I think you drooled on my shoulder.”
Stephanie sat up and wiped her mouth. “Always with the jokes,” she shook her head and ran her hands town her legs. “Goodness, I’m thirsty.” She crawled away to her bag to find her bottle of water.
If Bret really had kissed her albeit a small one, Stephanie appeared not to want to talk about it and Bret took the opportunity to let out a pained breath.
He leaned his head against the wall and tried to move is leg. It felt like the muscle was going to snap in two. Bret hollered out and pounded his fists on the ground. He shouldn’t have because Stephanie was instantly back at his side. “What is it? Does it hurt?”
Talk about the understatement of the year.
“The muscle has seized up. Hand me my bag, will you?”
Stephanie slid it over and she watched him with curiosity. Bret took a cell phone out and tried to get reception, but he couldn’t. “You try?”
“Last night,” Stephanie admitted. “Nothing worked. Maybe if I get higher.”
It might’ve been his only chance. Bret reached into his bag and pulled out is map and a pencil. As he unfolded his map, Stephanie scooted in closer. “What are you doing?”
“We’re here,” Bret circled a location, “and you need to get here. Take the map and your bag. As you climb up to the clearing, you might get a signal. Or, the helicopter might be waiting for you.”
Stephanie gawked at him. “You want me to go alone? Leave you here?”
“I’ll slow you down. You can’t help me the full way. It’ll exhaust you and we’ll miss the helicopter.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened and Bret saw terror. “What if I get lost? Or injured? What if the mountain lion comes back?”
“You can do it. I have faith in you. After the way you wacked that mountain lion, I doubt he’s ever coming back this way anytime soon.
Stephanie swallowed. “What if I bring you part way? It’ll be easier for us to find you.”
Bret shook his head. “Steph...”
“I can’t just leave you here.” Stephanie blurted out with tears in her eyes. “You’re already injured. I’ve never done a hike like this in my life before. You can’t rest everything on me.”
“I know it’s a lot,” Bret said quietly. “But you’re capable. I’ve watched you for hours yesterday. And I know you can do this. You have to believe you can too. I’ll give you my compass and if we’re lucky, you’ll get a GPS signal eventually to help lead your way.”
Stephanie let out a short breath and ran her hand through her hair. She was still torn and still looking for excuses. Bret hated putting her in this position but she really was his only hope.
“I still have over half a canteen of water, a few granola bars, and an apple. I can survive on what I have for a day or longer. Okay?”
Stephanie nodded. “Okay.” She zipped up her backpack and put it on. “You’re sure this is the right thing to do? It feels wrong. Really wrong.”
“It’s the right thing to do. When we run into trouble, we have to know when to ask for help. Even for guys like me.” Bret forced a smile and squeezed his hand.
Stephanie curled her fingers around his. “We’ll be back for you soon. I promise. Just stay put and don’t give up on me.”
“Never. We’ll laugh about this soon, am I right?”
She nodded as she stood up straight. “You’re right. I’ll be quick.” With the map and compass in her hand, Stephanie sprinted out of the cave ready to set forth on her mission.
Bret leaned his head back and groaned, gripping the top of is thigh. He hoped he was right. He hoped they were both right.