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ZOE
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Zoe couldn’t believe what she had just seen. Julius was an alien, an actual alien, living here, on Earth, working with her every day. An alien. She shook her head, still not quite able to comprehend it all. After Julius had left, she had wandered around her tiny flat aimlessly, pottering, dusting, doing anything except think about what Julius had told her, the vision of him covered in scales still swimming behind her eyes.
Shortly after lunchtime, Zoe’s phone rang, jolting her out of her thoughts, Julius’s name flashing up on the screen. She wasn’t surprised he was calling her.
“Hello.”
“It’s Julius.” After an awkward silence which Zoe didn’t bother trying to fill, he continued. “I just wanted to check in and make sure you were okay.”
“Why?”
“Zoe, please.”
“I mean it, what do you care? You have made your feelings for me abundantly clear.”
“Zoe-”
“Actually, you know what,” she cut him off, “this isn’t a good time, I’m going for a walk.” And with that, she discontinued that call.
Although she had only said that to get rid of him, she realised that a walk did sound like a nice idea and went to change into sweatpants and a tank top. She added a jacket to her backpack in case it rained, along with her house keys, phone, a bag of trail mix and a bottle of water, and then headed out.
Zoe was fortunate enough to live near a large, wooded area, only a short stroll from her house. It was one of the reasons she had bought it, the idea of romps through the woods rather captured her imagination. She laughed at the reality of it, muddy boots, slippery paths, and low-slung branches.
Still, on her days off, she enjoyed foraging around and had taken quite a few impressive photos of critters she had found. Today, though, she just wanted to walk. She had been walking for a couple of hours when she decided to rest, a boulder up ahead the ideal spot. She had passed a number of other hikers and campers on the way up, this was a popular place to visit by both locals and tourists alike.
Zoe decided to continue a little further, up ahead was a gorgeous lookout with stunning views, and she could easily get there and then home again before dark. She was almost to the lookout when she heard what sounded like someone calling out. Zoe stopped and listened again, certain this time that she had heard someone.
She walked over to the ledge and peered down, eyes widening when she saw a hiker, halfway down a steep rutted track, leg out at a horrific angle. Zoe knew it must be broken, there was no way it could be twisted like that and be uninjured.
Looking around for the path the hiker had started down on, she spied it, half-hidden behind the shrubbery, and started a slow descent towards them, calling out as she went.
“It’s okay, I’m coming, I’m a nurse, my name’s Zoe.” Zoe slid down the rest of the way, catching herself on an overturned tree root. “Hi, can you tell me your name?”
“Sarah.”
“Hi, Sarah. How long have you been here?” Zoe started to assess Sarah’s injuries.
“Umm, I fell just before lunch.”
“That’s a long time.” Zoe pulled out her phone from her backpack and found no service. “Okay Sarah, we have to move, I know it is hard, I’m pretty sure your leg is broken, but if we don’t move, we could both fall even further and we don’t want that.”
Zoe knew that there was no way Sarah would be able to hike back out tonight, not on that leg, and not with darkness starting to fall. There was a keeper’s hut a short distance away, it had sheltered many a wet hiker over the years, Zoe knew it well. If she could get Sarah there, they might be able to find a first aid kit, and maybe some mobile reception to call for help.
At the very least, they would be warmer. Zoe looked around, wondering how she could get Sarah there, her eyes landing on a fallen tree branch.
“Sarah, I think we have two options, and I’m really sorry, but they both kinda suck. Option one, I strap your leg to that tree branch there and drag you up to the keeper’s hut. Or option two, I help you to stand and then help you to hop to the keeper’s hut. Both will hurt, I can’t help that, and both will be slow.”
“Option one, I don’t think I can hop, I’m so cold.” With that decided, Zoe dragged the tree branch over and using some rope Sarah had in her backpack, tied Sarah’s leg to the branch as best she could.
It took longer than Zoe thought it would, and by the time she had Sarah sitting, ready to be dragged to the shelter, it was already mostly dark. Zoe only hoped they made it there before it got too much darker, she didn’t much fancy falling over herself.
With a monumental amount of effort from Zoe and curses and tears from Sarah, the two finally made it to the keeper's hut. Zoe left Sarah propped up against the step and went inside, lighting one of the matches Sarah had in her backpack and using it to find her way over to the fireplace, lighting one of the oil lamps on the mantle.
With the room lighted, Zoe went back for Sarah, dragging her up the step and closing the door behind them just as a clap of thunder rang out and the clouds above burst open. The one-room keeper’s hut was simple, built to be practical, not comfortable, with an open fire, table and chairs, a single bed, and a small sink.
Zoe got the fire started and dragged the mattress off the single bed, placing it as close to the fire as she dared to, before dragging Sarah to lay on top. It was a long night, Zoe didn’t dare drift off to sleep, she wanted to make sure that Sarah stayed alert, checking her vital signs frequently, and making a note of them on her phone, despite not having any reception to call for help just yet.
The rain was relentless throughout the night, Zoe knew that there was a possibility of being cut off up here, if the creek flooded, all hiking trails would be closed. She had no idea of anyone knew where Sarah had hiked today, but she knew that she hadn’t told anyone where she was going.
The thought concerned her enough that she stripped off all the clothes she dared to and emptied out their backpacks, covering Sarah with every piece of material they had, tying it down as best she could. She tucked her bag of trail mix into Sarah’s shivering hands, urging her to eat, and stashed the water bottle in the waistband of her pants, and her phone in her sock.
The clock on the hut wall showed it was just after three o’clock in the morning, as she dragged Sarah out of the cabin and headed for the trail, determined to get them both to safety before the rain cut them off. As Zoe walked, she kept up a random conversation, Sarah muttering a response every now and then to let Zoe know that she was okay.
Zoe wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep going, her legs were burning masses of jelly, she was wet through to her bones, shivering so badly she could barely hold on to Sarah.
Just when she thought she surely couldn’t walk any further she heard someone shouting and she collapsed to the ground, completely spent, as darkness clouded her vision, all she could see was the worried face of Julius.
“We found them, over here, quick get the doc.”
“Let me through, Zoe, Zoe, can you hear me?”
