“Same stuff,” he said, rubbing it between his fingers.
Amber only glanced at him and then returned to sweeping the woods with her flashlight and headlamp. She was sure that something was watching them. There was a heaviness in the air. Ricky stood slowly—he felt it too. With a slow turn, they pressed their backs together.
“What do we do?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Send this location to Aaron and let’s get out of here,” she whispered back.
“Yeah,” Ricky said. He typed out a hasty message to Aaron and then waited for the response. When his phone beeped with Aaron’s reply, he felt Amber stiffen behind him.
“I think I see something,” she whispered. “I’m moving forward and to the right. Watch my back.”
“Will do,” he said.
Together, they moved step by step. Before she slid her foot forward, Amber jabbed her stake into the leaves ahead of her. There was something untrustworthy about the footing, but she couldn’t have articulated what it was.
“Wait!” Ricky whispered.
Amber froze.
“Look up.”
Before she tilted her head or aimed her flashlight, Amber raised her eyes. Something moved, but when she tried to catch it with her lights, it was gone.
“This is all wrong,” she said. “This is a terrible idea. We have to turn back.”
Ricky didn’t say anything, but she felt his head moving as he nodded.
He checked his phone so he could guide them back to the cars and then he took a few steps before he stopped again.
“Just one thing,” Ricky whispered.
“What?”
“I have to yell for him,” Ricky said.
“No,” Amber said immediately. “Don’t you dare attract more attention to us.”
“They already know we’re here. Don’t you feel it?”
Amber took a deep breath and tried to calm herself as she glanced around. Of course she felt the presence—that was precisely the reason that she didn’t want him yelling for Riley again. But she had to admit to herself that they were already being watched. It probably wouldn’t make any difference.
She hadn’t yet given her consent when Ricky called anyway.
“Riley?”
They heard a cough or a wheeze. Whatever it was, it sounded human.
Ricky turned and caught Amber’s eye.
Together, they pushed through some low branches that were still shedding golden leaves. Under the cluster of branches, Riley was there. He was on his back, twisted so that his hips were turned one way and his head the other. He raised a weak hand at the sight of their lights. Ricky took Riley’s hand and immediately jerked back from the touch, rubbing his fingers together.
“More of that stuff,” Ricky whispered.
“Who cares,” Amber said. “Get him up.”
# # #
Aaron was watching the flashing lights coming over the hill. Nick tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the lights of the people coming through the woods. They had strict orders not to open the doors until someone else arrived, but he figured that the flashlights in the woods had to be close enough.
Aaron got out.
“Ricky?”
There was no response for several seconds and then it sounded like Ricky was gasping for air.
“Yeah.”
Nick got out as Aaron darted across the road and hopped over the ditch. He got to the bushes as Amber was clearing a path through.
Ricky was practically carrying Riley.
“Is that him?” Nick called.
Nobody bothered to answer.
“Why didn’t you call or text? I could have helped,” Aaron said.
“Just help now.”
Amber ran to the middle of the road and crossed her arms into an X above her head. Nick got out of the car slowly and then joined her there.
“You found him?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Does that look like police or rescue?”
Nick squinted. “Police. Or sheriff, maybe. Same thing.”
In the distance, the vehicle slowed as it passed Amber’s car and then it sped back up towards her.
Nick and Amber both jumped when the lights of the train signal flashed and the bell began to ring.
“Come with me,” Amber said to Nick.
“Where?”
“We’re getting my car.”
He followed slowly at first, looking back over his shoulder at where Ricky and Aaron were getting Riley over the ditch, and then to where Riley’s car sat. The driver’s door was still open. When he ran to catch up, Amber was limping and using the sharpened stick she carried as a walking stick.
“We found him,” she said as the sheriff’s car pulled up next to her. “I’m going to get my vehicle and get it closer. I have water and a blanket.”
She started walking again and the sheriff’s car pulled past Nick and sped down to where they were helping Riley sit down next to the road.
“Amber?” Nick called. “Can’t this wait.”
“Just come with me. Please?”
He took one last look and then fell in alongside her.
“I wonder where they’ll take him. It’s a little farther down to Central Maine Med, but it’s a much bigger facility. I hope they go there.”
Amber stopped a few yards away from her car. She pointed her flashlight down at the pavement, where the line of white powder surrounded the car.
“What is that?” Nick asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Amber said. She circled the vehicle, checking the integrity of the white line to make sure nothing had crossed it. “Okay—we’re good. Thanks for walking me to the car.”
Nick stood and watched her as she stepped over the powder, climbed into her car and started it up. He was still standing when she pulled alongside him and put her window down.
“You want a ride back to the others?”
“Yeah. Thanks,” he said. He climbed in and shut the door. “When Riley is healthy again, and everything is back to normal, will you explain to me what happened tonight?”
Amber glanced at him and then put her eyes back to where they were headed.
“Probably.”
# # #
Amber’s adrenaline crashed just before two in the morning. Even the bright lights and TV chatter of the hospital’s waiting room couldn’t keep her awake. The sound of the sliding doors made her stir and she reached for her sharpened stake. It was out in
