Wild North (The North Brothers, #1) - J.B. Salsbury Page 0,4

The pain unbearable, my vision tunnels as I use my arm to drag and my legs to push toward a nearby tree. Sweat beads on my face, and I remember reading about how dangerous it is to sweat in the cold.

The sounds that come from my mouth are more animal than human as I slowly make my way to the shelter of a tree canopy. My arm shakes from exhaustion, and I collapse at the tree’s base, my cheek against the rough bark.

“Don’t die.” My voice is hoarse and weak, and I hate it. I try to scream to prove that I can, to fight off the fatigue and the urge to give up. My pathetic war cry echoes all around me, and the resulting pain is so intense I black out.

For minutes, hours, maybe even days, I move from dark to light, in and out of consciousness, neither state bringing me relief from the cold and agony.

The wind howls through the trees. The cold bites at my skin. I shake so hard my teeth hurt. I pray to a God I’m not sure exists to get me out of this alive.

A crack of thunder wakes me, and I don’t remember falling asleep. The scent of rain is in the air. The numbness in my face, hands, and feet is a blessed relief. I try to push up to get into a better position, but my body refuses to listen to my brain’s commands.

Is this it?

Is this how I die?

I press my cheek into the ground and stare at the forest floor that stretches out before me. The view comes in and out of focus, mixing with memories of lying on the floor in my mom’s single-wide. My cheek pressed to the itchy carpet. The scent of mold and garbage, sweat and smoke. Back to the forest—dirt, pine, wet leaves. There’s something beautiful about dying in nature, becoming one again with the earth.

Numbness comes over me, crawling up from my feet and anesthetizing the pain.

A dark figure moves in the distance.

I hold a shallow breath. Dying sounded much sweeter before I considered being eaten alive by an animal. But I’m too weak to fight. Too broken to provide any resistance. Surely, the scent of my blood will attract predators. I had hoped to be dead before they got to me.

The figure moves closer. I hear no sound save the wind that whips furiously around me. No animal grunts, no broken twigs beneath the beast’s feet.

There is something majestic about the way it moves. Powerful, stealthy, prowling closer yet completely silent.

Closer and closer still. The figure takes on a new shape.

Tall.

Broad.

Human?

My heart pounds wildly, sending a rush of adrenaline through me.

“Help me! Please…” I struggle to sit up and reach forward. Pain slices through my ribs, piercing my lungs. I fall back to the earth with a silent scream. My eyelids want to squeeze shut against the agony, but I refuse to lose my focus on the figure for fear that it might disappear.

Help me! I’ll die here!

I scream the words in my head as I watch the human figure move away.

Leaving me to die.

Visions come and go.

I’m weightless, floating through the trees.

Freezing wind and rain bite my face.

A rhythmic slosh of wet mud and underbrush.

And breathing. Heavy breathing.

I close my eyes to fall into the blessed darkness—

I wake to splitting pain piercing my shoulder. I cry out. My eyes frantically search. A fire. As I drift back to darkness, I’m convinced I’m being burned alive.

Two

Jordan

I’m warm.

The temperature is the first thing I recognize as I wake up in a strange place. I blink open my eyes, grateful to see more clearly as I stare at the horizontal logs of a ceiling. Heat blazes from my left side. I cautiously turn my head to see a fire through the soot-stained glass of a woodstove. Everything is quiet except for the distant sound of wind and rain. Heavy weight presses down on me from my toes to my throat, and the musky scent of wet animal hangs heavy in the air. I wiggle my fingers on my stomach and realize I’m wearing nothing but my long underwear. I tilt my chin to see layers of weighted blankets covering me—no, not blankets. Animal hides.

I work my mouth and clear my dry throat. My lips are rough and cracked as I lick them with a parched tongue. I try to think back. To remember how I ended up here. Did I manage to crawl