My head swam and my vision went dark. I had to choke back the bile that rose in my throat as I felt the tendons in my knee tear. Forcing myself to keep my mouth closed, I squeezed my eyes shut again and just tried to keep my cursing to a minimum.
“I think that did it,” Evan said.
“Fuck,” I said with a rush of breath. “I should have asked for a bullet to bite on.”
“I have a few,” Evan said. “I should have offered.”
“Bastard,” I muttered.
Evan chuckled.
“Can you move it yet?”
“Gimme a sec.” I focused on my breathing for a couple minutes, trying to force the pain into the back of my mind. I looked down at the top of my thigh, just barely visible, and tried to push more of the snow off of it. I twisted and turned my fingers right next to my body until I managed to make a large enough hole to grab my leg with my hands. “Here goes nothing.”
I yanked, but nothing happened other than causing additional searing pain to run through my body. I told myself not to be such a fucking pansy and yanked harder. It moved a little more. With my arms straining against the pressure, I gritted my teeth and kept pulling. An inch. Another.
“Fuck!” I screamed as Evan kicked at another rock.
“You do like your F-bombs, don’t you?” he mused. “There was one more in the way. Try again.”
“Motherfucker!”
“Quit your bitching,” he commanded. “Just do it.”
I tried to remember what rank he had held in the Marines. He sounded a bit too much like Landon for my taste. The tactic worked though; I grabbed hold of my thigh and pulled as hard as I could, and my leg finally came loose.
Panting, I dropped my head back to the snow and tried to get myself together before I pulled out the other leg. With the extra space made from releasing my first leg, the second came out a lot easier. It also wasn’t broken, though my thigh hurt like a bitch from the bullet wound there.
With my body free from the snow, I held myself up by my arms and pushed myself out of the hole, rolling off to the side and slamming into Evan in the process. He grunted a little but didn’t say anything as I got up on my hands and knees.
I looked to him and observed his wary expression. This was it—the last real choice I had to make. Right now, I could easily kill him where he lay; there was no way he could stop me. I could break this allegiance and take him out, securing my victory.
But only temporarily.
If he lived up to his side of the bargain, Franks would be out of my way for good. It wasn’t an opportunity I was going to pass up.
I let him wonder for a minute, though, because I’m an asshole.
“Shall we get you out?” I finally said with a grin.
His shoulders relaxed, and he closed his eyes as he nodded.
Using one of the loose rocks as a shovel, I dug around one side of Evan’s trapped arm. It took a while to get through the ice and rock, but once his arm was free we both worked to release his leg, and he crawled out of the snow bank.
His shoulder was dislocated, but he stood still and silent as I shoved it back into place with a loud pop.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, “I’m good. Your leg is a mess.”
I looked down at it. It wasn’t just fractured but cracked, and I thought the tibia was likely crushed. I couldn’t even feel my foot, but that might be a good thing.
“How are you going to climb?” Evan asked.
“I’ll manage,” I replied. “How are you going to get out of here?”
“I’ll manage,” Evan said with a smile.
I laughed through my nose as I looked down the edge of the cliff. This was going to suck, no doubt about it, but at least I had the hope of someone finding me at the bottom. Evan was going to have to avoid that.
“Keep out of sight,” I said.
“I’m pretty good at that.” Evan looked me over. “You’re going to tell them I’m dead, right?”
“That’s the plan,” I said. “I don’t think they’re going to spend much time looking for you.”
“They won’t,” he said. “Rinaldo knows me too well.”
I didn’t know what he meant, but I was too cold and in too much pain to start asking a lot of questions now. Time was running out.
My leg hung loosely from the rest of my body. I couldn’t put any pressure on it at all, and I couldn’t see anything around to use as a splint. I thought about Hunter’s crossbow, the body of which might have worked, but it was too far away. Then I remembered the bolt I had grabbed during his fight with Reaper.
I pulled it from my waist and held it up to my calf. It wasn’t really long or thick enough, but it was better than nothing.
“I can do that,” Evan said.
I looked up at him, and my paranoia set in. Would he try to betray me at this point?
I shook the thought from my head. If he wanted me dead, all he had to do was bash me with a rock or something. I wasn’t in any shape to fight anymore.
“I do have some training as a medic,” Evan said with a shrug.
It was my only option, so I let him splint my leg using the bolt and one of the pieces of piano wire I still had on me. He wrapped it securely but not tight enough to cut off any circulation.
“The thick clothing should provide a little extra support,” he said. “Don’t put any weight on it if you can help it. It won’t hold you.”
“Yeah, I can tell.”
“It’s going to have to be reset,” Evan said. “A few more hours, and it’ll have to be broken again to get it to heal right.”
“Whatever,” I said. “I’ll deal with that when I get to the bottom of the mountain.”
“Yeah, I was wondering how you were going to do that,” Arden said. “I’m going up and over, away from where they might try to land a helicopter.”
“You know there’s no other way off this island,” I said. “It’s not like you can swim it.”
“I have an idea,” he said. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I’m not,” I replied. “I don’t give a shit about you, but I do have a vested interest in your survival now.”
His mouth turned up in a half smile. The look was almost challenging, like he’d still be willing to fight it out, but I didn’t acknowledge it. There wouldn’t be any point.
I did give a shit, though, even if he wasn’t going to take out Franks on my behalf. I wanted him to make it. He was in better shape than I was physically, but I didn’t see any fucking way he could survive.
“I’m going now,” Evan said.
“You’re not going to make it,” I said.
“Yeah, I will,” he replied. He smiled as he looked at me. “You’ll know it, too—as soon as you hear the news about Franks.”
I nodded, still not completely sure I could trust him to go through with it, but I also knew it was a better option that what I had planned, which was nothing.
Evan reached out his hand, and I took it a little tentatively. We shook briefly, and he turned without another word to start up the slope. I watched him for a minute and then headed over the side of the cliff.
I probably could have brought myself down the side of the mountain with one leg and both arms on a good day, but it was rough going, considering the state I was in. I was still mostly frozen, and my body didn’t want to do anything I told it to do. My arms and shoulders ached. My head was swimming and clouded, and there was a throbbing in the back of my skull that kept reminding me that I’d hit my head pretty hard.
Grasping the sharp rocks to scale my way down the cliff, my one good foot tried to find a decent place to rest as I caught my breath a little. The rock I stepped on held me, but it wasn’t enough to let go with my hands. It only gave my shoulders a little relief as I leaned my forehead against the cliff and took some breaths.