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climb the tree. Fast.
I reached up as high as I could,grabbed the lowest branch, and pulled myself
up. I braced my feet against the trunk and "walked" up, which hurt worse than
if Theresa and Kyle had been born simultaneously, but it didn't matter even if
I was shattering every single bone in my leg. If I wanted to survive, I had to
climb.
I screamed a lot, though.
I got my feet onto the lowest branch and pulled myself onto the next one as
quickly as I could. I could almost feel the adrenaline rushing through my
veins as I climbed.
Swish!
A dart struck the branch inches from my right arm.
I glanced down and saw the woman running toward the tree. There wasn't nearly
enough branch cover, and I wasn't nearly high enough for her to miss unless
she was a seriously crappy shot.
I pulled myself up to the next branch, and then my foot slipped. I hung there
helplessly for a few seconds.
Swish!
The dart struck the bottom of my shoe.My uninjured foot, on the heel. It
didn't break through to the skin.
I lifted my foot to the nearest branch, careful not to put my heel on it and
push the dart in deeper. It remained wedged in my shoe. I continued to climb.
I heard the woman curse.
"Come down from there!" she shouted. "Don't be suicidal!"
She sounded frustrated. Maybe this meant she was out of darts.
I pulled myself up higher, scraping the hell out of my arm against a
particularly sharp branch.
"Helen, this is ridiculous! You can't get away!"
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I looked down. She was standing directly underneath me, probably thirty feet
below. She cursed again, kicked the base of the tree, and then reached for the
lowest branch.
Outclimbingher was going to be a bitch.
More than a bitch.Impossible.Even if I had a fire hose pumping adrenaline
directly into my bloodstream, it wasn'tgonna happen. I was still exhausted
from my encounter with Ogre, and now every movement of my foot shot waves of
pain all the way up my leg.
But I kept climbing. About halfway up the tree, it started to feel quite a
bit less sturdy.
"What do you think you're going to do, Helen?" asked the woman. She was only
a couple of body-lengths behind me. "Climb the air after you've run out of
tree? Come on down and let's settle this without me having to knock you to the
ground."
I didn't answer her. I couldn't waste any energy by speaking.
The next branch I grabbed broke off in my hand and I momentarily lost my
balance. I flailed, snatched another branch, and managed to prevent myself
from saving the woman the effort of knocking me to the ground.
But whatwas I going to do when I got to the top of the tree?
I looked to the side. The next climbable tree was about ten feet away. There
was no way I could jump straight across, but if I got in a really good leap I
might be able to grab one of the lower branches as I fell.
I pulled myself up to the next branch. The woman climbed behind me, gaining
quickly. She was directly beneath me, which suddenly gave me an idea.
I slammed my good foot against the branch. The dart in my shoe stayed in
place. I slammed it once, twice, three more times, and then the dart came
free.
The woman gasped.
I watched the dart fall.
It dropped past her arm and harmlessly hit the ground below.
The woman seemed more than a little upset by this near-miss, and scurried
after me with renewed energy. I reached for the next branch, which bent in
half instead of supporting my weight. I grabbed another one, which also bent
but not quite as much.
I eased myself a couple of steps out onto the branch I stood on. It wobbled
beneath me. I swore I heard a cracking sound. If I was going to jump, I had to
do it now, without thinking about it.
Of course, I'dalready thought about it.
The branch beneath me snapped.
I let out a squeal as I hung there. I stretched out my good foot, trying to
find something to stand on, but no branch was within reach.
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As I struggled to pull myself up, the branch I held bowed downward.
The woman reached out and grabbed for my bad foot. I swung it out of the way.
She grabbed again, this time getting a handful of shoelace. She pulled my foot
toward her then wrapped her fingers around my injured ankle and squeezed. I
screamed, shut my eyes as if that would block out the pain, and lost my grip
on the branch.
Freefall.
But only for a second.My butt smacked the next lower branch. I involuntarily
leaned forward and continued falling, arms flailing wildly.
I struck the next lower branch with my shoulder.
The next with my knee.
The next one broke my fall. I scrambled to get myself oriented again, and
climbed down the tree while the woman followed me, our chase now reversed.
Getting down required lessenergy, and I tried to favor my good foot as I
dropped to each lower branch. Again, the woman was gaining.Quickly.
When she was only one body-length away from me, she slammed her foot down on
my hand. I let out another scream and fell. This time no branches broke my
fall, and I plummeted about fifteen feet to the ground, landing once again on
my ass.
I just lay there for a moment, dazed.
The woman hurried down after me.
I tried to sit up but couldn't. I couldn't move.
Oh, God, what if I'd damaged my spinal column?
A lifetime of paralysis was a scary thought, although a useless concern,
since if Iwas paralyzed I wouldn't be surviving the next couple of minutes.
The woman dropped to the ground at my feet. She wiped her hands off on her
shirt and regarded me with disgust.
"Ihate manual labor," she said. "It's a waste of my skills. When I have to
chase you up and down a tree, all it does ismake me think that instead of
bringing you in alive like I'm supposed to, I should just kill you."
"Please," I said, hating myself for begging. "Just let--"
"Stop it. I don't want to hear it. If you think I feel any sympathy for a
pathetic helpless female, you're wrong in a big way. Now, here's the question
that determines whether you die quickly and painlessly, or slowly and
miserably: Where are your kids?"
"Fuck you."
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