Part 4 (2/2)

The first thing she did was panic, trying to push him off of her. He was completely unconscious and therefore a dead weight. A crus.h.i.+ng weight. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Had to get free. Had to do it now.

After ten seconds of useless panic, she forced herself to calm down. To take small, sharp breaths. It was d.a.m.ned uncomfortable but she wasn't going to die.

Thunder had pa.s.sed out. That much was for sure. She could feel the slow rise and fall of his chest. He was still alive, just out cold. It took a minute or two to free her left hand. If she pushed that hand against him and wiggled, she would eventually get out from under him. She had to take frequent breaks though. Her breathing eased up when she made it to the halfway mark, making it easier to keep going. It took about ten or fifteen minutes to finally free herself.

Once out, she just sat there, breathing heavily. She s.h.i.+vered. It was freezing. She hadn't felt it while under his warmth or while exerting herself, but she could sure as h.e.l.l feel it now. Her teeth began to chatter and she rubbed her hands together, remembering her lost gloves. She only hoped that Claire was having better luck than she was.

Besides being cold, her other problem was that she couldn't see a thing. For all she knew, she could end up walking off a ledge or into a hole or something. If she listened carefully she could make out a dripping noise deeper in the cave. It would be dangerous for her to wander blindly through a hole in the side of a mountain, but what choice did she have? She needed to do something. Thunder was in trouble and she might just freeze to death if she just sat there.

Cloud had walked into the back of the cave and brought back supplies. They had probably come from a backpack he had brought with him but she had to look around. Look around ... If only that were possible. There might be something in this place though that would help them. If only she could b.l.o.o.d.y see.

Tammy tried one last time to wake Thunder, who was still slumped in the same position, his breathing deep and unchanged. It was no use. Moving slowly and carefully, she let her legs slide off the bed until they hit the floor with that same familiar crunch. She felt along the edge of the bed, feeling for the headrest, and then proceeded in that direction. She shuffled rather than walked, with her hands outstretched in front of her. After a few seconds of shuffling, her hands. .h.i.t a cold damp wall. She moved along the wall, trying not to trip over rocks as she did. She was concentrating so hard that when the wall suddenly disappeared, she tumbled forward, landing on a pile of hard objects. Small, long and brittle.

A fireplace. She was in the middle of a fireplace. Someone had prepared kindling and wood, maybe they'd left something to light the fire as well. A girl could only hope.

She worked her way back out the s.p.a.ce along the next wall. It didn't take long to encounter another pile of wood. Thick pieces. Loads of them. This was one gigantic pile of wood. Then she had a terrifying thought. Did snakes live in dark caves? She sure as h.e.l.l hoped not because this would be the perfect hiding place.

It took a good couple of minutes to navigate her way around the base of the large pile and she came up empty-handed. Tamara went down on all fours and slowly crawled back towards the fireplace. She was beginning to get a feel for her surroundings, a mental picture. She found the fireplace easily and took up a kneeling position, inching her way up the stacked wood, slowly feeling her way to the top of the pile. Then she worked her way across until her knuckles nudged something cold and the item fell to the floor with a clatter.

A lighter? Maybe. Hopefully. It had to be!

Her heart-rate sped up as she got back down on all fours patting the floor to try to find it. It didn't take long as her hands closed around something metal. It was icy cold. Yes, a lighter! Tamara couldn't help but grin like a fool. After a couple of failed attempts, a flame illuminated within the darkness.

Yes!

She quickly made her way back to the fireplace and put the lighter to the kindling, which burst into flames. It took her a couple of minutes to get a blaze going. She put her hands to the roaring fire, closing her eyes and allowing the warmth to seep into her body.

Once she was sure the fire wouldn't go out, Tamara tucked the lighter into her jeans pocket and looked around the cave.

There was what appeared to be a chest on the other side near the furthest wall. Tamara prayed that there were items of use inside of it.

The chest creaked open and she breathed a sigh of relief. It was certainly no gourmet meal but the chest was half filled with what looked like vacuum sealed digestive biscuits and several packs of beef jerky. There was a large serrated knife, a box of fireproof matches, a flat, cast-iron skillet for grilling meat, an empty water bottle and a medium-sized pack of sorts. It had to be a first aid kit, which would come in handy for those wounds on Thunder's back.

She grabbed the kit and went to the sleeping s.h.i.+fter. Tamara gave him a small shake. ”Thunder! Wake up!” She gave him another shake, harder this time. There was no response. She put a hand to his brow, he felt hot to the touch. Was this normal for dragon s.h.i.+fters? Did they run at a higher temperature? It was impossible to tell. He looked completely normal. It worried her that he wouldn't wake up though. It could be that this was how s.h.i.+fters healed.

The small wounds on his back still oozed blood. Surely they should have healed by now? Then again, it would take a human at least a week if not two to heal from wounds such as these so maybe this was normal. It was impossible for her to tell.

There was a folded woolen blanket at the foot of the bed. It took some work but she finally managed to ease it out from under Thunder's legs. She pulled it up over his thighs and kept going until his a.s.s was covered. Much better. Tamara opened the first aid kit.

What the h.e.l.l?

It wasn't a first aid kit but a toiletry bag. The bag contained things like toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant. There was even shower gel, shampoo and dental floss. Why the h.e.l.l would they fill a bag with toiletry items and not have a first aid kit? It didn't make sense.

She needed to find something to clean the wounds and something to bandage them. There was nothing else she could do with such limited supplies. Hopefully he could sleep it off. Tamara looked around her surroundings, at least as far as the light from the fire would allow. She took stock of the situation. They had enough supplies to keep really clean, to stay warm and enough food to last at least a week, probably more. What they didn't have was water. Anyone knew that a person couldn't live more than a few days without that very basic requirement. Then she recalled hearing the dripping sound. If she listened, it was still there, further back in the cave.

She slid from the bed and walked to the edge of the light, peering into the darkness. From there the sound of dripping was much louder. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the lighter, which was one of those old-fas.h.i.+oned, refillable gas types. She flipped open the lid and flicked a finger to ignite the flame. Walking slowly and carefully, she made her way further into the cave. It didn't take long before she arrived at a beautiful, crystal-clear pool of water. She dropped to her haunches and cupped a handful of the icy cold liquid. The only question was, was it safe to drink?

Unfortunately, there were also no cooking utensils, other than the flat skillet, within the chest she had found. The best thing to do would be to boil the water but that wasn't an option. s.h.i.+t! Tamara cupped her hand, filling it with water and brought it up to her face, giving the liquid a sniff. She didn't detect any odd odors. Next, she touched her lips to the cool water, taking a tentative lick. Cool, refres.h.i.+ng, the water was good and she suddenly realized how thirsty she was. It would be stupid to allow herself to gulp down a whole lot of the stuff, so she took a mouthful, allowing the rest to trickle back into the pool. She would have to wait a couple of hours, and if there were no adverse effects, she would know for sure that it was okay to drink.

Using the light to guide her, she walked back to the chest, fetching the water bottle and knife, which she tucked into her jeans. After filling the bottle she went back to Thunder. Tamara pulled the knife free and unsheathed it. She pulled out the edge of the sheet and carefully cut a strip about the length of a bandage. She did this a couple of times, cutting several pieces from the cotton fabric. The knife was d.a.m.n sharp, she'd need to be careful when using it. She sheathed the blade and stuck it back in the top of her jeans.

Wetting one of the pieces of cotton, she used it to clean Thunder's wounds. It looked like they had finally stopped bleeding. He moaned softly as she ran the cotton directly over one of the wounds. It was the first reaction he'd given since pa.s.sing out. Hopefully it was a good sign. There was no way to wrap the bandages around his chest so she ended up folding them into squares and placing them on top of the cuts. At least this would offer some protection. She wished, not for the first time, that she had some sort of disinfectant, but this was the best she could do.

Once done, she noticed that the woolen blanket had slipped down while she worked. The edge lay half-way across his a.s.s. She swallowed thickly, allowing her eyes to trace the wide expanse of his back and shoulders.

She'd never seen a guy that was this well-built or this good-looking. Even his eyelashes were long, thick and dark. Tamara felt her cheeks heat. The fire was doing its job. She was feeling seriously hot, and all over. She quickly pulled the blanket up, carefully allowing the fabric to settle over his back. She yawned, suddenly feeling tired.

She looked about the s.p.a.ce. There was no other furniture aside from the bed and the chest. The bed looked to be an extra-length king-size, which seemed pretty small considering a huge, dragon s.h.i.+fter guy was sprawled out, smack bang in the middle of it.

Tamara shrugged, what the h.e.l.l, she'd kissed him already. Not that she wanted to be reminded of it. The guy was a first-cla.s.s kisser. Of course he was. All she had to do was look at him to know he got plenty of action. A hunk like him would have women throwing themselves at him. He had tons of practice. That much was clear. She need not feel bad about reacting to the kiss. It was normal and didn't mean anything.

The kiss didn't matter right now, she reminded herself. It was exhaustion making her mind wander to unimportant things. She needed sleep. The floor was hard and damp and really not an option. Tamara lay down next to the s.h.i.+fter, on the tiny bit of bed left beside him. Since there wasn't much s.p.a.ce to begin with, even though she faced away from him, her back still ended up touching his side. His warmth seeped into her. His breathing deep and rhythmic. The fire crackled every so often. Within minutes she was fast asleep.

Minutes, hours, days, she'd no idea of the time that pa.s.sed when she finally opened her eyes and arched her back, stopping herself mid-stretch, she realized that her belly was flush against him. Thunder. She had wrapped one of her legs around his body, somewhere in the vicinity of that magnificent a.s.s.

”s.h.i.+t!” she muttered, under her breath, as she peeled herself away from him. A girl couldn't help it if she was a snuggler now could she? It was something that Chris had hated. He said it made him feel claustrophobic and sweaty. b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Never trust a man who can't express his emotions or enjoy a good cuddle. Why was she even thinking about him? Maybe because he was the reason she was in this predicament to begin with. Stop! Moaning, even internally, wasn't going to solve the situation.

She looked around. The cave was dark, the fire reduced to glowing embers. She'd definitely got a couple of hours of sleep in then. Tamara rekindled the dying fire.

Thunder moaned, drawing her attention back to the bed. He was moving one of his arms, it looked like he was trying to get up.

Tammy rushed over to him. ”Thunder.”

His eyes were open. They were wide and had a gla.s.sy look about them that she didn't like. There was sweat on his brow and his cheeks were flushed. He grit his teeth, moaning as he tried to push himself up.

”No, don't!” she said, not wanting him to hurt himself anymore. ”Stay still.”

He moaned again, this time the sound came out like more of a word.

”What is it?” She leaned in a bit closer, trying hard to understand him.

He made the same noise only this time it came out sounding more like 'help' and then 'out'. She couldn't be sure though, he was half out of it.

Then again, maybe he was trying to tell her something. She couldn't dismiss it. Maybe it was important. ”Out where? You can't go anywhere.” She was beginning to sound panicked. Beginning to feel panicked.

”No,” he groaned the word, his breathing labored.

”No?” She sounded bewildered. ”I don't understand.” Tammy wasn't sure what he was trying to tell her.

He looked agitated and tried to get up again. ”Help ...” He was definitely saying the word. Did he think that she still needed help? Did he feel that they were both still in danger, maybe? Or, was he asking her to help him? The latter seemed the most likely but she couldn't be sure.

”Help how? There is no first aid kit. We're out in the middle of nowhere,” her voice was shrill.

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