Juliet

In shock, I stare at the scene in front of me.

Grass burns from the dropped torch.

Metal lies scattered on the field.

Nothing’s left of the helicopter except the blades, ripped apart.

And there, right underneath one of the plates, is Lock.

As I crawl farther up, my body tumbles over, still weak from the fall.

Then, his body rises from the ashes, lifting the metal off his body with just his weight. He grunts and roars, his face red and his veins bulging as he pushes it off him. With every ounce of strength in his body, he crawls out from underneath the scorched debris, and I am in awe… my breath stolen by the sheer power he exudes.

I can hardly believe what he just did …

As I blink, all the memories of what just happened flood back in.

Him, wrapping his arms around me.

Saving me from the fall.

Throwing me to prevent me from being crushed.

Sacrificing himself for me.

I suck in a breath and shiver, gazing around me.

Should I run? He’s here, right here. He could lock me up, throw me in the pit, or tie me up again. Do I want to risk it? I should run … I should definitely run.

For a moment, our eyes connect … but then he collapses.

First to his knees. Then his hands. His face hits the dirt, and his eyes close.

Silence.

A sharp pang pokes me in the stomach.

My brain is telling me to run … but my heart … my heart bleeds with guilt.

I can’t leave him there. I just can’t.

If I run now, he’ll probably die.

And even though my mother always said I should be my own savior because no one else will be, and that I should always choose myself over anyone else, I push myself to do it.

No matter how hard my brain tells me to stop thinking about it and just run, run for safety and find another way off the island … I can’t.

I simply can’t let another human being die if I can prevent it. Even if it means saving the bad guy. He saved me.

So I get up from the ground and stumble toward him, forcing myself to keep moving toward him, the man who captured me and kept me as a pet …

Toward ruin.

But I face it with pride.

I grasp his heavy arms and lift them over my shoulder, gathering the inhuman strength I need to carry him away from here. I already know my feeble muscles won’t be enough to get him to safety, let alone patch him up.

But I don’t care.

I don’t care if I can’t because I will.

I will do this.

I have to.

I must.

Because he saved me.

And now it’s my turn.

“C’mon, Jules!” I scream at myself as I force myself to walk with him hanging around my shoulders. I push and push, but his body only moves an inch at a time.

And I’m already dead beat by the time I’ve moved ten steps.

But I’m not a quitter.

Not on my life.

So I keep pushing, keep dragging him along until my whole body is covered in sweat and his in mud. Until my muscles feel as though they’re about to tear and my bones feel like they’re going to snap. And still, I push on.

To the edge of the scorched ground away from imminent danger.

Where the green grass meets the blackened earth … and then I collapse under his weight.

I’m tired, so tired.

I can’t move.

Can’t even fight to get up from underneath him.

So I lie here and stare at the tiny plucks of grass and take in a whiff of their scent.

It reminds me of home.

Of resting and taking naps.

Maybe I should.

Don’t give up now, Juliet.

It’s too soon.

You’re too young.

You haven’t seen the world yet.

Haven’t lived enough to know when time ends.

You need to see. Feel. Touch. Taste. Witness.

You need to find that perfect habitat filled with beautiful creatures and plants.

Throw eggs at that annoying neighbor’s home, who’s always searching through your trash looking for ways to report you.

Dance at your boss’s wedding after you shoved three pieces of cake into your mouth.

Go on blind dates and kiss that random guy you don’t even like but who has a great ass.

Find the man of your dreams and have babies with him, two, maybe three.

Grow out your gray hair and sit in front of the television, remembering the good life.

The life where you were loved.

Where you were deeply in love.

Where you had … real love.

Go on … for love and all that it entails.

Go on.

I force my eyes to open.

Blinking a couple of times, I gather all the strength I can muster and crawl out from underneath Lock.

Groaning, I turn around and go to him. I roll his body over and check his pulse with two fingers. It’s still there … but faint. I have to get him to wake up.

But how?

I do the only thing I can think of and smack him in the face. Not too hard, but enough to shake some sense into him.

Still, my hand lands harder than expected, and I suck in a breath, uttering, “Shit …”

Suddenly, he groans.

My eyes light up as I watch him struggle to regain consciousness.

“C’mon, Lock. Wake up,” I say, but he keeps his eyes closed.

A small rope is wrapped around his body … with a leather flask attached to it. I tug it off the rope and open the lid, checking the contents by dabbing some on my finger and licking it.

It’s water.

I open his mouth and pour some inside.

He coughs and spits it out, but his eyelids part too.

“Lock …” I mutter. “Drink.”

I pour a tiny bit into his mouth, and finally, he swallows it down, followed by a groan.

He grabs my wrist, and for a second, I think of pushing him away and running off, but I ignore the feeling and stay. He brings my hand back to his face and greedily pours more water into his mouth until he’s almost choking on it.

“Whoa, not so fast,” I say, pulling it away before he drowns himself.

I screw on the lid and say, “We’ll get more …”

“Jules …” he mutters, grasping my wrist again. “Jules …”

I nod, tears welling up again.

In the dark, I can still see the shimmer in his eyes. “Jules … you … ran.” His voice is painful. Too painful.

I thought he’d be mad because he had to risk his life to save me. Instead, he’s mad because I broke my promise. Because I ran away from him.

This man never ceases to surprise me.

Still, I feel guilty as hell for having put him through this.

“I know,” I say, looking away. “Look, I can’t…”

He cups my chin and makes me look at him. I’m acutely aware of every single inch of his skin touching mine. “You’re safe,” he mumbles.

My lips part, but I don’t know what to say.

Is that all he cares about?

Not that I ran?

Not that I tried to get away from him and broke my promise?

Why?

But before I can ask him, he’s already closed his eyes again.

“So … tired.”

For a moment, I contemplate leaving because he’s okay now. He’s alive. He’ll be all right, won’t he?

Still, I can’t bring myself to actually move.

I lie down on the grass beside him and stare up at the bright stars and moon in the sky. I sigh and turn my head to look at him.

From this angle, and without the mud, he doesn’t look dangerous at all.

He looks … human.

* * *

Lock

After a few minutes of rest, I’m much better. Saving her from falling was no easy feat, but I managed. Although I do feel like I pulled a muscle here and there, especially after lifting the metal.

I can’t believe I actually went to that damn cursed bird.

What I wouldn’t do for someone to talk to, huh?

Guess I’ve really lost it this time.

This girl … the moment I discovered she escaped, I ran right after her. Didn’t even bother securing the stuff at the hut so the animals wouldn’t take it. I just grabbed my spear and torch and hunted down her tracks.

It wasn’t hard … but when I found her, she was already crawling out of that metal monster again. Why did she go there in the first place?

She’s been running away from me ever since she got here. The jungle is no place for a woman like her.

I grumble as I rise to sit in the grass and look at what’s left of the metal bird.

Not much, other than a couple of loose, broken plates.

“Why did you come here?” I ask, gazing at her as she sits up too.

“I was looking for a phone. Something to contact the outside world with.”

I nod. Figured. She wants to get off this island so badly … while I’m doing everything I can to stay on it. Alone.

Guess that ship’s already sailed.

I shrug and get up off the ground, groaning when my muscles protest. I can’t be weak now. I have to get back to the hut first before I can rest.

Besides, I have someone else to look out for too now.

Someone who doesn’t even want to be here.

Sighing, I grasp the torch and the spear. Luckily, it didn’t burn down the whole jungle, just a small charred spot. After inspecting the area and making sure it’s safe, I turn around and start walking back. Or rather, stumbling. But I don’t care. I’ll get back to the hut anyway.

Her? I don’t know.

“Hey!” she says. “You … you’re going to leave?”

I don’t answer. It’s what she wanted, right?

To be alone?

Like me?

“Wait!” she says, her pretty footsteps audible behind me in the dirt.

For some reason, they make my heart squeeze.

Fuck.

I told myself I wouldn’t ever do this.

People.

Never again.

Yet here she is, tagging along behind me, following me back into the thick lushes of the jungle.

It’s quiet the entire way there except for our footsteps. I don’t speak. She doesn’t speak.

Exactly what I’m used to.

But when before it used to keep me calm, now it’s just getting on my nerves.

She’s never been this quiet before. She always threw questions at me whenever she had the chance, and now they’re all gone. I kinda miss them.

Maybe she’s finally learned I don’t have the answers she seeks.

But when I glance at her over my shoulder, I realize that’s not the case. Her brows drawn together, she keeps looking down at the ground as if she’s trying to be invisible.

I don’t understand why.

I don’t understand a whole lot about people. That’s why I wanted to get away from them in the first place.

But not her.

I want her to stay.

Suddenly, she stops and plucks something off a bush.

I frown, staring at her. When she sees me looking, she mumbles, “I can use this later.”

A random plant? Right. Whatever she wants.

I sigh to myself as I turn and face the jungle again, determined not to let Jules distract me. First, we have to get back to the hut. I’ll figure out what to do with her after.