23. Galen

As I came back to awareness, I felt pain burst in my head and my ankle. What the hell had happened to me?

I sat up gingerly, unsure which injury needed my attention first. The world span and I felt nausea rise as I sat up, so I decided my head needed the most attention. Pain, fuck, a lot of pain, blood, holy fuck there’s a hole in my head!

Panic swamped the nausea for a moment and I reached into my pocket for my phone. I found it in pieces, a victim of my fall. I breathed deeply to bring air into my body so I could calm down. That was step one, I told myself as panic tried to rise at the sight of my phone. I had no way to call for help!

With gentle fingers, I explored the tender spot on the back of my head once more. Alright, not as deep as I thought, around three inches long, I could deal with it. I just had to get back to my car. Which brought me to my ankle.

I pulled the leg of my jeans up and felt the swollen ankle through my sock. Yeah, just going to leave that alone and try to get out of here. I shifted positions, moving to my knees, an action that made my ankle scream in angry protest. The world swam around me and I fell over once more. Fuck me, how am I going to get out of this?

It was dark, I couldn’t see any wandering forest rangers or bears with picnic baskets that might lend a hand. I giggled at my own joke, and that made the panic rise even more. I was hysterical, maybe it was blood loss? I searched in my pockets but found nothing I could use as a bandage for my head.

“Alright, Galen. You’re an intelligent man, how are you going to get out of this?” Even the act of speaking made pain pulse through my head. Internal thoughts, man, internal!

I tried to scoot along, pulling myself with my arms, but found that any movement of my ankle made electricity burn through my entire leg. It was a no-go.

How the hell was I going to get out of this? Tara must be going crazy with worry. I wiggled my arm around until I caught a beam of moonlight and saw that it was already past eleven. Yeah, she’d be in panic mode for sure.

I spent a good twenty minutes calling myself every kind of bastard, fool, and selfish prick I could think of. I’d needed to vent, to get out my anger, and like an idiot I’d run off without telling anyone where I was headed.

With a new burst of courage, I pushed with my good leg, clawing at the ground. Sticks and rocks tore at my skin, but I ignored them. I didn’t want Tara to think for a minute that I’d abandoned her. I’d get myself out of this if it took me all night!

I ignored the twin shafts of pain in my head and in my ankle, and continued on, my jaw clenched as I tried to push past it all. Tara needed me, Rikki needed me. It was my mantra as I came to the stream I’d crossed hours earlier. Fuck me sideways on a bucking donkey!

I looked around, my hopes that a spot was less rocky, or more shallow quickly dashed. It wasn’t deep, only enough to cover me maybe, I’d managed to cross it by jumping over rocks earlier, but in my current condition, I was definitely going for a swim. I just hoped it didn’t make my head wound bleed again.

With a deep breath, I pushed my torso into the water, shock making me screech. Fuck, it was cold, so cold! I couldn’t stop now, so I thrust myself in, relieved when I found I could swim across the shallow depths. I pulled myself out on the other side, shaking the water from my body as much as I could, hating the way dirt and dead leaves clung to me.

Tara. Rikki. My mantra shortened but continued.

With each pull of my hands, with each kick of my leg, I repeated their names, over and over. I stopped a few times, needing to rest as nausea and pain made my head spin, but I kept going, my need to be at home with them outweighing the need for rest.

I closed my eyes, caught my breath for a few minutes, and started all over again. There wasn’t far to go, I was almost at the car. The grating scrape of asphalt in the parking lot tore at my skin as I kicked with my foot, unaware my hands left a bloody trail as I tried to pull myself forward. My right leg was good, I could drive. Drive to Tara and Rikki. Almost there, almost there.

The world spun out of focus, and I had to stop again just as I reached the door of the car. I managed to get myself under control and not puke my guts up so I rolled over and pushed myself up far enough to pull the door open. That’s when I remembered I had to unlock it first. My hands felt wet as I dug around in my pockets but I ignored that too as my fingers found the fob. I hit the button and the door unlocked.

For a minute I had visions of nothing happening and being locked out of my car all night. I looked up into the interior of the car and wondered how the fuck I was going to scream my way into the seat. Should I even drive? I had to, what else was I going to do? My phone was in pieces, I’d just dragged myself out of the forest, and my only option was to drive home.

I pushed up, screaming in the darkness as my ankle ground against bone, the sensation not alleviating my need to throw up. It was sickening but it passed as I settled into the seat, the pain quieted down to a nice throbbing ‘fuck you, Galen’. I reached unsteadily for the ignition and slipped the key in after several attempts. Okay, I’d made it this far, is this the part where the car won’t start? I wondered, and closed my eyes as I turned the key.

The car started!

I sighed with relief and rolled the window down gratefully, letting in fresh air. This was going to be a long drive home.

I glanced over at the clock and saw it was now past one in the morning. How the hell had that happened?