This is the second part in a series, so you might want to read Part I before continuing.
They continued like that for the next four miles. At about every half mile they came across a bench where they would sit down and rest for a while to enjoy the scenery.
When they found a bench looking out over the water, they both felt the urge to stop and stare out at the water, transfixed by the steady repetition of the sound splashing over the stones hundreds of feet below, pulling back, then splashing over the stones again.
“Can you imagine a more beautiful place?” said Carrie.
Tommy had to admit he was hard pressed to do so. He stretched both arms out across the back of the bench. One arm reached behind Carrie and he found himself absentmindedly stroking her shoulder with his thumb. She leaned into his embrace and pretty soon the pressure of her body against his, combined with the effect of their exercise, had his blood pumping to a certain organ.
He tested Carrie’s willingness to participate by nibbling on one ear. She giggled, but didn’t pull away.
“There are lots of other people walking this trail,” she said. “Someone could walk by at any moment.”
“Makes it more exciting, doesn’t it?” Tommy moved his lips down her neck, and when she leaned in, he knew he was going to get what he was after.
Twenty minutes later, they were giggling and checking the trail for signs of other hikers as they hurried to pull their pants back up. With the coast clear, they resumed their hike and Carrie checked her watch. “Oh, shit, is that the time?”
Tommy checked his watch as well. “How much farther do we have to go?”
“At least a mile.” She looked at him dubiously. “Do you think you can run it?”
He raised his eyebrows, hoping he had misheard. “Run over this crap? Are you kidding me?”
“It’s either that or we stay the night.”
Tommy sighed as he gave in to the inevitable. “I guess that means I don’t have a choice then, do I?”
Carrie’s expression of dubious concern was immediately replaced by a mischievous grin. “Race ya!” And she took off running down the path.
Tommy swore as he followed, leaping over roots and playing hopscotch on the raised stones.
He did better than he thought, but then he misjudged a step, which turned out to be a stone covered in wet moss. His right foot shot out in front of him, while his left leg was still behind him from the previous step. He heard something snap as he landed hard on his left leg. “Oh, that’s not good,” he said.
Carrie came to a screeching halt, if such a thing was possible on a dirt trail. “Are you OK?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What happened?”
“My foot slipped. I think my other foot might be broken.”
“Can you get up?”
“I can try. Here. Gimme a hand.” He reached out his left hand while bracing himself against the ground with his right hand, trying to get his weight off his injured leg. As he did so he bit back a scream of pain as he felt what he was pretty sure was two pieces of bone grinding against each other. “Nope. Not gonna happen.”
“We’re gonna miss the ferry,” Carrie said. She was starting to hop from one foot to the other as her anxiety rose.
“Yes, we are.” Tommy said in such a calm, level voice that Carrie immediately calmed down.
“Well, you can’t stay here forever. Our first option is I stay here and we figure out a way to get you up and moving. Our second option is you wait here while I go get help.”
Tommy nodded, considering both options. “Where would you go to get help?”
Carrie thought about this for a minute before realizing the dilemma he was pointing out. “I was thinking I would go to the ferry dock. Maybe someone on the ferry has a first aid kit?”
“Maybe, but I’m not willing to count on it. Why don’t we stick with our first option?”
“OK. What do you need from me?”
Tommy wasn’t sure. He tried again to shift his weight off his left leg and onto his right arm and bit back another scream of pain, but he made progress. He managed to shift his weight onto his right hip, leaning over until his left leg was no longer covered by the rest of his body. He heard Carrie inhale in a hiss and looked to see what had elicited that reaction. He immediately regretted that decision as he saw his left foot twisted at an unnatural angle. He looked away and breathed deeply for a few minutes, trying to focus on the forest floor that had seemed so beautiful just a few minutes ago and now looked more like a death trap.
Once the deep breathing had done its work, he used his right arm to brace himself against the ground while reaching his other arm up to Carrie. She took his arm and started to pull, which resulted in a scream of pain he was unable to stop this time.
Carrie immediately stopped pulling, but didn’t let go of his arm. After some more deep breathing, Tommy said, “Keep your arm there. I’m going to use it to pull myself up, OK?”
Carrie nodded and held her arm out like a towel rack. Tommy gripped it, took a few more deep breaths, then maneuvered himself until he was standing on both knees. He managed to get his right foot on the ground, but he knew getting up from there was going to be a problem. He looked around and saw a big stick that would work as a walking stick. He pointed at it and asked Carrie to bring it to him. She did and he gripped the stick with his right hand, using it to brace against the ground to his right.
Then he told Carrie he needed her to wrap an arm around his waist and help pull him up to his feet. She did so, and together they were able to get him upright, but he quickly found there was no way he could put weight on his injured foot.
Instead, he put his left arm around her shoulders and said, “We have to make it the rest of the way to the ferry dock like this.”
“Just like those three-legged races,” Carrie said, trying to sound chipper.
Tommy huffed a laugh. “You mean the ones we always lose because we can never figure out how to synchronize our movements?”
“Yeah, that one.”
To be continued…