excerpt:
“Help
me.”
Erica
was impaled on the bumper of the old vehicle. Part of her left leg was buried
in the ground along with her left arm up to her elbow. She looked like someone rising
out of bed, but sinking down at the same time. Blood dripped into the dirt.
I
choked back bile to keep my hysteria at bay. “Shh, I’ll get you out. Stop
screaming.”
I
searched around for something to dig with and used a couple of sticks to free
her leg and arm from the ground. I pulled on her to help her stand and the
shriek that pierced the night was unearthly. A rusty shard of metal broke off
and more blood gushed.
“I’m
so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” I really was. She didn’t deserve what was
happening to her, not for being mean to me, or for being a bully, or anything.
But what could I do? She’d seen the time machine. Even drunk she had to realize
she traveled from the lab into the forest, into the ground actually, by
incomprehensible means.
I
tore off my shirt and tied it around her, hoping to stem the flow of blood. I
needed her to walk back. We got halfway back before she dropped to her knees.
She’d soaked through my shirt and neither of us could hold enough pressure on
the wound.
“I’ll
carry you,” I said. I bent down in front of her and told her to climb on my
back. She managed to keep her legs around my waist all the way to the lab door,
then she gave up. I dropped the flashlight and used both hands to lug her all
the way up to the third floor.
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