Vacations End.

Chapter 4
Searching

Chapter 4

The duo split up and looked in opposite directions for

Andrea. Both men thinking that she couldn’t have gotten

that far. Possibilities that ran through their head included

that she had been ejected from the vehicle and landed in

a bush or tree, unconscious, unable to tell anyone where

she was. Or perhaps, she woke up after the crash and was

wandering around in a state of confusion. Either way they

needed to find her and ensure she was okay, but what

happened when they found her was not what they

expected to find at all.

Daniel had previously noticed that there was a creek not

far from the where the vehicle had come to a stop at, and

he yelled to Christopher that he was going to follow the

creek side to see if she may have ended up in that area.

Christopher yelled that he would check farther upstream,

and so once again the duo broke away in order to cover

more ground. Daniel came down the side of the hill

towards the water to get a better look, and then he

proceeded to follow the waterbed north, shining the

flashlight into the various dark areas surrounding him in

hopes that he would find Andrea. Suddenly he heard

Christopher screaming up ahead, and it sent him running

as fast as possible towards the voice in the dark distance.

As he got closer to the yelling, Daniel came up behind an

old house with a sloped back yard that headed down

towards the bank he had flowed towards them. As he

made his way up the slippery, muddy embankment he

could make out two figures, one of which he was certain

was Christopher. The other had to be Andrea because as

he came closer the words became clearer, and it was

Christopher talking, so it seemed, to Andrea. As he finally

made it the rest of the way into the yard behind the old

house, he could make out both figures more clearly.

Christopher was on the opposite side of the yard, and

Daniel had come up from behind with Andrea standing in

the middle.

Although Christopher had taken notice of Daniel’s

arrival, he signaled for him to remain quiet.

For Daniel, there was just enough light shining onto her

figure that he could see she was badly beaten up from the

car wreck. Her clothes were torn and wet, saturated with a

mix of muddy creek water and blood. Daniel’s heart sank,

and he almost let out a gasp at the sight, but he muffled

it by placing his hand over his mouth very quickly. In front

of him stood the love of his life, and because he had tried

to make an advance on her, she had suffered this ill fate.

He wanted to make it up to her, he wanted to make it

right, but all he could do right now was wait due to the fact

that he was uncertain as to exactly what was happening.

Christopher stood in front of Andrea, knowing he had to

keep her calm. Earlier, as he had approached her, he took

notice of her condition, not only the physical, but the

mental as well. She appeared rattled, confused, as if she

had no clue as to where she was or who she was for that

matter. Her clothes were in shambles, and as he was

doing an overall intake of her injuries, he saw a broken

piece of what appeared to be a shattered, tinted, blue

glass embedded in her left upper thigh. At first he thought

that she might have done it while she was in the creek,

but upon closer observation, he realized that it was the

bottom part of the glass belonged to the vials of serum

that were in the backseat of his car. He immediately

realized what must have happened. When they were in the

wreck the vial broke in half and embedded itself, with the

serum still inside it, into Andrea’s leg. This explained her

confusion, her anxiousness, and her fear of the situation

she was in currently. The problem now would be how to

explain what had happened to Daniel. Christopher

cautiously stepped towards Andrea, talking soothingly to

her in an attempt to keep her calm and focused.

“Andrea, it’s me Christopher, it’s ok hun, I want to help

you. Let me take you back to the house where we can get

you cleaned up. That sounds good right? Just give me

your hand.”

Andrea stood there wide eyed with tears running down

her face. Her bottom lip quivered, and her leg felt weird,

she couldn’t understand what the man was saying because

of the pounding in her head but she was so scared. She

reached down to rub her leg in hopes that it would

alleviate some of the...

“NO!! DON’T DO THAT!!” Christopher yelled, not realizing

his mistake quickly enough. His scream scared Andrea,

and his sudden forward movement alarmed her even

more so, and caused her to turn backwards and run. She

did not notice Daniel standing close to the slope of the

hill, however, and it was he that she ran into. He grabbed

her, and she started to flail in a feeble attempt to get

away from him. Daniel tried to tell Andrea it was him,

hoping it would calm her, thinking that it was just the

wreck that had her so frazzled, but she didn’t seem to

comprehend. During the flailing about, Andrea had

managed to turn herself away from Daniel. It was at this

point that he though a jolt would awaken her sense, so he

spun her back around, smacking roughly against her left

leg as he did so. Suddenly, Andrea let out a blood curdling

scream, which made Daniel release his grip on her just as

quickly. He fell backwards, almost losing his footing,

looked at Andrea who had a look of sheer horror mixed

with pain on her face. She abruptly stood completely still,

and with complete clarity in her eyes, she stared at

him, “Daniel?” Then she collapsed.

 

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