30. Worry

You wait until you feel Jack's breathing deepen and you're sure he's asleep before slipping out of his arms. You quietly button your shirt back up and pull your boots on. Despite the pit forming in the bottom of your stomach you don't feel as guilty as you think you should. You look over your shoulder and take a final glance at Jack's sleeping form before silently slipping out of the shed. It's still considerably dark outside but the large half moon in the sky provides enough light for you to make your way around. The cabin is still dark but you're not ready to return there just yet. Instead you make your way down the path to the tree that lies a little ways past Jack's shed.

You sit down leaning your back against the trunk of the tree and draw your legs up to your chest. Tilting your head back you look up at the starry night and think about the quiet moment you and Jack had earlier. You had hoped that your feelings for Jack were purely physical, as if that would somehow make it better. But now you're starting to worry there's more to it than just that. You're completely lost in thought when you feel a large hand clamp over your mouth and pull you up. You tremble as you feel yourself pulled back against a lean, solid, torso. "Miss me?"

You quake as you hear the familiar voice. You were on such a high earlier you failed to think about any potential dangers. Despite the hand over your mouth, you try opening it to scream, but find that you can't make a noise. You turn your head to the side as far as the hand will let you. Your cheek brushes against rough material but you can't make out anything. You feel a hand tightly grip your arm as you're pulled back. You're **** to continue walking backwards, stumbling occasionally as you do, until you reach the tree line. Even though the man's grip is far tighter than you'd like he at least does his best to keep you steady.

When you reach the forests edge he stops for a moment and you feel a piece of cloth being pulled around your mouth. He secures it tightly and whispers in your ear "Don't try anything clever" before pushing you forward into the brush ahead. You walk for what feels like hours, only taking short, periodic stops to catch your breath. Finally, when your legs are beginning to quake, and you see the sky start to lighten as the sun begins to rise, do you stop. Up ahead you see a clearing and the man pushes you towards its direction. The slivers of sunlight peaking through the foliage above are just bright enough to allow you to make out the remains of a campfire in the middle of the clearing.

You look around a bit more and see an worn but large tent in the back of the clearing. There are a few items scattered about near the tent but before you can get a good look at them the man turns you around to face him. You cautiously look up at him as he reaches around the back of your head and unties the cloth around your mouth. "Sorry I had to do that." You frown as you reach your hand up to wipe cloth fibers off your mouth.

His voice is deep and somewhat gruff but that's not why it makes you shiver when you hear it. There's something about his voice that makes you uncomfortable, you can't quite determine what is yet, maybe something about the tone he uses. He's also not as gentle around you as Dex and Jack have been. You rub you arm where his hand had been gripping you earlier. "Why are you doing this?" you ask, part of your hair has fallen in front of one of your eyes, but you don't bother pushing it back.

The man raises one of his dark eyebrows momentarily and looks down at you silently. You can't seem to read his expression, his face appears neutral at first, but there's something behind his eyes. "I'm doing you a favor" he finally replies, his expression remains unchanged. You draw your other hand across your chest to your opposite arm and rub your hands up and down. Now that you've stopped walking you realize it's a bit chilly. You had noticed on your way here that the man had been leading you up an inclining slope. It must be colder since you're likely now at a higher elevation than the cabin.

To your surprise the man seems to pick up on this and takes his jacket off. You almost step back when he moves forward to drape it on your shoulders but you decide not to. After you slip you arms into the sleeves you take a moment to get a better look at the jacket. It's faded leather and seems to be a well worn motorcycle jacket. You notice it has pockets and slip your hands inside them. They're empty but warm and even though you hate to do it you mumble "Thank you" quietly. The man nods at you and walks towards the tent at the edge of the clearing. You watch him warily as you go over to the fallen tree truck that had been dragged near the old campfire.

As you're sitting down the man returns with a few split logs in his hands, he dumps them down onto the pile of old ashes, then pulls a matchbook out of his pocket. It looks like it's half empty when he opens it to pull matchstick out. He glances over at you and you quickly look way to avoid eye contact. You stare at a moss covered tree to your side while he lights the fire. When he's done you see him walk over to you in the corner of your eye. You shift your head down and look at your lap while he sits down next to you. The warmth from the fire feels nice and you pull your hands out of the pockets of the jacket. You didn't even notice your left hand had a long scratch across it. Likely sustained when you were making your way through some especially thick brush.

The man also glances down at your hand and stands up when he sees it. He wordless walks into the tent and comes back out a moment later with a backpack. He pulls a ripped shirt out of the bag and a canteen. You watch him as he tears off two strips of fabric from the shirt and tosses it back in the bag. After opening the canteen he pours some water over one of the strips of fabric and gestures for your hand. Even though you're uneasy you slowly reach your hand out and let him take it. He wipes dry blood off the cut with the wet fabric before wrapping it up in the clean strip. You pull your hand away from him as soon as he done tying the knot. "Don't worry, I don't bite...much." He chuckles lowly when he sees your eyes widen at this statement.

He sits back down and reaches back into the backpack. When he pulls his hand out you see he's holding a small wrapped bundle. He unwraps it and hands you a piece of meat from inside. You think about refusing it but your stomachs small growl betrays you and you reluctantly take the meat. You slowly nibble on the food staring ahead into the fire wondering what you're going to do about this situation. Clearly this man has some tracking knowledge based on your past encounters, so running may not be an option. He's lean but his grip wasn't that of a weak man so you're almost certain you stand no chance against him physically.

You wish you hadn't left your pistol at home. Why do you keep making mistake after mistake, you wonder. You decide not to give up hope yet, maybe the man has some sort of weapon that you can find and sneak away from him. You know he has a bow somewhere but you've never shot one before so that could be risky. Still, it's something to tuck away for later you think as you finish the last of your food. The man gets up and tosses a bone into the fire before turning around to return the backpack in the tent. You also make a note of that as well wondering if there's something inside it he doesn't want you getting to.

You decide at the very least perhaps you can win him over and eventually convince him to let you leave. When he returns to his seat you finally turn your head and look at him as softly as you can manage. He had been looking over at the fire but also turns his head when he sees you looking at him. Even though his sharp features give his face a somewhat unfriendly appearance there's no denying he's rather good looking. You mentally scold yourself for having such a thought as you continue to try to gauge his expression.