Page 81 of Dawn of Hope

Camp.

I can’t go back to camp. I can’t lead whoever this is there. Even if they already know where it is, I can’t endanger everyone else by having someone follow me back, but being alone didn’t help my chances of being captured either. I need a new plan. I need to lose them.

Screw it, I need to run.

I take off, fast as my body will let me in this exhausted state and hope it will be enough.

The rustling follows me, matching my speed, but still completely out of sight.

I look back, but don’t see anyone. This can’t be the island playing tricks on me, can it?

When I turn back, a large figure steps into the path directly in front of me, and I don’t have time to slow myself down. I plow right into it full force and yell as we crash to the floor. Large arms wrap around my shoulders as I land on top of this person.

We hit the ground hard, and my face slams into the firm chest beneath me. I reach toward my dagger, ready for a fight, when the chest under me starts shaking, the arms squeezing me tighter.

Then I hear it.

Laughing.

“Dane?!”

“You really just plowed me over, didn’t you?”

I push myself off of his chest so I can see his face, grinning and eyes sparkling.

“Why the fuck were you following me? You scared me! I thought you were a Castaway!”

“First off, I wasn’t following you. I heard yelling and had been trying to figure out where it was coming from, then I heard someone on the path and stepped out to see who it was.”

“I thought you were going to kidnap me,” I say with a slap to his chest. He holds his hand over mine, flattening my palm against his chest.I can feel his heart pounding, and his chest still shaking from the giggles he is trying to suppress.

“This isn’t funny.”

“I’m not laughing.” His face turns serious, but his lips keep turning up as he tries to keep the smile off of them. “Why are you covered in mud?”

“Ugh,” I say, dropping my forehead to his chest. “This day has been awful. I feel like I got nowhere.” I roll off of him and push myself to stand, seeing that he is now almost as dirty as I am.

Dane stands and brushes the dirt off his back. “You aren’t alone. It was your first day. Don’t beat yourself up too badly. You know how long many of us have been here. It’s good to accept that you made it through the day, didn’t get hurt, and get to go back out tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I say with a huff. “I just…never mind. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“How about we do something to celebrate your first day, and get your mind off of whatever it is you are feeling?” He wears a hopeful expression, and I can’t help but wonder what he has planned.

I look down at myself, then back up at him. “But I’m covered in mud. And so are you.”

“Where we’re going, that won’t matter.”

I tilt my head, trying to figure out where on the island we could be going, but after the day I had, decide it doesn’t really matter. I could use a little fun.

“What do you have in mind?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The shadows around us elongate as the suns quickly set, shifting the sky into the nightly change of colors that I can never get enough of. Dane clutches my hand as he leads me down the pathways in the opposite direction of camp.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“I am serious about making sure you trust me. It doesn’t help me if I just tell you.” He winks, then pulls me to his side and drapes his arm across my shoulders