A drop of blood dripped from my nose and I flicked it away. I felt terrible and couldn’t imagine how I looked. If our lifeless bodies were ever found, would anybody recognize me?
“I’m in no condition to die,” I told Mom. “Just look at my hair. If Minda Stilley could see me now.” I tried to grin but my teeth must have cut my mouth. It hurt.
Mom scooted closer to me. “Don’t say that. I’m not wanting to go just yet.”
My mother wasn’t much better off than I was. The only difference was that she didn’t have a head wound that kept bleeding. She’d sliced her knee on a sharp rock and her once-pretty denim pants were ragged and soggy.
Although the day was warm enough, rain-cooled but still a spring rain, we both shivered as if a frigid January wind blew against us.
“I wonder how long it’ll take for them to find us?” I muttered. Maybe fifteen minutes of going in the wrong direction, if they fell for my trick of putting bloody strips to mark a false trail, and then circling around until they found evidence of our flight. We had kept to the rocky creek bed, but sooner or later, they’d find a hair or a broken limb, or a spot of blood. I had no idea how long we had been running. It felt like forever.
The Cemetery Club Last day for a free copy of the first Darcy and Flora cozy mystery. Do you have yours?
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