“You shouldn’t have left,” Mira told Jesse, shouting it, too tired and frustrated to hold back any longer. “We could have made it. We could have made it together.”

She looked around her, trying to gauge how far they were from the house, but she had no idea where they were. If she were to leave without Jesse, she didn’t trust she’d be able to find help soon enough. Looking out onto the expanse before her, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to find her way at all, not without sunlight, not without anything for her to see the path.

Her arms weren’t strong enough to carry him. Unconscious, he was nothing but deadweight. She pulled, was able to drag him a few feet, but fatigue set in and she had to stop. She kneeled back on the ground. “Jesse, can you hear me? You’ve got to wake up. Are you hurt? Are you shot? If you’re shot, tell me where.”

Jesse didn’t answer. Not knowing what else to do, she lifted his body so that he was lying on his back, wanting to check the front of him for signs he’d been hit. It took her a couple of times to do it, and when she got him over she was out of breath between that and attempting to pull him. She settled down to rest. After a moment she leaned over him and tucked her hand under the front of his shirt, feeling once again for a wound.

“Trying to cop a feel?” Jesse whispered. He gave a choked cough and tried to stand. Mira reached to help. The right side of his face had a streak of mud from where he’d hit the ground. He touched his cheek and winced as he wiped the mud away, revealing a bloody patch of skin underneath. “Jesus,” he said, wincing again from the pain.

“No, I—” Mira blushed, jerked her hands away from Jesse’s body.

Jesse saw her embarrassment and smiled. “I was just joking.”

“I don’t understand. You fell,” Mira said, feeling glad and astonished he was okay. She’d seen it all so clearly, heard the thundercrack of the shots, saw him as he leapt toward the ground, and yet Jesse sat before her, only slightly hurt but alive.

“No kidding.” Jesse touched his face again. His fingers lightly tapped the skin, trying to inspect if his face was swollen. “I’m still feeling the pain of it.”

“I thought— Are you sure you’re okay? You weren’t shot?”

“I tripped. That’s why I fell. Otherwise I would have kept running. I would have run and never stopped until I got to the river, but I tripped and hit my head. Why would you think I got shot?”