Rescue ~ Chapter 3

Well, for better or worse, chapter 3 is done. This chapter feels so scattered. I can't seem to get things together and it feels really forced at times. I'm still working on action...still trying to figure out not writing in first person and a boat load of other stuff. I'd love some help with a few questions if anyone has time. Does this chapter flow right? Does it make sense? Is the action just..."Blah"? Is it holding your attention? At what points does it lose you? What do you think of Jason's and Melody's relationship? Does it just get cheesy at the end of the chapter? And...is it too fast? Do I need more detail between things? And if so...where? And...uhhh...anything else? Thanks. :)

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Chapter 3

            “Jason!” Melody threw herself at her brother as Duerr forced her forward with the butt of his rifle.

            He snatched his arm free from Derek’s grasp, lifted his bound hands and brought his arms down around his sister to wrap her in a hug. Leaning down, he brought his head close to hers and whispered, hardly loud enough for her to hear, “Follow my lead and do exactly as I say.”

            Without giving her another moment to think, Jason lifted his arms from around Melody, shoved her behind him and rammed his elbow into Derek’s gut, sending him doubled over to the ground.

            Duerr screamed a curse and fired several shots in the air as he charged towards them.

            Jason pushed his sister forward screaming, “Melody, run!” And dashed deeper into the woods, Duerr close at their heels.

            “Jason, wait!” Melody shouted, slacking behind him.

            “No, Mel! Come on! We have to run!”

            “I can’t!”

            Jason continued to run and looked back to see her straining for air.

            “Mel, we can’t stop!”

            Melody gritted her teeth and tried to suck in a breath as she continued to run as fast as she could, but she couldn’t keep her feet from dragging and she nearly fell over the thick ground foliage.

            “Come on!” Jason screamed, running back to her and pushing her forward. “Don’t stop, Mel. Don’t stop!”

            Duerr was barely ten yards behind them, gaining on them fast and Melody wondered why he didn’t just shoot them.

            The wheezing returned in Melody’s throat and it took every ounce of will to keep her from collapsing again.

            Jason stayed by her side and kept telling her to run. To keep going. Not to give up.

            She strained to see through the almost completely dark jungle forest as she tumbled and tripped over dips in the earth, fallen tree limbs and the overwhelming ground brush.

            “Come on, Mel. Come on! Just a little farther.”

            She tried to reply and tell him that she wasn’t giving up, but it was all she could do to put one foot in front of the other, let alone try to talk.

            As they ran, she looked back just in time to see Duerr reach out and snatch at her hair as it flew behind her.

            She let out a choked scream and took a sharp turn to the right, tumbling over a log and falling to the other side on her shoulder

            Raising a shaking hand, she reached over the log and pulled herself up, trying to steady herself enough to run, but fell back again and lay on her back, choking for air. She felt her head buzzing and her ears rang as she reached up and rubbed her neck, trying desperately to get air to her burning lungs.

            She expected Duerr to reach out and snatch her up at any moment, but nothing happened. Instead, she heard a crash and a curse from the other side of the log.

            Jason and Duerr must have been fighting hand to hand from the sounds that reached her ears, but she couldn’t focus on that. She couldn’t focus on anything but trying to breathe.

            Gathering up her last ounce of strength, she rolled over on her clasped hands. Pressing her forehead on the ground, she bared down on her hands and pushed so hard that her hands and chest felt bruised. Releasing the last bit of air in her lungs she prepared to take in a deep breath, but she didn’t get the chance.

            Her shirt was grabbed and she was yanked up, causing her to snatch in shallow breath as she was slammed on her feet and forced to look up into the flaming eyes of Duerr.

            A wave of panic surged through her, but she was too weak from the lack of oxygen to do anything but looked around and pray that Jason would save her.

            A hand slammed into the back of Duerr’s neck, forcing him to release Melody who dropped to the ground and curled up, still trying to suck in air.

            She managed to snatch in enough to keep from passing out and looked up to see Jason tumbling with Duerr. He looked so small compared to the giant German. Even though Jason was tall and broad, she hadn’t noticed just how big Duerr was until she saw him next to her brother.

            The men grunted and strained as they rolled over and over on the ground, slamming into trees, rocks and each other.

            Duerr continually muttered what Melody assumed to be cursing, but she couldn’t tell because he was speaking in German.

            Jason raised his right fist and smashed it full into Duerr’s jaw, who returned the blow with one of his own to Jason’s gut.

            Melody watched as Duerr wrapped his arms around Jason’s waste and they began to roll over and over and over until Duerr’s back slammed into a tree. He let out a choked shout and released his grasp on Jason, who took advantage of his opponent’s vulnerable position by jumping up and ramming a foot into his lower ribs.

            Duerr screamed and curled up, hugging his stomach to protect himself from the next blow, but Jason continued to kick. He thrust his foot into Duerr’s hands, then his chest and a final blow to his face stopped any resistance from the German.

            Jason stumbled back, wiping his bleeding nose and breathing heavily.

            “Melody?” He shouted, looking around.

            “I’m here, Jay,” she said, forcing herself to her feet and bending over to lean on her knees.

            He ran over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, leaning down to look at her face. “Are you okay?”

            She nodded and gasped in a breath as tears streamed down her face. “Did you kill him?”

            “No.” Jason looked back where Duerr still lay against the tree. “He’ll probably wake up and go back to wherever he came from.”

            “Where did he come from?” Melody asked, straightening up and wiping her face with the back of her hand.

            Jason drew his eyebrows together and stared at the ground.

            “Jason?”

            “I don’t know.” He shook his head.

            “Where are we?” Melody hugged herself as a cold breeze blew through the woods.

            Jason shook his head again. “I don’t know, Mel. I know just as much as you do.”

            Melody shifted and took a step back.

            “What’s wrong? What is it?” Jason squinted to look at her.

            She looked up at him and let out a sob.

            “Melody, what’s wrong?”

            She sucked in a long, deep breath and squinted as pain shot through her lungs and up her throat. “Nothing,” she said, walking back to him and putting her arms around his waste. “I’m just scared.”

            “I know.” He wrapped her in a hug and kissed the top of her head. “But, we’re going to be okay, Mel. We survived that plane wreck. God saved us and there has to be a reason.”

            Melody shook in her head and buried her face in Jason’s chest. “Yeah, so that we can die out in the middle of some tropical jungle thousands of miles of home.”

            Jason pushed out and held onto her shoulders, looking down at her. “Don’t talk like that, do you hear me? That’s absolute garbage. We are not going to die out here. You can’t think like that.”

            “What good is wishful thinking going to do us, Jason?” She shouted. “Look around! Do you see any way out? Stop being so ridiculous and get real, here!”

            “Okay,” Jason let out a long breath and close his eyes, then opened them and looked back down at her. “First of all, calm down. You get too worked up too fast. Second of all, I’m not your enemy here, Mel. Okay? I just don’t want you to give up before we’ve even tried. You’ve got to hold on and hope.”

            “Hope? In what?”

            “Melody, I’m not going to play this game with you. You know what and-”

            A shriek rang through the air from near by.

            “What was that?” Melody forced herself into Jason’s arms again and squeezed his waste.

            “We’ve got to get somewhere safe,” he said. “Come on.”

            Melody grabbed his hand as they began to trot through the trees. They ran over thick brush, around trees, through vines and under low branches.

            The longer they ran, the harder it was for Melody to keep up. As their pace slacked to a quick walk, Melody stopped and said, “Jason.”

            He stopped and looked back at her. “What?”

            “Where are we going?”

            He shook his head and sucked in a deep breath. “I’m trying to find the shore. It seems like that would be the safest place and maybe there will be a boat or something. Do you know which way it is?”

            “Don’t you?” Melody asked, looking up at the treetops.

            “No, I was knocked out in the plane and guess I was dragged into the woods. I didn’t see anything.” He closed his eyes and squeezed them shut, grunting. Then he stumbled back and caught himself from falling.

            “What’s wrong?” Melody ran to him.

            He shook his head. “Nothing. Guess I’m just bruised up from the fight.”

            “Do you need to sit down? What’s hurts? Are you okay? Here.” She tried to get him to sit down, but he pulled back.

            “I’m okay, Mel.”

            “Stop trying to be so brave, Jay. You don’t have to do that, okay?”

            “I said, I’m fine. Come on, let’s keep going.”

            Melody stepped closer to him and looked up into his eyes. Even in the dark she could see the light in them. The determination. The strength.

            “Come on,” she almost sobbed. “Please, let’s just rest tonight. We can’t go on all night. We can’t even see anything. We could be going in the completely wrong direction right now.”

            “We can’t stop at night. If this is really a jungle, night is the most dangerous time to be out.”

            “Then let’s climb a tree or something. You’ve got to rest, Jay. You’re beat up and I’m exhausted. I thought asthma was bad at home but, that’s nothing compared to out here. But, you’re hurt and need rest. If we need to keep watch, I can stay awake while you try to sleep or-”

            “You’re trying so hard, aren’t you?” Jason looked down at his sister and smiled.

            “For what?”

            “Not to get down.”

            She shrugged and kicked at the ground. “Not really.”

            He pushed her matted and dirty hair out of her eyes and lifted her chin with his finger. “Okay, we’ll try to climb a tree and see if we can get some rest.”

            As Jason looked around for a good climbing tree, Melody sat down and looked around.

            What were they supposed to do? Yeah, they’d survive the night, probably. But, what about the next day? What were they even doing there? Melody feared that she knew the answer, but she wouldn’t even allow herself to think it. That couldn’t be it. And whatever happened, she couldn’t let Jason know that she knew anything. She’d tried twice before to tell him, but now she was glad he’d stopped her. She thought she had to have been wrong, but when she heard Duerr’s German accent, she knew that he must be related to the organization who wanted that black box. Whoever they were.

            “Here, Mel!” Jason called. “Come over here, I think I found one.”

            Melody rose and walked over to where her brother stood next to a tree, grasping a vine.

            Jason helped her mount a low branch and handed her the vine. “Be careful.”

            Melody laughed. “Jason, I’ve been climbing trees since I could walk.”

            “I know,” Jason chuckled. “But, you just-I mean-”

            “Jay, I’m fine, okay?”

            “Yeah.” He nodded and looked up at her. “Just-you-”

            Melody got down off her branch and looked up at her brother. His eyes were overflowing with that look that he’d had for her ever since she was little. That look that made him look more like her father than brother. The look that said he’d die before he’d let so much as a mosquito land on her.

            “Jay, I’m fine, okay?” She repeated smiling at him. “I’m going to be fine. You’re going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine.”

            He didn’t reply, but just stared down at her, his gaze unmoved.

            Melody took his hand in both of hers. “At least that’s what my big brother told me.”

            Jason grinned and sighed. He pulled her into a hug and held her for a minute before letting her go and motioning to the tree. “Come on, kiddo, time for bed. I’ll tuck you in for old time’s sake. How that?”

            She nodded with a smile and let him help her back up the tree. He followed and helped her find a branch then tie herself to the tree with a vine.

            “You’ll be safe for the night, okay? I’ll be on the next branch.” He made a final tug on the vine, tightening the intricate knot.

            “Where’d you learn all of this?”

            “I finished Eagle Scouts, remember?” He chuckled, shifting to get a better grasp with his legs around the branch he was sitting on. “Now, get to sleep, Kiddo.”

            “Night, Jay.” Melody smiled and leaned her head against the tree as Jason climbed over to his branch. The smile faded from her face as his soon as he had turned. This was going to be a long night. And now she was almost sure that it was her fault. Almost sure.