Breathe

They hadn’t even picked up tracks.

“We’re getting far away, Chace,” Faye called, her voice tight.

Fear and concern.

“Keep lookin’, honey,” Chace replied.

“It’s getting late,” she told him.

“Keep lookin’.”

“And cold.”

He heard a sharp whistle and stopped dead, aiming his light toward Deck.

Deck was aiming his light to his fingers, two of which were moving in a motion of walking then he swung his light to the forest floor.

He’d found tracks.

Faye rushed up to his side.

“Quiet, Faye, as quiet as you can be. Follow, stay behind me. Let’s go,” Chace ordered, Faye nodded then he moved swiftly and as silently as he could to Deck.

When they reached him, Deck continued to move through the forest.

Chace and Faye followed and Chace saw the tracks. At hearing Faye’s quick intake of breath, he knew she saw them too.

Five minutes passed into ten and then Deck stopped abruptly, lifting up a hand.

Chace and Faye stopped behind him. Chace moved carefully to his side where he halted, using an arm to sweep Faye behind him and putting his hand to his gun at his belt.

There was movement.

“Lights,” Chace murmured and turned his flashlight off, Deck’s followed half a second later then Faye’s went out.

They listened to the sounds of approach and Chace trained his eyes through the dark at where it was coming from. From the noises, he couldn’t get a sense of what they were dealing with, child, adult or both. They didn’t talk, didn’t make anything but the noise of footfalls in the snow, mud and the brushing of branches.

Then they came clear. Chace knew Faye saw them the minute he did for she sucked in another audible breath.

Through the dark, Malachi in his new jeans and a sweater and he was holding the hand of a little girl, maybe five, six, in a thin, pale-colored nightgown, Malachi’s coat hanging on her, barefoot, hair a scraggly mess coming out from under Malachi’s hat, face dirty, thin as a f**king rail.

The children didn’t notice them until they were four feet away. When they did, they rocked to a halt, their heads tipped back sharply and the girl whimpered in alarm, ducking behind Malachi.

Chace braced to run after them if they took off but they didn’t.

Shocking the shit out of Chace, his eyes locked to him, Malachi shuffled forward two feet and stopped.

Then his face cracked in a huge smile and he whispered in a scratchy voice, “Finally got her. Rebecca. My sister.”

His sister. His f**king sister.

Chace was right. There was a sibling. All he’d done was for her.

Faye leaned heavily into the side of his back and whispered, “My sister.”

Then he felt her body buck and he knew she was fighting tears.

Chace had to hope she could hold it together as he leaned back a bit to give her the cue, she took her weight from him and he crouched low.

“Rebecca’s got no shoes on, Malachi. It’s cold, snowy and muddy. Can I carry her home?” he asked.

Malachi looked at Chace then twisted his neck to look at his sister then he looked back at Chace and nodded.

Chace carefully lifted one hand toward Rebecca, she cowered back behind Malachi and whimpered.

Malachi’s scratchy voice came back. “It’s okay, Becky.”

“Doan wanna,” she murmured.

More of Malachi’s rough, quiet whisper. “He got me a sleeping bag.”

“Doan wanna.”

“He’s nice.”

“Doan wanna!”

“Becky, honey, look at me.”

This came from Faye who had moved and was now crouching beside Chace.

She spoke again when Becky peered fearfully from around Malachi.

“I’m Faye. This is Chace,” she motioned to him then she tipped her head up to Deck so both kids tilted their heads way back to look at Deck. “That gentle giant is Jacob Decker. It’s cold, sweetheart, and you need some food in your belly.” At the mention of food, Becky’s eyes shot back to Faye and, at what this said, Chace’s gut twisted. “You can walk with us, of course, but we’d get you warmed up and food in you a lot faster if you let Chace carry you.”

There was nothing then, softly, “Gentle giant?”

“Yeah, he’s big but he’s sweet,” Faye told her.

“What’s he?” Becky asked, pressing into Malachi but jerking her chin to Chace.

“He’s a white knight on a fiery steed except his steed comes in the form of an SUV and it’s not fiery. It’s burgundy.”

Becky kept pressing into her brother then she whispered, “Did he buy Miah a sleeping bag?”

Miah?

Faye wisely didn’t question the name. She just answered, “Yes, honey, he got him a sleeping bag and camp cutlery and candy bars and energy drinks and lots of stuff. That’s what white knights do. They save damsels in distress but they also look after kids who don’t have it very good.”

Becky’s eyes moved over Chace in the moonlight.

Then slowly she shifted out from behind Malachi, took two steps toward him and lifted her hand his way. Moving carefully, Chace reached out toward her.

Her little, pale fingers curled around his.

He cautiously moved forward and slowly swung her up in his arms.

Then he whispered, “Let’s get them home,” and moved swiftly through the wood.

“Take my hand, sweetheart,” he heard from behind him and he knew Faye was looking after Malachi but Chace didn’t miss a step.

But when her little, trembling body caught his attention, he stopped, put her down gently, shrugged off his jacket, wrapped it low around her in an effort to cover her legs and feet and lifted her back up.

While he was doing that, he heard Deck ask Malachi, “Piggyback?” which meant if Deck carried Malachi, they could keep up.

The scratchy voice came back, a hint of excitement in it, “Yeah.”

Chace forged through the forest hearing them coming after him.

After five minutes he heard Deck’s, “Gentle giant?”

Then he heard Faye’s, “Shut up.”

He did not smile. The girl in his arms was freezing, dirty, underfed and her brother just saved her from some unknown “she” who was at the town meeting.

Five minutes later he heard Deck’s, “White knight on a fiery steed?”

Then he heard Faye’s, “Deck, shut… up.”

Then he heard Malachi’s laugh.

Only then did he smile.