Except...
My toe hits what must be a rock, stopping my momentum. I'm gonna fall. I try to get my hands out to break the impact, but my reflexes aren't as fast as my feet.
I slam to the ground. I'm not lucky enough to fall on pavement or grass--just gravel and stones. My hips get slammed against sharp rocks. Pebbles slice into my forearms as I slide over them. As my chin scrapes the ground like a plane landing on a runway, my headlight slides off George and crashes onto the bridge of my nose, blocking my view.
Damn. That. Hurt.
My body is paralyzed from shock and pain. I'm afraid to move. My forearms are burning like someone has lit a match, and the flames are licking my skin.
Some people have passed me, but others have stopped. There's commotion. At least I haven't fainted, which is a good thing.
"Are you okay?" someone asks.
"She totally wiped out," someone else adds.
"Amy!" It's Avis voice. He doesn't sound like a military commando anymore. He sounds concerned. His concern, along with the burning in my arms and knees and chin, makes me emotional. As I swallow back tears, a warm, comforting hand pulls off my headlight and pushes the hair out of my face. "Amy, can you move?"
I dread the thought of moving. I'd rather stay here for a while because I fear the additional injuries I've gotten and don't know about yet. "I think so," I say, wincing as I attempt, and fail, to sit up. "Oh, God, I'm so embarrassed."
Avi orders the gawkers to keep going. Nimrod urges the unit forward and leaves Avi to tend to my injuries.
"Everyone's gone. It's just us."
"Aren't we going to get in trouble if we're alone?" I sniff a couple of times, then wipe my nose with my sleeve. I'm giving up preserving my ego. In fact, my ego is nonexistent now... I think I left it back in Chicago.
"It's fine. I'm trained in first aid."
I swipe away the tears running down my cheeks as Avi slowly helps me sit up.
"I'm fine," I say, sniffing again. "I need to get up so I can finish the run."
"You're not doing anything until I know the extent of your injuries."
I push his hands away as he pulls up my now shredded sleeves. "Stop."
"Don't be stubborn, Amy." I try to stand, but Avi pushes me back down. He swears when he bends my elbow and sees the damage. "You're hurt. There's blood all over your arms."
"It doesn't matter. If you got your arm shot off, you'd jump right up and finish the run because you're superhuman."
"I'm not superhuman."
"Sure you are. Liron is, too."
He stops his examination and looks at me. "Huh?"
"She's the female version of you. If she fell, she'd jump up and finish this stupid running exercise on these stupid rocks that jut out of the stupid ground without warning."
"That's a lot of stupids," he says.
"Yeah, well, that's how I feel right now. Like everything is stupid." I feel my hot, stupid tears streaming down my dirty, dusty face.
"I need to clean out your stupid wounds with some stupid water. Okay?" He pours water from his canteen on my arms.
I suck in my breath. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."
"Sorry. Just hang in there." He unzips a pocket on his vest and takes out what I guess is first aid stuff. He rips open a packet and pulls out a little white antiseptic pad.
I jerk my arm away in anticipation of the antiseptic on my open wounds. "Ouch!" I say before he even touches me with it. "It's gonna sting."
"Only for a second. It'll help numb it, too. Trust me."
I give him a "yeah, right" look.
"Trust me," he says, so tenderly it rocks my insides.
He takes one arm and gently wipes the cloth over my wound. "When I wince, he softly blows on the cut, easing the sting. I close my eyes and try to focus on the pain instead of his breath and his fingers touching my skin.
Feeling his soft breath makes me think about when we were under the blanket on the couch at my condo. His kisses started at my lips, trailed over my skin, and then his breath followed those kisses... and then his tongue followed that same path, giving me goose bumps. "When he stopped, I begged him to do it again and again. And he did.
"The last thing I want is a female version of me," he says as he's busy pulling out another antiseptic pad. He takes my other arm and cleans it, blowing on it gently like before. It feels so good I never want him to stop. My anger at him weakens with each touch of his hand and each whisper of his breath on my skin. I hope he doesn't notice.
He bandages both my forearms with gauze. "It's only a temporary fix until I get you to the infirmary, but it'll have to do. What else hurts?"
"Everything. My hips are burning, my knees are burning. My chin feels raw." Even my heart hurts--being this close to him and knowing that our relationship is over stabs like a knife. I moan.
"Does anything feel like it's broken?" he asks, his arm supporting my back.
"No." Nothing besides my heart, but that had nothing to do with my fall.
He pushes up my pants leg, and his fingers run over my knee checking the damage. He makes me bend and straighten my leg a couple of times. "No cuts or broken bones, but you're gonna have some nasty bruises tomorrow.
I take a deep breath, gulping back tears. My breath comes out in little spurts. I hate showing this much weakness, especially in front of someone who protects his own at all costs. "Thanks for helping me, Avi."