Chapter 40 part 3

"You're really wanting to hear all of this, huh?" Hannah asked suddenly, startling Beth.

"Uh, yeah," Beth said, trying to calm her heart down. "I mean, I wouldn't mind you telling me it on our way back, but I'm not sure if there's anything else wrong that might make it harder for you to get out of this ditch."

"Yeah," Hannah sighed, "well, after I healed myself, I continued to run from those women, but maybe I was just worn out from using so much magic at one time or something, but as I got towards the edge of this ditch, I fell down. I don't know if I rolled all the way here, or what, but when I was aware of my surroundings again, I was pretty much here. Though, I did pull myself across a little, but I can't do much more than that."

"Why?" Beth suddenly asked, unable to hold back anymore.

Hannah chuckled. "Well, I kinda broke a couple bones, I think."

"Let me check," Beth said, putting her hand on Hannah's shoulder.

"As long as you don't try molesting me again," Hannah grumbled as Beth pulled on her magic in order to do a quick scan of Hannah.

Beth was a little surprised at what she found. Hannah had been using her left hand and arm to pull herself forward because her right arm had broken in two places. Then her left leg had been broken along her thigh bone, close to where her hip was.

"Actually, you broke three bones," Beth said. "Although, maybe I should just say two, with one bone broken in two places."

"Ugh, which ones?" Hannah asked.

"Well, your femur was-" Beth started to answer.

"Don't tell me the names of the bones," Hannah snapped. "Just which ones. I mean, I'm not like Amelia. You could tell me I broke my coratid bone and I wouldn't know which one you were talking about."

Beth couldn't help but laugh softly at Hannah's response.

"What's so funny?" Hannah groaned, sounding rather resigned.

Beth couldn't help but think that Hannah was just too tired to put any heat into her question.

"Well, it's a good thing it's not your coratid bone, since there isn't one by that name," Beth said. "I believe the coratid is an artery in your neck."

"Whatever," Hannah grumbled. "Just help me get out of here and I'll tell you the rest."

"Alright," Beth said, lifting Hannah's good arm and putting it around her shoulders before standing up, letting most of Hannah's weight fall on her. "Ready?"

"Do I have a choice?" Hannah replied rhetorically.

"Not really," Beth said, as she started walking towards where she thought she'd left Tim. "When you lift your good leg, put all your weight on me, okay?"

Beth felt Hannah nod more than saw it, but she didn't mind. At the very least, they were able to move forward. Even if it was probably at a snail's pace.

Which made Beth wonder if this world even had snails. She couldn't see why not, but it wasn't like she knew of what the rules were for what might or might not be on any given world.

After all, they hardly say any other wildlife apart from birds on the last world they were on. Even though Beth suspected there were other animals that merely kept out of sight of them while they were moving along.

They reached the upward slope of the ditch before Beth even realized it, with her thoughts elsewhere. Although, she merely took the fact that they hadn't fallen as a good thing. After all, if they fell, there was no telling how that might complicate Hannah's injuries. As it wasn't like they had taken the time to even try to immobilize her bones, to keep them from shifting.

When they reached the edge of the ditch, Beth looked around, even though she still couldn't see anything, aside from maybe one or two stars outside the canopy created by the leaves of the trees ground around them, and over the entire ditch.

"Tim?" she called, hoping she wouldn't hear Tim responding from the other side. It was tiring enough getting Hannah this far. "You there?"

"I'm here," Tim said, a distance down the ditch, but on the same side that Beth had Hannah on. "Need me to come over to you?"

"Yeah, I got Hannah, but she's gonna need help to get out of the ditch."

"Got it. I'll be right over."

Beth could hear Tim fighting against the flora along the edge of the ditch, which actually made her glad he'd sent her down to the ditch. She wasn't sure she'd like to risk losing the battle with the plant-life and falling in the ditch. Not in the pitch darkness like this.

As she waited for Tim, she looked back up to where she could see a few stars. She hadn't been paying attention to the phases of the moon on this world, but she suspected that it was in the dark part of it. Where she wouldn't be able to count on any light from it at all.

However, it still didn't take him long before he was right above her. "Beth?" he called out when he was maybe five feet from where she and Hannah were. "You still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Beth replied, happy to finally get out of this ditch. Plus, with Tim, she was sure that she'd be able to at least trade with him in regards to supporting Hannah, so she wouldn't have to help bear Hannah's weight all by herself. Besides, she was pretty sure Tim had more endurance than she did, which would mean that he'd be able to go for longer stretches of helping Hannah than she would.

"Okay, how do you want to lift Hannah up?" Tim asked. "I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with her, otherwise she wouldn't have just been laying in the middle of that ditch. I mean, it had to be at least twenty feet across between the slopes of it."

"Uh…" Beth hesitated. She hadn't thought about how exactly to go about getting Hannah out of the ditch. With her broken bones, they couldn't expect her to bear and weight on them, but putting pressure on those places would cause them to flare up in pain, and especially the femur, or thigh bone, would be tricky, given the possible positions Hannah would have to be in to even climb out with Tim and herself bearing most of her weight.

"No need to worry about causing me pain," Hannah said, sounding pretty resigned to Beth. "It'll be over quick enough, I'm sure."

"I'm sure we can think of something," Beth said.

"Maybe, but I'd rather not spend the night down here if I can help it," she answered. Then after a moment she added, "I'm pretty sure you know what I mean."

Beth sighed. She certainly did. Even doing this in the dark was a little nerve wracking for her. Spending the night down here would really test her nerves.

"Alright, I'll lift you, but remember. You asked for this and you're not going to like where I'm going to have to put my hands," Beth warned.

"Wait, why would I need to…" Hannah trailed off as Beth was sure she realized just what Beth meant. "Ugh. You're right, I'm not going to like you touching my butt."

"Why would she need to touch you there?" Tim asked.

"Do you think you can pull Hannah out by lifting her by her armpits?" Beth asked.

"Not really. You know I'm not much of a weight lifter."

"Well, then you're going to need me to help with it," Beth replied. She then was about to suggest they get on with it when she suddenly had an idea. "Hold on. I just had a great idea."

"We wait until dawn?" Tim asked.

"That's a horrible idea," Hannah replied. "You'd make helpless girls wait in the dark like this? How could you?"

"Ha ha," Tim remarked dryly. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Anyway," Beth continued, "If Hannah faces away from the edge of the ditch, I'll lift her from below while Tim pulls her up. Then when she's high enough, we can slide her to sit on the edge of the ditch. That way there won't be as much pressure on her leg when she's going over the edge."

"You know, that doesn't sound as painful as what I was thinking," Hannah commented.

"Well, I'm still sure you're not going to like me lifting you from below."

"Of course not," Hannah snapped. "But do you have any better suggestions about how to do that? I mean, you could essentially let me step into your hands with my good leg, but then I'd have my weight on my bad leg or completely on your shoulders. Then assuming we could get that to work, when you lift me up, my bad leg will be in contact with the edge of the ditch directly." Hannah paused for a moment, though Beth was sure it was more for dramatic effect than anything else. "You see where I'm going with this, right?"

"Yeah," Beth said, sighing.

While she didn't mind this discussion, it did prolong the amount of time they were stuck down here. Which also meant that they were going to have to take that much longer to get back to the others.

Besides, if Wes was able to find some food, then something to eat would probably be waiting for them. Or at least Beth hoped that would be the case.

"Okay, are you two ready?" Tim asked, sounding a little closer, so Beth assumed he'd crouched down to try and help lift Hannah from his end.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be for this," Hannah replied.

"Okay," Beth said. "So, if you stand there, hold your balance with your good hand, and I'll get you on my shoulders first."

"Wait, I thought you were going to lift me directly while Tim then will be ready to help lift you by your armpits after I stand up," Hannah protested, sounding a little alarmed.

"I said you weren't going to like it," Beth said, as she made sure Hannah was in position, balancing herself as Beth had said, before she started to move around to do what she said she would do. "I just didn't say all the ways. Though, once Tim is lifting you, I'll have you help push you up with my hands on your butt then, so that part was still true."

"Fine," Hannah said irritably. Beth was pretty sure Hannah was scowling at this moment. "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright," Beth said, crouching down as she put her head between Hannah's legs from behind, then she stood up, lifting Hannah up as well. Although, for a moment she thought that Hanna was about to freak out and make both of them fall over when Hannah started to wobble on top of her, but then she settled down and Beth was able to regain her own balance.

"Okay, Tim," Beth said. "Ready when you are. Hannah should be in easy reach for you."

"Got her," Tim said, and Beth could feel Hannah's weight lifting off of her shoulders, so she then places her hands on Hannah's rump, on hand on each cheek, and pushed up gently.

As they lifted Hannah up, they gently moved her to sit on the edge of the ditch, where she'd be able to stand up with their help once Beth was out of the ditch herself.

"Well that's one down," Tim said as they deposited Hannah on the edge. "Now we just need you to get up,"

"Yeah, but let's move to the side a bit. I don't want to knock Hannah over by accident."

"Good idea," Tim said, and Beth followed the rustling sound Tim made as he fought a little against the vegetation. When it stopped, she was pretty sure they were about six feet away from Beth. "Okay, here's my hand. Grab it and I'll help pull you up."

Beth moved her own hand in the darkness until she found Tim's. At which point, she felt Tim pulling and Beth jumped up a little herself, and was able to get her arm over the edge of the ditch before she started to fall back down. However, she felt Tim reach over and grab the back of her shirt to help keep that from happening. Only…

"Tim!" she snapped as she felt Tim pulling on where he'd grabbed the back of her shirt. "You got my bra with my shirt!"

"Sorry," Tim apologized, though he didn't seem inclined to let go.

Beth could only hope that she would slide back down and have her shirt and bra come right off of her. Especially with her shirt then coming untucked from her jeans. Though, while she felt Tim pulling on her shirt, and bra, to help her, she wasn't sure if he had the right leverage to do that with. Though, if she let him try, she had a feeling it was probably going to damage her shirt and bra or hurt her. So, she lifted her leg to see if she could reach the edge of the ditch with it.

Then, whether it was because she was more flexible than she'd thought or because Tim was able to lift her more than she was aware of, she was able to get her foot over the edge and then was able to more roll over onto the edge of the ditch and was out.

She laid on the ground, partly from relief, partly to catch her breath, and partly because her arms and legs were a little sore from the effort of helping Hannah up and then climbing up as well.

After a minute, she sat up and started to fix her bra and shirt, so it didn't feel so uncomfortable. Though, she didn't feel like she should be upset with Tim since it wasn't like he did that on purpose. After all, it was still rather dark and Beth couldn't expect Tim to know where her bra was under her shirt.

"You guys ready to go now?" Hannah asked, sounding as if they were merely out for a casual walk at night.

"Almost," Beth said, as she was tucking her shirt in.

"I'll help you up," Tim said, and while Beth couldn't see more than occasional shadows, she still couldn't but feel like she was aware of where Tim and Hannah was as he helped her up.

When they were standing up, Beth started to get up herself. While she was ready to just head back to where Ralph and her charges were left and go to bed, she couldn't forget they still needed to find Amelia as well as Cinder's family.

Which meant that they'd need to help Hannah on their way to do that first. Although, Beth couldn't wonder if Hannah would be okay with that. She hadn't been told what the plan was, so Beth had to assume she didn't know where they were heading first.

Tim took the lead as they started out, with Hannah leaning on him and Beth following. Beth didn't mind being in the rear, she was just happy to be out of that ditch. Including the climb out of it.

The first difficult part was dealing with the bushes. Beth didn't have any more of a problem dealing with them now as she had when she'd first passed through them however, it was clear Hannah wasn't having such an easy time.

Apart from the difficulty walking side by side through the dense bushes, whenever one of the branches snapped on the part of her arm or leg that were injured, it was clear that Hannah was in excruciating pain from that. Plus, it didn't help that the braches of the bushes would frequently hit her arm and leg.

Beth wished there was something she could do to help, but she couldn't be sure what little magic strength she had left shouldn't be saved for Amelia or one of Cinder's family. All she could be sure of was that she didn't have much of her magic left, so she couldn't do anything but just hope that her friend wouldn't have to suffer too much before she was able to do something to help her.

After what felt like an hour or two, they finally reached the end of the bushes. When they were all out of them, Hannah had a few choice words for them.

"Couldn't you have at least burned away the bushes?" she grumbled.

"Sorry," Beth apologized. "We're rather low on magic, so if we'd tried to torch the bushes, we would prolly have started a wildfire."

"Ah," Hannah replied. "I guess that would be too much to hope for, huh?"

"Well, anyway, we got you out of there, so why not finish what you were telling me in the ditch?" Beth said. "You said that when we got you out, you'd 'finish the rest.'"

Hannah sighed. "Well, aside from what I 'd said, there really wasn't much else. When I fell in the ditch I guess I landed wrong and that's when I heard my leg snap and then my arm landed on, I think some rocks or something sharp, but that's when my arm broke."

"Shame we didn't get that on film," Tim remarked. "I'm sure that would have made a great youtube or tictock video."

"Yeah, I'm sure it could have gone viral, but your loss is my lack of embarrassment," Hannah merely replied, a smile in her voice.

"So, any idea how much farther until we get to where Amelia is?" Beth asked.

"Wait, what happened to Amelia?" Hannah said sharply.

"Well, as far as I can tell, Amelia was hit in the back of the head by one of the bandits before she even realized she was in anger. So, I brought Beth with me and we got you on the way, but now it's time to find Amelia," Tim answered. "I can't say if we can do anything, or if it isn't as serious as I think it might be, but if Beth can still use some of her magic, she might be able to save Amelia if she's in danger from it."

"Okay, lead on. The sooner we get to her, the sooner I can stop worrying about her," Hannah said resolutely.

Beth couldn't help but smile. While Amelia was Hannah's best friend, she had sometimes wondered what she'd be willing to sacrifice for the sake of her friend. Not that Beth had ever wanted to put that idle thought to the test, like now, but it was good to see how much discomfort Hannah was willing to put up with.

Beth couldn't tell the time as they walked along, but she had a feeling that it was getting late, although one benefit about that was the fact that the sky kept getting brighter as more and more stars appeared. Which was much nicer than it had been, and Beth was able to start seeing a clear silhouette of Tim and Hannah, rather than a borderless dark that encompassed both of them as well as some of the surroundings.

When they saw a light up ahead, Beth at first felt relief that they had to have reached where Cinder's family was, and maybe Amelia, but then a thought dashed that hope. She realized that it could be bandits who were left behind or something.

Despite that possibility, she didn't say anything as they approached the light. It felt like it was a distance away, but as they approached, it seemed to get closer faster than it should have if it really had been in the distance.

All Beth could think of as to a reason for that was that it must have been behind a tree or something, although she really didn't buy that herself. The only thing she could be sure of was that it wasn't as far as she'd first thought.