"Did you hit your head?" He pulled back a few inches, running a hand along my scalp as he checked for injuries. My skin tingled where he touched it.
“No," I managed.
"I'm Coal.” He smiled briefly like he was glad I was okay, so maybe he hadn’t been attacking me after all.
"Maya,” I offered.
“We need to move, Maya,” he said, his rough voice caressing my name.
He pushed himself up so that he was straddling me and offered me his hand.
I took it and he pulled me to my feet. For a moment I didn't let go and he smirked in amusement as I blushed.
More shots were fired in the other trench and I was wrenched back to reality. I spun around, hunting the narrow trench for my best friend and realising with a wave of panic that he wasn’t with us.
“Taylor-" I looked back up to the ridge with my heart pounding as I prayed to see him leaping down to join us at any second. "Did you see-"
"The guy you were with? He went down," Coal explained dismissively as he started to move away along the trench.
“No!” I gasped, running at the trench wall and scrabbling to get back up the bank.
Coal grabbed my arm and yanked me back around to face him.
"We don't have time. I have to get out of here - you should come with me if you don't want to die." He pulled on my arm again but I jerked it back, trying to shake off his grasp which was annoyingly strong.
"I'm not leaving him!" I snarled.
A strange look passed over Coal's face and I was pretty sure he was about to leave me there but he sighed dramatically and turned his attention to the bank above me instead.
“No promises." He cupped his hands together to give me a boost back up the bank and I stepped into his grasp without hesitating. "Stay low to the ground up there," he warned and hoisted me up.
I clawed my way back up onto the muddy bank then leaned back over the edge to offer him a hand up after me. Coal took a running jump and scrambled up the bank, ignoring my offer of help as he heaved himself up to join me.
I spun to look for Taylor and cried out as I spotted him laying in the dirt a few metres away. Coal snatched my wrist into his grasp, forcing me to stay down and giving me a stern look. I gave in and started crawling forward instead of running like my heart wanted.
We crept across the ground towards Taylor's still body. My pulse pounding in my ears as I refused to accept the idea that he was anything but okay.
It seemed to take an age to get to him, staying flat to the ground and using our elbows to propel us along.
We reached Taylor where he was sprawled in the mud and I launched myself at him, tears swimming in my eyes as I grabbed his face between my hands and turned him to look at me. His eyes were closed and for a moment it seemed like the whole world caved in on me before a heavy breath spilled between his lips. He was breathing. He was alive.
A sob tore from my throat and I fell over my best friend, clutching him tightly as relief filled me and his heart pounded against my ear.
Coal moved closer to check Taylor over and discovered a deep scratch along his temple, pulling me back so that I could see it too.
"He’s one lucky son of a bitch. A bullet grazed him. But I’d say he's fine, just knocked out," Coal reported.
“Maya!” Laurie’s voice drew my attention and I looked up to find her racing towards us, a pistol held ready to fire in each hand. "Are you okay?" she panted as she came to a stop and crouched down next to us.
“Taylor's unconscious, but we think he’ll be alright," I explained.
The gunfire in the trench to our right paused and a shout went up. "We got 'em on the run boys! Let's take out the stragglers!"
Whoops and cheers followed which multiplied quickly in the trench on our left too. We crouched where we were, surrounded by fighters as they swarmed around us.
“Laurie? What do we do?" I asked in a pleading whisper, hoping she had some miraculous way to get us out of this mess.
"I'll call for back up," she replied as she holstered one pistol and pulled a radio from her belt. "Warden two-five-five-three-seven calling for reinforcements."