Escape from Endeavor by Daniel A. Jones

  ***

  The crash of the tree and the rocks it knocked free on its way down was loud enough to bring Leo back to consciousness. He swung his head around, trying to remember what had happened. The pain in his leg brought back the images of the fight and the horror of what Daemon had done to Jed. He didn’t know why Daemon hadn’t killed him and he didn’t much care. He knew enough about the forest to know he needed to get a fire going fast or something else in the woods would have him for dinner. The pain in his leg told him he wasn’t going to be able to walk but he could crawl. He looked for a place to build a fire and something to start it with. To his surprise he found that someone had cleared a small area near him and built a small pile of kindling in the center of it. Leo was slightly amazed when he spotted his hunting knife lying next to the pile. He carefully moved to the pile and took the flint from its side pocket on the knife’s sheath and lit the fire.

  Leo tended the fire and looked around to survey his situation. He saw the remains of the rifles and his pack nearby and crawled over to it. It looked like someone had gone through his pack; most of its contents had been pulled out and dropped on the ground. He was surprised to find not only his food, but his canteen, too. His pistol was a little way off under a bush; it was in one piece but the clip was missing so he grabbed his pack and began searching it. The spare clip he kept in the side compartment was still there, so he loaded his pistol and breathed a sigh of relief. He collected what he could and crawled back to the fire.