Wendell scaled the tree, carrying a knife from one of the rucksacks in his mouth. Prudence waited below, her eyes focused on the ground. "Get ready," Wendell said.
A little boy the same age as the others dropped into her arms. She brushed aside a wave of brown hair sticky with blood to see the prototype of her husband's face. His eyes were still open, eyes that while smaller were the same as she remembered. This was her husband.
"Oh Rodney," she said. "This is my fault. I did this to you." She loosened the belt around his neck and then pressed his small body close. She rocked him in her arms like the baby they would never have now.
Wendell jumped to the ground and then reached up to touch Rodney's face. "He's still warm," Wendell said. "If we get him to the fountain, maybe he can come back. But we have to hurry."
Prudence ran into the woods towards the cave housing the Fountain of Youth. "We'll bring you back," she whispered as she ran. "Then you and I can be together again."
Something slammed into her from the side. She managed to hold onto Rodney as she fell, turning to land on her back. Pryde looked down on her with a smile. "You'll be together soon enough," he said, drawing his bloodstained knife.
Before he could plunge the blade into Prudence, Wendell burst through the brush and jammed his knife into Pryde's leg. Pryde howled with rage and swatted at Wendell. "Run!" Wendell called. "Get out of here!"
Prudence got to her feet and ran. She heard Wendell scream and hugged Rodney's body even closer to her chest. She had to make it now that Wendell had given his own life to save hers and possibly Rodney's.
At the edge of the forest, she heard a growl from her left. She turned in time to see a pair of yellow eyes and a snout full of sharp teeth aiming for her throat. She ducked, the animal sailing over her head. It still managed to rake its claws across her back. She screamed, but got up and kept going towards the cave. Almost there, she thought.
The beast remained on her heels, drawn by the scent of blood. The animal closed the distance between them, its teeth rending the billowing skirt of her dress. Not now, she thought. Not when I'm so close.
A shot rang out. The animal collapsed on the path, its teeth locked onto her dress. She tore the skirt away and continued to the mouth of the cave. Reverend Crane waited there with a musket in his hands. "You're just in time, my child," he said. Then he smashed the butt of the musket into her face. She tumbled back, her husband's body falling out of her grip. She reached out towards him, passing out with his hand in hers.