red hill - jamie mcguire

Chapter Seven
Scarlet
WE WALKED CAREFULLY ALONG THE river once again, this time on the other side of the bridge, making
our way to a large, familiar tree. Just as I had said, there was a rope hanging from a thick branch. The
rope was tattered and looked frail. We wouldn’t know how frail until we were swinging above the
cold river water. The streetlights on each side of the bridge fell just short of where we stood. Good
for hiding from soldiers—bad for swimming. With just a half-moon above, the water wasn’t just
dirty, it was black like the night had settled inside of it. As if that wasn’t frightening enough, shufflers
didn’t need to breathe, I imagined. That was probably why the soldiers were shooting at floating
corpses, just to make sure they didn’t reanimate and crawl onto the shore and into town.
I shivered.
“You’re freezing,” Tobin said, removing his jacket. “Take this.” He held it out. I just watched him
for a moment until he shook it once. It was covered in mud, but it was lined with wool. It would still
help to fend off the cold. “Take it.”
Tobin huffed, clearly annoyed with my hesitation, and then draped the jacket around my shoulders.
“Thank you,” I said, hoping it was loud enough for him to hear. I slipped my arms into the sleeves,
and then rolled them up so they didn’t swallow my hands. I would need them for the trip across the
night.
With Tobin’s help, I crawled up the bark. The initial climb was tougher than I remembered. Back
then climbing a tree was nothing. I hadn’t climbed anything in years. Tobin’s breath skipped while he
struggled to keep his balance underneath me. I made it to the first branch, and then used the rest as a
ladder until I reached the one just under the branch with the rope.
Tobin was breathing a bit harder than he had a few minutes before.
“Really” I said. “I’m not that heavy.”
“No, ma’am.” He put his hands on his hips while he caught his breath. “You’re not. I’m just out of
shape, and it’s been a long-ass day.”
I nodded. “That it has. Have you ever done this before”
Tobin shook his head. His short cornrows moved with the motion, making it a little easier to gauge
his nonverbal responses in the dark.
“Just pull in the rope and get a good grip,” I said, showing him as I spoke. The next part I couldn’t
act out. “Lean back, and then step off. Let your bodyweight take you across. When you see land
below, let go. It’s fairly easy from what I remember, but if you hesitate you’ll end up swinging back,
and either in the water or hanging above it. The point is not to end up in the water. At least not
tonight.”