Blood poured out of him like water from a spigot. He was losing too much blood too quickly and he didn't have anywhere to go for help. Like a lightning bolt hit him from the sky, he thought of her. Her last letter gave an address where she lived in Texas. She was in the area. He didn't want to get her into trouble, but he needed help and fast or he was going to die before he could do anything to help himself or the others.
He needed her and luckily he still carried her last letter with him. She had written him each month for the past three months she had been gone. Each letter told about that month's happenings and how she was coping. To him each letter made her sound stronger. He carried each letter with him until the newest letter came and replaced the last one. The last letter had her address in it. He took it out of his bloodstained coat pocket and scanned the words that weren't smeared with his blood. Her address was at the bottom of the letter for when he was ready to write to her. He memorized the address and hailed a cab.
The cab driver eyed him with curiosity as he was driven to the address. He couldn't see all of himself in the cab's rear view mirror, but he knew from the little he saw that he looked bad. Thankfully he had tied his hair back earlier and it was still tied. With long stringy hair he probably would have looked like a vagrant instead of a solid citizen
His wound burned like an out of control wildfire as he held the cloth to it. The bleeding seemed to be slowing down, even though the pain and the burning was intense. He kept his eyes on the road ahead as they turned off onto a residential area and slowed as the cab driver read house numbers.
He let out a breath of relief as the cab driver stopped in front of a one story blue trimmed house with white shutters. He threw a handful of wadded, uncounted cash at the cab driver and got out.
The stone sidewalk seemed to last for miles as he limped it. The door was painted a darker blue than the walls on the house. He rang the doorbell once and knocked twice.
There was a light shuffling on the other side of the door and then the door opened.
He was already seeing dark spots in his vision before the door opened, but when the door opened the dark spots joined together.
"Vin!" Ariel gasped, as she looked him over. Her face showed shock and confusion.
"Hi!" Vin said, before passing out in her arms.