By dawn they'd travel more than thirty miles out of Spokane. They sped down a single lane road, in the middle of the woods, leading toward the Canadian boarder. Inside the car, everyone was still running on adrenaline, but no one said a word. Matt held the steering wheel in a shaking grasp as he stopped the car. He released a staggering breath. Beside him, Jed jerked the door open and climbed out. He walked around the car to the hatch as Erica pushed it open. Jed dropped the lower hatch and Erica crawled out. Matt climbed out of the car and walked toward the back. He watched as Jed and Erica helped Toni lay out in the back, careful of her leg.
In the dark, no one had known for sure how bad Toni had been injured. In the daylight, the extant was heart wrenching. The right half of Toni's face was almost completely covered in blood from her head wound. Sweat and dust mixed with the blood, turning it a sick brown color than hung against her skin and stuck in her hair. The only source of her real skin tone was visible through the tear streaks down her cheeks. She had several cuts from the explosion, her shoulder, arm, stomach, calf, all of which showed the sign through her clothing. But the most concerning was her leg. During the drive, the bleeding had slowed, but hadn't stopped. The plank was doing its job of slowing the bleeding down, but it was too obvious of the excruciating pain it was causing Toni as she laid down.
Jed pulled off his jacket and folded it into a makeshift pillow for Toni. "Erica, check if the car has a first aid kit. Search every place you can think, go through packs. Anything you can find helps." Erica nodded and ran toward the front of the car. He took Toni's hand, giving her a comforting squeeze. "You're gonna be alright. You hear me, Toni? You're gonna be alright."
"Just rub some dirt in it, right?" Toni asked.
Jed nodded. "Yeah."
Tanner, Smith, Robert, and Daryl climbed out of the car. Tanner and Smith spread out to keep guard. Robert made his way down to Matt. Erica rummaged through the front, digging beneath the seats and searching the glove box. She climbed into the back and continued from there. She searched through their supplied they'd manage to run with, but there wasn't any secondary first aid kit.
"Dammit." she cursed, looking up to Jed. "Nothing."
Toni winced as she tried to sit up. "There should be something in my pack. Some rags at least and rope."
Erica nodded and grabbed Toni's pack. She pulled out several rags and a small length of rope. "Here."
Jed took the rags. He dropped one beside Toni and rolled the rest up tightly. He pressed the rages around the wood and looked up at Erica. "Okay. Erica, hold these against the wood. Toni, I need you to hold the wood as still as you can."
"This is gonna hurt isn't it?" she asked.
Jed nodded. "I'm sorry."
"Better work fast then." Toni replied. She managed to sit up and hold onto the plank. With Erica pressing the makeshift dressing around the plank, and Toni holding it steady, Jed worked fast and tied a rope around the rages, holding them tightly around the plank. He tied it tightly, finally securing it.
"Got it." he said.
Toni tried to smile up at Jed, but it turned into a grimace as her involuntarily twitched against the hatch. She clenched her teeth tightly, trying not to scream. Any unnecessary sound could put them all at risk. Jed held onto Toni's hand. He ran his thumb over her hand, trying to comfort her. She needed help, she needed help now or Toni would lose her leg or worse. Jed took the last rage and pressed it against Toni's head, covering her temple wound.
"How did they know?" Matt asked. He turned from Toni to Robert. "How did they know where we were, Robert?"
Robert exhaled deeply, shaking his head. "They must have followed us."
"No." Matt replied. "No way they could track us."
"We didn't have time to cover our tracks, Matt, they could've caught us on the way from the station." Tanner remarked.
"Maybe for a few blocks." Jed replied, looking up from Toni. "But there was no way in hell we led them ride to our front door."
Robert glanced to Daryl. His knife wound. It should've bled more than it deep considering how deep it was. But Robert could remember it bleeding much at all. It shouldn't have happened...unless- "Daryl lift up your jacket."
Daryl looked up. He looked confused, but slowly lifted his jacket over the wound. Robert looked closely at the cut. It was a knife wound, but a puncture wound. The skin was bruised around the area, not like a knife wound.
"Oh shit." Robert said. "It's not a knife wound."
"What?" Matt asked.
"It's not a knife wound." Robert answered.
"Wait, what?" Erica asked.
"They-they tagged him with something. Like what they d with the animals." Robert explained.
"What?" Daryl couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"They're tracking him?" Toni asked sitting up.
"I didn't know." Daryl begged.
Jed ran his hand through his hair. He should've seen it coming. It was too easy to escape without much from a knife wound. But he hadn't, he'd been distracted. "Of course you didn't. None of did. But we know now."
"Can you cut it out of him, right Robert?" Matt asked.
"There's...there's no...I wouldn't..." Robert stuttered. "With what?"
"Boys, we gotta move." Tanner said.
"Tanner's right, we need to move now." Jed said. "They won't be far behind and Toni needs help."
"Let's just get back in the car and keep going." Erica suggested.
"We can't." Matt answered. "They'll find us."
"What else are we supposed to do?" Robert asked.
Everyone was silent. There was only was solution, and no one wanted to admit it, or say it. They'd been through too much, lost too much, to lose any more. It wasn't fair to ask anything of Daryl, not after he'd given up so much to the cause now.
"Robert, get me some gear." Daryl said.
Robert was stunned. "What?"
"They could be here any minute." Daryl replied. "You need to go and get Toni some help."
Robert shook his head and walked to his best friend. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He couldn't leave his friend, not now. "Daryl..."
"Can I borrow your SAW?" Daryl asked.
Robert felt like he'd taken a knife to his gut. He struggled with the strap of his rifle, his hands unsteady. He held his rifle out toward Daryl, setting the weapon in Daryl's grasp. "Good luck, man."
Daryl nodded. "I'll lead them fro as long as I can."
Matt walked to Daryl and took Daryl's hand. "Give 'em hell."
"Let's get moving!" Tanner ordered.
Daryl walked to the hatchback. Toni looked up at him. "Toni, I-"
"It wasn't your fault, Daryl." she answered. She released Jed's hand and grabbed his. "Be careful."
Daryl nodded.
Jed shook Daryl's hand. "Take care of yourself, Daryl."
"Keep the fight going for me." Daryl said.
Jed nodded.
One by one the Wolverines loaded up into the car. Matt started up the car and pulled away. Everyone watched behind them as they drove away. Toni and Robert sat in the back, watching through open hatch. Daryl raised his two fingers to Robert as the car drove away. Robert raised his hand, returning the sign. Toni reached out and grabbed Robert's shoulder. Jed watched through the side mirror as Daryl's figure grew smaller. he cursed the unfairness of it all. None of them should've been in this situation. No one but him. He was trained for this, trained to make the hard decisions in war. They weren't meant to make these decision. They weren't meant to leave friends behind in combat. Hell, they weren't even meant to be in combat. But the world had gone to shit and these kids had been forced into a war, forced into making tough choices, sacrifices. Jed looked away from his mirror to his brother. A lot had happened in the six months, and Jed knew that if anything happened to him, Matty would take over. And he'd do a damn good job of it.
always made me sad that after all that they went through, they lost another friend.