Curious Thoughts (Part IV)

After their insane run and a few unpleasant encounters with tree branches; Zack suddenly decided it was grand time to roll and give in from dizziness. With a grunt, the young man fell due to exhaustion all the while grabbing his shorter companion to protect her from the fall, making sure to cradle her in his arms before landing non-too-gracefully on the muddy ground.

Rachel held into Zack as she felt the world spinning around them, closing her eyes shut to avoid getting dizzy herself. The firm hold the serial killer had on her was surprising, considering he still reeked of alcohol, and was most likely still suffering from its effects... Nevertheless, it wasn't all that important at the moment.

His wound was her priority.

After a painful landing, Rachel attempted to prompt herself up and break free from Zack's tight hold, but barely managed to move an inch.

"Zack," she called, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with her body being pressed firmly on top of his, "Zack please let go of me, I have to see to your wound." She spoke seriously, not showing any sign of emotion. Obviously, there was nothing to worry about, since it was Zack after all. He went through far worse than anyone could imagine, but...

She was still worried, it couldn't be helped.

His reponse though, peeved her for some reason; as he lazily opened his right eye to stare at her, his lips curving into a smirk.

"Trying to escape, huh?" He joked, not letting go of her waist. "Too bad I don't feel like letting you go." He sighed as he fully closed his eye to snore softly, visibly tired of all the action. Rachel furrowed her brows and poked him on the side, making him stir and yet again, open his eye to look down at her.

His right eye certainly did look like it was constantly glaring.

"Let me go now, Zack." Rachel said seriously, not breaking eye-contact. She had hoped their intense run wouldve sobered him up, but it seemed as though it only made the young man even more delirious.

Zack's response to Rachel's command was a snort.

"Why are ya naggin', Ray? It's just a scratch, you'll take a look at it tomorrow." He muttered as he stired slightly to make himself more comfortable, "I'm tired, let's sleep for now."

Not having it, Rachel freed her arm to pinch Zack's nose, making the serial killer look at her.

"Let's not." Came the stoic answer. "If you want to sleep, do it after I see to your 'scratch'."

Seeing how Ray wasn't going to let the issue go, Zack rolled his eyes and loosened his hold on her; letting the petite girl break free and crawl down to put his wounded leg on her thighs.

He resisted the urge to whine at the loss of her warmth, she had been such a comfortable pillow.

"... It's not just a 'scratch' Zack," Rachel said as she rolled his pants further up, examining the wound. "The bullet was powerful enough to give you one nasty hole, you're bleeding like crazy!" Her voice barely held her usual composure at the last statement, this time looking visibly worried.

Zack waved it off casually, he wasn't feeling pain somehow. It was odd.

"Doesn't hurt." Came the slow answer.

"You're losing too much blood! We have to stop that." Rachel said urgently as she took off her sweater, reamaining only in her plain white undershirt. Zack's eyes widened as he saw her rip the thick fabric, grabbing her arm a second too late.

"Oi, what are you doing? We're in the middle of fall, you'll catch a cold without your sweater, dumbass!"

"I'm pretty sure me catching cold is the least of our worries right now, you're stinking up the place with your blood. There could be wolves around," she said matter-of-factly, grabbing a few small branches and putting them on his leg before closing them up with her ripped sweater, covering the whole wound.

A nasty stain of blood slowly formed on the light-coloured fabric.

"This should do for now," she said, proud of how it turned out. "I'm sure it won't leek if you move slowly, but do be careful."

As soon as she was done talking did the cold night breeze brush on her skin, making her shiver and rub her arms in an attempt to warm up. Indeed, having ripped off her sweater was a dumb idea, but the undershirt wouldn't have done anything to properly stop his bleeding, considering how thin it was. It had been a dumb idea, yes, but also the right one.

Zack noticed the state she was in and sighed, annoyed. Quietly, he pulled himself up and moved slightly to lean on a nearby tree. Then, he motionned for ray to come with his hand.

"Get over here," he said, sounding like an order. Rachel raised a questionning eyebrow, but did as she was told and crawled towards him, wondering what it was that he needed.

When she got to arm's length, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, positioning her so she could sit between his legs; her back pressed on his chest.

She hadn't noticed that his hoodie had been open until he zipped it back up around her, so she could benefit from its warmth as well. The act in itself was very subtle yet rough too, it confused her, but made her feel grateful.

Still, despite having the distracting coppery-smell of blood invade her nostrils; Rachel managed to look up and stare at Zack in a way that even he, of all people; could understand.

He stared back, feeling amused. "I won't sleep for a year, Ray. A small nap and I promise we'll be out of this shitty forest." He explained, still sounding tipsy. "In the meantime, you rest too."

Rachel shook her head, "Zack, I didn't properly treat your wound, all I did was stop the bleeding. If we don't disinfect it, it could get much, much worse." She explained, still worried about his health.

It made him chuckle.

"I'm fine, Ray." He said simply, sounding completely okay. "Now sleep, dumb bitch."

Confused, irritated, but mostly concerned; Ray decided that she should just trust Zack for now. After everything they went through already, it would be wise to simply do just that- trust him, rely on him.

Though as convenient as it may have sounded for the 14 year-old, she still struggled to close her eyes due to many reasons...

'But I guess I'll just try, for now...' she thought with a sigh as she attempted to sleep, ignoring her close proximity with Zack and the mild stench of blood coming from within the hoodie.

It took her an hour to finally enter a deep slumber.

When morning came, Rachel woke up to the sound of Zack cursing tremendously.

To Be Continued...