Day 6
His team is crawling on their stomachs. Gas masks in place as they advance. One of them throws gas into the building.
"Move now!" one of them shouts.
They start jumping over the wall, one after another.
The one who gave the command falls. He is horrified to see a bullet hole in his commander's chest. He pulls his commander out of danger. Blood oozes from the chest wound.
"Come on John," he pleads.
"So much for satellite recon," the dying man says, "Take care of Barbara for me man?" A gurgling sound, he knows what that means. Death.
"Wake up," she says holding him close to her.
"Do I scream when I have nightmares?" he asks.
"No," she says, "but your muscles go all tight."
"That was all it took to wake you up?" he asks, "You must be a very light sleeper."
"No…only I can tell when you need me," she says softly.
He's finished making her a bow and arrows, she takes it with her when she goes to check the traps. He feels much better now that she is armed. He begins making a second one, because he will feel even better when both of them are armed.
It turns out he finished the bow and arrow just in time. She was on her knees untangling a dead rabbit from a snare when she hears the sound of a large animal crashing through the underbrush. She is standing with her bow drawn before she's even thought.
She shoots the arrow aiming for the charging pig's chest, knowing it is likely to have less bone than the skull. It is not that she doesn't trust his handiwork, but she isn't sure how well a stone arrowhead will pierce bone.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Six closely clustered shots on a distant target. Each shot causes the gun to give her hands a familiar kick. One she predicts, one she compensates for. The gun is warm in his hands.
"Great shot, kiddo!" a man says offering her an approving grin.
"I was taught by the best," she says grinning at her father.
The arrow only makes the boar alter his direction to be more directly in her bath. It is now baring down on her. The creature's back is not much bigger than her knees, but it has tusks, and speed, amazing speed for a creature that is that fat. She draws another arrow as quickly as she can, and this one too she lets go on it.
She can see it is not enough, and she doesn't have time for another arrow. Even if she did it would reach her before the arrow had any effect. She leaps out of its way. The pig cannot turn in time, but she wastes no time in swirling around, and firing another arrow. This time she does aim for the creature's skull, since its bottom is facing toward her, and she could not get a shot at her chest. The arrow pierces his head, and leaves through his eye.
That arrow, and the other two arrows, seems to have at long last done its work. It falls, but does not die right away. She rushes over. She doesn't have a proper knife of course, only a sharpened rock. It's a rather personal thing to slice an artery with a rock, but she wants to end the creatures pain. But that is a messy business. Her hands are quickly covered in blood.
The creature makes a sound. A sound she's heard before. She isn't sure where she's heard that sound, but she knows it's a sound of death. It stops flailing.
She rests a bit, waiting for the adrenaline, the chemical of panic, to stop cursing through her body and her brain. She doesn't want to think about what would happen to her if she hadn't been fast enough. There is no medical care out here.
She closes her eyes against the thought. Then she really looks at the boar for the first time. It's big, and fat. Easily enough food for several days. She stands up and tries to pull it. Possible, but not ideal. It would be best to go and get him to help.
His face goes pale when he sees her. He drops the knife he's shaping form rock and runs to her. "What happened?" he asks examining her hands and arms for the cut.
"The blood isn't mine," she says it three times before he seems to hear her.
"Whose blood is it?" he asks pulling her toward the river, and washing her hands off. She smiles as she thinks back to the first time he washed her. It was definitely more fun than this.
"I promise, I'm ok," she says as he examines her arms. "I killed a pig."
"A pig?" he asks.
"Yes, like a big wild boar thing."
"How big was it?" he asks looking at her.
She shows him with her hands.
"You shouldn't have been shooting at it, it could have charged," he says.
She doesn't say anything.
He looks at her, "It charged you didn't it?"
She nods.
"You could have died, do you understand that?" he asks. She nods. "You know how when we first woke up we had that terror about the other person dying? That could have been my truth. You might never have returned. Then I would have gone out in the wood, and found…"
"You won't," she says holding him close.
"You have to be more careful," he says.
"It was already, going to run into me, and I knew I could shoot it. I knew…I don't know how much experience I have with bow and arrow, but I know I'm a good shot."
He rests his head against her shoulder, "I need you safe…all the time," he says.
"I'm sorry…I'd like to tell you, you can have that. But I don't want to lie to you," she says.
"This thing has a lot of meat?" he asks.
"Yeah, I wanted to get your help getting it back to camp," she says.
"Look, we've been here for almost week…let's say we start calling this place home," he says.
She closes her eyes, "home."