As the sky started to darken, Harry and I climbed out of the crushed vehicle, getting cut everywhere on our already injured bodies by shards of glass and car parts. I helped Harry out of the truck, even though he kept insisting that he was fine, and he kept pushing my hands away.
"Harry, let me help you," I said, holding my hands out towards him.
He pushed them away. "No Martha, I'm-" He winched, clutching the side of his stomach in pain, his jaw clenched. I went to help him again, but as soon as I reached out my hands, he pushed them away again. "-I'm fine." He gave me an unconvincing smile.
Harry attempted to move out of the car, but shouted out in pain as soon as he moved his leg. Of course, I went to help him, but he just shoved my hands away.
"Martha, I'm f-fine.."
"No, you're not fine! I can see it in your face. Every time you move you hurt and clearly the pain is unbearable! It's getting dark, and we're the only two left here! I've already lost four of you. I'm not loosing another." I snapped. With that, I took his weight on my shoulder, and helped him up from the wreckage. Harry was twice my weight, and he was nearly a fully grown man, but I supported him nonetheless.
I took him into the forest that I had run through before, helping him over fallen trunks of trees and rocks.
"Martha, you don't have to-" Harry started.
"Yes I do! I'm getting you to safety no matter what! You're the only one I've got left! I'm sure you would do the same for me if I were in the same situation as you!" I shouted at him, carefully lifting his leg over a fallen tree.
Harry didn't have anything to say after that, deciding that it was probably best not to say anything. We stayed silent for the rest of the journey, having to stop a couple of times for Harry and I to catch our breath.
I hadn't told Harry where we were headed, that there was a train. I wanted it to be a surprise, and I'm sure it make Harry very happy to see that there was still hope, even though it didn't seem like it. I helped him over one last rock and the train was still there, our last hope.
"This is what you found? When you ran off? This is amazing!" Harry said, a smile beaming across his face. I hadn't seen Harry smile for so long, it made me smile also, just to see that he hadn't lost hope either. I helped him onto one of the train's carriages, and he slumped against the wall, clutching and grasping his side in agony.
I sat in front of him. "Let me take a look at it."
Harry looked at me, shaking his head. "There's nothing you can do about it." He said, breathing sharply. "Trust me, you can't."
"Of course I can, Harry! I can help ease the pain, make it better." I said, holding his hand.
"Martha you don't understand!" Harry shouted at me, groaning out in pain. "You need to understand that this wound can't be healed! There's nothing you can do!"
I looked at him, writhing in pain. "At least let me take a look at it for you! I've got a whole First-Aid kit here in my backpack! I've been trained in First-Aid, I can help you!" Harry just kept on shaking his head. "Harry! Please let me look! I promise I can help you!"
He reluctantly took his hands away from the wound under his shirt. I slowly lifted his top, and tried not to gasp or make any reaction. A whole chunk of Harry's waist had gone. Blood seeped through it, bones showing through the flesh.
I took my backpack off, and rummaged through it to find the kit. I opened the lid of the box, and found some bandages, tweezers and antiseptic.
"Martha.. please.. you need to know that..-" Harry groaned, trying to stop my hands. He was growing weary, he had lost much blood.
"Harry, I'm just trying to help you." I said, holding his hand to try and reassure him. "I need to get the grit and glass out of the wound otherwise it will become infected." I grabbed the tweezers and started to remove the shards from the wound. Harry moaned and cried out in pain as I removed several pieces of glass and metal from his body. "Shh, Harry, it's fine.. I'm nearly done.." I whispered to him, trying to help.
After I had removed as much of the material in the wound that I could see, I found a damp cloth and dabbed it in some antiseptic before pressing it lightly on the wound. Harry shouted out in pain, which made me take the cloth off in shock.
"Stop!" Harry said, pushing my hand away. "I told you! This wound can't be healed! Nothing that you have in that kit of yours won't help! It will only make it worse! The wound will just keep on infecting my body!" He started to cry, tears pouring out of his eyes.
"Well if you'd just let me-" I started but Harry shouted back.
"MARTHA! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN? THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO! NOTHING!" He cried even harder now, clutching his side. "There's nothing you can do! I know you're just trying to help, but you need to understand that this wound cannot heal!"
I looked at him, tears falling from my own eyes from seeing him in such pain and distress. "Why?"
He looked at me, his breathing uneven. He cried even more, grabbing my hand tight. I moved closer to him, and put my other hand on his cheek and turned his face towards me. "Why?" I repeated myself, as he hadn't replied to my question. "Harry, why can't I help?"
Harry turned to look at me, his cheeks wet from his tears. His bottom lip wobbled, and he took a deep breath before answering my question.
"Because it's a zombie bite."
