"June! June! You can't sleep! Get up!"

Joel screamed as he pulled himself over to June.

"What do we do Joel?"

He slid on his side, desperately avoiding banging the arrows into the plank landing.

"You better not be dead woman!"

He threatened as he pulled her toward him and laid her flat on her back. The dried blood and dirt all over her face highly emphasized her loss of color. He reached for her neck and searched for a pulse. Finding none he lunged over her and listened to her chest.

"Shit!" He exclaimed.

He then pulled himself up to his knees and started to give her CPR.

"Joel! What? What should I..."

"Twenty-seven... Twenty-eight... Twenty-nine... Thirty!"

Joel then pushed June's head back, pinched her nose, and gave her a big puff of air. He then went for another two rounds with no results.

"Joel what's..."

"Quiet girl!" Joel snapped as he checked for a pulse.

Still finding none he became more frustrated and furiously continued on with compression's.

"Fifteen... Sixteen... Seventeen... Dammit...Woman...Live...Twenty-one..."

June then gasped and thrashed forward breaking Joel's pace.

"Oh fuck!" Ellie exclaimed.

"Get some water and alcohol girl!"

"On it!" Ellie said limping as fast as she could toward the kitchen.

Joel rolled June onto her side facing him and lightly padded her on the back.

"What just happened?" June said in a low breathy tone with glazed shifty eyes.

"We made it."

"Oh. Well that's good." She said attempting to roll onto her back.

"No... Just stay as you are."

"Fine..." She mumbled.

They sat there for a few seconds, with their heavy breaths of exhaustion blocking out the sounds of the forest below.

"How you feel?" Joel asked as he lifted her chin up a little to look at her wound.

"Eh. Like I died."

Joel began to rub her back in circle motions. As he did this he hit the rough patch where the hunter's knife cut her.

"Ow! Shit!"

"Sorry!"

"No.. Check it out... How bad is it?"

Joel cautiously pulled her toward him. Carefully he dislodged her torn shirt from a lump of crusted blood, and let it fall over her shoulder. Rolling her shoulder down he discovered a long gash over her scapula ,across her spine, and down to her lower back.

"I've seen worse."

"Heh. Was that person still alive?"

Joel didn't answer her.

"Here! Got it!" Ellie called as she came over to them.

"Okay... Here... Pull her up."

Ellie put down the pitcher and basin, and helped pull June up to sit. June shook all over and her arms began to spasm.

"Joel... What...?" Ellie said trying to hold June still.

"Here, lean her against me."

Ellie slowly lowered June face first from a seated position, onto his arrow free shoulder. June bounced about till she finally settled partially on her side, with her head resting on his shoulder. He braced his arms behind himself to help support their combined weight.

"Okay, just clean her up girl."

"What happened down there? Are they all dead?"

"Hunters. Don't know how many more there are." Joel mumbled.

As soon as the wet cloth touched the wound, June's limp arms sprang to life and grasped at Joel middle back.

"Sorry. Eh..." Ellie whimpered as she pulled the cloth away.

"It's okay. Just keep going." Joel coaxed.

The pain got worse for June. She gripped so tight at some instances Joel had a hard time breathing. Eventually Joel shifted their weight to his right arm, and used his left hand to support her head. His palm rested over her temple, and pushed her cheek closer to his neck. He felt her hot tears run down his back, and felt her teeth occasionally nick his shirt when she gasped in pain.

Eventually June's endorphin's kicked in, and she began to relax. Joel noticed this and, worried she had passed out, so shook her slightly.

"I'm awake. Don't worry." June said as she lightly pinched at his lower back.

"Almost done, you've mostly stopped bleeding." Ellie said while she rinsed the blood soaked towel.

"Good." June sighed leaning more into Joel's stubble, as Ellie began on her neck wound.

"You think you're up to mending me?" Joel questioned, trying to keep June alert.

"Yeah. But, I'll need a few things. Plus something with sugar. I can really feel how much blood I lost right now."

"Okay done! So you want bandages for this?"

"No it should air out for a bit." June said as she slowly pushed herself up and away from Joel.

Joel slowly released his grasp from June, yet stayed put. She was still on the shaky side and wanted to be ready to catch her.

June slowly pushed back more and sat on her own. Her shirt fell around her waist. All she had left to cover up her top half with was her now one strapped sports bra. She held her hand up to her forehead, then ran her fingers through her hair. Taking in a big breath she cleared her throat and said,"okay...Ellie, I need you to get the med kit from under my bed, some towels, clean water and rags from the kitchen, and a box of matches."

Ellie quickly got up and followed her order.

June then scooted toward him and carefully examined his wounds.

"So how do you want to do this?"

"Eh?"

"You want me to try and save your clothes?"

"Can't you just work around them?"

June took in a big breath and gently picked at the blood and mud soaked fabric on his back.

"Well, if you wanna get a nasty infection then you can leave them on. But I think it's best for you to strip." She said as she lightly tugged at one of the long splinters that broke away from the arrow shaft and laced itself with part of his shirt under his skin.

"Oww. Shit! If you insist."

"Don't worry. I'll do a minimal damage to your clothes. You're going to need lots of layers with the upcoming winter."

"Your the doc."

"Okay, I think I got everything." Ellie said carrying over a heap of items.

June grabbed the med kit and pulled out a small saw.

"Oh fuck! Do I have to be here for this?" Ellie exclaimed.

June looked to Joel for his opinion, as she took a quick sip from the bottle of juice Ellie brought. Joel knew this was not going to be pretty, and on top of that June would be stripping him down. So it probably be for the best to not have Ellie witness this.

"Why don't you take the supplies to the kitchen."

"Okay." Ellie quickly responded to Joel with a breath of relief.

June took a rag and soaked it with water and alcohol, and wiped down her hands.

"So... Let me just go through my plan of attack. First I will saw off the tips, then you'll help me pull them out. Then... You strip... And... I sew you up."

"Eh... Just get it over with. I just want to lay on my back again." Joel said with a slight gag as he accidentally bumped the arrow in his chest with this forearm.

June dug through her bag and pulled out a wooden kitchen spoon.

"Here, bite down on this."

"What kind of kit is that?"

"The professional kind." She said holding up her bone saw.

He did as he was told and braced himself for pain.

It took her a good five minutes to cut through the arrows.

"Okay, all done." June said as the last arrowhead fell to the ground. "Now the worst part."

Joel was in so much pain as is and his throat was drying from his brief yell's of agony. He could not imagine it getting worse.

"Alright," June began, now on her knees behind Joel. "This one is slightly damaged, so I will have to grip it close to the wound in order to get it all out without breaking."

Joel nodded, and took in a breath in preparation for this.

"Okay... On three. One... Two... Three!"

"Ahhhhhhh Fuuuuck."

She pulled hard in a quick movement, getting the entire arrow shaft out without breaking. This was immediately followed by a gush of blood, and Joel falling forward. She dropped the arrow and quickly covered his wound from both sides.

"How you doing. That must of hurt like hell."

"Heh. Yeah... It did!"

"Alright, let me just..." She then tore the last chunk of her shirt holding it together, and used half of it to wrap over his wound. "This will do for now. Let's get that other arrow out."

"Okay." He said through labored breaths as he pulled himself up on his knees.

"Ready... One... Two... Three!"

"Ahhh. Fuahhh!"

She tossed the arrow aside and picked up the other piece of her shirt and tied it tight around his thigh.

"Okay were in the final stretch, you can put your leg down flat at least now."

June scooted in close and started to unbutton his shirt. Every other button hole was practically glued in place with mud and blood. Eventually she had to use her nails to force them through. Once she got the last one she slowly peeled the shirt away from his wound. Her loose bandage fell to the floor with it.

She pulled the water basin over and soaked a fresh rag with alcohol. She then softly padded the cloth to the wound. The Alcohol burned like hell and caused him to reach forward and grasp her thigh. Despite this she continued with the cleaning, so he took it as a sign that this didn't hurt her. Once she was done she reached into her bag and pulled out surgical suture and a curved needle. She quickly doused her hands in alcohol again, dried them, then lit a match and sterilized the needle.

"Ready for this."

Joel turned his head away and closed his eyes in response.

In less than five minutes she had both sides stitched up and covered with clean gauze. She then laid a towel out behind him.

"Okay, you can lay down now."

Joel didn't need to be told twice. It felt a little better now that he could relax his back muscles.

"So now the fun part..." She said in attempt to making the situation less awkward.

He did not respond to her comment. He felt that even if he tried to say something funny it would not make this any easier.

She slowly unbuckled his belt and undid his button.

"Oh... Um."

"What? Something wrong?"

"No Boxers?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah... No... Kind of a luxury item for men nowadays."

"Right... Well... Think of this as making up for all the embarrassing shit you read about me in my journal." She said as she pulled off his boots and socks.

"Oh we're even after this, that's for sure." He said turning his face away, trying to mentally escape from this moment.

"Okay, let's do this before you bleed to death." She untied her quick bandage, unzipped his pants, and tugged his jeans down and off. She quickly retrieved a towel from behind herself to cover him up.

Getting the bowl she began to clean the area. Once she was done cleaning, he noticed a quizzical look on her brow.

"What? What is it?"

"How's your leg feel, mainly the bone itself?" She said as she cupped her hands round his thigh and rotated his leg up and down slowly.

" Sore as hell." He said through gritted teeth.

"Okay... Well I think it's just bruising, but there could be a slight fracture in the bone."

"Great..."

She quickly got her needle and suture ready.

"So I'll try to make this as quick as possible."

He reached over for the wooden spoon, bit down on it, and draped his hand over his eyes.

The second the needle pierced his skin he squirmed. This area on his thigh was very sensitive, and all he wanted to do was squirm away each time the cold needle touched. But he had to remain still. For June's sake, and to keep the towel covering him up. The top side of his thigh was unbearable, but the back was far worse.

"There last stitch. Now just need to bandage up."

She carefully wrapped the gauze around this thigh and pulled the towel to cover him evenly up.

"So how you feel now?"

Joel did not answer. He was starting to nod off.

"Oh no you don't."

"Eh. Can't I sleep now."

"No. Not here at least."

"Well help me to my hammock.

"Oh no, you need to sleep flat. You can have my bed."

He wasn't going to argue with her. He was willing to do whatever she said if it meant he could sleep.

"But hey, before I put this all away. You think you could bandage me up?" She said turning and presenting her back to him.

With major effort he pulled himself up and wrapped the towel tight around his hips. He cleaned his hands and pulled out some swabs and ointment, and began to dab the solution onto her wounds.

"Eh. Shit! You doing that on purpose?"

Joel furrowed his brow, breaking his best poker face. Yes, in a way this was payback for what he just went through, he just was not going to admit it out loud. He eventually eased up. By the time he reached her neck he had the lightest touch that even his calloused hands didn't nick her.

"Much better. Now let's get you up an in bed. Ellie has been awfully quiet. She probably broke something again. I'll have to check up on her." She said pulling herself up and uselessly dusting off her filthy pants.

She then offered him a hand saying, "just try to keep weight off your left leg."

"Alright." Joel said through his teeth as a sharp pain went up his leg when he tested his bad leg.

Together they walked to her room. It was a truly pathetic scene. Both black and blue, bandaged up, and moving at a snail's pace.

"Get the handle." June said as they reached the door.

Joel was becoming so drowsy that it was dangerous. They had nearly fell off the rope bridge twice. Once inside June leaned him against her dresser like a rolled up rug, and readied the bed for him.

"Okay, easy now." She reached round for him and attempted to lower him into the bed.

At his current state he had little care for propriety, and gave little attention to the fact his towel had fallen off when he took a quick step toward the bed. All he wanted was to sleep.

"Alright. Phew." She exclaimed as she covered him up with a heavy blanket. "You can sleep now," she continued full well knowing he had passed out.

Immediately her body became heavy and her head began to spin. She pulled up a chair and sat down. To help stop the spinning she planted her forehead on the edge of the bed with her hands bracing it down into the soft quilt. Within seconds she blacked out.