Resurrection

Kitty parted Jean's lips, checked for any obstructions within Jean's mouth then placed her lips over Jean's, and blew air down her throat five times, each time verifying that Jean's chest was filling. She then moved her hands, one over the other with fingers interlocked, and placed them over the center of Jean's chest, right over her heart, and pushed down, then releasing, pressing and releasing four more times just like she had been taught in her CPR class. She continued with her lifesaving procedure. She had been going at it for what seemed like hours, seeming with little success, but Kitty refused to give up. She wouldn't give, how could she? And as she placed her lips over Jean's parted ones, she blew more air down her throat, and was about to move her hands back to Jean's chest when suddenly, Jean lurched into motion, vomiting a dirty mix of water, dirt, and blood, narrowly missing Kitty, who had jumped back the moment Jean moved.

"Jean?!" Kitty managed to say as she soon moved to kneel by Jean's side, watching as the doctor struggled to breath against her coughing and spitting up water.

Kitty's eyes brightened, and her smile widened as a look of relief came over her at the sight of Jean being awake.

"Jean, you're ok—Jean? No, Jean, stay with me!" Kitty interrupted herself as she watched Jean collapse back to the sandy ground, her eyes closed and breathing ragged. Kitty tried to shake the doctor awake. "No, no, come on, Jean, don't do this to me! You've got to stay awake, ok? We have to get to some safe ground before the water rises, ok? Not to mention that it's starting to get a little chilly out and we should definitely make a fire before we both catch our deaths from the cold…" Kitty explained, but without much, as her audience slipped back into unconsciousness, as her aching body demanded rest. "Shit!" Kitty exclaimed in response to Jean's condition. Her leg was throbbing and her body shivered as the evening chill began to rustle through the leaves and the trees, and against her soaked body.

"Well, at least I know she's alive…" Kitty commented as she watched Jean's chest rise and fall with some difficulty. How am I going to get her to a safe distance? Kitty mused to herself with a deep sigh, her mind desperately working out a plan as her eyes moved to scan her new location.

As Kitty quickly planned out the best possible way to move the unconscious and exhausted Jean to a better location, Jean was deep in the privacy of her mind.

"I'm so tired…" Jean commented, her mind a haze as her mental self struggled to regain some consciousness despite the current circumstances. What happened? I don't remember…her mind trailed off, her mental self formed into perfect form, floating about in the darkness of her mind.

Her mind, although tired and weak, struggled to regain enough mobility as to help her answer a few of her questions. Her mind cleared slightly, allowing Jean's memory to flow through, thus showing her exactly what her disorientation had stolen from her.

"What happened to me?" she asked herself, as well as her mind, which then brought to her the memory of her argument with Kitty by the river's edge.

As she floated in mid air, she watched as her mind played out each detail that occurred at that moment, which ultimately led to her current situation. As she listened and watched her argument with Kitty, she couldn't help but gasp as she watched herself shove Kitty into the water.

"Oh, God… How could I have been so stupid?" Jean commented as she watched the pleading Kitty travel down the river, and briefly grasping onto her, who was now in the water holding tightly onto Kitty in a means of protecting the girl.

Jean's mental eyes widened as she watched as Kitty and she traveled over the waterfall and being submerged in the cold, harsh current of the river. "Oh, my God…" Jean whispered, her mind echoing her words back to her. As she watched her body, being pulled along the river, smashing up against a rock, causing her to be knocked out for a moment, Jean could hardly believe her eyes. And as she watched her mind's blurring rendition of what happened next, Jean was suddenly somewhat aware of the fact that her body, and not to the one in the memory, was moving.

"What? Am I moving? Why am I moving, I'm not even conscious…I think?" Jean questioned as she tried to figure out what was happening.

Her eyes returned their full attention to her memory after a moment, as the memory begged for her attention so it could bring her up to speed as to what had happened to her. As Jean watched her body, through the memory, being washed up on shore, realization occurred to her when her next memory revealed an exasperated Kitty, urging her to keep awake and to keep breathing.

"Kitty…" Jean muttered, her pulse quickening as she watched the blurring memory of Kitty kneeling next to her, her appearance beaten and tired. "Kitty…" she murmured, her tired mind throbbing as it found itself too exhausted to continue thinking, at least for the moment. As Jean's mental self whispered Kitty's name and apologies directed towards the girl, Jean's mental self soon quieted, and slipped further and further into unconsciousness.

With one last pull, Kitty dragged Jean's body one last step before letting Jean's body rest on a clear and smooth spot in the sheltered area of the woods. Kitty had dragged Jean's body a good distance from the shoreline with great difficulty, but with her great determination, Kitty managed to drag Jean's body to a safe location, where Kitty planned to set up camp for the night. Since Kitty couldn't drag Jean while carrying her backpack, she had briefly left her backpack on the shoreline. So, after making sure that Jean would be ok for the moment, she quickly stumbled her way back to the shoreline in search of her backpack with all of the camp gear inside. Once she found her backpack, Kitty quickly returned, and let her backpack fall to the ground, she quickly collapsing next to it. She let herself rest for a while, exhausted, sore, and cold, and stared up at the sky, her breath heavy in her chest as her mind raced with worry for Jean and worry for what the future had in store for them.

Storm obviously knows that Jean and I are gone. But…does she even have a clue as to where we could be? Kitty asked herself as she looked up into the sky to watch the sun slowly set. I should get up. I know I'm tired, but I can't rest until I get a fire going and I get the tent up, her thoughts continued, her leg throbbing with pain as she tried to rise from her position. "Come on, Kitty, no time for lying around! I must take care of Jean—that's my number one concern…" Kitty told herself out loud, as she grabbed for a near by walking stick, and began her journey into the woods in search of firewood.

"Kitty…" Jean murmured softly, but much too softly for Kitty to hear, as the girl continued on walking, leaving Jean alone in the woods, for the moment at least.