"Lucas," Jo exclaimed, with alarm, "they shot you. Let me look at it," she said, hurrying towards him.
She pulled open his coat and examined his wound, letting out a sharp hissing noise when she saw the dark strain spreading across his chest from his left shoulder. "That doesn't look good."
Lucas ignored her words and said determinedly, "we have to keep going. We need to get away from here."
Jo nodded, knowing he was right, still distracted by the sight of his wound. "Maybe you should apply some pressure to it to control the bleeding."
"I will," he replied shortly.
She didn't like the look of Lucas. His face was a deathly pale colour and there was sweat beading on his forehead. "Can I help you?" she asked hopefully.
As she had expected he shook his head dismissively and they resumed their journey once more, though at a slightly slower pace. Jo watched Lucas anxiously as they walked.
They kept going for an hour, until Jo insisted they stop for a short break and have something to eat. After a five minute pause, they continued on once again.
Their journey took them across beautiful country meadows, and forests alight with vibrant colours of autumn. They continued for almost two hours, until dusk settled upon the landscape and Jo looked to her right to see Lucas sway strangely and then collapse on the ground.
**
Jo let out a little cry then hurried over to where Lucas lay unconscious on the ground. She had known this was coming. He couldn't simply continue walking for ever in the state he was in, though he would insist on thinking he could. But when it happened it had been much more frightening, much more alarming than she had anticipated.
She checked him over, noting with concern that he was white and his face covered with perspiration and the blood had soaked through his clothing and his hands were now stained a rich red colour from the blood seeping out of him. Without a doctor there was little she could do for him, except apply pressure to help stem the bleeding and keep him warm. She did consider trying to find a doctor but it would be impossibly dangerous. The military were clearly already on the lookout for them and once they found the troops, there was a good chance they would figure out they were in the area. She hoped that wouldn't happen for a while yet. And if the military located them both, she was under no illusions about what they would do to them.
She opened Lucas' bag and removed a T shirt, which she wrapped around his shoulder tightly, then removed her navy cardigan and placed it on top of Lucas and scanned the wooded area around which surrounded them distractedly, while she considered what she should do next.