The guy was still going on after an hour or so trekking. Alex had tried walking by himself as much as he could, but he was too weak and he was still losing a lot of blood. He was probably going to need a transfusion at the rate he was going. I could feel my heart still going a thousand miles per hour, panic still fully flowing through my veins.
"Do you actually know where you're going?" I asked the guy, trying to keep my voice as strong as I could, but he only grunted in response.
I huffed, but stayed silent. Fine then.
"Sam, my feet hurt." Helena said in a weak voice next to me.
"Can you not keep walking, just for a while?" I asked, slowing. I looked towards Alex and the redneck, and they had slowed too, but they didn't stop. We couldn't stop now. For Alex's sake.
"No..." Helena said as her eyes started filling with tears.
Normally that would have irritated me as I've worked with enough kids to know when they're being lazy and will pull whatever tricks they can to get out of doing something. But looking down at the girl, her blonde hair covered in dirt and her face dotted with tiny scratches, I knew I had expected a lot from her. This whole situation was a lot for a nine year-old to take on. I nodded at the girl, and pulled on my jumper that was tied around my waist.
Sighing, I bent down to the girl and picked her up, resting her on my hip and wrapping her legs around my waist. She nestled into my neck, and I pushed myself forward, my back straining even more than it was before.
I looked up to see the man watching me, Alex barely able to life his head up. When I got next to the man, he started walking again, grunting.
I bit my lip out of frustration with the guy. Actually, I'm pretty sure this guy wasn't even a guy. He was like a gorilla. I'm pretty sure if he walked normally, his knuckles would drag along the floor. I began looking over him from where I stood just behind him and Alex. He was pretty tall - 6"3, give or take. His dirty sandy hair sat just above his neck, curling at the bottom slightly. He seemed relatively muscled, and he'd obviously been an outdoorsy type, as his skin was evenly tanned and covered in slick sweat and grime.
Hearing Helena's breathing deeply, I dragged my eyes of the guy and looked down to her face to see that she had fallen asleep in my arms. Smiling, I shifted her slightly so that I could put both arms around her. Her grip loosened as she slept, and I had to hold on tighter, but my fingers and arms already ached, and I got uncomfortable as she snuggled with the toy bear, wriggling in my arms.
The gorilla pushed through a thicket of branches and let them swing back into place. I shifted Helena in my arms slightly and looked up only to see a large branch swinging back towards my face. I cocooned Helena and tried to sidestep it, but my sluggish feet wouldn't let me. The branch smacked me square in the face and I groaned as a sharp pain flashed across the right side of my face.
The gorilla turned back at that, and looked at my face in the dimming light. Putting my hand to where his eyes were fixed on the side of my face, I pulled it back and felt a stinging sensation, as well as warm, sticky blood on my hand. I ran my fingers along the length of the cut - it ran on a downward slant along my cheekbone, feeling about three inches long. I wiped off as much blood that was spilling out of the cut as I could and wiped in on my jeans.
"Watch it." He grunted before shifting Alex with seemingly unnatural gentleness and carried on walking. I angrily chewed my lip so hard I drew blood and winced.
We continued to walk in silence for hours - apart from Alex's occasional groan of pain which made me flinch every time I heard him.
"How much longer?" I asked him as I noticed the sky had got slightly darker and the trees had thinned a little. Would we have to go on much further?
"Not long." the man grunted, more to Alex than me. I bit my lip again.
I hated holding what I really wanted to say back. If it weren't for Alex being hit by this idiot's arrow, we wouldn't have been here. But I knew if I didn't bite my tongue and argued back, the guy would probably just drop Alex and leave us. I couldn't afford to let that happen. Not to Alex.
Shrouded in my thoughts, I didn't realise we broke though the tree line when I saw a faint glow ahead in the dimming light. We had walked into what looks like an old rock quarry. There was a pool of water in the middle, surrounded by grey looking gravel and high-rising wall of rock. The wooded areas surrounding the quarry appearing almost daunting.
The man huffed and led Alex up the hill, heading towards a set of tents and an RV that sat along the outside rim of the quarry.
I heard a couple shouts, and I saw figures starting to run down the slope towards us. Helena stirred in my arms, but she didn't let go - she gripped me harder.
"Oh my god! What happened?" I heard a woman call. By the time they had reached us, I had rushed up to Alex's side, waiting defensively. For what, I don't know. But they all stopped short, assessing.
People? Real, alive people?
I could feel all their eyes on us, and then their gaze shifted to the redneck with the injured man draped over his shoulders. I ran a nervous hand through my hair, but I tried to appear strong.
Two men had then come forward. One with dark skin and a bald head, whose gaze lingered on me and the girl in my arms before returning to Alex, taking him off the gorilla. The other guy had short, dark and curly hair, and was wearing what appeared to be a sheriff's or a deputy's badge or something.
"We need somewhere to lie him down. Dale, the RV okay?" The deputy guy shouted to an older guy with white hair and beard, standing about in what appeared to be a Hawaiian shirt with his mouth open, but he eventually nodded.
The sheriff/deputy then went to grab Alex, sending a dark look to the gorilla, which he coldly returned. They started walking off with Alex. I looked at the gorilla to say thank you despite him being a total dick, but he sent me a deathly look before spitting on the ground and stormed away, throwing Alex's bag on the ground.
Holding Helena tightly and grabbing his bag, I chased after the two men with Alex. I saw bunches of people gathering to watch what was happening but I raced ahead, gravel flying everywhere with each step I took.
The men had reached the RV, and were setting Alex down inside on the floor, propping his head up with a pillow. I jumped in after them, determined to not leave his side.
"Do you guys know what you're doing?" I asked, panicking as they all stood back to look at Alex.
"Well, no." the police guy said, his eyes flickering on the cut on my face.
"Does anyone?" I yelped, putting Helena down.
"No." the guy said again, his voice low.
Shit. Shit shit.
"Oh.. What? Shit." I said, looking from each of their faces, fear churning in the pit of my stomach.
Oh god. Okay. I'll do it then." I said, and I cursed again under my breath. My stomach kept plummeting at a sickening level and my bottom lip threatened to quiver. Who else was going to help him? No one.
"Do you have any medical kits? Painkillers, antibiotics, needle and thread? Anything to clean the wound? I need some water and towels!" I commanded, throwing down our bags, ripping off my jacket and falling to Alex's side. I pulled my hair up in a bun on my head, getting it out of the way.
I've never really been sure about medical stuff. Sure, I had to do a first aid course to become a lifeguard, but none of the people I had to help usually had an arrow sticking out of their chest!
"Yeah, yeah, we can do that. T-Dog," the sheriff/deputy guy said to the guy behind me, "go and get what you can off of everyone." he barked, sending the guy rushing out of the door.
I had started ripping the shirt around Alex's wound, when the guy, Dale, handed me some scissors. After a slight hesitation, I took them throwing him a thankful look before I returned to Alex.
"Come on sweetie, let's get you out of the way." I heard, and turned my head to see the cop guy leading Helena outside. "She'll be safe. You just concentrate." the guy said before nodding at me, and leaving the RV with Helena. I wasn't entirely sure that was safe, but I can make everything right if.. no, when Alex pulls through this.
I turned back, and pulled the last of Alex's top off of him. Gasping, I saw that the blood had trickled right the was town his torso, drying and clinging all over him, and was still trickling whichever way gravity allowed it. The wound itself looked horrific. Where the arrow had entered, it had slowly moved while Alex moved, widening the wound. The skin around the entry was raised and jagged. The blood had soaked everywhere, and I had to swallow back bile pretty hard.
I heard a commotion next to me, and I looked briefly to see the guy called T-Dog who had gathered anything that he thought would come in handy.
He set it all down next to me, and nodded, waiting around for what I assumed meant that he was here to help.
"Okay," I said, thinking on my feet. "I need that redneck in here! I need to know if the arrowhead was barbed or not." I stated as coolly as I could, staring at T-Dog.
He swallowed hard, but nodded and ran out of the RV again.
"Is there any alcohol?" I asked Dale, as I started rummaging through the bags T-Dog bought me for some antibiotics.
Dale had rummaged through his cupboard and turned back to with a quarter of a bottle of whiskey. Taking it out of his hands, I propped Alex's head up.
"Alex, you're going to have to swallow something for me, okay?" he nodded his head once slowly. Grabbing a pill from a small pot which I though was a suitable painkiller, I paced the pill in his mouth and poured a bit of whiskey in his mouth. "Swallow Alex!" I know it wasn't the best combination, but that wasn't really at the forefront of my mind.
He complied, swallowing and wincing at the burn in his throat. I reached over to the water and a towel, and dunked it. I then began cleaning the would as quickly and as carefully as I could. Alex's eyes kept flickering open and shut, as I started to worry. Obviously noticing this, Dale knelt near Alex's head and started talking to him.
"You're Alex, right? Well I'm Dale.." the older guy said, and gratitude washed over me.
I had cleared the blood and whatever dirt I could away from the wound, but the shaft of the arrow was in the way.
"Shit. Okay Alex, these next few minutes are gonna kill, but you've gotta be a man about it, okay? I'm right here.." I said, searching his pale face briefly.
Not waiting for the reply any longer, I reached over him and grabbed hold of the arrow. With the other placed around the arrow close to his wound, I began bending it, trying to make as little disturbance as possible to break off the rest of the arrow. I could hear him crying out in pain, but eventually the arrow snapped. I threw the end with the fletchings away near the door. Taking my jumper off, I folded it slightly and shoved it in Alex's mouth. I saw him biting down hard on it when I started dabbing the alcohol on and around the wound.
The wind blew through the open door making me shiver in my now baggy vest, but I ignored it, although goosebumps crept up on my arms. Then bustling through the door came T-Dog and the redneck. Upon noticing his broken arrow, he looked at me and growled. I wasn't in the mood for this.
"Oh get over yourself," I snapped. "You can argue with me later. Just help me out here. Is the arrowhead barbed? If it is, which way do they go?" I asked, holding his gaze, fury boiling up in both of our faces.
"Barbed toward the fletchin'" he grunted, looking over Alex and then back at me.
"Thank you" I sighed, before turning back to Alex.
Damn it! what can I do to get it out? I can't push it through, and that'll cause more damage as the arrow was only a couple inches in, but pulling it back will tear what was around it because of the barbs on the arrowhead. I don't even know if the arrow has hit anything serious. It could've hit muscles of one of the arteries..
"Alex, this is going to kill and you're going to hate me, but you're going to live, so please don't murder me." I gushed, panicking, realising only one way that this will come out with less damage.
"Does anyone have a knife? Can it be sterilised?" I asked.
T-Dog nodded, pulling the knife out of his jeans. "I do that after every time I.." he trailed, and I nodded, taking it from him.
"What ya gonna do?" the redneck grunted from the doorway.
"Because your arrow was barbed," I said, trying to inflict as much venom in my voice as I could, "I need to widen the wound so the barbs don't tear through him and cause more damage." I said, shooting the man a filthy look. He shifted slightly, and I turned back to Alex, slightly satisfied at unnerving the man.
I'd read stories about hunters getting wider gashes because they didn't pay attention to their arrowheads. I was just glad that seemingly useless fact could've helped me save Alex.
"Dale, T-Dog, can you hold him down?" I asked, looking at the men. They both nodded and moved into place, and I bent forward to kiss Alex's forehead.
"Sorry dude." I whispered. I took deep breaths, trying to prevent the shaking in my hands. "Now guys!"
The two men grabbed Alex and held him still as I leant forward, biting my lip in concentration, and started to push the knife either side of the wound, making the entry wound bigger. Alex tried to thrash and was screaming into my jumper, but the men did a good job of holding him still.
After about a minute, I had managed to cut as much as I needed without doing too much damage. Straddling Alex and throwing the knife recklessly to the side, I pulled a pair of tweezers out of one of the bags T-Dog bought me, and with them, I reached into the wound. Thirty seconds had passed until I felt I had a good enough grip on the arrowhead, and I pulled it out.
I could feel the air escaping my body when I held the arrowhead in mid-air in between the two tweezer legs. Looking back down at the would, a new trickle of blood dribbled over Alex's shoulder.
Reaching back into the bag after dropping the arrowhead and tweezers next to me, I handed a thread and a curved needle to the only person in the room who's hands weren't busy - the gorilla's.
"Thread this." I ordered, holding it out in my hands. He hesitated, but then walked forward and took them.
I turned back and reached for the towel, dipping it back in the bowl of water and poured it over the wound. Then grabbing the alcohol, I poured a bit of it over the towel and began to clean around the wound again. Alex had started wriggling underneath me, but I was ignoring it, hating myself for every second it hurt him.
A warm hand clasped my bare shoulder and spun me round harshly. I saw it was the redneck, holding out the thread and needle to me. I took it, and as soon as the hand was there, it was gone with a grunt, the cold air rushing back to the warm spot he left on my shoulder.
I span back to face Alex, and as he saw the needle his eyes widened. They then met mine, and a knowing flashed across it. I didn't wait any longer, and I leant down to start stitching his wound up. I don't know have many times I pulled the thread through, but horror swam through me as I tried to ignore thoughts of what could happen if this didn't work.
The situation we were in was dire, and I seem to be the most able person here. I could have done this all wrong. I could have just unknowingly sped my best friend's death up.. No. I'm not thinking like this. He will pull through. He's got to.
"Okay. Okay it's done." I said, standing up after finishing the stitches. I leant forward and assessed my handwork, and concluded that it would do. If.. When he's a bit better, I'll change it.
I found gauze in the first aid kit, and began wrapping the wound, the gauze going through his armpit.
"Done! Alex, it's done! Dale," I said, turning to him. "Can he sleep in here, just for tonight?" I asked, almost begged, really.
"Of course he can." He said, sending a me a sad but reassuring look. His look was like a kick in the gut - did he think Alex wasn't going to liv- make it?
I stood back off Alex, and the men lifted him off the floor and mostly carried him on the bed further back in the RV.
I turned to find some antiseptic wash in the bags, when I heard a grunt. My head went flying up, I saw the redneck picking up the broken end of his arrows. He stood up straight, looking me up and down, and then left the RV without a word.
Dale walked back out his bedroom and walked straight up to me. He smiled and rested a hand on my bare shoulder, bringing my gaze back from the empty doorway.
"Are you okay?" He asked, his wise brown eyes peering out from under his hat.
"Yeah. Well, no.." I said, letting out a deep sigh.
"You did really well. Honestly. If I ever get shot, I want you nearby." He said, and a small smile picked up at the side of my mouth.
"Let's get you cleaned up." he said, steering towards the door.
"But Alex-"
"-Will be fine. All your doing is getting that blood off of you. You won't be kept from your boyfriend longer than you have to." he said, smiling as he stepped out of the RV.
"He's not my boyfriend, he's my best friend.." I mumbled, but Dale only chuckled, which was quite a relaxing sound.
He led me down to where the water was and helped me clean myself, but I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, or the questions Dale asked about me being so far away from home.
I felt like I was floating, totally detached. My hands had only just started shaking, and I was relieved that they're shaking now, and not when I had to do the cutting and sewing and.. My stomach started churning at the fresh memory.
Dale let me go as soon as I was clean enough and I thanked him, and I headed back up to the RV when I remembered about Helena.
Spinning round to survey the very void-of-people area, the sheriff/deputy guy walked up to me, noticing my frantic searching.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice gravelly.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Where's Helena? The little girl?" I asked, staring into his eyes.
"She's asleep with Carol in her tent - she couldn't keep her eyes open - if that's okay with you." He said, eyes patient as he waited for me to speak.
"Oh, yeah. That's fine. As long as she's alright.." I trailed, looking around the tents.
"I'm Shane, by the way." he said, holding out his hand. I looked him over, assessing.
"Shane? Hey, I'm Sam." I said, reaching out to shake his hand. His grip was firm - a little too firm.
"Do you want me to show you around?" He asked, gesturing to the handful of tents and vehicles dotted around in the area.
"Ah, thank you, but I really want to check of Alex is okay.." I said, and he nodded.
"Of course. But just so you know, you're welcome to stay with us as long as you need - although we could really use someone who thinks on their feet like you just did here with us." He said, looking me up and down, a slight smile planted on his face.
"Thank you.." was all I could muster with a polite nod, before I started walking back to the RV.
Stay? I didn't really think about that. I mean, I didn't want to stay in these people's hair since they all seem well established. But then again, where were we going to? Alex is not exactly trekking material right now. Were we just hoping to walk across a new civilisation - walker free? Walker.. That name worked. Well, it felt better to say than zombie. But us staying with these people? I don't know if that will work.
However, I don't think we have a choice right now.
Looking about the camp, the sun had now disappeared, so the only light came from a camp fire in the middle of a few tents, surrounded by some logs and chairs, and what looked like cooking equipment. Further away from this hub was another tent and a small fire, where I thought I saw two shadows huddled around. I assumed one was the gorilla, because he really didn't strike me as being an active member of a group. But as to the other one, I was clueless.
I got back into the RV and walked through to the back room. I knocked on the door and waited for a second before walking in.
"Hey Alex." I said, walking in to see him laying on his back on the bed, partially propped up on pillows. His hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat and his eyes slightly dazed.
"Hey Sambo." he said weakly, smiling as I came to sit on the bed next to him. He started shoving up, but I tried to stop him as his face drained at his movements.
"Shush Sam." he said, smiling faintly.
"But your stitches! And you'll be weak for a while. I'm not sure how long they're going to last, so please try not to break them." I mumbled, my eyes tearing slightly.
"Sambo, you're crying again." He said, laughing gently.
"I almost lost my best friend Alex! I'm not that cold-hearted. Plus, I half expected you to ignore me, with the amount of pain I just put you through..." I said, climbing over him carefully and laid down next to him on the opposite side of his wound. A tear or two spilled out, but I wiped them away furiously. I hate looking vulnerable.
"Really? Sam, you saved my life! Not only did you just remove an actual arrow from my chest with no medical training or help, but you beat away two zombies when I couldn't even protect myself, let alone Helena as well. You're a boss, Sambo." he said, smiling genuinely at me, and all my worries melted away.
"Alex, you're such an idiot. Why is it always you? And I know you'd have done the same to save me." I said, pushing a bit of hair out of his eyes.
"Because I'm fabulous baby." He said, putting on a feminine voice but failed due to the hoarseness of his throat, which made me chuckle. He laughed with me too, but he eventually yawned. "You know I'd save you."
"Sleep, Alex. I'll stay with you." I said, laying my head on his outstretched arm. I wasn't planning on leaving him. Anything could happen. His eyes flickered over the cut across my face and his eyes grew slightly serious but I waved him off before he could question me.
He shut his eyes and sighed, and before long, his still bare chest rose and fell heavily, a faint threat of a snore attempting to creep up on him.
I lay there totally still, snug against Alex.
It was nice laying there with him. It was safe. And totally not awkward. We have never felt romantically towards each other. We had more of a sibling relationship, which is why I'd be totally destroyed if anything happened to him - we'd been through so much together. Laying there didn't worry me, it calmed me. Reassured me. Gave me back some sort of strength. Before long, I was slipping into sleep, my whole body sighing in relief on the bed, Alex and Helena safe - at least for tonight.
Hey!
Sorry this took so long to upload, but I'm getting into this now, and I've got the next few chapters ready to go. ;]
But thank you for all the alerts and the comments people have left! I didn't expect so many for the first few chapters. I'm so glad, thanks guys. :)
- Loré. X