I wanted to say thank you to all my new followers, favouriters and reviewers! You've made me so happy, and you're so patient! Thanks for sticking with me!
Ruby had been riding on her own for nearly two hours and there was a niggle in her stomach. She couldn't quite explain it, but something just wasn't sitting right in her gut. As she rode further and further away the more it felt like some part of her, buried deep inside her was screaming at her to turn back. It was a lead weight in her stomach that was twisting around her insides, making her feel almost nauseated. The voice inside her head kept repeating Sophia's name and with every step away, it got slightly louder.
"Don't be stupid now, you've just gotten away," she muttered reprimandingly to herself. "Those people are trouble."
She bit her lip as startling, bright green eyes burned the back of her eyelids. She felt a pressure in her throat and she quickly buried the emotions and memories associated with those eyes. She knew she couldn't leave now, this was her subconscious ordering her to stay, to help find Sophia.
Ruby went to turn Athena around when she started skittering around nervously and Loki started growling.
"Hey, hey, whoa… whoa," she called calmingly to the mare.
She shortened her reins and sat deeper in the saddle trying to settle her but another horse came flying out from the bush beside her and barrelled into them. Ruby couldn't help the scream as Athena fell over from the collision and threw them down the path. Her head knocked hard on the ground and her right shoulder smashed into a rock. Even worse, she was pinned by Athena's 400+ kilogram body. She gasped out in pain as Loki rushed over to her licking her face. Athena began to struggle, trying to rise back to her feet and Ruby gasped as the pressure intensified on her leg. She quickly kicked her unpinned leg out of the saddle, and tried to wiggle her other one out. She tried to push both hands against Athena's body but her right shoulder screamed in protest. Tears streamed down her cheeks without her consent as the pain ripped through her. Athena scrambled up to her feet and Ruby yelled out in panic as her foot got caught in the stirrup. The last time she had her foot caught in a stirrup she'd been dragged for nearly 500 metres and trampled—she did not want a repeat of that.
"Athena, Athena, whuuu," she shushed.
Athena started to skitter, not liking the weight on one side.
"Athena," she called out, feeling the panic start to arise as her whole body started to drag. She could feel her ankle starting to twist and she needed to calm herself and her horse down. Loki started to bark, sensing her distress and Athena snorted anxiously, the sound coming out more like a bray.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," she reassured her frantic dog before focusing back on Athena.
She wasn't responding to the quiet, soothes so it was time to try something else.
"Athena, whoa," she growled.
The mare stopped for a moment, and snorted at her. Ruby carefully watched Athena and noticed her muscles twitching.
"Athena," she said warningly.
The mare gave no indication she heard her but Ruby noticed the twitching stopped. She breathed a sigh of relief, as Loki whined and began to fervently lick her face.
"It's okay, I'm okay. Just a little stuck, that's all buddy," she assured him.
She slowly sat up and carefully twisted her foot out of the stirrup. Her foot dropped with a thump and she winced as pain rocketed through her body. Athena began to crop at the grass closest to her, in sharp jerky movements. It wouldn't take a lot to set her off, but she was calm enough now that Ruby could assess herself and her situation. Ruby lay back, flat on her back in exhaustion. With all the adrenaline that had pounded through her body she hadn't noticed much but as it began to ebb away, the pain started coming back full force. She started at her toes, wiggling them. She could feel them all which was a good sign, but it hurt especially bad on her right side. She carefully twisted her ankle around and bit her lip as fire clawed through her muscles. It wasn't broken, but she thought she'd maybe twisted it or sprained it. Which was not exactly good news, but better than the alternative. Her leg and especially her hip was sore from having a 400+kg animal fall on her, but nothing she couldn't handle. Her torso was much the same, a bit of pain but nothing extreme. Her left arm was completely fine, but her right shoulder was most definitely in a bad way.
"Fuck," she cursed.
She was right hand dominant and without use of her arm she would die. She wouldn't be able to use her bow or her knife. She groaned as she realised she'd have to ride back to the group and ask for help. She slowly rose to her feet, using Loki for support and gingerly made her way over to where Athena was now waiting calmly. Ruby carefully checked over Athena looking for any injuries and aside from a couple of scrapes, Athena was fine. There was no sign of any swelling in any of her legs, thankfully and Athena was now standing like nothing had ever happened. She sighed in relief and gave her a reassuring pat.
"Good girl, thanks for waiting," she cooed.
A snort beside Athena caught Ruby's attention and she peered over Athena's back. A familiar chestnut face caught her eye and she frowned. What was Daryl's horse doing out here on her own? Where was Daryl? She felt a little seed of worry plant itself in her stomach and she limped over to the mare.
"Hey, girl, whatcha doin' out here all on your own?" she called soothingly.
She stepped in closer and snagged the lead rope that was attached to her. She was rather pleased to see that Daryl had taken the time to throw on a halter with the bridle, it made her job much easier.
"I'm gonna bring you home, don't worry."
She brought the mare over to Athena and looped the lead rope around the horn on her saddle. The chestnut mare snorted nervously and Ruby ran her hand gently over her forehead.
"It's okay, you're okay," she murmured soothingly.
The mare settled slightly and Ruby looked up at Athena.
"Now to get back in the saddle."
Ruby brought Athena over to a fallen log and stood her next to it so she was mounting from her right side. It was opposite to normal but she thought that would be where she'd have the most luck. She moved the reins to loop them loosely over the saddle horn and stuck her right foot in the stirrup. It hurt a bit, but it wasn't too bad. She knew, the worst was yet to come though. It felt strange, knowing she couldn't grab onto anything with her right hand, it made her feel incapacitated. Which, she supposed she was, really. Ruby took a deep breath and, despite the awkwardness, gripped onto a lock of Athena's mane with her left and hauled herself up. Tears sprang to her eyes as she put her weight on her right foot but it couldn't be helped, she knew that.
"Phew. Glad I don't have to do that too often."
She looked down at her lifeless arm and sighed before clicking Athena onwards.
Ruby soon found out that it was either a walk or a canter; a trot threw her arm and ankle around too much. When she had tried the trot she nearly passed out from the amount of pain that jolted repeatedly through her arm as she bounced. Because of that Ruby made pace of three minutes at a canter and ten at a walk. It was kind of slow going but better than the alternative. As she rode she chatted out loud to the animals. It had a dual purpose. It kept them calm and kept her calm, while she was talking she didn't think. She didn't think about her useless arm and about whether or not it was serious. It was times like these that she really hated having no medical expertise. Though, how was she supposed to know that she was going to be alone in a freaking apocalypse. If she had known, she would have gone to medical school instead of doing some useless arts degree.
She shook her head, there was no use dwelling on such thoughts now. She doubted she would ever step foot in a university for educational purposes again. She looked back at the chestnut she was ponying and that worry for Daryl came back again. While he hadn't been an Olympic level rider, he was still rather competent on horseback so something must have gone wrong for him to be thrown. She didn't think he would be stupid enough not to tie up his horse if he were going to inspect something. She hoped he was conscious. A terrible thought struck her. What if he had turned? What if she came across him and instead of human… he was a walker? It didn't sit right with her that someone as skilled and as strong as Daryl in survival would be turned into a walker because he got thrown from a horse. The images and thoughts running through her mind scared her enough to push Athena back into a canter.
It took her much longer than she wanted to reach the spot where she had left Daryl.
"Daryl!" she yelled out.
She almost snorted at the memory of the tongue lashing she had given him for yelling out for Sophia, now here she was doing the same.
"Daryl!"
She looked around but couldn't see any sign of him. She frowned and then an idea popped up in her mind. She looked at Loki and bit her lip. She didn't know if he would be able to track down Daryl, but she could give it a shot. If she could find something that smelled like Daryl. Ruby jumped down from Athena's saddle trying her best to ignore how much that had hurt. She limped over to the chestnut mare and began searching through her saddlebags. The first only held food and water but the second had the jackpot. There was a flannel in there that had been previously stained with his blood. She couldn't ask for anything better. She whistled for Loki and he trotted over and sat at her side. She held out the cloth to him and let him sniff at it. He looked back at her and she took a deep breath, it was now or never. She had never actually asked him to track a particular scent before. It had always been to find a scent.
"Hunt," she ordered him.
Loki looked at her for a second and put his nose to the ground. She smiled grimly and quickly pulled herself back up onto Athena. Loki then began to lope off and she pushed Athena forwards to keep up with him. While following the scent Loki took them down the side of the ridge, down the opposite side at that. Ruby frowned as she saw how steep it was, she knew that they'd have to pick another way down. She whistled for Loki to follow and slowly she let Athena pick her path down. It was at this point she unwound the chestnut's lead rope and held onto it with her good hand. The path was single file only and Athena couldn't afford to be knocked off her feet again.
"Daryl!" Ruby yelled out again as the trail started to level off again.
The sound of running water met her ears but there was no stubborn Southern drawl. She pressed her lips together in worry and held the shirt back out for Loki. He sniffed it again and immediately took off upstream.
"Hup! Hup!"
The horses broke into a canter at her voice and soon she came across a small stream. She paused to allow the horses to drink and kept scanning her eyes around them. Loki whined impatiently ahead of her and she pushed Athena on to follow. Loki raced up the stream for about four hundred metres before coming into somewhat of a clearing. Ruby frowned as she took in the scene before her. Two walkers dead, one with its skull caved in and another with a bolt to the forehead. She also saw a worrying amount of blood pooled up in the mud and she bit her lip. Something had definitely gone wrong. That seed of worry in her stomach turned into a boulder, that weighed her down.
"Keep going, Loki, we've gotta find that stubborn ass," she called to him.
He looked at her and tilted his head to the side. Despite the situation—the appearance of Loki looking so domestic and cute couldn't help but bring a smile to her face. However, she had a job to do and she couldn't afford to be distracted now.
"Hunt," she told him.
He immediately leapt up and raced up the embankment. Ruby groaned, of course Daryl had climbed up the steepest part, instead of finding a nice path up. She clicked to Athena and looked at the other horse. If they were going to climb a mountain as steep as this then each horse would need its head. That meant she would have to give the other horse it's lead back and just hope it would follow. She tied the lead rope around the horses saddle horn, leaving plenty of slack and took a deep breath.
"Just follow us okay?" she said reassuringly.
The horse snorted and Ruby pushed Athena onwards. She gave Athena her head and leaned up over the horse's neck as much as she could. Athena snorted and began to climb the embankment. It was slow going and clearly strenuous but halfway up Athena found a small path which made the trip much easier, if a bit longer. The chestnut simply charged up the hill with no thought, rhyme or reason. She slid a bit, but when she did she'd just lunge for another section of the ground.
Finally they reached the top and Athena was blowing hard.
"Good girl," Ruby cooed to her, stroking her neck soothingly.
Athena took a few steps forwards and Ruby drew her reins back up. She looked over for the chestnut and smile when she saw her grazing nearby. She guided Athena over and grabbed the lead rope, winding it back over her saddle. Loki had already started to lope off again but she had to call him back. As much as she wanted to find Daryl, she needed to give the horses a few minutes to regain their breath. She kept them at a steady walk for a good ten minutes before pushing for another canter. They resumed the pace Ruby had set earlier and she started to come across a small trail of dead walkers, which relieved her somewhat. At least he was still able to defend himself. They had been travelling for a good thirty minutes when Loki growled menacingly and raced off, out of sight.
"Loki!" she yelled and kicked the horses into a gallop.
They galloped on for about five hundred metres when she saw Loki standing protectively over a walker and snapping at another which was crawling along the ground, biting at them.
"Loki!" she called in fear.
At the sound of her voice, the walker Loki was protecting rose up into a sitting position.
"Loki!"
The wolf ignored her scream and pounced on the crawler and taking its' head in his jaws, he shook his head and body hard enough to snap its' neck and halt its progress. The other walker that had sat up then grabbed something beside it and then shot an arrow at the crawler's head, killing it. Loki stopped growling and then turned to the other and licked at its face.
It was at this point that Ruby realised that Loki hadn't been protecting a walker, he had been protecting Daryl.
Ruby threw herself off Athena and awkwardly limp—ran over to the annoying redneck.
"Oh my God, Daryl!" she exclaimed.
She knelt on the ground beside him and reached out for him, trying to discern what had actually happened to him. What she didn't expect was Daryl to be delirious. He smacked her hard in the head with his crossbow and she yelled out in pain. It exploded from her eyebrow flaring out like a supernova and she was thrown on her back from the force. Daryl immediately threw himself on top of her, his knees pinning her arms down while aiming his crossbow at her head. The pressure from his knee and body weight felt like he was trying to rip her arm from her body and her shoulder felt like it was on fire. The pain travelled through her entire body and tears leaked down her face as she let out an agonising scream.
It was that scream that saved her life though. It seemed to cut through Daryl's delusion and he blinked slowly at her.
"Ruby?" he asked in confusion.
He didn't get any more than that out though as Loki pounced on him, knocking him clear off her. Ruby cradled her arm as sobs tore from her mouth. The pain was radiating through her like waves, each sending a sick punch to her gut. She tried to hold back her breakfast but as her body throbbed once more it broke her. She barely had time to turn her head before she violently began throwing up.
She could vaguely hear the sounds of a scuffle behind her and she spat out the residual bile in her mouth. She turned to see Daryl pinned to the ground by a snarling Loki, whose jaws were scarily close to Daryl's face.
"Loki," she croaked out.
He immediately returned to her and Daryl's eyes met hers.
"Ya look like shit," he told her with a slightly hoarse and gravelly voice as he tried to sit up.
"Thanks, Captain fucking Obvious," she growled.
A few more tears dribbled down her face but she ignored them. Since expelling her breakfast she began to feel slightly better and the pain started to throb a little less angrily. She reached into her backpack and pulled out one of the bottles of water Dale had given her. She took a mouthful and swilled it around her mouth before spitting it out. She staggered to her feet and stumbled the few steps over to where Daryl was sitting before flopping down next to him. She silently passed the bottle over to him and he snatched it, sucking down some water greedily.
She took the time to look over him and frowned as she could see he had been put through hell. He had a large cut over the side his head that had bled down the right side of his face. He'd ripped the sleeves off his shirt and tied a makeshift bandage around his side. She could see it was a rather serious wound because blood was seeping through slowly and spreading down his side. She decided to leave the walker ears around his neck alone, that suggested a whole different level of wild that she wasn't going to touch with a ten-foot pole.
"What happened to you?" she asked, her concern growing.
He looked up at her and she thought he looked exhausted, like he was almost on the verge of giving up.
"Stupid fuckin' horse threw me. Landed on an arrow 'n' took a dip in a river," he replied. His eyes travelled her frame and lingered on her limp arm.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
A small smile touched her lips.
"Your stupid horse ran into mine and knocked us over. Athena landed on me and now my arms shot and my ankle's busted. I'm hoping that someone back at camp will know what to do," Ruby answered honestly.
He sat closer to her and reached out for her arm. Ruby bit back a string of curses and more tears fell as his hands felt around her shoulder and prodded at her arm.
"You've dislocated ya arm. Hershel'll fix it," he told her.
His hands travelled down to her ankle where more tears fell as he experimentally twisted and massaged it.
"You've got a sprain. Hershel can fix that too."
She looked down at her useless arm and flopped back in the dirt and leaves, a wave of exhaustion overcoming her. Now that she had found Daryl she felt better, she knew he was safe and not being gnawed on by some walker.
"We've gotta get going, we're not far," Daryl grumbled.
"Just five more minutes," she mumbled, her eyes closed.
"Get up ya stupid bitch, we ain't safe," Daryl growled at her, kicking her good leg lightly.
She cursed at him but grudgingly sat up.
"You're an ass," she muttered, but staggered up to her feet regardless.
She then held out her good hand for Daryl. He looked at it for a second and then stuck his own calloused hand in hers, accepting the help.
"C'mon, horseback'll be faster," she mumbled.
"I ain't gettin' on that nag ever again," he spat viciously.
Ruby just rolled her eyes.
"Get on the fuckin' horse, I'll pony ya back like I've been doin' this whole time," she snapped.
Daryl muttered a few curses at her under his breath but she didn't care. She was too tired for this shit. All the pain she'd been put through was starting to get to her now and all she wanted to do was sleep.
She brought Daryl over to the chestnut and he grumbled as he took up the reins. The mare skittered nervously but Ruby soothed her with a few reassuring words.
"Ready?" she asked, holding onto the horse's halter.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I can get up on my own," he spit at her.
She held her arms up in surrender and stepped away. Daryl stuck his foot in the stirrup and she saw him wince as he hauled himself up. She saw him breathe heavily as he sat in the saddle and she knew that it had hurt him a lot more than he let on. She had to grudgingly admire the annoying redneck. He was all beaten up, injured, and yet he'd still managed to make it all this way on his own without getting eaten by walkers. He was one tough sonofabitch, that's for sure.
"Ya comin'?" he grumbled to her.
She waved her hand and headed over to Athena who was waiting patiently as ever.
"Hey, girl, it's almost over," she murmured.
She grabbed onto her reins and some of her mane. She was not looking forwards to this. It had been hard enough the first time, from an elevated platform. She hopped three times on her good leg, trying to gain enough momentum. Ruby tried to pull herself up but tripped on the last hop and fell hard on the ground, jarring her shoulder and jerking her ankle. She yelped in pain as her body protested against the abuse she was giving it and a few stray tears leaked out.
"Ya need a hand?" Daryl asked.
She could hear genuine concern in his voice but shrugged his help off.
"I'm okay, just slipped," she said through gritted teeth.
She stood back up and glared at her useless arm like it had personally offended her.
"Stupid fuckin' thing," she grumbled irritated.
She began to hop again, trying to get back up. Again, she tried to get back on but the moment she tried she knew she didn't have enough momentum. That was when she felt a hand grip onto the back of her jeans and haul her up. The fingers brushed against the bare skin on the small of her back and it sent tingles up her spine. For approximately ten seconds while he helped her up she was hyper-aware of exactly where his fingers were, and of the skin he was touching. She looked over at Daryl as she sat in the saddle and he met her eyes with a raised eyebrow as if daring her to say something. Her eyes dropped to her hand, fiddling awkwardly.
"Thanks," she muttered.
He just ignored her, which relieved her slightly. Ruby took a deep breath and clicked Athena onwards, pulling Daryl's horse along with her.
They had been riding in silence, making good time, until she heard a dull thump behind her and the chestnut horse skittered off to the side. She halted Athena and looked over to see Daryl, lying unmoving on the ground.
"Fuck," she cursed and threw herself off Athena.
"Daryl!" she yelled, trying to wake him up.
She knelt down next to him and began to tap his face.
"Daryl!"
He barely even twitched. She looked down at his side and realised his wound had reopened as it was bleeding more profusely than before.
"Goddamn it," she growled.
She needed to wake him up and get him to help, fast. She pulled out a water bottle from her pack and unscrewed the lid before pouring it over Daryl's face. He woke up with a splutter and coughed violently.
"What the fuck ya doin' ya crazy bitch?!"
She glared at him.
"You were fucking unconscious," she growled in explanation.
He glared back at her and pushed her away as he tried to stand. He managed to get to his feet but nearly fell straight back over. Ruby quickly grabbed him and held him upright. As much as he may not have wanted her help, he needed it. She pulled his right arm over her shoulder and slung her left one around his waist. She knew just by how much weight he was leaning on her that there was no way she could get him back in the saddle.
"Tryna cop a feel?" he mumbled.
She snorted in derision, ignoring the fact that she could feel that Daryl was clearly all muscle.
"Not a chance, redneck," she laughed.
"Don't know whatcha missin'," he said, trying to make it sound like a joke.
She rewarded him with a small laugh and gave him a smile.
"Hmm, a busted up redneck with a hole in his side, how could I resist," she teased.
He just grunted his agreement. Ruby looked over at Athena and a small frown crossed her forehead. She was pretty tied up with Daryl, she just had to hope that they'd follow. She knew Loki would, and normally she would assume Athena would but the chestnut mare was a wild card. Who knew what would set her off. Daryl started to lean heavier on her and she could see he was barely keeping conscious, they needed to get moving.
"Okay, we're gonna get going, just, stay awake okay?"
Daryl barely mumbled in response and she sighed before starting to hobble off with him.
Thankfully they were nearly at the farm when Daryl fell anyway so their walk to the edge of the woods only took about twenty minutes. Ruby gave a big sigh of relief as she stepped out into the open. The sun hit her face and sent a sense of warmth straight to her bones.
"Feel that sun, Daryl?" she commented.
"Yeah, it's fuckin' bright," he muttered.
She snorted in amusement and grinned at him. She didn't really expect anything else from him, all she knew was that they were almost safe. She could see Rick, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn running over and she felt relief wash over her.
"See, your friends are almost here," she pointed out as they stumbled along.
Daryl was beginning to trip over his own feet and he looked like he was barely conscious. They stumbled forwards a few more steps until she saw Rick with his gun pointed at them. A cold shiver of fear trickled down her back and she stopped dead in her tracks. She cursed the fact that she was unarmed. Athena had her bow, machete and gun. Ruby only had her hunting knife on her but she was pretty occupied by holding Daryl up. Daryl, however, shoved himself off her and held his arms out wide as if waiting for judgement day.
"That's the third time you pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?!" he spat out harshly.
Her eyes flicked between them nervously but sighed in relief when Rick lowered his gun.
Bang!
Daryl dropped like a sack of potatoes next to her and Ruby screamed as the shot rang out. She immediately dropped to Daryl's side as Rick started yelling behind her. Blood was seeping down the left side of his face where a nasty cut had split through his hairline. Daryl looked up at her in surprise.
"Damn," he muttered, reaching a shaky hand up to his newest injury.
Rick knelt next to her and she could see Shane on his other side. She saw Daryl's eyes focus on Rick and she was surprised to see no malice on his face at all.
"I was kidding," Daryl said gruffly before closing his eyes.
"You've gotta help him, he's lost a lot of blood," Ruby said desperately.
"You don't look great yourself, are you okay?" Rick asked, while hauling Daryl up.
"I'm fine," Ruby brushed his concerns off.
She was much more concerned about the now unconscious Daryl being hauled away by Shane and Rick.
"Oh my God! Is he okay?!"
Ruby looked up to see Andrea running up with Dale.
"Is he dead?!"
"No, unconscious, you just grazed him," Rick assured the blonde.
Ruby saw the distraught look on Andrea's face and felt a wave of sympathy for the woman. She had only been looking out for the group and she supposed from that far away, with the way they were staggering around that she could have mistaken them for walkers.
"What the hell happened?!" Glenn demanded rounding on her. "He's wearing ears!"
Ruby had completely forgotten about the ears.
"Look—"
"Let's just keep that a secret," Rick interrupted, snatching the morbid necklace from Daryl's neck.
Ruby snapped her mouth shut and turned around, to grab her horse whom was thankfully still following her.
"Wait… isn't this Sophia's?"
Ruby snapped around at T-Dog's voice and her eyes widened as she saw a small doll. She hadn't even noticed Daryl carrying that around. Had Daryl found Sophia while she had been gone? Rick's eyes met hers in question and she could see a slight hint of disappointment when he realised she didn't know what it meant either. She felt a small pit of guilt in her stomach and turned away, collecting up Athena's reins with her good arm.
She brought the horses into the barn and finally put the nervy chestnut mare in her own stall where she settled. She dragged the saddle off the horse and slung it over the stall door, doing the same with the bridle. Her next priority was getting Athena sorted. She took off Athena's tack and then gave her a good brush down. It was awkward doing it all left handed but it just made her think that she should practise ambidexterity. Ruby set all her stuff back down in the stall, hoping that they'd allow her to stay for one more night.
"Hey, Ruby."
Ruby jumped in fright as Shane's grim voice came from behind her.
"Shane, jesus. You gave me a fright," she laughed nervously.
He leaned over the stall door and gave her a curious look. His dark brown eyes bored into her and she felt like he was trying to pick her apart, bit by bit. She hated that feeling.
"Just wanted to check on you. You looked almost as bad as Daryl, staggerin' outta that field," Shane said to her.
She gave a small laugh.
"Yeah, don't blame Andrea for mistaking us for walkers," Ruby agreed.
Shane tilted his head to the side slightly and she tensed as she felt his eyes travel her body.
"I would never make that mistake," he muttered.
She shuffled uncomfortably and turned back to Athena, fiddling with a twig that had gotten caught in her mane.
"Your arm looks a little weird, what happened?" he asked.
She looked down at the arm just hanging limply down by her side ruefully.
"I took a fall and landed hard. Daryl said I dislocated my shoulder. He said Hershel could take care of it for me, but I don't want to bother him until he's finished with Daryl," Ruby explained.
"Is that all? I can pop a shoulder back in for you, if you'd like?" Shane offered.
Ruby bit her lip and then nodded.
"If you don't mind?" she asked.
"Not at all," Shane assured her.
He opened the stall door and quickly slipped in, closing it behind him. Ruby turned to face him and he carefully took her arm in his hands.
"It's gonna hurt," he warned her.
She looked at him warily but nodded gripping tight onto a lock of Athena's mane for assurance. Shane brought her arm up slowly to a ninety degree angle and Ruby clenched her teeth as her pain came back with full force. Shane then proceeded to pull on her arm and Ruby couldn't help the whimper that fell from her mouth when all of a sudden she heard a click. All of a sudden she could feel her arm like normal and her pain faded away to a mere echo of what it had been. She let out a tense breath as Shane dropped her arm and gently rolled her shoulder, massaging it. She flexed her fingers and arm and grinned as she felt no resistance.
"Thank you, Shane!" she exclaimed and threw her arms around him.
She gave him a light squeeze and he returned the favour.
"My pleasure," he responded and gave her a grin.
She quickly pulled away and shuffled over to Athena, feeling embarrassed. Shane's eyes watched her carefully and she turned away.
"I think I'm gonna go check on Daryl," she mumbled feeling awkward.
She quickly slipped past Shane and was out of the barn before he could even say anything.
I have never had any kind of sprain, break or dislocation, so I'm really hoping I got the pain and awkwardness right! I had to do a fair bit of googling for it, haha.