Peaches is running back to the tree, hugging me close against her with her trunk. My blood and snot and tears are soaking into her fur. I try to turn my head so less of it gets on her, but she pulls me closer.
I hear, over the din of her running, Peaches say, "It's okay, Louis. Don't worry about that."
It only takes us a few minutes to get to the herd, but I feel like I've hit my head on every solid object along the way. I'm dizzy from an empty stomach, loss of blood, and a possible concussion.
Peaches makes it to her parents and hurriedly shouts, "Mom, dad, Louis is hurt!"
The whole herd rushes over to see what's happened. Ellie strips a tree branch of its leaves with one sweep of her trunk and lays them on the ground, making a soft place to lay me down. Peaches slowly lowers me onto the leaf-bed and asks if anything hurts. I lie and say no, but she seems to get that I'm lying. She makes a small pillow out of more leaves and places it under my head.
"What happened to him?" Diego asks, concerned about me, but obviously more concerned that he already know the answer.
"I don't know." Peaches says, "I found him like this, but we need to focus on helping Louis right now before anything else." I don't know if it's just that she wants to help me or if it's her help people before anything else attitude, but I love her right now above everything else. I've always loved her above it all, she's the only one I've got to love. And if I wasn't so shy that I freeze up around every other person in the world, I'd be telling her right now.
"Someone get something to tie around his leg to stop the bleeding." She says. Crash and Eddie run off quickly to find what she asked for, and I feel kind of disappointed in myself for disliking them so much.
I look around; my vision is blurry. If there's anything in my stomach, it probably won't be there for long. Peaches is saying something to me, but all I hear is a mumble. My eyes are so heavy; I close them. The last thing I remember is Peaches' sweet, soft voice saying my name, "Louis?"
...
I'm jolted awake by the feeling of something cold on my forehead. I lean up quickly, which makes my head hurt, and I see Peaches holding a tree branch over me. It's pouring rain. The ground around me is saturated. There's a vine tied around my leg; it's tied just right. I must have taken Peaches a while to get that right. Peaches looks miserably soaked. I can't really feel most of my body, and the parts that I can feel ache, but I don't want to make Peaches stand in the rain.
"Peaches, you don't have to do that. I can..." I try to stand but immediately fall in pain when I put pressure on my bitten leg. "Ow... H-here. Help me get over there under the tree."
"Okay." Peaches helps me support my leg, but after I fall again, she lifts me up and runs to the tree. As she sets me up against the tree, the rest of the herd flock into the cover from their prior spots. Granny angrily yells at the clouds to stop raining, then hits Sid with her cane when nothing happens. I chuckle.
"What are you laughing at, lover boy?" She asks, incoherently bringing up my no-longer-a-secret that every-still-acts-like-it's-a-secret. I play dumb and ignore her as best as I can, but I still blush. No one else mentions it. Their probably just as confused about this whole thing as I am. Diego is sitting by Shira, looking a little more paranoid than usuall. It may just be the fact that it's raining, and he's a cat. Or he's thinking about the thing that I know someone is about to ask.
"So, Louis, what happened to you?" Peaches asks. Peaches- if anyone else had asked me, I probably would have lied. I don't know why. It's probably important information that there's saber-toothed tigers on this island, but I just don't feel like talking.
"S-s-sabers..." I say. They all gasp. Shira looks away, embarrassed. Diego puts his paw on her shoulder. He does love her, even after she... never mind.
The whole herd is flustered. They're all looking around wearily, as if we've suddenly been surrounded. It's quite possible we're being watched, but there's no way three sabers would try to take on all of us at once.
The rain is still pouring down. Gosh it's raining hard. I'm sad that this isn't the best time to enjoy it. I notice Peaches, looking at me. Her hair is wet and matted, but her eyes are still sparkling. I can't tell what she's thinking, but her eyes. Those big emerald eyes. They're lovely. Should I just tell her now? I know I want to, and I know I should. But... I don't know... I just can't. Why!?
Diego takes us all out of our thoughts, "We need to find somewhere less open to stay."
"There's a cave a little while that way." Says Shira, gesturing toward it with her paw.
Granny blurts out, "I ain't going out in this weather!" We all ignore her, which probably won't do anything more than make her complain more.
"Come on." Manny takes the lead, "We'd better get moving. We don't know when it's going to get dark."
"We'll be fine!" Crash yells over the rain. Eddie continues, "Yeah. Who cares if it gets dark?"
"Well, unlike you," Diego says, agitated by about ten different things, "most of us can't see in the dark. So it'll be kind of a problem for us. Now let's go."
The journey doesn't take very long. Peaches is carrying me, and I'm trying to act like I'm not enjoying it as much as I actually am. I find it really hard to keep from hugging her all of the sudden.
I feel sick; my stomach aches like crazy. I'm miserable, but I don't care. I'm with the only girl, the only herd, that'd be willing to help me when I'm down.
This chapter's song is "Wonderwall" by Oasis. So, Summer Break gets over soon where I live. I'll try to update this during the School Year, but I probably won't be able to do it nearly as often.