Ending of the Beginning

Wounds

Sky's POV

There is still a faint hum of a helicopter circling over top of us when we stop but the trees are so thick that there was no hope of trying to see them, not that that is a bad thing. Beside me I can hear Kuryen's shallow breathing and across from me Damian looks up at the sky glaring at the unseen helicopter. Salem, the fourth part of our company is missing. I know he isn't far, probably somewhere sulking under a tree or something. When we had stopped walking Damian had insisted Salem put Kuryen down and leave him to bandage her up, Salem had had a different plan. I smirk remembering Damian basically ripping Kuryen from Salem's grasp. I am ripped from my memory when I hear heavy slow footsteps coming from behind me, when I turn I am greeted by Salem's face which is distorted with anger. I would laugh at how odd his face looked if he hadn't been so scary and had his glare fixed on Damian.

“What were you thinking? I was taking perfectly good care of her, I don't care if you’re her best friend or not. I’m guessing you have never taken care of a gunshot wound before have you?” He spit filling his word with venom.

“No but I do know she wouldn't want some strangers dirty hands all over her.” he said calmly emphasizing the word dirty. I see I look of complete outrage cross through his eyes and the trace of a smirk makes the corners of his lips twitch.

“Fine, have it your way. But, when she dies of infection because you didn’t want some strangers dirty hands on her I hope you can handle knowing you killed her!” he exclaims and comes to sit beside me. I try to comfort him by placing my hand on his knee but he smacks it away like I’m the plague and he might get infected by my touch. I am instantly seeing red.

“You know you’re a jerk! She’s just some dumb girl, it’s her own fault she got shot. We should just leave her for dead. We are better off without her anyway!” I hissed. Salem turned and looked me right in the eye shooting a glare at me.

“She is the only reason were out. She is the only reason we have a chance. You said it yourself, you tried to get out by yourself; she got four of us out.” He scrutinized in a stone cold voice.

“Well then were obviously done here.” I breathe and stalk off to cool down.

Kuryen’s POV

I can hear I faint yelling but it sounds as if I’m underwater, but why would I be underwater I giggle to myself and the yelling ceases. I feel slight pressure on my cheek and a soft stroking motion over my lips. Internally, I wonder what would happen if I opened my eyes, if I would see what I wanted to; although I know I won’t. Slowly I open my eyes to the blazing sun, I have to squint to protect my eyes from the bright light, and my eyes are blurry and kind of stuck together. My hands go to my eyes and rub them until I can see clearly again, I see a mess of light brown hair hanging over me and a pair of warm familiar eyes that have a sense of mystery behind them. Salem. I follow the hand on my cheek as see it also connects to his shoulder. I try to sit up but when I flex my legs I cry out in pain and slam back to the ground. In my moment of bliss I had forgotten I had gotten shot in the back of the leg. Tears make streaks down my dirty face.

“Kuryen?” hearing Salem say my name in his flawless monotone momentarily distracts me from my pain.

“Yes?” I say through clenched teeth while trying to sit up again.

“We need to get that bullet out and get it stitched up before it gets infected.” He said coolly. I’m exhausted and can only nod.

“Damian, come over here and help me flip her over.” He says calmly. I feel two sets of hands on my body, one on my calf and thighs and the other set on my lower back and between my shoulder blades. When they start to roll me over there is a sharp pain that shoots from my knee all the way up my body but I clench my teeth and manage to only let a little whimper escape my lips. When I'm flipped over on to my belly I feel the hands leave my body then I can see the familiar tattered blue jeans that Damian wears.

“How are you feeling?” he asks in a strained voice, he sounds angry.

“Considering I have a bullet lodged in my knee, pretty good.” I try to chuckle but it comes out in a gargle. 

“Yeah I guess eh.” he says with a downturned mouth. I look away from him and rest my face in my hands. I can smell the earth and grass only an inch away from my nose. The smell reminds me of when I use to play soccer in the park and get grass stains all over my clothes; the memory makes a smile tug at the edge of my mouth. Salem's voice tears through my memory like a hot knife through butter.

“OK so I had to improvise a bit, considering we don't have the right tools to extract a bullet. I found a knife, tweezers, a towel and hand sanitizer.” he sounded so confident as he spoke, like he had done this a million times. “We will just have to make do.” he said after a few seconds of thought. “Um Kuryen, we have a slight problem.”

“Which is?” I ask not expecting his answer.

“I can't roll your pant leg up far enough to get to the wound.” he says sheepishly.

“So?” I ask again not taking time to think.

“Well...” He trailed off before he could finish the sentence, I could hear Damian snickering in the background. Then it dawns on me, if they don’t go up far enough…they have to come dome down. When I realize what exactly he needs me to do I feel the heat rise to my face.

“You mean I need to take my pants off.” I stuttered. I had never token my pants off in front of a guy. Ever. I don’t really want to start with Salem, not yet anyway.

“Uh, yeah. I guess.” He chuckled nervously. I swallowed my embarrassment and sighed heavily.

“Ok, well I need some help.” I say sounding less nervous then I feel, I see Salem nod and I think I might have seen a smirk grace his unusually straight face. I slide my thumbs under the waist of my pants and start to tug a little until they are shimmied down to my mid-thigh and I can’t reach any farther down. Then I feel them slide the rest of the way down, before I know what’s going on a laugh escapes my lips.

“What’s so funny?” Salem asks and I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Well this isn’t exactly how I envisioned you getting in my pants, at least not for this reason.” I say calmly.

“So you envisioned me in your pants?” he snickers. I could just imagine him giving me his crooked smile along with a raised eyebrow.

“No, it’s just a joke.” I say scowling.

“Sure. Listen, this isn’t going to feel pretty. I’m not going to lie to you; it’s probably going to hurt like a bitch.” He says more serious now.

“I didn’t expect it to tickle.” I say layering every word with sarcasm.

“Okay here we go.” Salem sighs.

“Wait!” I exclaim. “Damian come here; let me crush your hand.” I say almost pleading.

“Are you ready now?” Salem questioned.

“Yeah.” Almost immediately after finishing my sentence I feel the knife dig into my thigh where I was shot, the knife feels like a white hot iron being shoved through my leg. I let a scream rip up my throat and out my mouth through my teeth, I clench down on Damian’s hand until u feel the knife pulling out of my leg. There is a severe aching in the back of my leg; I can feel the hot tears flowing down my face onto the cool earth. Salem drops the bullet beside my face where I can see it.

“I’m going to sanitize it now, this probably won’t feel to good either.” He whispered sounding strained and clearing his throat.

“No shit, just do it.” I say through clenched teeth. I feel the cold liquid pour onto my skin, than the burning come’s, Salem wraps my leg in the towel and secure it there with the string from his hoodie. I lay there for a long time before I turn over and attempt to sit up which takes another few minutes. When I’m finally sitting everyone’s eyes are on me, which makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable.  

“So what’s our plan? What are we doing next?” Sky asks, and for once in a long time I don’t know what to do next. I don’t have a plan. Fuck.