Choices [ENG]

1.

"Hey...girl. Can you hear me? What's your name?"

What I can hear are only muffled voices and my view is blurry. I slowly regain consciousness and I can see two men in front of me who are embracing rifles. I shoot backwards. "What the hell do you want from me?! Leave me alone! I'm armed!" I exclaim, trying to catch my revolver but it's not in its usual hoster. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you, we just want to help..." says one of them. In that moment, i find my gun in the grass and aim against them. They raise their arms but they are not really frightened by me. Suddenly, I realize that my leg hurts very much, it's bleeding a lot, maybe this is the reason i have passed out. 

"You're bleeding" says one of them. "Let us take you to our community. There, we're gonna heal you" continues. I shake my head and try to get up; with a lot of difficulty, I succeed. I have an accelerated heartbeat, I'm really scared and I really don't trust these two guys. I try to walk but i can't and i fall. My leg continues to bleed. One of the two men comes closer to me. "You can't..." "Stay away from me! I swear: I'm gonna shoot" I cry louder than I can. 

At that point, they both pick up their rifles and get them on the ground, away. Suddenly, I feel reassured and I put down my gun. "If you don't heal it now, it might be too late, let me put on a bandage that stops the flow..." he proposes with a pigtail on his nape. 

I let him get closer. I'm gonna rip off part of my shirt to use as a band, but he says it's not necessary because he has a sterilized band in his backpack. He moves really in a sharp and delicate way. The other guy is sitting quietly on a cut trunk and he's watching the landscape. How can he be so calm?  "Are you from the Fireflies?" asks the guy that is healing me at some point, probably because he has seen the platelet around my neck. I do not answer. "I was a member of the Fireflies too, you know?". "Have you done?" I ask, talking about the wound. "Yeah, but it is not in good shape. Someone has shot at you. The bullet needs to be extracted and here we don't have the adequate tools..."explains, looking at the other guy. "Let us take you to Jackson. It won't take long to fix it, we have great doctors" continues the guy who was looking at the landscape. "What 's Jackson?" I ask, being suspicious. "Jackson is that town over there, can you see it?" says the pigtale guy, pointing to a far city. My leg hurts more and more but I don't trust these two and I'm scared. "No" I answer, getting up with a lot of difficulty. "I can't come. Thanks for your help". "You won't survive another day here alone, there are a lot of infected around and the hunters shoot on sight" continues the one who medicated me with a stronger voice. Suddenly, I struggle, I' m losing too much blood and I feel dizzy. My eyelids suddenly become heavy and my body loses the strength it needs to stand up. "Hey, hey! Stay with me!" Exclaims one of the two. I feel myself getting up and riding a horse, but then I completely lose consciousness.

"Charlie ... Charlie .. Can you hear me?" Says a female voice. I slightly open my eyes and see four people around me. I immediately recognize the two men who I don't know how long ago they found me in the woods and the other two people are women: one blonde and one dressed in white. "Where am I?" I say very confusedly. I have a hard time keeping my eyes open and feel extremely weak. "You're in Jackson, Charlie, you're safe here" one of the women replies. "Who are you?" I ask again as I try not to go back to sleep. They make me lift my torso. I become aware of the environment that surrounds me: I am in a room with soft colors and my arm is connected to a red bag. I look at my leg and it's like I don't feel it anymore. "I'm Claire, I'm the doctor who operated on you. Everything went well." I nod. "I feel strange ... Did you drug me?" I ask. Some hints at a laugh follow but mine wasn't a joke. "It's the effect of the anesthesia, it will wear off soon," Claire says. My eyes still feel heavy and no matter how hard I try to stay awake, my body falls back into a deep sleep. When I wake up, I see the sunrise from the window next to me. "Hi Charlie" says the doctor with a comforting smile. "How are you feeling?". I have no time to waste, I have to go. I get up. "Charlie, take it easy. The leg must be at rest, you can't walk on it yet" says the doctor trying unsuccessfully to stop me. I fall to the ground. I still don't feel my leg. It's all tingling. "What the fuck have you done to me! I just don't feel it!" I exclaim. "I told you before, it's the effect of the anesthesia; you don't have to worry Charlie" the doctor says while she's helping me up. I would like to refuse her help, I don't like when people touch me but I can't do it by myself. She puts me back in my seat. She puts me back on the bed. "How do you know my name?" I ask pissed off. The doctor takes my platelet of the Fireflies and shows me its back: my name, my surname and the number that assigned me back to my base are well engraved on that piece of iron. I snort. At that moment, someone knocks at the door and that blonde woman I had seen before enters, followed by the man with the pigtail on the back of his neck. "Good morning! You had a good sleep eh" exclaims the man with a gentle look. I light it up. He tilts his head, as if my killer look of mine doesn't explain. "How do you feel, Charlie?" The woman asks with a forced smile. "Who are you?" I ask sulkily. "Oh, you're right, we haven't introduced ourselves yet ..." the man says. "I am Tommy and this is my wife Maria". He gives me another smile but also this time he doesn't convince me. "What did you do to my leg? This bitch says it's for anesthesia" !!! "I exclaim more and more furious." Who you call a "bitch" is the one who saved your life! Show her respect, little girl! "Exclaims Maria pissed off. "I didn't ask for that!". "By now without our help, you would be dead! Would you rather be bled to death ?!" Tommy yells. I do not know what to answer and I turn to the opposite side. "I brought you some clean clothes for when you will stop accusing us of nonsense ..." Maria says and puts them on the chair next to the cot. I remain silent for a while while Claire "checks my parameters" and Tommy and Maria leave. A couple of hours go by. Claire tries to ask me questions but she doesn't find many answers. Suddenly Tommy comes back and asks Claire if he can stay alone with me. "May I have a seat?" He asks, pointing to the bed. "Can't you stay standing?" I ask. "Well, yes I could but you know I'm starting to have my years" he replies with a smile and an ironic tone. I shrug and he sits up to my knees. "You know, there are a lot of kids your age here in Jackson ..." he says. "And so?" I ask, impassive. "So, there aren't only adult" assholes " who save your life, but there are also other boys, rebels like you, who live here, safe ... " " You won't convince me to stay. "" But in fact, that's not what I want; I'm just trying to make you understand that you won't be able to strain your leg a bit because of the seams and so you'll have to stay here. "" Don't even talk about it "I say trying to raise my leg. He blocks me with his hand." Can you please say to me what the hell are you afraid of? Can't you see we're helping you? "He asks with a serious look." I'm looking for a person and I can't waste time here, "I reply, managing to hold his gaze." Well, you won't be able to do anything for now, really. If you try to run or walk, the wound could reopen and this time there will be no one to stop you from dying. "" Don't frighten me by talking about death, I know what it is. "" I'm sure; I'm not trying to frighten you but just to convince you to stay at least a few weeks ". I nod. Several moments of awkward silence follow one another." Okay, that's enough for today. "He says, touching slightly my shoulder that I immediately retract. He gets up and is about to go when he asks me: "Are you hungry?".