Home - COD Simon Ghost Riley X Female OC

Chapter 29 ALTERNATE ENDING PART 2

TW: Blood

They didn't make it more than a few yards. Every thought Mariana had was met with a screaming contradiction.

Walking will make him bleed out faster. Not moving would get them caught.

She could still offer her life for his if she ran back. They wouldn't get to him in time.

She could try and staunch the bleeding. It was already too late for that.

They should stop, try and make him comfortable. There was no way she was giving up.

And why weren't they being followed?

He stopped again, swaying. She had him by a firm grip but he was far too large for her to support his entire weight. He dropped to one knee, like he might try to get up again after a moment.

"It would be a good time to run." He ground out.

"No way." She knew she couldn't get him back on his feet, so she stood beside him and gripped his arm, holding him steady.

She could be logical about this. He was going to die there, and he was going to hate for her to see him that way. She would offer him whatever comfort she could and save her shock for later. She couldn't save him, but she could stay beside him in his need which was more than he had ever received from anyone else. She could cry when it was over. When he no longer needed her.

Simon didn't fear death. In fact, he welcomed it. He needed the rest. But he feared hurting the woman beside him. He feared what would happen to her if he wasn't there to protect her. He feared that she would see him as weak and foolish for dying that way. He feared that someone else would touch her, make her theirs, and that she would forget him.

He knew she wasn't going to leave. He would have needed to be ripped from her side piece by piece if the roles were reversed.

He lost his balance again and leaned toward her. She moved to let him put his hand in the dirt, and she guided his shoulders to the ground. She knelt beside him and pulled off the button up shirt they had put on her, balling it up. He raised his hand and let her press it against his wound. When he put his hand back on it, she placed hers over it. The thin fabric soaked through quickly. His blood ran out over both of their fingers.

"You just need to rest for a minute, that's all." She said, like she was too stupid to know better.

"I'm sorry." He said, the blood in the back of his throat coming up to coat his tongue. He knew she wasn't stupid.

She moved her hand from where it covered his to his wrist to feel his pulse while she held his gaze.

"You've done nothing to be sorry for. You're a hero, Simon."

He reached across his body and pulled her hand from his arm. It wasn't necessary. He held it.

"Don't cry."

Was she? She hadn't meant to. She hadn't even known she had started. His voice was barely above a whisper and it felt like a gut punch.

He could only see her clearly, now. Everything else was fading away.

"I love you." She could hear her tears then and she resented them. They had betrayed her.

A ghost of a smile lifted the corner of his lips, now bloodied like the rest of him. "That's unfortunate."

She looked away from his face and took in the rest of him. He was totally still except for the shallow rise and fall of his chest. His pulse was fast when she felt it, so it wouldn't be long.