Outside

Chapter 16

"It's been over 48 hours. I should redo my bandages." He says. "Want me to wait until you're done over here?"

"What, and make the wounded boy try to clean his own stitches alone? I gotcha, Key." I assure him.

He unties his jacket from around his waist and sets in on the grass beside us. He follows with his shirt, making a hushed whimper in pain as he does so, and places it on top. His bandages are mostly clean, but it's probably better for him to change them anyway to avoid infection. That's the last thing he'd need.

"What if when we take them off the stitches break open?" He asks.

"They won't, ok?" I tell him, gently unwrapping them. The more layers I unwrap, the pinker his cheeks become. He fidgets a little. "Relax, Key, I've seen you shirtless before. I'm just glad this time you're not bleeding all over a car."

"You're right..." he mutters. "I just feel vulnerable."

"Boy..." I stifle a laugh, "you've passed out on me, puked on me, bled on me, told me your deepest and darkest secrets... I think we're past vulnerability. Chill out, let me be your safe space for a sec and help you with your frickin' bullet hole."

"You're right, I'm being dumb." His composure softens a bit. I unwrap the final layer of bandage and begin splashing water on his stitches to wash the area. We sit there in silence while I clean his wound before he speaks up again. "Hey Nox?" Kyan starts. "Would you make fun of me if I told you I was... absolutely mortified?"

"I would never make fun of you." I reply. "To be honest, I'm scared too." I say. "I'm scared one of us will die in this chaos we're starting by breaking into Opulent territory, and I don't know what I'd do with myself if that was you."

"You would think they'd use their brains." Kyan says. "But nope."

"We can still follow our plan of..." I lower my voice, "of taking off after we get to a safe house. We can wait for them to leave, and then take the house when they're gone."

"I'm still worried that the government would find us." He says. "And if they do, having Occi on our side would be really helpful."

"Do you see any better idea?" I ask.

"Nope. Maybe just hiding indoors when we're there? I don't know... I think we should cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, we can't do anything."

"True..." I agree. My finger presses a little too hard on his stitches and he instinctively puts his hand over mine to stop me. "It still hurts, doesn't it?" I ask.

"Like hell it does." He sighs and stares at the ground. "I don't think people recovering from bullet wounds are supposed to walk around this much, let alone through hills and valleys, but don't tell Occi or Drew I'm still complaining. I've caused enough trouble as it is." His gaze moves to me.

"I won't." I say. "Don't worry."

"It's hard not to. Worrying is my expertise. I'm worried that if we stay here too long more soldiers will come to try to kill us. I'm worried that Occi and Drew will find out what happened nine years ago and kill us for it. I take every step worried I'll faint and hold you back from safety."

"Even with your crutches?" I ask. "I thought they were keeping you from feeling that way." I feel my muscles become tense.

"My arms ache from holding myself up all day, and it's hard navigating around small passageways with two large branches by my side. Not to mention the fact that even without an injury I wear out fast when walking too much. I've been running on 0% battery for days. I'm bound to collapse sooner or later."