I'll Be Back

Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Lisa sits in the sand as she sharpens the spear with her knife. She's been in the same spot for over a week, resting her body and trying to spear fish. Her thigh stab wound has mostly healed, giving her a chance to limp a little ways, now that she can put weight on it. Her ankle is still healing though. She found a nice stick to help walk with as it's healing. She tries to not walk if she doesn't have to, so she mostly uses it when she's in the river trying to spear fish. Her stab wounds are healing some too, but Lisa can tell some of them are beginning to become infected which has been making her lose her appetite. She's decided she'll keep going until she drops dead from the infection. Lisa continues trying to sharpen the edge, hoping maybe she'll get a decent sized trout or salmon this time around. She's been only getting guppies and sun fish that aren't edible. Even though her appetite is slowly dwindling, she knows she needs to force herself to eat. Once she gets a good point, she blows the remaining dust of the wood into the air. She touches the point with her index finger and feels it prick her skin. Satisfied, she begins trying to stand using her walking stick. She leans most of her weight against it and her healing leg as she keeps her weight off of her ankle. She slowly makes her way into the river, her pant legs rolled up and boots and socks off. She feels the slimy rocks against the underside of her feet. She moves slowly, not wanting to alert the fish to a foreign movement in the water. When she gets to a spot where a school of fish are swimming around in a circle, she tosses her walking stick back to shore and just leans onto her good leg.

She studies the clear water, her eyes moving with the fish until she spots a decent size salmon. She knows right away she's going to go for that one. She raises her spear and continues tracking the fish. She zones in, watching as it bumps into other fish, absolutely unaware of the predator lurking above it. When Lisa sees an opening, she brings the spear down in one swift motion, never taking her eyes off of the salmon. She brings it out of the water, and she realizes she pierced it perfectly. It's twitching and gasping for air. Lisa lets out a small huff of laughter at finally getting a good fish. She then starts hopping with her good leg out of the water, making sure to keep her balance and not drop the spear. She can feel the soreness in her thigh as she hops, almost like when you push on a bruise and you feel that dull ache. Her abdominal muscles contracting, also making her feel a dull ache. She makes it to the sandy shore and drops down, crawling back to where she's kind of set up camp. She hasn't built a fire at all, not wanting to alert Reapers so once she sits down with the fish, she beats it's head with a rock until it stops wiggling and breathing and just bites into it. Getting past the taste and texture is a little rough but she's able to keep it down. She just tells herself it's sushi.

She gets it all down and sips water, just watching the scenery before her. It's still cold and there's still patches of snow in places but it's warming slightly. If she wasn't in the middle of a war she'd think this would be a great place to go on a camping trip. She leans back a little, feeling a little tired already. She knows it's just the infection though. She then tries practicing her voice out. It comes our hoarse and cracked. Lisa's pretty positive her voice will probably stay like that, the damage already having been done. The cracking may stop but it'll definitely stay hoarse. She says a few stupid jokes she use to tell Aden to herself, actually making herself laugh and then decides to rest it. Lisa walks around after sitting for awhile, trying to find some more salve leaves to help the infection. She's able to gather up enough for a little bit of paste but definitely not enough. She lathers it on the more serious areas, mostly her back, and redresses. Soon evening falls upon her once more and she settles in for the night.

The next day she wakes up sick. She's throwing up and has chills and then becomes hot. She tries to keep her body cool as the fever grows but her body is so tired. She sleeps for most of the day, not bothering with trying to get food down. This goes on for three more days until it finally passes. She's still tired and weak, the sickness having knocked her off balance. She's growing hungry though but can't be bothered with going into the river. She once again sleeps for most of the day until it's night time. She stirs when she hears something from beyond the slope into the pasture. She sits up and sees a light flickering. Her heart begins to race at the possibilities. She decides to just crawl up the slope to take a peek. She crawls through the sand until she's at an angle. She looks out into the field and sees a man. No, a older Reaper soldier. He's gutting a bison and has a nice fire going. A horse is perched nearby that is draped with a bear fur and saddle. He's completely alone and looks to be wanting it that way. Lisa feels her stomach aching over the possibility of having actual cooked meat. Her body has lost so much of it's muscle already, she's becoming more skin and bones than anything.