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15 YEARS PRIOR
RYDER HAD HER BACK TO A WALL, both literally and figuratively. She could still hear the infected outside, climbing over each other to get in. With her arm still cradled to her chest, she shakily rose to her feet and stumbled towards her discarded bag.
She'd left her bow at the hotel, opting for a more effective weapon like her gun even if it could draw unwanted attention without her silencer.
Her legs quivered from substantial amount of blood she'd lost, her mouth dry and in desperate need of some kind of water. Ryder let her uninjured arm lift itself up to her head, clicking her light on as she swept it around the small pharmacy.
It was a jackpot, or, it would've been had Ryder known what in the hell she needed for the nasty gash. She crept forward and lifted a single pack of gauze, ripping it open with her teeth and using them again to tear a large section off. She held the cloth to her arm with her chin and tightly wound it, red soaking through almost immediately as she added more layers.
At the sound of footsteps, Ryder pulled her gun from her waist and swung to reveal a younger boy, one of some sort of asian decent.
"Hey! Woah, woah woah, don't shoot. Okay? Don't shoot," he yelped as she kept her gun raised towards his way, her lips sealed and eyes narrowed in a daring nature. "M-My makes Grant Pak, i'm with the fireflies!"
"Bullshit," Ryder sneered, her arms jerking up to keep a more steady aim on his body. "No, it's not bullshit, I swear," Grant told her hurriedly, glancing around her bag that had been left on the floor. She could see her sheathed knife peeking from the canvas, both children's eyes darting to each other's before Grant leapt for the bag.
The bullet missed his hand by a centimeter but left the limp frozen in air, afraid of what its next move would cause. "Fireflies don't want kids. They didn't want me when.. my uncle left," her voice jerked at the mention of Tommy, something that Grant noticed.
Instead of prying, the boys eyes fell to her arm where he caught sight of blood. "You're bit?" he snarled and backed up a bit, her own eyes falling to her gauze. "What? No!" she shrieked, her moment of childlike annoyance was just enough for Grant to launch forward and grab her injured arm, the pain triggering a swift kick towards the back of his knee.
She was no stranger to combat, even if Grant was at least a foot taller than her and at least two or three years older. Ryder's arm throbbed through her whole body, the pain slowing her enough for the boy to rip the gun from her hands.
