Rules of Survival | afi

night two

It is not the pain,
It is who it came from.

- Drishti Bablani

•••

We hit up several empty houses before dark, and do end up scoring several first aid kits. We take shelter in the top of a watchtower, boarding up all of the windows except one. It's rundown but sturdy, with four individual rooms. Ashton and I take the one with the window, since it has now been established that I can nail a headshot with my rifle.

It's early, only about nine o'clock when we get everything set up for the night. Michael props Wren's foot up on a chair and uses two thick sticks we found outside to make a splint. Well, he tries to.

"Shit." Michael swears again, and Wren winces as the sticks jab into her skin. He's trying to tie the rope properly around the splints, but can't do it.

I've been watching him try for the past ten minutes. This is getting exhausting.

"Michael, you need to wrap it first."

He looks up at me, sweat pouring from his brow. "We don't have any more bandages."

"We do." I say. Michael immediately shakes his head.

"You found those. That's your first aid kit, not ours." He says, turning back to his work. I roll my eyes.

Since the battle started, we've been very careful to keep the whole "finders keepers" rule alive. It prevents arguments on whose stuff is whose, therefore keeping us from killing each other over supplies.

Without really thinking about it, I walk back to me and Ashton's room. Like last time, it's directly across from Michael and Wrens. He's sitting against the headboard, sharpening a knife. I move over to my backpack and rummage through it until I come up with the kit, and open it to pull out some of the bandages. Neither me nor Ashton is that banged up, and they need it more than us.

Michael looks at me with tentative eyes when I return and offer him the supplies. "It's yours." He says.

"We're allies. Take the damn bandages."

He doesn't grin or anything, but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he's grateful. If Wren didn't have her eyes screwed shut in pain, I'd sure she'd be the same way.

Michael wraps up Wrens ankle carefully, covering the damaged tissue and providing good padding to hold the splints. I help him hold them in place as he ties the rope around and under, and this time it stays.

"Thank you, Eliza." Wren breathes when we are done, and it's obvious that she feels so much better. The bandages have numbing cream in them. "You really didn't have to do that."

"Allies are allies. And you wouldn't survive another day if we didn't fix that ankle." I stand up, giving Michael a pat on the back and Wren's shoulder a squeeze. "Goodnight."

***

When I return to our room, Ashton is still sitting against the headboard of the bed, his gaze downward. Come to think of it, he hasn't really looked at me straight since the fight earlier.

"You want first watch? Its alright if you don't, I'm not tired."

It's true. Being knocked out by the explosion gave me several hours of much needed rest, and my body is more awake than ever.