A/N: I'm sorry for switching the POVs around often, I'm just unsure of what to stick with in order to better progress the story. I hope you guys dont mind.)
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The room felt stuffier than ever before, the heat from Mara's body making everything ten times hotter. She was panting, trying to catch her breath for a couple of minutes. She sat at the other side of the safe room, with lungs struggling to breathe, legs and arms burning, and a sweaty face.
She opened her eyes, dragging them to the boy that currently laid down on her makeshift bed. He laid peacefully, the panic drained from his face and replaced by delicately calm features. He must have been really stressed if he just fainted like that, Mara thought. Mara had never seen a guy look so angelic while sleeping, as weird as it was to say it.
Mara doesn't know the last time she's had such a vigorous workout. Carrying the male up the flight of stairs proved to be a strenuous task, despite the guy being lighter than Mara probably was. It took effort that Mara was willing to put into making sure the lad was safe. Despite how impossible it seemed, her will kept her going. If she'd left him down there or waited for him to wake up, both of them would have been in trouble, running the risk of being cornered once more. Mara had to make a quick decision.
The girl's breaths grew steady and easier to take in, her heart finally beating normally in comparison to a a few minutes ago when it felt as if it'd beat through her chest. There was relief in many ways, something that Mara thought of as rewarding. She didn't have any guilt lingering, and her conscience was clear. The male currently passed out had not been bitten or showed any signs of being bitten. At least from what Mara saw.
The ankle he'd been limping with had been a sight to see when Mara laid her eyes on it.
Upon slightly lifting his pant leg, Mara had been met with a painful looking swollen ankle. A violet bloom spread under the male's ankle, fading into a yellow bruising as it grew outwards. It didn't encompass the ankle, but it didn't take a doctor to tell that it was swollen. The boy was wearing shoes, the ties looking too tight for comfort and the shoe looking as if he'd gotten a size two times smaller than what he usually wore.
Now that she was back at the safe room, Mara contemplated what to do. She was unsure if it would be okay to take the guy's shoe off in the hopes that doing so would make the swelling subside even remotely.
No wonder the brutes caught up to you, Mara thought.
Biting her thumb nail, Mara glanced at the stranger's face. He was sleeping and a swollen foot was worth taking his shoe off.
Mara then took a look at her bandaged palms. The dirty bandage was peeling off, exposing her inflamed skin, where scabs had peeled off and left the burning skin to make rough contact with the bandage. All Mara could do was stick the bandage back up and
proceed to careful untie the guy's shoe, making sure to do it as gently as possible. When the shoe was untied and loose enough, Mara began to slide it off, pulling the shoe tongue as further up as she could in order to slide it off smoothly.
Smiling with success, Mara made sure the boy hadn't woken up yet before shimmying the sock down, revealing the swollen foot in all its...robust glory.
Mara winced, "Wow."
Mara looked back at her roll of bandage and knew that it would not be enough to help him. A sturdy wrap would take too must bandage, and she couldn't just use it all.
Maybe I'll just wait until he wakes up, Mara sighed, standing up and heading to her bag.
Mara wondered if bringing the guy back to her safe room was the best idea. It was always scary to see other people. People were not as frequent as they used to be. So coming upon strangers was a fight or flight or blindly trust in the hopes of getting someone with humanity left in them. You never knew who was what.
Mara thinks that when someone says they're not bad, you kind of have to doubt them. You want to trust them but deception comes easy this day and age. Because what good person says they're good people when they can just show it? Gaining someone's trust and trusting someone had gone on a new level.
Mara's life was on the line now.
She would understand if, at the moment of wake, he didn't trust her. And she would have her doubts about him too. However, seeing him afraid and helpless like that had diminished Mara's lack of trust and brought out her sympathetic self.
The girl rummaged through her bag, searching for something, anything to substitute for bandage.
Nothing.
A strewn shirt caught Mara's gaze. She eyed it, her brain coming up with ways to make it work.
Mara shrugged, "I guess I'll have to make it work."
Mara stared out of the window once more, her chin in her palm as she studied the way the clouds languidly moved across the sky. She'd opened the latch, figuring it'd be good to try and get some air circulating in the particularly stuffy room.
It's been about five minutes after Mara had laid the male down, and Mara had grown worried, unsure if he'd be like this for a while.
But surely enough, she heard a groan from behind her, snapping her head in time to see the male propping himself up with his arms. His disoriented eyes scanned the area, unaware of his whereabouts and searching for what Mara assumed he hoped would be familiarity.
Soon, he was sitting up, backing into the wall with a fearful expression. His breathing grew ragged, sweat trickling down his forehead as anxiety got the best of him. Mara could tell he was a very anxious individual, and if those troublings emotions made him collapse that way, maybe she'd need to take some precautions before approaching him.
The male attempted to get up, using his good leg to bend and lift himself up. But when he groaned, hitting the ground after putting pressure on his injured knee, Mara knew it was time to intervene.
"Woah, hey there," Mara began, her hands waving infront of her. Proving to him that she wasn't a threat would be harder today just as much as in the past.
"I wouldn't move if I were you," Mara stared at the stranger, who stared back with distrust, "You hurt yourself pretty bad back there."
Mara glanced at his ankle, "It'd be best if you didn't move or try to stand again, lest you want to end up with something worse that a sprained ankle."
The male's eyes widened, snapping to his foot. Mara could see his lips mouthing her last two words as if he were trying to process the cause of his pain.
He looked back up at her, then at the door.
"I wouldn't do that," Mara warned, voice gentle. She was trying not to be intimidating, but considering she had the upper hand, it was difficult to do so.
In a soft, almost inaudible voice, the male mumbled, "I have to find my friends."
No longer having to worry about the lad going mute, Mara felt relief. However, she was curious about where he came from and where he planned to go. A sprained ankle could not be fun to walk aimlessly around with.
"Your friends?"
He nodded.
"You have a group?"
He nodded again.
She looked back at the window, where she'd early stood by.
"I don't know, buddy. I haven't seen anyone pass by."
With that, the male's face fell. He hung his head dejectedly and the room was in silence once more. Mara mentally scolded herself for being so blunt and not reserving this to information until later. She guiltily scratched the back of her neck and walked over, closer to where he was. Alarmed, he scooched away, eyes wide at her nearing proximity. She put her hands up in the air,
"I won't hurt you."
He stared at her apprehensively, breathing quickly.
Mara offered a smile, "I promise."
He seemed to relax, breathing slowly going back to normal. Mara took this as a sign to sit on the floor beside him, which ended in dust clouds she had to awkwardly swat away with a sheepish chuckle.
Mara figured that the way to be least threatening to him was to sit at eye level with him, and that way he wouldn't think she was trying to intimidate him or assert dominance. It seemed to work so far, as he was calm, brows pulled in a pensive frown.
She watched him for a bit, trying to figure out how exactly he felt. But it was hard to tell. His features were vague.
She wanted to ask him many questions; Mara was a curious gal who rarely had guests over, and finally having someone to talk to after being alone for several months was a relief to her. It was a relief to be reassured she wasn't the only girl left on the world. Thinking that she was could be scary at times.
Mara wanted to know his name, where he came from and how he got into such a sticky situation, but she felt it to be extremely invasive on her part. If he wanted to tell her, he would. So all she could do until then was keep shut and help him heal faster.
Mara snapped out of her thoughts when noticing he was staring back at her, eyes narrowed.
"Why is my shoe off?"
Mara was surprised at the accusatory tone, and even more thrown aback by his glare.
Before Mara could answer, he was snapping again.
"Do you have some foot fetish or something?"
Mara froze, her eyes scanning his to make sure that he was being completely serious.
When there were no signs of him having a good sense of humor, Mara tried her best to hide a smile. She bit the inside of her cheek, clearing her throat and looking away from him to try and distract herself.
"I just um, figured your foot could use some air after being in that tight shoe for a while."
Mara heard the lad whisper a small, "Oh."
Mara pursed her lips hard, squeezing her eyes shut to keep herself from laughing. Now was not the time to laugh, now was not the time to laugh.
"Speaking of," Mara began, shifting towards his foot, "If I may, I need to wrap your foot into a makeshift tourniquet. It'll keep it from getting worse."
"I-I don't think that's necessary," he stumbled out, pulling his foot towards him and hissing at the pain.
Mara sighed, "You'll make it worse. Would you like to have a limp once your foot heals?"
Her stern voice caught the male off guard, as he stared at her with doe eyes and a mouth that open and closed like a fish's.
It was a silence full of him staring at her with surprise, his gulp visible to her and incredibly amusing.
It wasn't until he dropped his head, nodding very slowly as if he had no other choice but to listen to her.
Mara knew she was being quite blunt, but things needed to be done quickly. Hesitation would always be a greater enemy than many dangers in this world.
Mara scoot closer to him, her body now across from the apprehensive boy that seemed to stiffen at the proximity. It was clear that he was uncomfortable, and Mara wasn't trying to make him uncomfortable. She hated making people feel that way, but at this moment she had to disregard that and take care of him.
She didn't know why she wanted to help him so bad. If anything, she could have left him passed out on that sidewalk, so that his group could find him. But his vulnerable state, and the fact that her heart could never take leaving him out there, was enough to energize her into carrying him up a couple flights of stairs.
Mara reached for the strips of the shirt she'd already torn, stretching them out to loosen them and glancing from the fabric to his swollen ankle.
She set the strips on one lap and gently, ever so slowly lifted his heel and delicately placed it on her other lap. He hissed momentarily, hands pressed hard on the floor. It was obvious that it caused him a lot of pain, so Mara was glad he allowed her to tend to him.
"I'm just going to wrap this, okay? It won't be too tight, but it'll be stiff enough so that your ankle has little to no mobility. It has to heal for a bit before you can start walking again-"
"Wait what?!" He exclaimed, looking at Mara with dreadful disbelief.
"It's basic knowledge," Mara calmly stated, beginning to wrap the strips of t-shirt around his foot, the heel and ankle, as well as lower leg.
He seemed to deflate substantially, putting his head in his hands and sighing loudly.
"So that means I'm stuck here for a while?"
A little offended, but willing to brush it off because he was simply upset, Mara shrugged.
"I wouldn't say stuck here-"
"I'm stuck here."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Done!" The boy jumps, having gone quiet and contemplating on his own. Ten minutes had gone by with Mara wrapping, unwrapping and rewrapping in order to make sure his foot was stiff enough, but that circulation was not cut off. She'd ask him about his comfort, wondering how tight it felt to him, but he'd just answer with murmurs and nods, with shakes of the head and grunts. It wasn't helpful, but she managed.
"Sorry," Mara apologized, before stretching her craning neck. She stretched her arms out and proceeded to gently place his foot back on her backpack. His eyes, once wide and alarmed, had grown softer the more she appeared as less of a threat. She noticed his relaxed posture, but she also noticed the longing eyes staring at the dusty window.
Clearing her throat, Mara shifted her eyes from him to the food and water just beside him, stacked and left untouched.
"Hey," she called, watching as the male slowly turned to her, "You hungry? Thirsty?"
She reassuringly smiled, but the male quickly looked away, eyes flickering back up to her with uncertainty.
"Yeah."
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wethenaive