Ava
When I got back to my hideout, the kid in my arms still hadn't woken up. He was obviously exhausted what the ordeal he had gone through. Luckily I still had some bandages left and the alcohol rub my father had left. It was a miracle finding them in the mess he had left behind. Well... he wasn't exactly neat.
With the rabbit I had caught would help speed his recovery, so then he could go back to where he came from. I didn't need a kid around while I struggled to survive myself.
I looked down at his hair that had fallen out over the coat I had wrapped him in. Dark locks were loosely braided. pieces of metal wrapped around certain braids and shone when the light hit them. It was too distracting. When I made it to the entrance of the hideout, I had to carefully manoeuvre both of us partially through the gap. I had almost dropped him when he decided to wake up. He moved the coat away from his eyes and revealed the most unhuman features I had ever seen.
His eyes were close to the colour of the night sky. His pupils were unnaturally huge. With the dirt that covered his face, I didn't notice his actual skin colour earlier. His skin illuminated a soft blue colour which I had never seen before. I was unable to talk when he noticed the look on my face and shied away from me.
Quickly darted my eyes away, I managed to find the words that I was unable to say.
"Im glad you're awake, I cant fit both of us through this gap." I put on a smile and looked back at him as he eyed me with caution. "Are you able to walk?" I asked and began to steady him on the ground. He nodded and kept his injured arm close to his chest while he used his other one to steady himself. I motioned him to move the rest of the way so I could get through.
"You're not marked by a tribe." He whispered to himself and i eyed him and wondered what he meant by that but didn't bother to ask him. At this point in time, all I wanted to do was patch him up, eat and go to sleep.
"Is this where you live?" he asked.
"Umm... Yeah. This has been my home for a long time."
"Ok."
An awkward silence fell over both of us as i moved passed him and walked through the path to where the fire was burning. Luckily it was still lit but it was close to going out sooner or later. I told him to sit by the fire so I could go and get what i needed. Walking over to the corner where my father used to sleep, I rummaged through his belongings until I found what I was looking for. A small bottle of antiseptic solution and bandages. When I was happy that I had everything I needed, I cautiously walked back over, watching him wipe more dirt away from his face, revealing more of his blue skin that made me shiver. I felt bad when he saw me looking at him and watched him look away uncomfortably.
"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot." I sat next to him and looked at the embers in the fire. "I've just never seen anyone like you before. I've only seen the hordes but you're not with them, are you?"
His head whipped around to look at me.
"Do you seriously think I look like those walking parasites out there?" He sounded insulted and I couldn't help but smile at him.
"Now that you mention it, you do have a lot more colour than them. I mean it's not a bad thing your skin is different, I was just surprised was all." He nodded and looked around the walls and the makeshift bed on the other side of the fire. Sighing, I shook the bottle and turned my body to face him. "I'm not going to lie but this will hurt. I need to clean and wrapped up your arm." He nodded and let me gently cradle his arm while I cut away his sleeve with my hunting knife and began to pour some of the fluid onto his open wound. To say he didn't scream would be lying. Tears filled my eyes while I watched him try to keep himself from crying. after I was done cleaning it, I slowly wrapped the rags all the way to his shoulder; bruises had already formed around his shoulders but he was lucky he didn't break his shoulder and that it was just up to his upper bicep.
"I'm going to bind it to your chest to stop it from moving. I don't want you to hurt yourself any more than this." He giggled and sniffled.
"You sound like my mother." He smiled sadly and his eyes seem to mist over as if he was caught up in a memory. I smiled back at him and continued to bind his arm. When I was finished, he admired my work and appeared pleased. "Thank you."
"It's no issue. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if it got any worse because it wasn't taken care of." I untied the rabbit from my belt and began my ritual of skinning and cutting away at the bad bits and leaving me with the parts I liked to eat. Afterwards, I hung the meat over the fire and my mouth watered at the thought of eating the juicy meat. I could tell that Daga was also starving but refused to ask when the last time he had eaten was.
quickly standing up, i put the rest of the bandages and the solution back by my father's things and grabbed his blankets for the boy. I unfolded the blankets and began to set them down next to mine. Hopefully, with the fire and my body heat, he should stay warm enough.
"I need to go out to get more things. After eating, lie down for a while and ill be back as soon as I can.
"Where are you going?"
"Well I was in the middle of finding supplies, so I need to restock a few things." He nodded guiltily. I didn't mean to make him feel guilty at all but I didn't have time to correct my mistakes. I needed to eat what I could and go hunting again for more.
And with that said, we ate in silence, enjoying the meat and I helped him lie down before I grabbed my bow and hunting knife and went off on a little hunting trip.
"Shit." I cursed from where I was hiding. Looking out the windows made me nervous. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I could feel panic setting in. Biting my lip to stop me from making another noise, I quietly moved further into the back of the building, hoping they wouldn't hear me.
The horde was back.
They were back too quickly. They usually stayed away for a few weeks looking for prey, they would come back but it has only been a few days. This shouldn't be happening and I was careless thinking I was safe. At least the boy was safe and out the way. I didn't need him out here distracting me.
As I watched them pass by where I was, for some reason, I felt something else was here. Something different from these creatures and I didn't know what. It could have been my imagination but I couldn't shake the feeling off at all.
It was very strange.
Checking the coast was clear, I crawled across the floor and peered out the door and continued to crawl back. I wasn't happy that I couldn't get any more meat but at least I was alive for now.
As I went to turn the corner to go around them, something small ran into me and I yelp in surprise.
"Dago, what are you doing here?" I stared down at him, stunned to find him out here and not back where I had left him. "I told you to stay put!" I raised my voice and he flinched away, looking down at the floor like a bratty child that wasn't going to listen.
"I was lonely..."
"That's no excuse, you should have listened to me!"
Without us both realising it, nearby close to where we were, something had heard us.
I guess we didn't see them coming.
Something grabbed me from behind, causing a scream to erupt from me. The boy seemed to be stood frozen and then the next, his eyes recognised whoever they were. Before I could fight back, one strong arm went around my chest binding my arms, preventing me from swinging my fists at the person holding me. The other went around my throat, blocking my airways. Panic overtook me and I attempted a scream but his arm tightened. A ringing noise started to fill my ears and my body didn't want to respond to me.
Then I fainted.