๐๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ด, she thinks. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ , ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด?
The pain in her chest doesn't let up for what feels like hours, throbbing endlessly, furthering her miserable state.
But then the pain starts to wane , little by little , it feels as if a string, once tangled in her wound, is being undone meticulously.
And when it's all gone, she finds that she can breathe again.
After taking her first few breaths, she opens her eyes.
"Hi," whispers a man timidly.
Nalรฉ's eyes widen and she pauses for a beat before she smiles and whispers back "Hi".
"My name's Gordon, it's nice to meet you," the man whispers.
"My name's Nalรฉ, and likewise" she says, now in her normal voice.
She lifts up her right hand with great trouble and gestures to him "come closer".
He does as asked.
"Could you please help me up?" She pleads. "I don't know how long I've been stuck laying down, but I don't seem to have much feeling in my other limbs."
"Sure," He whispers.
He gently moves his hands under her arms for support , and pulls her upper body up, grunting as he does so.
It is only while he's trying to move her that Nalรฉ finally gets the opportunity to see the scenery around them.
The background noises fade in. The soft whoosh of the wind gliding through the leaves, the cascade of a waterfall nearby and the little taps of the army of ants that were a few feet away from them.
She wondered about that last sound , as a normal human she does not think she was supposed to hear that, but decided she'd confront it a bit later.
Her eyes wandered back to Gordon, and she truly took in his appearance.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ , ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ..
He leans her against a nearby tree and sits down next to her.
"What are you doing here?" He asks, almost muted.
She furrows her brows in confusion and whispers: "I...don't know."
"Hmm" he hums.
They lie in comfortable silence for a few moments more.
He breaks the silence "Shall we move?"
"I'd like to go back to the base before nightfall."
He begins to stand up and her eyes are immediately drawn to him as he stands to his full height.
"Sure" she mumbles as she looks down, "Thank you for not just leaving me here."
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, she thinks. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ.
He smiles.
It's a strange smile but she can tell he means well.
She smiles up at him as well, wiggles her eyebrows and brings both arms up.
"Carry me?"
"Ok." He whispers and follows suit.
As he goes to grab her, he sees the hole in her top.
He noticed the blood before but disregarded it as she seemed fine. But now he's become even more curious about her predicament.
The blood seemed recent, how is she already able to move, how did she not die?
Despite these rushing questions , he lifts her and brings her to his back with a bit of difficulty. She's has a hefty amount of weight to her after all.
She feels him trembling, having trouble adjusting to her weight.
" I can try to walk if you're having too much trouble." she says, chuckling at their predicament.
"It's fine," he murmurs, straightening up and summoning his broom.
It's only as they get on the broom though that Nalรฉ suddenly remembers her fear of heights.
"Hold o-" she tries to say, but her words get caught in her throat as Gordon suddenly takes off.
If one were to look up on this sunny evening , they would surely think she was being kidnapped with how her arms were wildly wobbling in the wind.
Turns out, she had passed out.
The rest of their ride was fairly quiet.