After packing everything up again, Dagen flung the duffle onto his back and paused.
'I'm worried, generally the teeth of an animal indicates diet. So what will happen to Varin?'
'Also… if the drone comes back, how will we hide?'
Varin came back and put the bottles in Dagens bag.
"I think we should follow the water down, at least that way we can refill our water as we go."
Dagen nodded in agreement.
"Sounds like a plan."
After following the water down for a few hours, they came to a gap in their path. Varin looked down the cliff and signed.
"I suppose our trail of water ends here. We should find a different way down, the rope isn't long enough and I don't want to risk falling."
Dagen looked around and laid eyes on a particularly tall tree.
"We shouldn't keep guessing which way to go. I'll climb that tree and have a look around, hopefully I'll be able to see where this ridge ends. Even better if I see buildings or people."
Varin looked at the tree in question and noticed that its lowest branch was over twice as high as they were.
"Hmmm…? The trunk is too wide to climb. Fling the rope over the branch and I'll catch it and go up first. Then I'll secure it so that you can come up. You'd be able to hold my weight better than I'd be able to hold yours at the moment. Do me a favor and please don't drop me."
Dagen smirked as he said:
"This isn't my first time climbing a tree and with how skinny you are I should be able to hold your weight no problem."
Varin was not amused by that comment.
"I wasn't exactly fat before they starved me ya know."
Dagen threw the rope over and as Varin caught the other end, he wrapped his end around his waist and leaned back to brace as Varin climbed. Dagen noticed something odd as Varin was midway up.
'He feels way lighter than he should be. Either he's gotten unnaturally lighter or I've gotten stronger somehow. Maybe a bit of both?'
Reaching the top with a huff, Varin tied his best knot, then Dagen tossed up the duffle and his gun as carefully as possible. As Varin caught the gun they heard a sound straight from a worst case scenario right behind Dagen, making the hairs on his neck stand up.
The grunt and huff of a huge scarred up grizzly as it laid eyes on Dagen, standing up on its hind legs with a roar.
For a moment, Varin and Dagen were stunned, they didn't move or make a sound. Until the grizzly fell back on all fours and hurled down the hill toward them.
"CLIMB!!!"
Shooting up the rope with impressive speed, Dagen was brimming with adrenaline.
'Fuuuuck, fuck fuck!'
Varin snapped up with the tranq gun and shot the bear between the shoulder blades, it just kept charging through the trees. He shot at it again but the dart hit a tree. Then, he shot it again right in the forehead, but it didn't slow down.
'What the hell is wrong with this bear!'
As Dagen reached the top of the rope, Varin grabbed his hand and yanked him up, but the grizzly stood up without losing its momentum and swiped Dagens ankle as it bumped into the tree.
"Aaahhh!"
Varin pulled Dagen the rest of the way up and started pushing him to go higher in the tree, blood dripping from his ankle. As the grizzly shook off its run in with the tree, it began to climb up after them.
"Shit! Why isn't it out yet!?"
Varin handed Dagen the duffle as the bear reached the low branch. He barely dodged a swipe as he grabbed another branch, swinging as he slashed the grizzly across its face. The bear let out a pained roar as he jumped up to the next branch.
"Go higher!"
Dagen climbed as fast as he could, glancing down to see Varin staying just a couple branches away from the bear, trying to slow it with slashes.
'Varin!'
'What the hell is WRONG with that bear!!!'
Finally seeing an opening, Varin swung down and shoved his knife into the bear's eye socket, the bear roared and tried to swipe him with its paw as Varin gave it a good twist.
Dagen could only watch as the bear froze and began to fall. The branches groaned as they snapped under the bear's unsupported weight. The failed swipe hooked Varin and took him down with it, falling through the branches and bouncing off others, hitting the ground with a thud.
"Varin!!!"
Dagen climbed down as fast as he could and hobbled over to the bear, Varin was under one of its paws. He seemed knocked out and his right eye was slashed vertically, blood covering his face. The bear's paw was heavy as he pushed it off, he gasped as he saw blood coming from Varins waist.
"Varin! Varin say something… come on! Shit!"
Dagen lifted up his shirt to get a better look. There was a small branch pierced through Varins waist on his left side right below the ribs. It didn't look like it was far enough in to hit anything vital, hopefully. He didn't want to move him without knowing the state of his spine but couldn't leave him here, right as Dagen was contemplating what to do, Varin grunted and opened his left eye.
"Ugh, D-Dagen?"
"Varin, can you hear me? Don't move."
"Yes, I hear you. Wh- what happened to the bear?"
"You killed it and got hooked by its paw, you fell with it. How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three."
"Can you move your hands and feet? Can you feel this?"
Varin took a moment to wiggle his fingers and toes as Dagen took off his shoes to run his fingers along his feet and hands.
"I still have feeling and it looks like I can move everything alright. Unfortunately I can feel my side as well. How bad is it?"
"You have a small branch through your waist on the left. Luckily it's plugging the hole pretty well, you should be alright for a minute as we get to a better spot to treat it."
Varin groaned in pain as he looked at Dagens ankle.
"How's your ankle? Will you be able to move me?"
Dagen leaned on his ankle a bit more and winced.
"I should be fine, the bleeding has already slowed down quite a bit. Perhaps I really do heal faster now. I'm going to help you up now. Ready?"
Varin applied pressure with his left hand to his side and let Dagen sit him up with his right arm. As soon as he sat up he was hit with a massive headache and a wave of dizziness as his vision faded black, he leaned into Dagen with a groan.
"I think, I have a concussion."
"After falling from that height, I'd be amazed if you didn't have a concussion. Ready to stand up?"
Varin gave a light nod and immediately regretted it as the world spun again. Being pulled up by Dagen hurt like a bitch too.
"I'm going to stop by the water to clean us up. Then I'll climb the tree again and pick a direction to go. I'd say we only have 3 more hours of sunlight left and I don't want to be here when other creatures realize there's fresh, easy meat ready for scavenging."
Dagen carefully leaned Varin against a tree next to the little stream and took the makeshift rag out of the bag. He began to wipe the blood off Varins face and disinfected it with an alcohol wipe and used a few butterfly closures from the first aid kit.
"Don't fall asleep, it's not good to fall asleep with a head injury."
Varin let out a weak, pained chuckle.
"What's so funny?"
Varin winced as he opened his right eye.
"Ah, nothing. Just a sense of deja vu. I swear you've said something like that to me before."
Thinking for a moment, Dagen also chuckled upon remembering that he did indeed say something like that to him before.
"I guess you should stop getting head injuries huh?"
Varin smirked and replied:
"I suppose, I should stop hurting my right eye while I'm at it as well."
Dagen looked at the bloody branch and tried to clean around it as much as he could with water and another disinfectant wipe, Varin clenched his shirt and groaned in pain. He gave Varin a piece of bark to bite on for the next part.
"It's generally a bad idea to remove the thing that is currently plugging the hole, but it also can't stay there. Who knows how much longer we'll be stranded in these woods."
Even while saying that, Dagen was shaking and sweating with uncertainty. He knew it needed to be done and that he was the only one here to do it. But what if…?
Varin saw the confliction on Dagens face and with a light smile, he said:
"It's practically a twig, don't worry. Just pull it out smooth and steady, but quickly please. Make sure nothing is left inside and cauterize it. Ignore the blood and burn it until you're sure it won't open, alright? Don't panic when I start screaming, just focus on what you need to do. It'll be okay. Take some deep breaths and begin."
Dagen grabbed everything he was going to need and neatly placed them by his side. For the first time during this trip, Dagen risked starting a fire. After getting the fire going, he cleaned and placed the blades of both of their knives into the fire to heat them up. After waiting a couple minutes, Dagen turned Varin on his side, he took some deep breaths and lightly grabbed the end of the branch poking out of Varins back. He figured, if it went in this way, it would come out this way a bit easier… right? Varin bit down on the bark and gripped his shirt. Then, Dagen started steadily pulling out the branch.
"AAAAHHHH!!!"
The branch was around 14 inches in length and ½ inch thick. Dagen tried to pull it out quickly but steadily so as to avoid hooking or ripping through Varins organs with any knots or small offshoots the branch may have.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
5 long seconds later, the other end of the branch came out. Tossing it to the side, Dagen quickly grabbed the knives and placed their blades on the entry and exit wounds for another 5 long seconds. The sound of sizzling and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! FUUUCK!"
Removing the blades, Dagen then rubbed a little burn ointment on and taped gauze pads to the wound.
"Done."
Varin was huffing and grunting while sweating bullets. He looked up at Dagen and waved for him to get closer.
"Come here."
Dagen leaned in closer.
"Huh? What is it?"
Varin took a deep breath, leaned back a little with a groan, and…
*WHAM!*
… Punched Dagen in the face.
"Ah! What the hell man!"
Dagen felt his lip and tasted a little blood. His lip was busted.
*Haha*
"I suppose I had that coming, feel better now?"
Varin leaned back on the tree, holding his side and breathing heavily.
"Y-yeah, sorry... I had to let that out. I need a drink."
Dagen sighed and handed Varin a water.
"This'll have to do, you should stay hydrated."
Varin grabbed the water and started drinking it slowly.
Dagen rounded up what was still usable in the first aid kit and put out the fire.
"We should go, I'll head up the tree now. I'm sure I don't have to tell you not to move?"
*Hah*
"Nope, not moving."
***
Dagen climbed up the rope and towards the top of the tree. It was actually a beautiful view when you weren't being attacked by a crazed grizzly.
'Beautiful. I can see everything from here.'
As he scanned over the horizon, his eyes came to a small clearing a few miles away. It was hard to tell, but it looked like there was some kind of roof structure within the clearing.
'There. That's where we'll head.'
Climbing back down, he untied the rope and draped it on the branch so that he could climb down. Once on the ground he pulled down the rope and bundled it up to put it in the duffle bag.
While walking up to Varin, Dagen took a moment to look at his overall condition. To sum it up, he looked terrible. He was covered in sweat and blood, deathly pale, skinny, covered in cuts and bruises, and seemed to have permanent dark circles around his eyes. Dagen walked up and held out a hand.
"Come on, I saw a clearing a few miles that way with some kind of roof like structure. Luckily the ridge doesn't go far in that direction."
Lifting Varin up by the arms, Dagen felt something poke him. He looked to see a tiny gray barb sticking through Varins shirt.
'what the heck is that?'
"Um, Varin? What is that poking through your shirt?"
Varin looked at his sleeve and sighed.
"Ah, right. Due to… recent events I have forgotten to mention that I'm growing some kind of barbs around my shins and forearms. If they can poke through my shirt, they've definitely gotten longer."
Dagen wanted to take a closer look but decided to wrap Varins arm around his shoulder and keep moving while he could still see the ground.
"I'll take a look later. Right now we need to get as close to that clearing as possible before I can't see."
The duo made painfully slow progress towards the clearing. Dagen had to take breaks every 15 minutes from carrying Varin and Varin just had to stop to breathe. The sun was starting to touch the horizon as the sky changed colors.
As Dagen took another break, Varin couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. From the painful awakening to the bear attack, he was more than exhausted.
"Dagen… I'm tired. I, can't…"
Hearing Varin mumble something, Dagen turned in time to see him lose consciousness and slump against the tree.
"Varin?"
'Damnit, we're so close!'
Turning towards the direction of the clearing, Dagen refused to stop for the night. Taking a deep breath, he put on the duffle bag backwards and lifted Varin onto his back.
'Not yet, we can make it.'
"Come on, we can make it."