The Revelation

Chapter 6 - James

JAMES

It took him only seconds to process what had transpired. The now-dead man would have successfully gotten to him were it not for her. The man had successfully managed to sneak up on him and even if she had alerted him, it wasn’t likely that he would have been able to deal with him on time. She had saved him by pulling him out of the line of fire and the time taken by the man to readjust himself to the sudden movement of his target had been used by her to her advantage to land a killing blow.

Ashley got up on both feet shakily. Her hair had been swept forward during her swing and it curled around her face. She looked down uneasily at the dead attacker before turning to glare at him and said, “I thought you said that there was no other entrance to this place.”

         “Not that we know of,” he replied, his mind contemplating the possibilities. His mind was drawing up multiple safe houses within the perimeter where the dead man could have hidden. It felt like a wind whirl where his mind evaluated new possibilities every second and discarded the improbable ones.

          “And you did the entire perimeter scan?”

          “I did,” he said, his mind still racing.

         “Then—” she started to say, but suddenly stopped. Her sudden silence caught his attention and he looked at her, wondering what had happened.

       “James, you’re hurt!!” she exclaimed.

        “What are—” he started to say, looking down at himself. He paused when he noticed his bloodied arm. The man had got a shot after all. His mind registered the pain originating from his left arm just above his elbow. He examined the wound, “It’s okay…just a graze,” he said, wincing slightly as he flexed his elbow. Thankfully, the bullet had not penetrated him and he was able to get through with just a flesh wound.

        “Stay still,” she warned, taking his arm.

          She dressed his wound quickly, wrapping a piece of cloth which she had ripped off her sleeves around the wound to minimize blood loss. They would have to compromise on the prevention of contamination of wound part for now, for something told him that the night’s adventure was a long way from its end. The top of her head reached his eye level. As she worked, he noticed the tightness around her eyes as if she was angry or annoyed. She tied the last knot a little too tightly around his wound and it made him wince again.

            “Hey…” he protested, reflexively pulling his hands away.

          “That should do for now,” she said in an indifferent tone, releasing his arm.

           He nodded his thanks once and flexed his arm carefully, feeling the pain in the movement; it wasn’t much which was good as he might still need it before the night ended. The highly improvised bandage did not restrict his arm movement, which was another thing he had to be thankful about.

        Ashley stayed by him, monitoring his movements carefully.

     Though he could think of many things, only one of them seemed probable for her anger.

      “Ash, I’m sorry,” he muttered, looking out for her reaction to confirm his suspicion behind her anger.

      “For what exactly?” she questioned, obviously humoring him.

      “For dragging you into all this,” he said, gesturing towards the dead man. “For risking every—”

     She bit back a growl. “You think I can’t handle myself?” she asked angrily, stressing on her words.