Rise

Chapter 2•

          With the entire face wall of the this building down letting its interior be exposed to the sun its easy to see her. In a second James breaks into a final sprint across the small plain. Not even noticing, its like his thoughts were completely wiped, anything he had been worrying about before had drifted away into potential storage. All he could see and think of was the sight of this girl on other side of this plain. A distance that he had already halved and seemingly empty of the crumbled building materials James opens his mouth to speak but instead takes a short gasp of breath. He hadn't noticed how exhausted he'd become. Clearing his dry throat and slowing pace to a hustling jog he can get the sentence out In between gasps,"I'm here I'm here I'm here. What the.."

          She seemed unconscious and was forced in an almost standing position, her head slumped down you could see the blood soaked in her long blonde hair. The girl's hair was messy and covered her face. The left shoulder right next to the shoulder blade had been pierced by a metal rod of exposed infrastructure sticking out about an inch or two. James is gasping but not from panic while gently touching the rod and her shoulder. In these moments of panic he's trying to keep calm while digging through his brain not entirely knowing what to do in this sensitive situation. Shes breathing though, her chest coming out and falling with each breath. James' thought process is broken when he starts to hear a light gurgling sound than a moan. The moaning was coming from the girl's mouth. Her chest was rising and falling faster now, she was waking up. Nervously, James clears his dry throat, "hey can you hear me?" The moaning gets louder and her head twitches slightly. James quickly puts his open hands behind her ears and under her chin to support the girl's head up.

          Again James asks, "hello can you hear me?" Ignoring the blood on his hands now he pushes some of the girl's sticky hair away from her face to get a good look. Asking again, "hey are you awake?" Another moan rolls out her mouth as the girl starts lifting her head on her own. James uses his right hand to try to wipe off the blood stains on her cheek. No scratches of any sort on her face, "she probably has a concussion," he says to himself. He takes another inspection of the wound on her shoulder, a large circle of blood has already formed around it soaking into what was a light dressy blue blouse. Another moan slips from the girl's mouth than a cough which quickly brings James' attention back to her face. With his right hand still under her chin he moves more of her bloody hair out of the way with his left hand.

          James, with a worried face stares at her waiting for another sign that shes conscious. Another cough, a groan, than slowly as hes still supporting her head, the girl's eyes begin to open slightly. Using his right hand to wipe more dried blood off her face and with an eager and concerned tone asks, "hey are you awake can you hear me?" At first her mouth opens slightly and only an empty mutter lets out but another cough cuts it off. Her chest rises with a deep breath and exhales. She blinks slowly twice looking James in the eyes with a weary and empty expression. He wipes her right cheek with his left thumb and pushes her sticky hair to the side again, "can you hear me?," he repeats.

          He doesn't notice when she lifts her right arm barely grabbing his left arm which surprises his nerves. Than gently says finally, "help me."

          "I'm trying", James replies gently pulling his hands away from her cheeks. "Stay still." He takes a step back and looks down at his shirt. A brown T-shirt tattered and now a large blood stain on the chest. Grabbing the middle of the bottom he yanks along a tattered edge to make it easier, tearing it upward. He finishes ripping a good sized piece of material off to use on her shoulder. "Okay stay still, ready? Its gonna sting abit."

          More conscious now she responds with a cough, "yeah okay."

          He eases closer holding the cloth up with both hands to spread it. Lightly placing the material on her shoulder around the pipe he than starts to apply force on the wound. A low yelp lets out from the girls mouth as she looks the other way. "I know I know, I just have to rap this around to try and stop the bleeding." After that he tightly slips one end along her back and ties it to the other end with a double knot right up against the pole sticking out the other side of her shoulder. "done with that," he says.