Nowhere To Go || Bad Omens

three

Melanie had never screamed louder in her life. Noah immediately picked her up out of the water and slung her over his shoulder, pulling the water snake off of her and throwing it back into the water without a second thought, and running up the hill back to the others. He was trying to think back to all of the things that they teach you about different types of snakes, but he was so blind with getting them the fuck out of the water to think clearly.

Melanie sobbed, feeling the poison running through her veins and knowing that this was it for her. Noah gently laid her down as close to the bonfire as possible, the others gathering to investigate.

"What happened?" Nicholas yelled through the force field.

"A water snake just came out of nowhere and bit her in the leg. Are they poisonous?" Noah answered quickly, holding Melanie's panicked face in his hands, which answered his question for him.

"Very," Nicholas answered quickly.

"You may choose to let her die or one person can leave the bubble to save her," the voice called. "The person will not be allowed back into the bubble, however."

Nicholas broke out of the bubble without a second thought. "I saw exactly what she needs earlier," he explained, sprinting towards the river. Noah wondered if he should follow, but with how much she was panicking, he knew that she needed him here too much. Noah removed her left boot and rolled up her suit until he found the sight. He tried to not show too much, but that snake had bit her so deep and it was oozing white with venom. He decided to turn away from it and sat behind her, pulling her into his lap for support.

"Noah, if this is it-" Melanie started.

"I'm not giving up yet," Noah cut her off. He idly ran a hand through her hair, her body still racking with sobs as she thought about how she had never felt a sensation like this in her life. It felt like her blood was shriveling up and leaving her, the cold sensation that almost feels like you're on fire... she felt everything and nothing all at once. She thought about how this could be her last memory on Earth, but yet it feels like she's in Hell. Well, it's not so Hellish with the company.

Nicholas came sprinting back up the hill with a handful of leaves, immediately crouching down over the leg and placing them. "I'm so sorry, this is going to hurt," he said softly as he laid them over the sight and rolled the pant leg over it to make sure the leaves didn't move. Noah admitted to himself that he had no faith in a fucking handful of leaves, but that something is better than nothing. Melanie's body contorted with resistance, it clearly working, though. Nicholas came up near Noah and held Melanie's hand, letting her squeeze the shit out of him as though she was in labor.

"I'm so tired, but I'm so scared to sleep," Melanie admitted to both of them.

"We won't let anything happen to you, it's okay," Noah encouraged her, playing with her hair again, noting the sweat that now lined her forehead. It took Melanie no time to drift off to sleep, the others inside the bubble not far behind her. Noah and Nicholas both knew that there was going to be no chance of sleep tonight for either them, both of them feeling responsible for her care. "So how did you know about the leaves?"

"I was an Eagle Scout," Nicholas admitted with a small smile. "I'm pretty confident in my first aid abilities and have a weirdly good memory for stuff like this."

"I wouldn't have known the first thing to do, so thank you for risking yourself to help us," Noah said earnestly.

"Of course. It was killing me to just watch it all happen without being able to do anything about it," Nicholas said honestly. He went and checked on the leg since an easy hour had passed by now, being pleased with how much venom had been pulled out. "I'm gonna grab some more and change these out," he said to Noah, who just gave him a quick nod.