CHERISH

⭕️Chapter 10⭕️

Quartz's P.O.V.

Conveniently enough, Jewel's location wasn't really far from the La Tundra. If I were to guess, this is where Connor and Unity looted pharmaceutical clinics for Tilly's fever. It didn't take long for us to find where she was, since the horde of twenty or so zombies outside the convenience store gave it away.

"You got this?" We were already racking up attention from other zombies straying outside the horde, so I don't find my shouting at my brother, Onyx, any disturbance among them. I threw Unity's baseball bat to him, and he caught it swiftly, swinging it up on a zombie's jaw and making it immobile.

I looked at him, unimpressed. If Unity was here, she'd swoon.

I brought my med kit with me along with a machete and waited for Onyx to finish his tyranny of bashing up zombies' heads until he's beside me, a bloodied baseball bat beside him.

"We should exchange weapons, don't you think? A machete's more effective than a twack of this." He gestured to Unity's bat. I sighed and began explaining to him why a machete's not ideal for hordes. "What do you do if it gets stuck on a zombie's skull? We can't use guns since we can't make any more noise."

I decapitated a nearby zombie, while Onyx just frowned, sighing as he went ahead of me and cleared the way for me to pass through. I didn't forget to help him get rid of other zombies who were planning to sabotage him from behind.

It was always like this, me having his back while he has my front, often times it's like that. I've always played the role of the medic and peacemaker, while Onyx tends to break character occasionally-sometimes acting like me. However, I never forget that he's much more brutal and prefers to fight with his fists rather than words.

Before we knew it, we were already knocking on the store's doors.

"Jewel!" With all the zombies dead, Onyx was already banging on the glass doors. We saw Jewel, wide-eyed, staring at us, her blue eyes dilating with each ragged breath she took. She quickly unlocked the glass doors and let us in. I noticed her bloodied hands trembling as she rested them by her sides.

In times like these, it's important to calm the witness, or at least try to, lest they undergo shock, and by then I'd have two patients to attend to, if that happens. I held onto her shoulders and gently comforted her, trying to bring some warmth back into her body. With one look, I signaled Onyx to check the vicinity for strays, if there are any. We had to immediately factor in any kind of zombie, as their evolution becomes unpredictable.

"Where is he?" I maintained eye contact with Jewel, grounding her to the present.

"He-he's-" She gulped, "He's down the aisle." She pointed to an aisle and I sprinted towards it until I found a man who's slumped on the coolers, barely breathing and conscious. He was holding onto his stomach, which was full of his blood.

"Hey, hey!" I tried to coax him awake as I brought out the bandages from my med kit, intending on stopping the bleeding first before cleaning and assessing the damage. "I need him to lay down," Jewel was with me in an instant, grabbing the man's head and putting it on her lap.

Now that I've got the patient lying down, I have to plug in his wound with bandages. I knew it hurt based on the facial expressions the man made, but I can't do anything about it until the bleeding stops.

Jewel wasn't crying. I think she snapped out of her trance and remembered she was a bossbitch, so she was determined to help me help this guy, especially since he was attractive. I could see the appeal, even if he was pale and sweaty. I didn't know Jewel for long, at most, maybe a day, but I can tell he is her type.