When the Dawn Breaks [TBAU]

☆ Chapter 31 ☆

TWs: Injury, many medical inaccuracies, panic attacks, as well as suicidal thoughts and discussions thereof.
Ye have been warned
————
If Bdubs was being entirely honest, he was panicking right about now. Everything had happened so fast and so hecticly– could you blame him?

He'd moved forward before it all went down to get a better view of Tango and Impulse's match. He'd watched Keralis wander into the range to gather loose arrows, not noticing the two currently firing. He'd seen Impulse's shot line up perfectly, hitting Keralis as he stepped into the line of fire, and bringing him down. If Bdubs had screamed when it happened, no one noticed in the chaos.

Zedaph had been the first one to react, jumping between Tango and Impulse and calling out a warning to Keralis just a moment too late. Impulse and Tango both fumbled and dropped their bows once the shot had been fired, while both Stress and xB bounded forward and jumped over the small fence into the range, ignoring the risk of getting shot themselves. xB took hold of Keralis while Stress tried to study his injury. Zed, meanwhile, called out for all others to stop shooting, zipping across the range waving his hands over his head.

Ren had been the only other hermit shooting at the time, on his own at the end of the range, and he was quick to throw down his bow and arrows and run over, eyes blown open with fear. Cleo and False had been about to start a game, but they ditched their bows in favor of running into the range to stand beside Stress and xB in worry. With those four surrounding Keralis, the other hermits started to swarm around him too, Bdubs himself included.

In fact, there wasn't a single hermit there that didn't come in close, everyone suddenly engulfed by an all consuming wave of worry and fear. Bdubs watched Impulse in particular drop to his knees, a string of incoherent apologies leaving him as soon as he hit the ground.

Bdubs peered over someone's shoulder to see Keralis' arrow wound, though he didn't glimpse much more than the obvious. The arrow had been sent through his back, just below his shoulder blade, its tip peeking from his chest, which was now starting to steadily soak itself in deep red blood.

Bdubs couldn't tell whether the sight made him want to throw up or cry or both. It did make his heart thud scarily faster than before, though.

Thoughts started to invade his head that he'd never heard before. Little voices screaming and whispering at him, telling him that he was watching his friend die. It didn't matter how many times Stress muttered "he's gonna be okay," to the crowd while digging through her bag looking for void knows what. Keralis was dead and dying–

No, no he had to be okay! Keralis couldn't die, he couldn't, not here, not now. Bdubs couldn't seem to stop his head from spiraling around and around and around, or his stomach from churning uncomfortably with his thoughts. Keralis couldn't die.

Bdubs tried to push past someone in front of him to see Keralis. He needed to see him, see his face, see that he was okay. He couldn't- he had to be okay- he–

"I need EVERYONE to BACK AWAY fer a SECOND!" Stress cried out desperately, and the crowd parted for her, everyone except xB scrambling backwards so that she could get to Keralis.

Bdubs stumbled several paces back, almost tripping over the archery range fence before stopping and catching his breath.

"It's okay, it's gonna be okay," he whispered to himself, wrapping himself in his arms. He'd gotten pushy, but he didn't need to be in the way because of his worry. Stress was a skilled medic, she could handle this, Bdubs knew she could.

That didn't stop his fear, though.

He tried to counter his anxiety by taking a moment to be still, to breathe, and to listen and watch Stress.