The Great War

={Chapter 24: Finding Hope}=

={WARNING: BLOOD AND ANIMAL WOUNDS}=

Molten and Bryan walked into the clearing in front of the work-in-progress cabin, and Molten flinched as he caught the smell of blood in the wind. "What happened?" Molten asked with a worried tone, quickly looking Bryan up and down to check that he hadn't overlooked any wounds on Bryan, and he started looking around the area when he confirmed Bryan was unharmed. "Brownie, she-, the golden eagle attacked her, I'm not sure if she made it or not," Bryan replied with a shaky voice, he was trying to remain calm and hope for the best, but he couldn't help thinking of the worse at the same time. Bryan and Molten searched the are, but they only found large splatters of blood on the ground where Bryan said he had last saw Brownie. Molten's ear twitched and he stood up straight, looking in the direction he heard a faint, weak mew came from. "You hear something?" Bryan asked as he stood up too, and also looked in the direction that Molten was staring in. Molten nodded and the two walked in such direction, searching around again with desperate hope. "Molten! I found her!" Bryan yelled, Molten turned and saw he was crouched in front of a bush, and he was lifting up hanging branches, which Brownie had been hiding under. "Shit, I'll see if we have anything that could help in the med kit that I left you," Molten stated before he ran over to the bag that had left for Bryan, and dug out the med kit, rushing back over to Bryan and Brownie. "Here, let's get her out from under the bush," Molten stated as he sat down the med kit behind Bryan, and Bryan nodded, reaching and gently pulling Brownie out from under the bush as Molten held the branches out of the way. Bryan gently laid Brownie on the ground, she was still bleeding from deep gashes on her torso and head, Molten pulled out stitching thread and a needle, wiping down the needle and Brownie's wounds with a medical cleaning wipe before he gave Bryan a nod. Bryan nodded back and held Brownie down as gently as he could as Molten began stitching Brownie's deepest wounds.

By the time Molten finished stitching Brownie's wounds, and cleaning the blood off of her and cleaning the shallow cuts on her, the sun was past its midway point in the sky. "Alright, come on, we'll have to carry her, let's try and get to this building as soon as we can," Molten stated with a sympathetic tone as he stood and put everything unused back into the med kit, Bryan nodded and stood, holding Brownie in his arms with tear filled eyes. "It's ok, she'll be alright," Molten stated with a reassuring tone as he wrapped an arm around Bryan's shoulders, and Bryan nodded as he leaned against Molten as much as he could while the two walked, following the map that Ennard had given them.

+{Two Day Time Skip}+

Molten and Bryan walked into a small clearing in the birch forest they had entered, this forest was the last place on the map, and the map showed that the building they were supposed to find was somewhere in the middle of this forest. Bryan's stomach let out a faint growl as he stepped over a large stick, and Molten looked back at him with a curious expression. "You wanna stop for a minute and find some food?" Molten asked with a curious and kind tone, Bryan had been living off of river water and fish that Molten had cooked over campfires, but the two couldn't get Brownie to drink or eat anything. "No, I can wait until we find the building we're looking for," Bryan replied with a soft tone, both his worry and heavy sympathy for Brownie had been weighing down his usual cheerful personality, he hadn't been speaking much, but when he did, his voice was always either sad or just quiet. "You sure? I don't mind finding a squirrel or something," Molten replied with a worried tone, Bryan had also been minimizing his food, because of his emotions. "I'm sure, because there's the building," Bryan replied as he climbed up onto a small rock, and then pointed through the forest ahead of him and Molten. Molten followed Bryan's gaze, and barley spotted the outline of a building up ahead through the trees. "Come on, let's get there before the sun starts going down," Molten stated as he began walking toward the building, and Bryan gave a slow nod before following him, Molten paused for a moment and let Bryan get beside him, taking Bryan's hand in his as they walked towards the building together.