A Place To Bloom

Medical Kit

Cries of a man shrieking in pain filled the forest behind me, silencing everything around us, and we all turned to see what happened.

Behind Rock, Renou was on the ground, still screaming in blood-curdling agony—his right foot was buried in a hole in the ground halfway to his knee. He cried loud and hard, "OH GODS! OH GODS! AHH!"

Borel slapped the back of his head, "get up, man! Just stand up! Come on!"

He tried to lift it out, then shrieked again. Gino and Jame each took one shoulder and tried to pull him up, but he shrieked even harder, screaming out as no man I'd ever heard before.

"STOP!" I shouted, then ran over for a closer look.

Borel stood with his arms crossed. "It's just a mud hole, man, what's going on?"

But there was blood.

Malchuk then waved his arms at the whole group and spoke forcefully, "it's a trap! Everyone, make a perimeter!"

Davod nodded, then directed men around us in a circle, facing outward with bows drawn.

As for Renou, he sat down in the mud with his right leg caught in the hole and tears cascading down his cheeks, still whimpering hard. There were tufts of moss around, and when I moved those out of the way, I saw it. Buried in the ground was a wooden box the size of a human foot. A large knife had stuck upwards through the center of his boot, and blood was oozing out to make a slurry with the mud beneath. At the sides of the box were three more blades angled down, each of which had dug into the leather of his boot, each letting more blood and keeping his foot trapped.

Davod turned from the jungle to face me. "How bad is it?"

I breathed out slowly and tried to figure out the best way to go about the situation. "It's bad. This is going to take some time."

"We don't have time. We have to move. Now."

I looked up at Davod. "He can't move. There's knives everywhere dug into him, this big one is barbed, we're stuck here. I can get him out, but this is going to be a while."

Davod swallowed. "This is the tactic, Caleb. Trap one man, he screams, now they know our position. We stay to look after him, they sneak up and kill us all. We have to move."

I shook my head. "I told you, Renou can't move. I need time..."

"There's no time! We have to go, now!"

"And what about Renou?"

Davod blinked a few times and swallowed. Then with a deep breath, "we have to leave him." He turned to Renou, who was so buried in pain that he scarcely heard what was being said. "I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. I have to look out..."

I nearly shouted, "are you out of your bloody mind, man? We can't just..."

Borel stepped beside Davod, "we can, and we bloody will. I'm not sticking around to get ambushed. Let's go." He took Jame's arm and they started to walk off.

Davod nearly shouted after him, "anyone who separates from the group is dead!"

Geraln shook his head and closed his eyes. Then with a deep breath, he knelt and put a hand on Renou's shoulder. "I'm sorry, man, but Davod is right. We stick around, we're all dead."

I glared at Geraln, "if it were your foot caught in the trap?"

Davod slapped my shoulder, "we don't have time for this, man!"

I didn't feel like looking at him. "I'm not leaving him."

Davod insisted, "you have to."

"Do what you must. I'm not leaving him."