Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

FortyFour - Kyle

"Kyle," Joel said. His hand slapping my face. I pried my lids open, looking up... from the ground? I didn't remember falling to the ground. The fact that it was dark outside now meant I didn't remember passing out either. "Didn't think to mention you were shot?"

A smile touched my lips. "Didn't seem important."

"You're a damn idiot," he said. "Drink up sleeping beauty."

He pushed a water bottle into my hands. I must have looked confused because he chuckled a little before explaining.

"Jamie remembered that some of the kids used to play way out here. Well, that way, but sneaking through the woods was easy. I think all their men are inside the church now. They kept water and snacks in a hole in a tree." He paused, making a face. "You've lost too much blood. The ain't too bad, missed everything important, looks like. Got the bleeding under control. Bet you're missing that trauma bag about now. A nice shot of morphine would probably be nice, huh?"

I looked down at my left leg, suddenly aware of the breeze I was feeling. Joel had cut my pants just above the wound and used the extra material to dress up the wound. I might look a bit ridiculous with one blood streaked pale leg, but at least I wasn't loosing anymore blood.

"Wouldn't complain."

"Ever think you'd miss the goddammed dessert?" He shook his head. "I hate to do this to you, but... we got fuckin' go. Drink the water, brother. Then get your ass up."

"Where are we?"

He looked at Bambi and Jamie and then lowered his voice. "Not far enough. Just had to get them away, you know."

And with that, the last hour... maybe two, I wasn't sure, slammed down on me. Knowing we couldn't stay here - it wasn't safe to remain so close, I chugged the bottle and handed it back to Joel who pocketed it and then offered a hand. Feeling weak - exhausted - I let him help me up and shifted so that I had as little weight on my left leg as possible.

"A little more than 20 miles to base."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I can make it."

We walked - limped, whatever - a lot slower than we should have been moving. And it was entirely my fault. Without my bag, without any of our things painkillers were non-existent. And without the adrenaline of gunfire the pain shot through my entire leg with every step. Joel took the lead, and he was really the only one carrying his weight. He was carrying Bambi's too after about an hour when the poor kid was nearly falling down tired.

I grunted, bending to sit and leaned against a tree. "Fuck," I groaned out. "You should keep going."

"Not happening," Joel said letting Bambi off his back.

We hadn't gotten more than a couple miles away, maybe three but definitely not four in almost two hours since we'd picked ourselves up to move. On a good day, we averaged between five and six miles an hour, keeping up a fast walk or jog most of the way from Hudson to the church. I was slowing us way down at a time when we really couldn't afford to be slowed down.

"Just take five minutes," he said. "I could use it too."

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't call out his lie.

"You think they made it?" I asked resting my head against the trunk of a tree and closing my eyes. I hadn't let myself go there but now it was at the forefront of my mind. They had us staked out. Had to have. Somehow we missed them. Patrolling like crazy and we managed to overlook that many people. I didn't know how long they'd been there, waiting for us to show up. Or why they waited for us to split up... unless they thought it would be easier to pick us off if we were separated. They obviously hadn't been looking for a fair fight out there.