Remembering Alice

Avery

"I'm not in the mood to talk right now." The skin had been burnt through and it was clear that the wound would get infected without the right medical supplies.

It sucked that they lost those supplies an oasis ago because it had been stolen from them.

It sucked even more that Avery was crippled and walking was a much more slower task.

But on top of all that, they were still a day away from the next oasis, and that looked like more than another day or two with Avery's injury, that's if they could survive out here long enough.

"All I'm saying is it doesn't look too bad." Bodie had cut away the pant of her leg to expose the mess and now her skin was exposed to the elements. Today was not going well.

Bodie looked over at Preston with a look of grim turmoil. "No shit. Preston, this needs serious medical attention. There might be poison in that acid and Avery could be dead from the next hours up until tomorrow." He didn't look at her when he said, "I don't think we're going to make it."

"Then leave me." She told them. "I'm only dead weight, what's the use of carrying me around? I'll eat through your rations and wear you out more than you already are. Not to forget infection would kill me if nothing else will." She was being awfully callous about it, factual to the root, but to be honest, she was terrified. She couldn't die yet, not when she had so many questions and a full life ahead of her.

She couldn't just die because of a little scratch could she?

"We're not leaving you." Bodie told her. She was grateful the big oaf had just as big a heart underneath all that testosterone, but it got in the way more often than it should when the time was necessary.

"Yeah, we can't. You're like our resident cheer person." Preston chimed in. "Besides, what would we do without you to prevent either of us killing each other out here." Preston held out his hand and pulled her onto her feet.

"Then I guess I can't be dead weight." Avery told them both. "But we need do something about this leg." She seethed as another bout of burning sensation travelled up he nerves and make her teeth clench. A colder wind blew past but didn't but it hadn't been strong enough to stir up any sand to get trapped in her wound.

"Sterile cloth would be much needed, but all we have is what we have." Bodie had pulled off his pack he was carrying ad scrounged through the bag, unfortunately coming up empty. "Preston, how about you?"

He searched through his much smaller bag and shook his head in sorrow. "Sorry, Aves."

"No giving up yet." Avery unwrapped the cloth that was covering her scabbard proceeded to rip it into pieces with a little help from her dagger. "I figure this is the next best thing, Bodie?" She asked him. They kept their weapons cleaned, all the time. They needed to be for the best maintenance, otherwise they were with just a blunt and rusty sword that couldn't cut.

"Let me do it." Bodie took the scrap of cloth from her and began using the water from his canteen sparingly. It hurt Avery to see how much water they were using on her, it hurt even more though when Bodie began to clean off of her wound.

And through it all she wanted to scream.

"How's the leg?" Preston asked her after a while. The day was ending and the sun was getting closer to the horizon. In the distance, Avery swore she saw a lone palm tree and like little children blocks stacked up on the sand, were buildings silhouetted against the skyline.

"Holding up." She said. "I'd like to say I've gotten worse, but this feels like the worst." She wanted to touch the cloth wrapped around her leg, but she didn't want to disturb it. It had bled in the first few seconds that Bodie had begun cleaning it, it had seeped through the material and the look of panic on his face hadn't been a good reflection back on her.