Ordinaries

Chapter 6

After wandering around and getting lost a few times, Jade and I found the others sprawled out in a clearing well into the woods—I guessed the others had run for a while, and I didn't blame them. Noah sat with Camila, holding her hand as she moaned and groaned. He'd ripped part of his shirt off and wrapped it around her wound. The fabric was still mostly the same color, dotted with only a bit of blood. I took that as a good sign.

Jade and I hurried over to join them. Camila breathed slowly in and out, her eyes closed in concentration. I realized she was trying to control her breaths with breathing exercises, a good idea considering the shock which had probably resulted from the bullet wound. I sighed in relief. It looked like everything was okay after all.

Jade, however, simply looked confused. She switched her gaze between Camila's wound and face before looking at the ground around her. Her face hardened. "Don't tell me you guys left the damn bullet in her leg."

Eric and Noah tensed up, exchanging guilty looks. They didn't need to say anything else. I gave them incredulous looks. "You left a bullet in her leg? What do you think this is, an active war zone?"

Noah avoided my eyes. "No, of course not," he said. "But we weren't even thinking of that. We just wanted to get somewhere safe, away from those senile old maniacs."

I backed down a bit. Noah was right; the most important had been to get to safety. Still, we were fine now; that bullet, if it was still in there, needed to come out. "You're right," I said. He looked up hopefully. "We're sorry for jumping on you guys."

"Regardless," Jade interjected, not sounding sorry at all, "now we need to assess the injury. Are you okay with that, Camila?"

Camila opened an eye, looking down at her leg. "I don't care," she groaned. "Whatever you have to do to get it to stop hurting."

"Alright then," Jade clucked. "Let's check this leg out. Camila, we're going to lift your leg up to see if there's an exit wound, okay?" Camila nodded, letting out a long breath as she continued her breathing exercises.

Jade bent back down and lifted her leg a bit, peering at the back of it before sitting back up with a sigh. "No exit wound. Which means that thing is still in there."

Camila dejectedly dropped her head back onto the ground. "Great. More pain. I love pain. It's literally my favorite thing in the whole entire world."

I smiled at her sarcasm. At least her humor was intact. "Don't worry, it's not going to hurt too badly. It'll be over before you know it."

She smiled ruefully. "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright," Jade said, rolling up her sleeves. "I don't suppose anybody brought a first-aid kit like a sensible adult?"

We all looked guiltily at each other; even though we'd all had them in our apartments, apparently nobody had thought to pick one up before leaving.

"That's fine," she continued. "We'll make do. Does anybody have anything that could work just as well? Like a pair of tiny plyers or something?"

Eric perked up from where he was sitting. "I've got some tweezers in my bag!" Jade looked at him questioningly, causing Eric to blush blood red. "What? I like to keep my eyebrows in order. Sue me."

Jade shrugged and put her hand out. "Hey, I'm not saying anything. As long as you've got them. Hand them over."

Eric searched through his backpack for a few seconds and pulled out a pair of thin, silver tweezers. He handed them to Jade with a serious look. "Don't mess them up. I won't make it long without them."