🌵STUCK IN THE DESERT WITH U🌵

*Fifteen*{Kc's P.O.V.}

I stayed up with Criss all that night keeping his fever down, and holding him close to my heart...praying for a miracle, I knew we couldn't stay there, I had to keep him moving, we had to find civilization or any person. I packed up everything and headed out to fill up every container we had with water, then I dug up roots, plants, and more prickly pear fruit and packed it so I wouldn't have to search for food. I kept his leg cleaned out and always replacing the aloe vera over the bite until I could get to the right area that had some healing plants for snakebites...but what I really needed was to catch one of those birds, for it was the best natural way to suck the venom out of the bite.

I helped Criss up and told him he needed to stay with me as I wrapped his arm around my neck so I could be his crutch. I kept him going with me for hours, he wanted to stop so many times but I knew if he stopped and laid down...he would never be getting up again. So when he started to drag me down, I would just hold more of his weight and drag him with me. The only time I let him rest was when I was redressing the bite. The coloration of his leg was really beginning to scare me, but what scared me more was when Criss kept telling me it was over, and I needed to just leave him there and save myself. That's when I got pissed off, and slapped the shit out of him and told him I wasn't going to let him go out like that!!

He looked at me in shock that I actually hit him...I told him that he kept dragging me all the times that I wanted to give up because he was too stubborn to quit or give up and die in this fucking desert!! Now it was my turn, and I was going to drag his ass the rest of the way...because I wasn't going to let him die out here! Because I wasn't going to let him get out of marrying me that easily! I got him to give me a little smile on that remark, then I pulled him back to his feet, and told him we were going to make it out, because if he died on me, I was going to kill myself, just to follow him and kick his ass for lying to me...after I got him to laugh at me, and change the mood of giving up that he had, I kissed his hand and told him that I loved him.

Criss stopped, and put his hand on my cheek and very sincerely told me that he loved me too. I gave him a smile and told him now that it was settled we needed to keep moving because we had a long way to go before it was time to make camp. He gave me a slight moan in disapproval, but he tried very hard to walk with me instead of letting me carry all of his weight...even though I knew his leg was killing him, that the pain had to be excruciating. But I kept working on it as much as I could. It was while we were taking a slight rest to eat and drink when I heard the bird noises I jumped up and grabbed the sheet. Luckily Criss didn't have the energy to turn around and watch me make a total ass of myself trying to catch the damn things. After about half an hour of chasing them, I finally caught some in the sheet, as I reached in and grabbed one at a time I had to woman up and instead of bothering Criss with them...I closed my eyes and snapped their necks...as I cringed and apologized to them.

I quickly grabbed his knife, and cut one of the birds open, and removed the bandage from Criss's leg, and placed the open, raw, bloody bird on his wound...then as I wrapped it up, Criss looked at me with a little weakened disgust, and asked me how that was going to help him, wasting good food on that. I stood up and kissed him and told him that the birds raw meat pressed tightly up against the snake bite would magically draw out the venom from his leg, and into the raw meat of the bird. Then I paused for a few minutes and said that my great-grandmother Nana taught me, and she was born and raised on the Apache reservation and that Apache's were a desert, people.

After Criss and I walked for a few more hours the sun was slowly beginning to go down again, but this time I was hoping that it would stay out just a little longer, so we could keep moving because I didn't want Criss to lay down and sleep, afraid that he wouldn't wake up if he did. But the bird was doing its job on his leg, and when I removed the wrapping the coloration of his leg was a little lighter, and the swelling wasn't so bad. I even noticed that Criss had a little bit more energy this evening...I just didn't know if it was a good thing or a very bad thing...like the calm before the storm. Criss helped me make camp then he made the fire and asked if we could eat one of the birds I caught...but I told him absolutely not, that they were the only thing I had to help save him, and he would just have to suck it up and eat the plants with me.

He folded his arms with utter disgust and stuck his nose up in the air as I handed him the prickly pear fruit, so I ate mine and when he didn't touch his I playfully smashed it on his nose a little bit and said he could either eat it, or he would wear it. He looked at me and snickered a little bit, and took the plants and began eating it...but said he really wanted that damn bird to eat. When we finally got everything ate I carved up the second bird and placed it on his wound and wrapped it fairly tightly then I laid down beside him and told him to tell me if he began to feel strange so I could get him up and moving again...no matter what time it was he kissed me and promised he would.