The Departed

Ch. 6

"His heartbeat is slow, but it's strong-" Laurie says moving her head away from the Guardian's chest. She walks around the table and peels back the bandage on the Guardian's shoulder. "-his wound is pretty deep but I managed to stop the bleeding." She says covering the wound back up.

"Do you know what happened?" She asks looking up at me. I shake my head.

"No, I just...found him like this. I thought they were both dead...I didn't think..." I let myself drift off. Out of all the lies I had told Laurie and Peter this was the one thing I wasn't lying about. There was no way I could have ever imagined that he would have survived my arrow. 

"They?" Laurie asks breaking me out of my thoughts.

"There was two of them-" Peter replies stepping forward. "-an older Guardian, probably his mentor but he was already dead."

"What does this mean?-" I ask pointing towards the unconscious man lying on the table. "-will he heal?"

"In time." Laurie responds. "His muscle could be torn-"

"How long?" I ask cutting her off. Laurie takes a deep breath and looks down at the Guardian. Her eyes roam over his shoulder and then down the length of his body.

"Three to four weeks, maybe more-" She answers shaking her head. "-I can't be sure how badly he's injured. I don't have anything to give him."

"That's too long." I push myself away from the table. Laurie's blue eyes meet mine, she was pleading with me.  Peter had filled her in while she was checking him, if he wasn't strong enough we would leave him. Laurie wouldn't leave anyone behind, ever. 

"He's dead weight-" I say pointing towards his shoulder. "-how is he suppose to defend himself if he can't even move his arm?" Silence fills the room. I begin to pace back and forth, we had already lost a lot of time. It was the middle of the night, we wouldn't be able to move until morning.

"I'll watch him." I turn and look at Peter.

"No. He's nothing but a problem."

"Then let him be my problem-" Peter retorts "-I'll watch him, I'll protect him if anything happens that's on me." He was stubborn. I clench my jaw and close my eyes. I needed to make a decision now, before either one of them did.

"I'll take first watch, you two need sleep. We'll have to make up the time we lost tomorrow." I say without looking at either of them. I drop my cross-bow from my shoulder and pull it forward. I had five arrows left, and they were all a bit frayed. I would need to get new ones, but for that I would need a tree. Good luck finding one. My sub-conscious tells me. I roll my eyes, if we weren't in the middle of a damn city then maybe I could find one.

"What about-"

"I'll watch him." I reply cutting Laurie off. I load an arrow into the cross-bow. "-you two go get some sleep." Without waiting for their responses I walk out of the room. The only good thing about being in the city was the buildings provided cover. They sheltered us from the cold and kept us out of sight. They also had their disadvantages, we couldn't see very far because the whole city was jam-packed. Buildings sat tightly together and if Guardians were to check the block I wouldn't be able to spot them until they were right in front of the building.

Matthew had done us some justice and picked out an office building. The walls that faced the city were made of glass which made it easier for me to watch the roads down below. Guardians aren't the only thing you have to fear. My sub-conscious whispers.

"I know." I whisper to myself. They weren't the only thing I had to fear, but we were on the second highest floor of the building. At this height there was no way anything was going to come up, and if it did, it would have to go through me.