This Tomboy Doesn't Like Change!

Bite The Bullet

Brantley pins Luke's arms down. "Luke I need you to bite the bullet." I say calmly while putting the bullet between his teeth.

He latches on to the bullet immediately. "Brantley you got his arms pinned good?" I ask. Brantley nods in response.

I untie the strip of my shirt. Then I start cutting away some of Luke's pants leg. Once I was done with that I put the pliers into the wound.

That's when Luke started struggling. I dug deeper. I could feel the bullet. I opened the pliers ever so slightly.

I latched onto the bullet and started pulling it out. Luke started struggling more. I yanked it once last time and it came out.

Then I look at Luke. He spits the bullet out. I look back at the wound it's gushing blood.

I put my hands on it to apply pressure. "Brantley go to the supply shelf and look for an ammunition can that has a clean shirt in it." I tell him.

He lets go of Luke's arms and walks over to the shelf and starts looking.

He comes back with a shirt. "Rip a strip of the shirt off then hand it to me." I command.

He then rips a strip off and hands it to me. I grab it. I tie it around Luke's leg tightly.

I look back at Luke and I see that he's unconscious again. "Brantley I'm gonna have to pull your bullet out too." I tell him.

I grab the bullet Luke spit out. Then I walk over to Brantley's cot. Brantley sits down on the cot then he lies down on it.

I hand him the bullet and he puts it in between his teeth. Okay I have what remains of the clean shirt so I can tie up the wound.

I cut away his shirt sleeve. Then I take the pliers and dig into the wound.

I don't dig too deep when I feel the bullet. I open the pliers ever so slightly. I latch onto the bullet and pull it out.

Then I take a strip of the shirt and tie it tightly around the wound. I look at Brantley and I see he is still awake.

He spits out the bullet and I grab it. I put it into my pocket for safe keeping.

"See it wasn't that bad." I tell him. He gives me a weak smile in response.

I walk over to my cot. I lie down it's hard to get comfortable with all of the little bits of shrapnel in my skin.

But eventually I do get comfortable and I close my eyes. "In the morning Brantley will have to pull out all of the shrapnel." I tell Not Subconscious.

Then I slowly drift off to sleep.

(The dream.)

"You are ours!" Thorin growls. "Never! I belong to no one." I snarl at him.

"You are our mate! You belong to us!" Thorn growls. "I'll die before I belong to you two!" I snarl.

"Fine then we will have to use the last resort!" They say with an evil grin. "Last resort?" I question.

Slowly they approach me with their claws extended. "Yes the last resort." They snarl.

(End of dream.)

I open my eyes. Where am I? Then it all comes back to me. The bombs and the bunker.

"Uhh." Someone groans. I stand up and stretch. "Uhh." The person groans again.

I walk over to the cot that seems to be groaning. "Cole are you feeling alright?" I ask.

"It hurts like hell." He mutters. "Where does it hurt?" I ask. "My stomach." He mutters.

"Where on your stomach?" I ask. He points to the left side of his stomach. I take the scissors and cut his shirt.

"There's no visible wound are you sure this is where it hurts?" I ask him. "Yes I'm sure look harder." He snarls.

Aha there right on the side of his stomach. It looks like a bullet just grazed him.

I look closer. I see no bullet entry point so it must have just grazed him.

Why this knocked him unconscious I will never know. God works in strange ways.

"Cole your gonna be fine it just grazed you." I tell him. "But it fucking hurts!" He cursed. "I know but you're gonna be alright." I then wrap a strip of my shirt around his body so it would help stop his bleeding. "Do we have any water?" Cole asks.

"I'll look." I tell him while walking over to the supply shelf. I look around till I find a gallon of water and a cup.

I pour the water into the cup. I grab the cup and I take it over to Cole. "Thanks Nathan." He says while grasping the cup.

"Any time Cole any time." I say with a smile. I watch as he takes a sip of the water. "Who all survived?" He asks after a while of silence.

"You, Brantley, Luke, and me." I say while looking at the floor. "Well obviously you and me are alive." He laughs.

"Are Luke and Brantley alright?" He asks. "Yes they should be fine I had to pull out a bullet out of each of them but they should be fine." I say while looking Cole in the eyes.

He quickly looks down. "Nathan?" A voice asks from across the room. "I'm here Luke do you need anything?" I ask while walking over to him.

"I'm hungry do we have any food?" He asks with a hopeful glint in his eye. "I'll see what we have." I tell him.

I look through all of the supplies. Here it is. A can of tomatoes. "This will have to do for now." I tell Luke. "Don't eat too much there has to be enough for the others." I tell him sternly.

He opens the lid of the can and inhales deeply. "Do you have a fork or spoon?" He asks. "Nope sorry Luke you'll just have to use your hands." I tell him.

I watch as he pulls out a few chunks of tomato. He eats them slowly. "Nathaniel?" Brantley asks.

"I'm coming." I say. My wounds can wait. Taking care of these injured boys is gonna be hard work!

( 7 days later.)

I sit at the bottom of the ladder sharpening a stick with one of my knives. When I hear the latch start creaking.

"Get down and hide." I whisper urgently. I quickly start climbing up the ladder waiting for the lid to open.