Opal 77: Skewed Space (Jerrie)

Part 29

"Aw! Fuck! Yes I felt that!" Jade cried from her spot against the single tree towering over the smallest body of water the brunette had ever seen.

"Can you... move your fingers?" Leigh-Anne asked worriedly. Her hands were hovering near Jade's arm as if to do something, but she didn't know what. Jade only shook her head, biting her lip when even that movement hurt.

"What do we do?"

"We... make a splint, I think?"

"Leigh, do you even know how to do that?"

"Theoretically, yes. I took first aid in school..."

"Check the pods for something."

"Right."

As Leigh-Anne ran back to the wreckage Jade passed on praise to whatever high being was out there for allowing their pods to crash near each other. It had been Leigh-Anne who bravely pulled Jade from the burning wreckage, setting up a small camp beside this tree, and shooting off a flare for help. Jade felt like her arm was on fire, her neck was sore from whiplash and her legs felt like concrete, but her arm made everything else seem so small. Like a paper cut.

"Okay so, we have some good news and some bad news."

"What is it?" Jade growled. She didn't mean to sound so angry, but she could barely keep it together.

"The first aid kit um, was on fire— it's not anymore though!"

Jade let out a loud groan, resting her head against the tree in frustration.

"So yeah, it's a really good thing that we didn't loose a limb because," She paused as she held up what remained of the kit, it opened unceremoniously and dumped half the contents onto the sand. "Well um, most of the bandages burnt up."

"So what's useful?" Jade asked, her tone strained as she tried finding a more comfortable spot. She felt like she was going to pass out. "Any anesthetics?"

"Why, you getting tired of me already?" Leigh-Anne joked as she started to make the splint.

"More like I would rather not feel like I'm dying!" Jade shouted. Leigh-Anne's face fell as she watched the silent tears fall from her friends eyes. Her face was all scrunched up and full of forlorn. "My arm is broken! My head hearts and I just want it to stop. Perrie's not even here, and we're stuck in this stupid desert! The people who were after us probably sent another ship. We'll be found, but at what cost? They'll take her away."

Leigh-Anne carefully wiped the tears from Jade's cheeks, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I swear to you that won't happen."

"How can you be sure?" She whispered with desperation, clutching at the hope her friend was giving her with greedy hands.

"Well... It's Perrie we're talking about. How many times have you seen her almost die?" Leigh-Anne said, getting a slight smile out of her friend at those words. "And the fact that she found you. She will never stay away, she'll always come back to you."

After a few more tears Leigh-Anne passed her friend a bottle, nodding wordlessly as she helped her drink it. She made a soft resting place for Jade to lay on, brushing her hair out of her face as she dabbed at little cuts. It took a bit of psyching up, but after awhile, Leigh-Anne set Jade's arm. Even the piece of cloth in Jade's mouth couldn't stop that scream from traveling far, far enough for a certain ex-marine to hear.

"Jesus Christ." Jesy mumbled, turning in the direction of the scream. She had seen a flair shoot up into the sky, leaving a trail of red smoke behind it. But she had yet to decide if it was a trap or not. There would be escape pods from that ship that had stalked them no doubt. It looked as if it could carry a crew of thousands. The rag tag group would surely run into them at some point. Plus she knew that there would be people already living on this planet. Who knew how dangerous they could be.