Are We Alive?

Five: Snapdragon

Snapdragon–strength

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Crawling out of the wrecked van at the bottom of the marsh was harder than it needed to be.

Rin hoped his luck would hold out, but he knew deep down he'd sustain some injuries.

For starters, he knew he'd hit his head on the wheel hard enough to make his vision blur in and out. It was disorienting and he wanted to vomit every time he moved, but he needed to get away from the van.

He wasn't fast enough, so of course, it exploded and threw him into a tree. He blacked out and woke back up choking on water at the bottom of the marsh, which tasted absolutely horrible. Fortunately for his group, the plan worked and the dead were all flocking to the burning van.

Unfortunately for Rin, he was still there and could barely think straight enough to even take inventory on his injuries. He pulled himself up using a tree, but the world tilted and he clapped a hand over his mouth. He swallowed down the bile and blinked the black dots out of his eyes. One ear was ringing, he hoped that wasn't permanent. Blood was running into his left eye and he wiped at it. The action didn't do much,more blood just flower down into it.

When he tried to walk, pain arced up his left leg from his ankle. Okay. So that might be fractured or broken. Good to know.

He limped very slowly. Fortunately, his sword was still with him, so he could haphazardly lop off the heads of the dead while leaning on the blade occasionally. Hopefully, he wouldn't end up accidentally falling on his sword in some butchered form of Seppuku. His breath was rattling in his chest and he really hoped he didn't have internal bleeding. There was at least one rib broken for sure, though. His throat was sore and burned from inhaling smoke and he coughed. He gagged a few times before finally losing his lunch in the midst of the coughing fit.

Everything hurt. Moving hurt. Breathing hurt. Seeing and hearing hurt.

So he was in very bad shape. It was a miracle he was even on his feet.

Rin couldn't think well. His head hurt, his eyesight was shit, he couldn't walk on his ankle, he couldn't breathe and he had no resources other than his sword.

He concentrated as best he could on just limping. Keep going. Just keep going until he didn't hear them anymore.

Eventually, he tripped and fell, which didn't help any of his injuries. He dragged himself to a tree and sat up against it. He was done.

It got harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He felt another coughing fit overtake him as he hunched over and dry heaved more.

His body ran out of energy and he settled down. Finally, his eyes remained closed. He couldn't tell if he stopped breathing or not, but he passed out against the rough bark of the tree.

§~•~§~•~§

"Shima, you have to be careful!" Konekomeru worriedly bandaged the cut on the teen's forehead.

"M'fine Koneko." He mumbled. They'd found some kind of hunters cabin. There was a couple cans of dog food and cranberry sauce, which had been their dinner that night. Some corpses had come shambling up to the black-haired boy when he was gathering firewood. Shima fell and sustained a small cut on his head, but it was nothing to worry about. They took care of the dead and hurried back inside.

"How do you think everyone else is?" The smaller teen asked quietly.

"I don't know, Koneko. I hope Rin is okay, but there's no way he's not injured after that drop. I think I saw Bon, Izumo, Torako, and the kids all run to one of the buildings. Shiemi and Shura are safe with the Amazon women. No clue where Paku went at all." Shima answered honestly.