Bigfoot

14.

I'm so so so so sorry for the delay! The wind was so awful, it knocked out power lines, internet lines, all that good stuff! 

Shew, I'm glad for it to be back on y'all! 

He was losing too much blood.

Azzalea ripped her cotton night gowns into long pieces and packed River's wounds after cleaning them the best she could.

River grew more tired by the second. Eventually he gave up trying to ease the female's mind of his suffering and just allowed her to do what she wanted.

The liquid she poured on his open wounds burned him. "Fawn! You are killing me."

"Hush River, this alcohol is cleaning it." Azzalea blew on his skin. It was all she knew to do.

The fight had been rough. It had been years since he last fought something with the same strength he had. He only won because he outsmarted the creature, not because he was stronger.

The female spoke to him rapidly. River moaned as she stuffed his wounds with more cloth.

In the midst of her tending to him, River cupped her head in his palm. "Azzalea." He growled.

She stopped and looked up to his honey colored eyes. He smiled at her with pain. He looked like he was admitting something. Like he was about to tell her goodbye. The tears welled up quicker than she could control and they burst from her eyes.

"Don't you dare... Don't you fucking dare... You.. Can't leave... Me.. Now."

River leaned forward. She wasn't going to understand what was about to happen. He had no idea how to convey what was to come next. He felt his body begin to shut down.

Azzalea watched as he limped to the stone door and rolled it slightly.. Just wide enough for her to crawl through.

"I have to sleep Fawn. I have to sleep."

Azzalea shook her head and placed her hands on his chest. "River, no...No!" She begged him. This couldn't be happening. She had packed his wounds. He was still bleeding but not as bad. She knew he was making it so she could get out when he died.

River sat down on the bed and took her shaking hands in his. He offered her another weak smile. "I love you Azzalea."

Azzalea sobbed in his bloodied chest. "No, no, no." She grabbed on to him as he laid down. "River, I love you so much. Please, I love you so so much."

River cupped her chin and planted a kiss on her lips. "If the ancestors are kind, I will awake... River and Azza-"

Azzalea watched in horror as his head rolled back and he became unconscious. Slumping over in the bed.

~~~~

"I can't take it anymore!"

Emily slipped her flip flop off her foot and slapped it on the counter. Killing three roaches at the same time. "Erik, I can't -" her voice broke, "I just fucking can't."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Erik slapped his hands on his knees. "Its not my fucking fault." He glanced back to his eight year old daughter, peeking at them from her bedroom. "Azzalea, get daddy a beer."

Before the child could move, her mother stomped over to the fridge and slung the door wide open. More roaches fell from the seal of the door, onto her bare foot. She grabbed a can and chucked it at her husband's head.

"What is your problem?"

"Not your fault? Whose fault is it? Who gambles all of our money every week? Who spends it on beer and fast food? Who the fuck has to pay a loan shark every damn paycheck, so he doesn't get himself beat to death?"