Chapter Fifty-Two

31 2 1
                                    

My body lifts from the hard ground, the wind instantly slapping my face

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

My body lifts from the hard ground, the wind instantly slapping my face. Wind is the one thing I don't miss about being alive. It's inconvenient and never leads to anything good.

Colton gets his things together while I stand up. My leg feels rested, but it hasn't recovered much. Thirty minutes is probably the maximum time I could walk before I couldn't walk anymore.

I want to go back, I really do. I miss my room and I miss not having to shower and not having to worry about my next meal. I have no energy from the lack of food and I'm getting sleepy. My eyes fight to focus on what is in front of me and I find myself dragging my feet across the dirt.

"Do you need another break, blondie?" He inquires, which makes me jump.

"No, I'm fine." I insist. We are almost there, I just have to push through for a little while longer.

As I take another step, a nerve in my leg feels like it is twisted and a jabbing pain runs down my thigh. I slowly sink to my knees and groan in pain.

Why couldn't I be strong enough to make it back? I look like a wimp falling over like this.

"Sorry." I say under my breath. I lean my head back in frustration, the pain is constant and not fading.

I straighten my legs and take another step forward. I don't want to look weak in front of him.

"Let me look at it, it might be infected." His hand touches my leg softly and my eyes widen. "Sit down." He instructs.

I sigh and crouch down and lean my back against the grass.

Colton begins removing the medical tape, and the pain of ripping that off isn't nearly as bad as the actual cut going down my leg. "Relax your leg, Juliet. Jesus."

I take a few deep breaths and try to relax my muscles but the pain isn't allowing that to happen. He places his hand on my thigh, then slowly tightens his grip around it. I hold my breath and become uneasy.

Finally, I'm able to relax.

"There we go." He smirks, then continues taking the tape off. I find myself gasping and straining my voice as he unwraps my bandages. He rips the last piece of tape off and I'm instantly relieved, breathing heavily. My left arm lies on my forehead, feeling it heat up after all of that discomfort.

"Are you almost done?" I ask between breaths, my hand sprawled across my chest, feeling it go up and down as I breathe.

He sighs, kneeling down next to me, his eyes falling all over my body. "We have a slight problem."

"Oh God. Don't tell me it's infected." I groan.

"I haven't even looked at it yet. The blood dried on the gauze and I'm going to rip the scab off if I want to get a look at it."

I roll my eyes. "Can't we just walk the last twenty minutes and deal with it?"

He shakes his head. "I don't want to have to stop every five minutes because of your leg. I need to rewrap it."

City of the Fallen - uneditedWhere stories live. Discover now