I coughed up dirt and rolled over to my side. It was morning now, and the first bits of light were peeking through the dismal clouds.
"Matthias?"
"Here."
I looked in the sound of his voice and saw him about twenty feet away, sitting on a rock with his head in his hands.
"Are you..."
That's when I noticed his bleeding leg.
"Oh my gosh are you okay?"
I ran over to him, and saw where he was trying to stop the gushing blood pouring from his leg. I tore of a piece of my shirt and pressed it to his leg. It was dirty and Matthias screamed in pain. His wound could be infected.
"Hold this on tight," I whispered.
I searched through my pockets and found what I was looking for, a small canteen Ace had given me. I opened it quickly and checked. Yes, it was completely filled.
"Give me your leg," I shouted.
Matthias obeyed and stretched out his wounded leg. I poured the cold water over the gash and he seemed to relax. I was not a doctor but the water seemed to clean his wound. I washed the makeshift bandage before tying it back onto his leg.
"Thank you," he whispered.
I stared up into his blue eyes and noticed they were brimmed with tears. It was the first time I had seen him cry.
Suddenly his eyes went wide.
"We have to find them," he said. "Ace, Serene, Pierce, Fin, we have to find them!"
"No..."
He leaped to his feet and crumpled to the ground from the pain. "They can't be far, we have to reach them," he tried again to run. "We have to find-"
"No!" I shouted, pulling him back to the ground. "We are staying right here! We can't risk go in wandering out there!" I stood up and gestured in the direction of the wasteland. "They could be anywhere out there!"
Matthias bowed his head as the realization sunk into him.
"We need to stay here. You need to rest. We need to plan. There's no sense doing something ludicrous."
I collapsed down on the rock beside him, exhaling.
"How long do you think it will be until they find us?" He sighed.
"They won't," I said, more to myself then him. "I'll be sure of that."
*************************
It was too dangerous to risk lighting a fire, so I lay awake, shivering in the pale light of the moon. I didn't want to wake up Matthias so I reached into my jacket and pulled out the old leather bound book.
I had folded down the page with the poem so it opened there automatically. I could barely read the words in the faint moonlight but I read the poem again. It's words still seemed meaningless to me but I could understand one thing.
It was about running.
