thanatophobia // joshler [✓]

the aftermath

the roaring of the engine got softer and softer as they drove farther and farther away from us. i was still on the ground, my back whining in pain.

i could hear fast footsteps coming near me until they stopped ruhig next to me. from my blurry vision i could see patrick kneeling down next to me.

in his clearly panicked and shaken voice he shook me,
"j-josh please don't be dead... please don't be dead..."
i exhaled deeply, "i'm not dead yet."

patrick sighed in relief as he stood up, holding his hand out to help me up. i took his hand and he helped me back onto my feet. everything was dizzy for a few seconds but i managed to look around the once battlefield.

and then it hit me.
ryan was gone, and i didn't do anything to stop it. maybe i could've gotten up and fought for him.
maybe i could've ducked the punch.
maybe i should've let frank finish me off instead.

"now what?" patrick wondered as he stared off into the distance.
"i... i don't know...maybe--"

my idea was interpreted by the faint sound of someone struggling. it was a raspy female voice grunting in pain. patrick and i exchanged looks and through eye contact we decided to follow the sound.

we walked towards the noise to find the other girl who was involved in the shootout. from what i could see she was shot in leg twice.

once she saw us, her agony changed to anger. she quickly tried to grab the knife that was a few inches away from her. and that's when i spoke up,

"if you stab me, you're only gonna hurt yourself more than you hurt me."
once i said that, she stopped reaching for the knife and went back to trying to fix her leg wounds.

"i don't need your help." she spat, not looking at us.
"b-but you could bleed out without our help..." patrick suggested.

she looked up at us with her big brown eyes,
"i'm not going back there, not with tyler there." she shook her head.
i got aggravated with the whole secrecy between what happened with tyler, i sighed furiously,

"look, whatever tyler did, that isn't enough for us to leave you here to die. you're getting our help and you're coming back with us, whether you like it or not."

she looked up at me with a alight frown of defeat,
"fine." she mumbled.
patrick and i sighed in relief but patrick quickly added,

"w-wait i don't have the materials here to help her. the most i can do is stop the bleeding but i can't close the wound."
"just patch up her wound and i'll just give her a piggy-back ride back to the place." i told him.

he nodded and handed me some rags to help put pressure on the wound. patrick then ran off to get his bag of med supplies from behind his hiding spot.

i took two rags and pressed down gently on her bleeding wounds. she winced in pain but bit her lip as to not scream.

"who are you?" she asked, still trying to hold back her pain.
i looked at her, "a guy who's been through a lot of shit. but you can call me josh."

"we've all gone through some shit, josh..." she agreed,
"and i'm melanie, by the way."