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Alisa all but dropped Becca, running over to where Red now lay unconscious on the ground. "No, damn it!" she yelled, falling into a crouch. "Wake up, you fucking idiot! This is no time to pass out or die!"
An ocean of blood pooled around the boy. "You useless Disney princess wannabe!" Alisa screamed again, slapping him in the face in an attempt to bring him back from Dreamland.
"Li, stop!" Cheng Xin shouted, grabbing her hand before she could hit Red again. "You're not helping!"
"He can't faint now! He'll die if we don't keep moving!"
"He'll die if you keep slapping him," Cheng Xin stated, his tone even. "Calm down, Li. He's injured. You're injured too. We all are. And..." His voice trailed off as his gaze flickered to Becca, who had fallen silent and was staring at them intently with her glowing eyes, her bottom lip trembling. "We're down a person."
Alisa wasn't sure how to feel about Lennox's assumed death. On one hand, he'd been an absolute pig. On the other, he'd sacrificed himself to save all of them. And if it hadn't been for his timely arrow...she would surely have died. Now, they were without the only person who could keep Becca calm. Alisa was tempted to leave her behind.
"We need to keep moving," Alisa insisted.
Cheng Xin's eyes were full of earnest concern. "Please, Li. Let's rest. We haven't slept in...how long has it been?" In Vanguard, time was a foreign concept, one just out of their reach. "We need to tend to your wounds, and Red's too." Jada's wet nose nuzzled Alisa's covered breast softly, as if agreeing with Cheng Xin. Her twin pointed at her arm. "It's split open. You can't go on like this."
Alisa took a few deep breaths. Her brother was right. There was only so long she could keep going before she herself passed out from either blood loss or exhaustion. It would be stupid to continue. "Okay. Okay, we'll stop, but just for a few hours."
She really wished she still had her grandfather's watch with her.
After Cheng Xin tended to her arm and face, she insisted on binding Red's injuries, tying the bandages extra tight in the hopes that he would wake up. He didn't even stir, making her curse. He was in extremely bad shape, his clothes soaked with blood and grime. The coppery tang lingered on her fingers long after she had washed the crimson liquid away. She hated using their precious water supplies like that, but there wasn't any choice.
"You useless fuck," she grumbled as she settled his head in her lap and scrubbed blood off his thigh, more to herself than to the unconcious boy. "Why couldn't you be better at fighting so you could defend yourself?"
"Not everyone has the guts for hand-to-hand combat with robots, Li," Cheng Xin reminded her, dabbing at the claw marks that lined his arms like tally marks. His dark hair was stiff with dirt. Becca, seemingly impervious to any bodily harm, watched them with silent interest. "You punched a freaking metal wolf. That's some crazy courage there."
