deux.
chapter two.

xxx.

When you get hit by a literal car, you should probably consider yourself lucky to be alive. That's likely what Zara would've thought under any other given circumstance. However, when she finally came to consciousness, that was honestly the last thing on her mind.

With a sharp breath to wake her, the young woman's eyes were dazed and trying to focus on something before the rest of gher could react and realize what had happened. Every breath after that was labored and short like she couldn't catch up, and it was when a sudden pain struck her that she finally looked down at herself. She could feel her back pressed against the bark of a tree, scratches likely decorated underneath her shirt, but the more imminent danger was the handle of her bike that stuck out just far enough to impale itself through her side. The small car that had crashed into her was in front of her—directly so—the front was pressed against the other side of the bike, essentially trapping her between a tree and a hard place.

Immediately, Zara's eyes widened and whatever adrenaline-built dam had been holding back the extent of the damage cracked, flooding her body with a burning agony throughout her body. Her mouth dropped into a wordless gasp as her hands tried to figure out where to go, panic filling her head. Zara's fingers started to buzz with fear or numbness, so she attempted examining the rest of her body to make sure that the situation with her stomach was the only one, and, aside from a few scrapes and smears of blood, it seemed to be.

Zara forced her head back against the tree, squeezing her eyes shut to try and calm herself, taking in a deep, trembling inhale when she suddenly remembered that there was not one, but two vehicles of people involved in the crash, too. The RV, she had to crane her neck to see had tumbled deeper into the woods, was flipped completely on its side.

Her heart fell to her stomach a little as the first thought to cross her mind was that the family inside might be dead.

Zara gritted her teeth and pulled her legs back to her, twisting her body around the tree branch with something far stronger than discomfort as she tried to muster up enough strength to yell down to the RV, " Hey! Hey, are you okay?! "

There was no response, but she did hear the quietest rustling in the distance, which could've been one of them moving. Zara turned her attention to the car in front of her, slowly pulling one of her hands from her injured abdomen to reach over her bike to the car. She could just barely touch it with her fingertips and switched ideas to try and use her foot, though the further she stretched her leg, the more it pulled on the bike handle in her gut. Still, she managed to thump it a few times with her foot, hopefully enough to wake up whoever was inside.

" Hey! Hey, can you hear me? " She shouted again, but this time she didn't have to wait for a response. The driver's door flung open almost as soon as she spoke, and Zara watched as a blond man stumbled onto his feet, barely able to keep his footing steady before he slammed his knees into the road.

A newfound hope sparked within Zara upon seeing someone else that was actually awake and moving, though that was quickly crushed when he vomited all over the ground before she could even speak to him again. Still, Zara shook it off with a disgusted expression and called, " Hey, listen, I— "

The man whipped around quickly, looking as though he might fall again, revealing the deep gash on his forehead that let loose to a trail of thick blood down the side of his face. Zara grimaced lightly and held her hand out to make his sight focus on her.

" Listen to me, okay? As far as I can tell, you're the only other living person right now, and I'm..currently fucked, so I need you to.." Zara wasn't sure what she needed actually; did she try to get this guy who, for all intents and purposes, looked like he could not only be concussed but also high out of his mind, to help her rip a bike handle out of her body? Or, did she hope to god he could follow the path well enough without passing out and run into someone in town who could help?

Either way, there was a slim chance of him passing out, so she had to make a decision fast.

" Keep following the road, it doesn't matter which way, when you get to town, you need to find help, okay? Uh Kr-Kristi, the doctor, or Boyd, or anyone, you have to tell them there's injured people out here, hey— " Before Zara could finish her fearful ramblings, the man started to stumble away from her; she wasn't sure if he even listened to a word she said, but he seemed to be regaining his footing and steadiness with every step he took, dragging him further from her as she shouted, " Did you hear me? You have to find them! "

The further the man got away from Zara, the more she tried to convince herself that she was going to be fine. She kicked her leg out in frustration, wincing and groaning at the pain it caused, but then she heard another sound from within the car. Someone else was inside.

xxx.

" Make sure you cover it real well. " Boyd reminded Kenny as he finished laying the spike strip down, the younger man already digging up dirt from the side of the road to disguise it. He crossed the spike strip and turned to look down the road, as if he were expecting the family in the RV to come barrelling down it at any minute. " Last thing we need is a goddamn RV barrelling through town. "

" Last thing they needed, too. " Nehemia commented, meeting Boyd's dry gaze almost immediately. She shook her head lightly and held a hand up from the shovel she was leaning on as if in surrender, " Just saying. "

" How 'bout less 'saying' and more 'doing', Nehemia? " Boyd asked rhetorically, making the woman roll her eyes, though she did shift off of the shovel to begin shoving it into the dirt bank.

" They, uh, they had Arizona plates. You guys ever been to Arizona? " Kenny asked curiously, but his question went unanswered as the trio's heads all snapped when they heard an unfamiliar voice shouting in the distance.

" Hey! Hey, we need help! " He yelled, quickly gaining ground to approach the group as he waved them down, causing the three of them to drop what they had been doing in favor of putting their attention on him.

" Was that guy in the RV? " Kenny asked, slow to drop his shovel.

" No. " Boyd quickly supplied the answer the other two already had an inkling of. He was fast to cross the spike strip to go to the frantic, bleeding man, and Nehemia strayed a step behind him.

" Another car? In the same day? " She questioned, but the man started talking over her again.

" The-there's been an accident, it's-it's really bad. " The light haired man accepted Boyd's help, grabbing tightly onto his arm to help keep him upright until Kenny joined them and threw his other arm over his shoulders. The man swallowed thickly as he continued, " The girl, the girl— she said to find the doctor and..and— "

" The girl? " Boyd repeated, brows knitted together in confusion, but it was only for a split second before he looked over at Kenny with the same realization that hit Nehemia.

" Murphy? " She said aloud, meeting Boyd's worrisome eyes once more as he paused briefly, then gestured towards the woman to take the side of the man he was aiding.

" We only have like, two hours of daylight left. " Kenny pointed out urgently, and Boyd nodded, though he was already parting from them to head down the road.

" Look, you two get him to the clinic, grab Khatri and Kristi, all the supplies you can, and you meet me up the road, okay? " He told them, not waiting for a legible response from either of them before he broke out into a run away from them, " Go, hurry up! "

Nehemia had never been a necessarily good driver, but she managed to get the three of them to the clinic in one piece and in a timely fashion, so she wasn't going to hear any complaints. She threw the truck door open and rushed to the bed to help Kenny unload the unnamed man; the clinic door was already propped open when they finally dragged him inside, Kristi meeting them instantly with concern.

" What happened? " She raised her hand to the bloodstained cloth the man was holding to his forehead, Kenny murmuring that there was an accident as she tried to get the man's attention, " Hey, hey, what's your name? "

" It's Tobey.."

" Tobey, I'm Kristi, okay? I'm just gonna take a look, " She gently pulled the cloth away from his wound long enough to see the depth of it, then insisted, " Okay, keep some pressure on it, alright? Gina! We're gonna get you cleaned up, okay, Tobey? "

Kristi practically took Tobey from both Kenny and Nehemia's grasp, now in her wheelhouse as she helped walk him further into the clinic, finding her assistant, Gina, in one of the rooms with Bing-Qian.

" Gina, I need some help in here. " Kristi called to her, and the other woman was quick to leave the old man's game of chess to assist her; joining them at the doorway, they tried to keep Tobey out of sight from Bing-Qian as much as possible as to not upset him. " Hey, can you get him cleaned up in the other room and just start an IV if he needs it? "

Gina and Kristi exchanged a few more words before the former took Tobey down the hall to the other room, allowing Kristi to question Kenny and Nehemia, " Was it the RV? "

" And another car. " Kenny confirmed, making the woman turn back to look at them with a shocked look as she picked up her medical bag, unsure of what she was going to be walking in to when they got there.

xxx.

It's maybe fifteen minutes since the man stumbled down the road and left Zara as the only conscious person, to her knowledge, again. She'd spent those fifteen minutes trying to yell down to the people in the RV again until her throat felt raw, and then trying not to cry as she kept squeezing her bloody, dirty hands around the bike handle that inched around her body. She was so focused on that, she almost didn't realize someone else had opened a door inside the car.

Zara's head shot up as soon as she heard it though, finding another man, this time with dark hair, rising out of the car from the backseat. Her lips already formed her first words to him, but they never it made it out when he finally turned and saw her after staring up at the trees like he'd never seen them before. She wasn't sure how or why, but once she could see his face, Zara felt like she recognized him. Nothing particular about him, not where she could've known him from, not if he and his friend might've run into her somehow before all of this, she just..knew who he was, for some reason.

At least, enough to remember his name.

Before she could say anything, someone else's voice rang out in breathless concern, one that was familiar that time, " Hey! You alright? Anything hurt? "

" What happened? " The dark haired man asked, blinking slow and hard as if it would set his head back on straight, staring at Boyd in front of him as the sheriff jogged to meet him at the car.

" You were in a car accident, you okay? " Boyd questioned, his eyes quickly searching over the man, who seemed to be in much better shape than his friend, aside from the..very dazed and confused thing going for him.

" You..have an amazing face— "

" Boyd! " Zara shouted, catching both of their attentions, the aforementioned's eyes widening in surprise as he quickly scanned over her apparent situation. She couldn't quite hear what he was saying to the other man, but she saw him pull out his handcuffs and assumed he locked him to the car before he moved around the car to reach Zara.

        " Jesus, " Boyd breathed when he saw the full extent of her injury, standing before her with his hands wrung in front of him. He looked in thought of what to do, until he suddenly realized that Zara could see his reaction, then he seemed to snap out of it. " Okay, okay, we're gonna get you out of there, Zara, alright? We, uh..we're gonna have to wait until Kristi gets here. "

        Zara swallowed, leaning her head back against the tree in a poor attempt to keep the fast building tears from seeping out of her eyes. Her hands pressed to her body, around the bike handle, and she finally lowered her watery gaze back to Boyd.

       " What were you doing out here, Zara? What happened? " He asked, but that only made her lips press together and a few tears roll down her cheeks. She couldn't be bothered enough to pull her hands away from her stomach to wipe them away.

       " I didn't mean to, I didn't mean for— " She could barely respond coherently, causing Boyd's expression and voice to soften the slightest bit as he reached forward to firmly squeeze her shoulder.

       " Okay, okay, hey, it's alright, you're gonna be alright. " He insisted, shaking his head before he turned to look further into the woods, where the RV had crashed, " I'm gonna go check on them, alright? We need to see what all we're dealing with, okay? "

       " Boyd, wait, wait— " Zara suddenly stuck her hand out to grab his arm, wincing but quickly pushing the pain down to plead with him, " Please, don't leave me, don't leave— "

       " Hey, I'm not leaving you, kid. " Boyd cut her off, taking her face in his hands as if it would convince her more as they made eye contact. The understanding of having to deal with a potential seven injured people with two hours left of daylight seemed to finally hit him. He patted her cheek and promised, " I'll be right back, okay? "

        Zara didn't really have a choice given her current state, so she just sucked up her tears and nodded, sniffling as she let go of Boyd's arm to return back to holding the bike handle. She watched him back away, waiting to pull his eyes off of her until he absolutely had to, then disappeared down into the woods.

        Maybe ten more minutes passed before Zara heard the low rumble of an engine, her hope reigniting as she lifted her head to see the truck full of people stopping a little ways away from them. Kristi hopped out of the bed of the truck, her bag slung over her shoulder, Father Khatri and Ellis close behind her while Nehemia and Kenny got out from the front. They collectively jogged up to the car, Kristi's eyes first scanned over the man cuffed to the car, but upon seeing Zara, her priority clearly shifted.

         " Check him for a concussion, then get him as much water as possible. " Kristi directed Nehemia and Father Khatri to the man sitting on the ground as she pulled her bag over her head and went around the car to Zara. She tried to appear calm, but Zara knew better and she knew that Kristi had trouble hiding her facial expressions, so when she saw the bike handle buried in her abdomen, Zara could read it on her face.

        " The hell did you do this time, Zara? " Kristi tried to joke lightheartedly, but the other woman didn't even bat an eye, her face turned into a permanent frown with dirt and blood staining it. " Okay, let's, uh— "

        " Holy shit. " Ellis murmured as he and Kenny approached the two of them, his eyes glued to the bloody injury.

        Kenny didn't say anything at first, his face was in a bit of shock before he turned to Kristi and asked hopefully, " It's not that bad, right? It just looks bad, but once we pull it out, you'll just have to clean and close the wound— "

        " Yeah, but we can't pull it out here, I'll have to stitch her up and I can't do that on the side of the road. She could bleed out if we take it out now and drive back to the clinic. " Kristi replied, Zara's panicked eyes flickering between the two of them as they spoke like she wasn't even there.

        " So you want me to keep this thing in me until we get to the clinic? " Zara questioned, staring at her in a bit of baffled surprise; she trusted Kristi wholeheartedly and knew she knew what the best move was, but it was hard to wrap her brain around that one.

        Kristi held Zara's eyes for a moment then, looking as though she wanted to say something, but she remembered Ellis and Kenny behind her. The doctor turned over her shoulder and gestured down the hill with her head, " You guys go see if Boyd needs help, I'll get Miss Troublemaker set here. "

        Both Kenny and Ellis looked less than eager to listen, for different reasons, Zara would assume, but they inevitably did; once the two of them were heading into the woods and out of earshot, Kristi glanced over at Father Khatri and Nehemia, who were helping carry the other man to the truck, then finally settled back on Zara.

        Before Kristi could even say anything, Zara beat her to it. Her fingers were trembling against her stomach, watery, reddened eyes seeming to shake as she looked up at the doctor, " Be honest, please, Kristi..please? "

        She seemed at a loss for words. Kristi pulled a rag from her bag and attempted to wipe away the blood that covered Zara's skin around her wound; she did her the decency of looking back to her face as she insisted, " You're gonna be fine, Zara. It didn't go all the way through, just some stitches and fluids, you'll be okay. A tetanus shot if we were lucky. "

       " Kristi. " Zara called her name quietly, both of them well aware that she wasn't referring to herself. She let her move the cloth to her face, clearing away a streak of blood from her cheek before the young woman pressed again, unable to say many words, " The baby? "

She pursed her lips together, incapable of hiding her hesitation. Kristi took a deep breath and pulled the cloth away from Zara, holding her fist to her mouth as she thought for a moment before speaking, " I don't know. It could've missed completely, but the damage to the surrounding tissue could've also caused the baby stress. Really, I won't know until I can check you out at the clinic— "

" Kristi, uh, " Kenny called, suddenly appearing at the break in the woods, looking between the two of them as if he could tell he was walking in on a conversation not meant for his ears. He cleared his throat and continued after he had both of their attentions, " They could use your help in the RV. "

The brunette again made a slight face, glancing back to Zara, but Kenny was quick to supply, " I can stay here with her, not like she's going anywhere anytime soon. "

Zara let out a quiet scoff, but nodded to Kristi regardlessly, giving the other woman silent agreement. Kristi sighed and tore her eyes from Zara to Kenny, insisting, " Okay. Have Khatri and Nehemia help you get her in the truck, keep the bike in the same place, if we pull it too soon, she'll bleed out. I'll go check on the others. "

She headed down the hill into the woods within seconds after that, not trying to burn any more daylight than they had to spare, leaving Zara and Kenny. The young man looked down between them at the bike that Zara was clutching by the blood-slicked handle, making a face before he met her eyes.

" Not how I thought I'd be gravely injured in this place, at fucking all. " Zara stated, offering a breath of humor to expel from her as Kenny halfheartedly laughed for her sake.

" Yeah, this is definitely a new one. " He agreed, leaving her direct side for a second so he could call over Father Khatri to help him transport her to the truck. When the man left Nehemia and the other newcomer to join them, Kenny shot Zara a sympathetic look, " This is probably going to hurt. "

" I'll live. " Zara replied with a bit of an ironic twinge, her eyes moving past the two of them to see Nehemia also jumping out of the bed of the truck, jogging over.

" Here, I'll carry the bike while you two help her walk over. " She advised, wrapping her hands around the lower bars of the bike. Kenny and Khatri went other of Zara's sides, throwing her arms over their shoulders, waiting for Nehemia to guide them to the truck, " Alright, 1, 2, here we go, "

It's an excruciating twenty foot walk that took far longer than it should've. By the time they made it to the truck, Zara felt her entire body pulsing in hot pain, her breath escaping her between clenched teeth to the point where it felt like her lungs might've bursted. Nehemia stayed in the bed of the truck to keep the bike from pressing any further into the woman's abdomen, and the sight alone made Father Khatri wince.

Once they'd finally settled Zara in and left her alongside the drowsy, chatty man from the car and Ellis, Kristi and Boyd reappeared from the woods to meet the rest of the group; really, it was to tell them that the mother and daughter in the RV were relatively okay, just bruised and banged up, and were going to go to town with them. However, the young son was in and out of consciousness with a table leg stuck through his thigh.

" Impaled twins. " Zara exhaled humorously, tilting her head to rest it on her shoulder as she felt the tiredness start to set in. There was also an unfamiliar sense of guilt in her from hearing that news, feeling as though she obviously had a hand in the accident because of her pestering.

" He needs urgent medical attention, and we can't take him off the chair leg without him bleeding out, just like you. " Kristi explained, gesturing to Zara, a nervous but determined look on her face.

" Which means, we're going to stay here until Kristi can stabilize him. " Boyd stated, saying the thing Kristi was clearly trying to avoid having to tell them.

" Wait, stay? The sun's going down, Boyd, you don't have time to stay— " Kenny started, but the sheriff pulled a talisman out from his coat pocket, looking amongst the group assertively.

" We have this. We'll hang it in the RV and cover the windows, we'll stay here tonight and you can come back to pick us up in the morning. " Boyd insisted, sounding very settled in this decision despite the looks of protest and shock on the rest of their faces.

" Dad— " Ellis attempted to cut in but Boyd's face was a clear indication that he wasn't budging on the matter.

" There is a boy that needs our help, we can't leave him out here to die. " He affirmed.

" No one is saying to do that, but how do you know you won't all die out there? We've never used the talismans in a vehicle, you don't know it'll work. " Nehemia joined, shaking her head, unconvinced.

" And what about Zara? We can't keep this bike in her body all night. " Kenny suddenly saying her name made Zara listen in on the conversation; she sat up without thinking about it and paid the price instantly, groaning as she leaned back against the side of the truck.

" Wait, wait.." She swallowed, reaching out to grab the nearest thing to help her sit at least a little straighter, which happened to be Ellis's arm. Zara's eyes flickered between Boyd and Kristi's faces as she tried to assess the situation despite how much her head was spinning, " You're staying here? You..you can't, you can't, please— "

" I would have to pull the bike out and stitch you up, there's less than an hour of daylight left, I..I wouldn't have enough time to make it back here if I came with you. " Kristi said, almost apologetically as she lowered her gaze from Zara's pleading eyes.

Seeing the same helpless fear on Zara's face, Boyd pressed his tongue against his teeth and shook his head, " Hey, we are not choosing to leave you, okay? You'll be just fine, Zara—Kristi, there's no one else in town who could stitch her up? Gina? "

However, before Kristi could answer, looking hesitant to agree to the suggestion of Gina, Ellis let out a deep sigh; he knew the answer but sure didn't sound or look like he wanted to say it out loud. Still, he ran the hand not being clutched onto by Zara over his face regrettably and looked up at the rest of them.

" Bailey could do it. "

        " Oh, come on— "

        " Bailey? "

        " You are leaving me to die, please, Kristi— "

         " Bailey, the one that was in jail for drug dealing? " Kenny questioned rhetorically, shooting Ellis a sharp look as the rest of them voiced their distaste for the idea, but Ellis was quick to defend him.

         " He also learned how to stitch himself up in jail, and has done it before for people in Colony House. " Ellis pointed out, effectively silencing them, for the most part, as he realistically added, " And at this point, we don't have time to figure out another solution. "

        " I don't want to die. " Zara raised her hands to her face, pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes as she felt a few stray tears come to fruition, " Oh, my god, please, "

        A conflicted expression crossed Boyd's face as he looked from Ellis to the injured girl. He seemed to make a decision within seconds, reaching out to Zara's shoulder, squeezing firmly, " I told you, you were gonna be okay, and I still mean that. You're all gonna go back to town and find Bailey, have him stitch her up at the clinic. He can do it and so can you, Zara. "

        She couldn't bring herself to look at him, though she did pull her hands down from her face an inch, just enough to look past Boyd and to Kristi, as if she needed to hear a second confirmation.

        As if reading her mind, Kristi swallowed and nodded, " You'll be okay, Zara. He'll clean the wounds, stitch you up, and as long as there's no internal bleeding, you won't even need me. "

       Without really thinking about asking the following in-front of the theoretical patient they were discussing, Kenny, staring at the ground in deep thought, asked, " What happens if there is internal bleeding? "

xxx.

4,613 words.

god this is ass and that's all I have to say—