"What are you doing?! Where are we going?!"
Ruby hissed at Salem with a wheezing breath. They run for what seems like hours to Ruby. the burning in her lungs clouding her vision in blurred shapes of grey, muddy brown, and dirty white linen. All of it slurring into one continuous monotonous color. But for Salem it was quick as a blink. Ignoring her surroundings, the sprint towards safety being the only thing on her mind.
They reach the destination that Salem was dragging Ruby to. The thin woman stumbles and nearly falls over Salem. Surrounded by old, burnt, and dilapidated houses was a small hole in the wall. The door, if it could be called that, was a board of various planks tied together that Salem moved it manually. She pulls the frail woman inside by the wrist, Ruby bends to get inside. Everything seemed a little too small for comfort. Considering the mystery girls stature it made sense. it smelt of old rotten food and mildew. The roof leaking a mystery fluid. Certainly it wasn't rain water. wrong time of year for that weather.
Salem slumps into a chair, her whole body thumping with each heartbeat.
"Hey! Bag of bones, you look like you're about to collapse, please sit down."
Salem all but commands the woman to sit in a hushed tone. Her voice is quiet and barely audible. Ruby refuses her offer with a look of disgust.
"Now I don't know you. but cleaning is free."
Ruby says taking one of the cleaner looking scraps of fabric thrown about the room as makeshift insulation and sets it down for a momentary rest.
Her eyes widened looking at the small girl across the room from her, a trail of pinkish blood pouring from her thigh. Marking the floor in a river of red. Ruby stands with shocking speed all but sprinting to Salem. She puts her thin bony hands around her thigh to suppress the bleeding.
"This is not good! Do you have any spirits? Any clean fabric?!"
Ruby yells at Salem, but she has gone sluggish and distant, her eyes seemingly a thousand miles away. God those eyes. Her body is still rocking with every heartbeat.
"You little!"
Ruby screams smacking the catatonic woman. Salem doesn't respond to the bony fingers hitting her skin. She eventually resorts to using the dirty scrap she was sitting on to compress the wound. The shimmering crimson soaks the bandage near instantly. Ruby's weak muscles unable to lift Salem onto the table.
She pulls the bedding out the corner of the room. Padding a spot next to Salem. With all her strength she pushes Salem out of the chair. She rushes to the small woman laying her straight.
"Damnit! No exit wound!'
Ruby yells, assessing Salem's thigh. She takes a moment to steady herself. rummaging through the cabinets of the small place, finding a brown liquid, it smelt strongly of alcohol. Ruby uncorks it, dowsing her hands in the alcohol.
She kneels over her. Removing the fabric tied to her thigh, tearing off Salem's jeans. She ties the fabric above the wound. The makeshift tourniquet keeps her blood inside the body. Ruby takes one deep breath finding the place where she was shot. The veins throbbing and discolored. She tentatively prods the area finding where the bullet punctured.
slowly plunges two fingers in, the flesh squelching around her digits. She feels nausea so intense vomit creeps at the back of her throat. Still she pushes further inside, Salem's breathing being the only noise besides the sound of flesh. Ruby finds and pulls out the projectile and cleans the wound with more sunspirit. Ruby tears off one of her cotton pant legs, wrapping it tightly around the wounded thigh. She removes the tourniquet. She falls back onto her back, the exhaustion catching up to her tired eyes.
"You'll survive mystery girl."
She whispers to the unconscious Salem. Falling into a light sleep.