At the End (Ciara and Silence)

Chad wanted to yell for Raylie to get out of the way. She kept running as if the horsemen couldn't catch her. Finally he moved out where she could see him better. Soon as the girl came to his side he started running with her around the house and back toward the stream. He met Raylie's gaze only for a moment. "I don't know. You keep close to the house though. They've got men inside firing out there. This is part of my job now."

Jogging back to the corner of the house he fired off a few more shots till the riders left and now all they needed to do was put the fire out. Chad took up the position of shooter to cover their backs while the others started to put the fire out. He didn't noticed that Raylie had returned until a few minutes later. Looking over at her he frowned. "You alright? Didn't hurt you did they?" It was likely going to be a long night. Shifting a little he winced. It felt like his shirt was sticking to his side. Resting the gun against the side of the house he plucked at the shirt. Then Chad remembered the skim from earlier in the fight. "I'll keep an eye out for you. Wanna go get a wet rag or something for me?"
 
"I'm okay," Raylie nodded and hurried off to find Chad a wet rag. She ran into the house, frantically searching for a towel or something. She finally found a rag but it had dirt all over it. Raylie grabbed it anyways, hustling over to the stream to clean it off and wet it for Chad. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt like it was going to fall out of her chest. Before running back and forth to hearing the gun shuts to worrying about Chad, she couldn't catch a breath.

After a few minutes, she reached Chad once again and handed him the wet rag. "What happened? Why do you need this?" She was so worried. It seemed like Chad was always getting hurt and here she was with a mere scratch on her thigh she got before even meeting him. The gun shots were so loud that Raylie's ears were ringing. She could barely hear her thoughts, let alone make out what Chad was saying to her.
 
In the dark it was hard to see what was going on. Still he couldn't see anyone lurking about that wasn't until he noticed a few skulking figures. They weren't men. It was wolves. The dogs were too big to be coyotes. Raising the rifle he shot the first one and began firing at the others. He only got two shots off before the wolves scampered off and one whimpered most of the way.

Finally Raylie returned and Chad stared at her for a moment. He was taking a moment to process what she had just asked him. "Oh I'm fine..." Taking the rag from her hand he shoved it under his shirt and drew a sharp breath. It stung a little bit. "Well I guess fine isn't the word." Realizing the irony of it he chuckled. "Well there was more of them shooting at me than we had shooting at them. I think it was just a little skim." Pulling the rag back out he examined it for a moment before he put it under his shirt again. Had only a little bit of blood. Must not have been too bad. Still gunshots always seemed to sting and bruise and make a far bigger deal than they were worth. "So...Why were you so mad at me the other day? I don't what I said or did."
 
Perfect timing to ask Raylie why they were fighting yesterday. After everything that just happened, that was the last thing on her mind. "I don't want to talk about it, Chad. You need to cover up the wound before it gets infected." Her voice was not sympathetic, just cool and collected. She kept her eyes away from his. She wasn't really mad at him anymore, just distant. She didn't want him to get the wrong ideas like he did last night. She took her loose t-shirt off, right in front of him, having only a bra to cover herself. She ripped off the end with her teeth, all the way around the edge of the shirt. Once she was done, she slipped the shirt back over her body. Her stomach was showing now but it didn't really matter to her.

"Take off your shirt I'm wrapping it up," Raylie demanded. She wasn't in the mood for him to act like a gun shot wound wasn't a big deal. Any small scratch could turn into a big problem, especially if they were sleeping out in the woods. She helped him lift the shirt off of his body and wrapped the torn end around his stomach, covering his wound. It wasn't bleeding too bad, but still bled through the shirt quickly. Raylie just wanted to get it covered. Once she was done, she stood up and leaned against a tree.
 
Chad frowned at her. Why in the world would she decide that silent treatment was a good idea? That was something he was never going to get a hang of. Still there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it. All the while she was seemingly scolding him for getting shot. Even if she didn't say it, that was what her body language was saying. Even in the dark he could see a flash of skin starting and he turned his eyes away from her. He didn't want her to feel like he would take advantage. Turning his eyes up slightly at the sound of ripping fabric he saw that she was still half clad and lowered his head again.

Then Raylie was ordering him to take his shirt off. Chad carefully lifted the bottom of the shirt and pulled it over his head. It stretched along the skim mark a little. "Ow..." Rubbing at the fresh bandage he grumbled a little thanks. Slowly putting the shirt back on he resumed his position. Since she wasn't leaving immediately he patted the spot next to himself. "I wouldn't mind some company if you had time."
 
Raylie crossed her arms, sitting next to him. She couldn't help but feel bad... He just got shot and she was being insensitive to everything. She didn't know what to say, so she just there in silence. Out here in the woods, it was common to hear crickets, but after the disaster, there weren't a lot of those left. At least, not enough to make the calming cricket sounds through the forest at night.

She took a deep breath. "Look, I'm over everything. I'm glad I know how you feel about me, it's probably a good thing this happened." She wasn't talking about whether he "liked" her or not, that didn't matter. It's not like she was falling head over heels for the guy. She had just met him less than a week ago. She just knew he didn't see her as helpful, he saw her as someone tagging along, probably even pulling him back.

"Honestly, I'm just a little confused. I don't know what I am doing that makes you think I'm helpless. Sometimes, when you look at me, it seems like you feel bad for me or something. Like I'm a hurt little puppy that doesn't know anything. It kind of gets to me," she vented. She didn't know why she just told him all of that. Maybe it would make her feel better or maybe his response would make it worse. Either way, she knew she could make it on her own if she tried. But, honestly, she didn't want to be alone. She did need someone and maybe that's the reason why she got so defensive because deep down she knew that she did.
 
(Sorry. I thought I responded to this one. Obviously not. Must have lost it somewhere in the notifications.)


Chad took a breath when she started in with the idea of how he felt about her. That was a mystery to him. He hadn't figured out how he felt about her yet. If she was like a sister, traveling companion, or more. Further explanation from Raylie was minimally helpful. It was still hard to tell where she was getting all these ideas. "Helpless?" A smirk came to his face. "Where would you get that idea?"

Never would have thought in a thousand years that he had her tagged as helpless. At the end of her little rant he chuckled. "Well I did feel bad for you after I threw that rock. How many times did our mother's have to tell us not to throw rocks at other kids?" Talking about things on a lighter note seemed to be a good idea. The last several days and weeks had been next to hell. It was about time someone laughed about something. Perhaps it wasn't the right time, but he had to have something to laugh about. Nothing about this was funny and yet he couldn't stop laughing. Gasping between the drawn out chuckles he finally had to straighten out and try to breath, but he ended up curling again to continue laughing. "I-I'm sorry." Holding a hand over his side he kept on despite the added pain. After a few minutes he wiped his eyes. It had been a long time since he laughed that hard.
 
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