Survival Of The Fittest

Chiara continued to rub alcohol on the boy's hand. With his muffled screaming and all the blood, Chiara was trying her hardest to resist the urge to throw up. He was missing two fingers, and one was barely hanging on. In a situation like this, he was going to be at a massive disadvantage going forward. She wasn't sure if she should just take off the ring finger herself or try to patch it up.

Once she felt she had sufficiently sterilized the wounds, Chiara went for the bandages and starting wrapping his hand. She decided against amputating. She wasn't sure how best to do that, nor did she really have the equipment to do so. Odds are she'd make it worse and probably end up killing him. It'd be foolish to think someone could die from losing a finger, but the human body had rules it kept secret from the brain, so it wasn't like she could be certain she wouldn't harm him.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay," she very quietly muttered.

Chiara was barely audible as she wrapped the bandages around the hand, and she wasn't even sure if he could hear her over his own cries. Part of her felt like she needed to hear the words in that moment, and if he heard, then it worked out for both of them. She just continued to wrap bandages until she was sure it was dealt with.

The alcohol still hurt, but at the same time Derek felt the earlier pain lessen. He decided to interpret this as a good sign.

Then came the bandages. Seeing the rest of his hand being wrapped in white cloth hammered down the point of how screwed he was. Derek would barely be able to grip things with his two remaining useful fingers, let alone swing that big sword he had been given. At least his left hand was unscathed.

He heard the girl muttering something, but couldn't make out the exact words.

Seeing how the worst appeared to be over, Derek dared to take the stick out of his mouth. He followed this up with something he tended to not say very often.

"T-thank you."

Chiara continued to wrap the bandages until she was sure they were secure and stopping the bleeding. She knew they'd have to change them and keep them dry, and the longer they stayed in the forest, the more at risk he was. Chiara finished the last bit of bandaging.

The boy removed the stick and thanked her. Chiara smirked a bit. She didn't have the best confidence in her ability to treat severed fingers, but he was satisfied, so she had to be pleased with that.

Chiara then began to quickly pack her issued bag. She stood up, grabbing both of her bags and brushing the snow off her knees. The blood hadn't fully returned to her legs and her knees were a bit numb from kneeling in snow. Chiara looked around. There wasn't any sign of a way out of the forest from where they were, but she was sure they'd find something.

Chiara looked back at the boy, holding a hand out for him to grab so she could pull him up. They needed to leave soon in case anyone else heard the gunfire. The revolver was still comfortably in Chiara's windbreaker pocket, and she was hoping she wouldn't have to pull it out soon.

The girl answered nothing, but Derek saw a hint of a smile. Then she began to pack her things back into her bag. He could only watch her with slight envy. At least until he remembered his sole possession.

The sword was still lying in the bushes. While he would have trouble putting it to use, Derek was not going to leave it here. He couldn't afford to lose even more stuff.

Once the girl looked in his direction, he motioned to the sword, not wanting to scare her with a sudden weapon. Then he crawled to the bush and resumed his work.

Thankfully, the sword finally broke free after a few seconds. As it did so, Derek noticed a slip of paper on the hilt.

Nodachi

So that was the name of the sword. Or the name of this type of sword in general. He neither knew nor cared.

His temporary companion offered her hand. Derek used a mixture of her help and using the sword as a crutch to get back on his feet.

"We should go."

In which direction, he didn't know.

((Derek Caldwell continued in Our White Nightmare))

Chiara watched as the boy gestured over to some nearby bushes before crawling over. She wasn't sure what he was doing or what was over there, but she remained in place and watched. It was then the boy pulled a massive sword out. Chiara raised her eyebrows.

It was quite the intimidating weapon, if a bit unwieldy. The fact that the boy was using it more as a walking stick gave her some comfort.

Chiara nodded when the boy suggested they leave. She nodded and patted him on the back to help him walk away.

They had to find a way out of the woods and get somewhere secure so they could address the injury again and the rest of the situation. Chiara knew that every moment mattered, and that they had to make the most of it if they were to live a bit longer.

((Chiara Masina continued elsewhere))