World Ashen

Chapter 4 - Cayler

"No!" I screamed. Kenneth's body landed on the ground with a thud. Dad lay dead at my feet, but I didn't care about him. All I cared about was getting Kenneth to safety and nurturing him back to health. I looked up and saw my boyfriend's attacker. There was a lack of light, but the person had shoulder-length dark hair, wore a police uniform with the sleeves torn off, and had a skull tattooed on their left shoulder.

Just as I got up and started fighting the guy, a gun cocking stopped me. "Put your hands where I can see them," a female's voice rang out. Kenneth said something faintly but appently loud enough for the lady to say something. "Kenneth, what are you doing here?" she asked, walking toward us.

I stood and began walking toward Kenneth. My voice quivered. "He's hurt, ma'am. I don't know if he'll be okay."

"Jamie, you check on Kenneth while the rest of us get the others," a man said as he walked carefully over to Dad and kicked him. The other police officers arrested the person who attacked us, and they put Dad into a body bag. I grabbed my knife off the floor and used my shirt to wipe the blood off.

Jamie snatched my wrist, making me nick my belly, and asked, "did you kill this man?"

I yanked my arm from the woman. "Yes, ma'am, but he was—"

"I don't care who he was! You killed—"

"I killed my father who murdered my mother in cold blood," I growled as I turned to a man moving Kenneth, who was barely conscious. "What are you doin' tuh Kenneth?!"

My sudden outburst startled the man. "We'll take him to the hospital and—"

"No, you aren't. I'll take care of him, thank you."

"But," the doctor said with wide eyes, "he'll be better with a doctor's treatment."

I glared at him. "You know you aren't the only doctor in the world, right? I was a doctor in the military, so I'm certain I've seen much worse than you. I'm not payin' a crap ton of money either." The doctor picked Kenneth up, who moaned. "Careful with him, idiot!" I took my boyfriend from the doctor carefully and kissed his sweaty forehead. He opened his pain-filled eyes. "It'll be alright, Kenneth, Cayler's here." Then he began begging me to stay, and I swore I would. I carried the seventeen-year-old to a clearing in the woods, laying him down on the snow-covered ground, and unbuttoned his torn shirt. Without thinking, I took the sewing kit from the bag beside Kenneth. Then I grabbed a nearby stick, wrapping a cloth around it. I told him to bite down on it, so he did it without question. He just tried to relax. Kenneth nodded when I asked if he was ready. We took a deep breath as I stuck the threaded needle into his skin. I continued stitching his wound. Of course, Kenneth kept screaming. After an hour, I was done. Kenneth cried in pain, so I stroked his hair and said I finished.

He smiled weakly and closed his eyes as the grip on my hand loosened and said, "thank you." Smiling, I laid a rag on his forehead and placed snow on it to reduce his fever. As we rested, I held his hand; he slept on our bundled-up shirts while I slept on the ground. A few hours later, we both woke up. Kenneth screamed as he sat up. Tears sprung to my eyes after hearing him scream. "Cayler, I'm so glad I jumped in front of the guy's attack, I—" Kenneth began, but I cut him off.

"You could've died, Kenneth. Also, that was reckless. I don't want to see you in pain." Kenneth said, pressing his lips to mine. We kissed for a few minutes then I told Kenneth he needed to rest because we'd be moving on in the morning. He smiled and nodded. I moved over. I laid down with my hand behind my head, my mind on Kenneth. Finally, sleep came, but it wasn't long before I smelt smoke, and the heat covered me in sweat.

Kenneth crawled over to me and said hoarsely, "fire, Cayler, fire." Seconds later, I ran with the bag and Kenneth in tow. I couldn't grab anything else without being burnt to a crisp. I ran with Kenneth in my arms, and the bag on my back was slow, but I tried running faster. Luckily, the heat was making the snowmelt, so it was easier.