Mox tried to smile, but couldn’t do it.
“I won’t die that easy. It’s not that bad. One bullet went through, but I have another one that stuck inside.We should go, they will start chasing us soon.”
“Not before patching up that wound!” Maria said with concern in her voice.
She took off the saddle from the horse and let him free. She then took a bag from the saddle and took out a clean shirt. Ripping that shirt in two pieces, she started to clean the wound from blood with one of them, and then made a bandage from the other one.
Mox was looking at her without making a sound. Like a good child, he stood there while Maria took care of him. She patched him up, stopping the bleeding, at least for a while.
“Now we can go!” she triumphantly said, very pleased with the work she has done.
Using the tree as a support, Mox rose to his feet and looked around for a good tree branch to use it as crutch. Without one of those, the journey would be really, really painful.
“Let’s go,” he said, supporting himself in a tree branch the he found acceptable.
“Where do you want to go?” she replied, looking at him like she wanted to read his mind. “Let me help you walk.”
“Pshh. Go away. I can walk by myself,” he immediately denied her, with a hand gesture. “Follow me. We’ll go to get the painting.”
Maria left with her mouth open when she heard this. But recovered immediately and followed Mox, that entered deeper into the forest.
The journey went slow. Mox had to stop from time to time. His wound was getting worse and Maria’s worries were getting higher. Mox tried to keep a straight face and a smile on his lips, but that didn’t fool the vigilant eyes of Maria.
“We can’t make any fire,” Mox said when it got dark. “I’m sure they are looking for us. Or they will start looking soon. We can’t leave them any more traces that we already left!”
“What we will eat then?” Maria asked, holding her stomach with one hand. A growling sound followed in the awkward silence.
“You haven’t prepared anything? You got the weapons, but didn’t prepare any food?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead.” she replied, with red in her cheeks.
“Nevermind. We will eat tomorrow,” Mox said. “We should reach my hideout tomorrow.”
Since they couldn’t make any fire, they started to gather leaves and moss to make a bed. Mox didn’t really wanted, but he knew that they will have to sleep in the same bed to make themselves warm.
After a few minutes, the bed was done. Mox lied down immediately. His face was pale. Loosing that much blood, plus the effort he made. Placing his arm on his right side, he could feel the warmth of the wound. The bandage was full of blood.
Maria laid down as well, placing her head on his chest. Mox started to play with her hair.
“I don’t know what I would do If I’d lose you,” she said with a tremor in her voice.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Mox whispered. “Let’s sleep. We have a long day ahead of us”
I'm trying to keep a regular writing and posting schedule but I never manage to keep it. Life and fatigue always get in my way. But, I will try to have at least 3 chapters a week, every week.
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