No Rest for the Wicked (thinking about deleting idk)

#4 Back Home...

Bren and I had managed to walk down and into the valley. The rocky face of the cliff opposite me began to haunt me, if not the both of us. But at the moment, that was the least of our worries, as Max still hadn't woken up. I felt so guilty, so ashamed that I had never said thank you to him.

My surroundings became more and more familiar as we progressed down the valley. From what I remembered the camp was hidden behind a large cluster of rocks, and the cliff supplied shelter. I wondered how long I'd been gone, whether they'd heard the explosion. Had they even noticed that I'd disappeared?

My boots touched the soft sand, and I decided to take them off and walk bare-foot. The camp wasn't too far away now, just a hundred metres or so. I could see that Bren thought of me as unaware, too relaxed, by his facial expression. His eyebrows were scrunched up and disapproving. I didn't care. It was pretty safe around here, besides, I knew this area like the back of my hand.

Bren was getting tired from holding Max in his arms. I would too, in fact I probably wouldn't have had the heart to carry him and drag him along the ground instead. I really proved to be a thoughtful person.

The two of us walked in a straight line, from here I could finally see the cluster. I was so close, that I started to jog. I was so excited to see Arriane and Fiona again, to explain everything that had happened. That's what friends were for, and they'd stuck by me the whole way.

And then I saw them. None of us had watches, we all had no idea what the time was. I assumed it to be early evening, something like that, and they were collecting firewood.

"Is that them?" asked Bren.

"Yep. Don't worry, they won't bite."

"I wasn't worrying." I ignored him, seeing he couldn't go along with the humour.

"Arriane!" I yelled. "Fiona!" They looked at me, and as soon as they recognized my face, they dropped all of their firewood on the ground. I was so pleased to see them, it'd felt like days rather than hours.

As soon as I caught up to them both, Fiona gave me a big hug, and so did Arriane.

"Could you at least care to tell us where you're going next time?" said Arriane in a motherly tone. I was about to reply, but Fiona quickly pulled me back, behind the cluster of rocks. Bren was still walking towards us, but Fiona looked worried.

"Did you even NOTICE him following you Victoria? I told you that only we could know about this place, now he's going to tell all of his Russian mates about it!"

"Quick Fiona, get the pistol from my tent over there, he's coming!"

"Guys, stop! He's got no alliance with them at all. He's stranded here, just like us!"

"Yeah sure," said Fiona. " I'm sure he said that..." Fiona was very different when it came to war mode.

"Just how can you be certain?" asked Arriane. The footsteps were becoming louder now.

"Look, I don't know, but somehow I can just, well, I can just tell! Trust me," and I got up, to directly face Bren.

"I know I'm not welcome here," he said. "But I need your help. Is there any way, any way that you can possibly help him? A bullet wound to the hand, he's lost a lot of blood. As soon as he's healed, we'll leave straight away. Please." Bren was desperate. Surely they believed him.

"Show it to me," said Fiona. "Lay him on the sand. Arriane, I'm going to need tweezers and some anti-bacterial wipes.Victoria you take what's his name-"

"Bren."

"Bren. Right. You take Bren to your tent, explain to him the rules. It's going to get ugly out here." Without hesitation, I grabbed Bren's arm and guided him to my tent. He was extremely tense, now was the moment of truth. It was all up to Fiona and Arriane.