"Geez', it really is bad back here," Lachlan mumbled, mostly to himself, but he was pretty sure she could probably hear him. "Why the hell didn't they recall the troops? What are they doing?"
He placed one of his hands on the ground and started pushing himself to his feet slowly. He groaned as pain radiated out from his side.
"Sorry, for pulling my gun on you. It looks like the past few years haven't been kind to either of us," he apologized. "I gotta go now."
"I don't think they've been kind to anyone." Rose Hip moved to stand as well, looking at the man before hr for a moment.
"Are you sure? You don't look too good… You'll find traveling injured and alone is a death sentence nowadays." The woman brushed the little sand on her dress off, taking a step back.
He limped forward a few steps and paused. "I'll be fine. I need to get to Pennsylvania sooner rather than later," Lachlan stated. "Be careful out there."
Lachlan started moving forwards again, although, only making it a few steps before stabbing pain exploded in his side. He cut off his cry of pain by snapping his mouth shut. Clutching his side as he collapsed on the ground again.
Rose Hip watched the man in front of her before turning, fulling intent on leaving herself.
"You too, you never know what problems you'll run into." She had taken several steps when she heard the man fall, turning her head to look at him. She paused, frowning as she considered her options. This man wasn't her responsibility, and she'd have better chances herself if she just left him. Still… his chances were slim if she left him. She held back a sigh as she made up her mind, turning completely to move to his side.
"I don't think you'll get very far on your own," she said, kneeling down. "Are you sure you don't need my help?"
Groaning slightly, Lachlan turned onto his uninjured side and started pulling the straps of his vest loose. Rose Hip was right, he wasn't going to get very far in his condition, and the first step to fixing it was to figure out what the hell was wrong. He pulled his vest loose and moved it until he could get his hand under it and feel what kind of damage was there. Through the numbing pain he couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary, but when he pulled his hand out of his vest it was covered in blood.
"Well that's just great," he muttered. He glanced at the woman crouching next to him and sighed. "Do you know of any place I could safely get this patched up?" He asked.
Rose Hip watched as the man pulled away a hand covered in blood from his side, looking around.
"There's more cover off the beach," she said, "But it'd be best to avoid any and all buildings. If anything, we'd need to get you into the small bit of woods near here, no one goes in from what I've seen." Rose Hip looked back to the man, offering her hand to help him back up.
He took it gratefully, and let her help him to his feet. He was wearing close to thirty pounds of gear already, and it was all soaking wet. Her help was greatly appreciated, even if she didn't realize just how much it was. "Then I guess we head to the woods. Any idea as to why people avoid it?"
"Urban legends," Rose Hip explained. "The classic, evil humanoid cryptid that steals people who go in or something." Rose wasn't entirely prepared for just how heavy the man was, but she did her best to support most of his weight, one arm wrapped around his back and his arm looped around her neck.
"You ready?"
"As I'll ever be," he sighed. He let her lead him away from the beach and towards the trees. It was a pretty slow and painful move, and part of Lachlan wondered if this woman was really trying to help him, or if she was just taking him into the woods to kill him in private. He tried to shove those thoughts from his mind, and if need be deal with them at a later date. Right now he needed to focus on his injuries.
He had his Pararescue backpack which had a good amount of pretty advanced medical gear, plus he was trained to use all of it, so it wasn't a question of supplies or capability. It was a question of if he would be able to continue with his mission after patching himself up. He had a time limit that was pretty crunched now because of the helicopter being shot down.
"You said we were in North Carolina right?" he asked.
"As far as I know, we are," Rose Hip confirmed. She was more focused on making sure she didn't bang the man up more than he was then going fast, looking around with a wary eye on occasion to make sure no one else had decided to check out the wreck and spotted a wounded soldier being helped by a woman who wouldn't be able to do anything to defend them both with how they were walking.
"I'm going to assume, most people aren't as friendly as you are," Lachlan commented as they went. He'd noticed her glancing around every so often, and figured she was probably keeping an eye out for other people. Possibly other things, but he couldn't assume that to be the case. Then again every time he was told that the President had bombed the U.S. he questioned it. None of the troops were called back, in fact there seemed to be an effort to keep them away. He wondered if the bombing had been some kind of cover up of something gone wrong. Again though, he couldn't assume anything because he didn't have all the facts.
"Lord, do I know," Rose Hip mumbled. She picked the pace up a bit, just in case. She spotted the wooded area she had mentioned, relieved to have gotten this far without running into anyone else. It wasn't uncommon to go long times without coming across others, but if the crash had drawn her there could be others on their way.
"Well aren't I just lucky to have drawn your attention instead of-" Lachlan cut himself off, grabbed Rose Hip with both hands and dragged the both of them behind a building. The sudden movement hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, but it was the better alternative. Just down the street an official government vehicle was driving by, in incredibly slow fashion.
He'd been warned by his commanding officer, not to trust any Government Officials, and any high ranking military personnel. And the slowness of the vehicle told him that they were looking for something. He was not about to let himself, or the woman kind enough to help him, get caught. He had other things he needed to do first.
Rose Hip was startled by the sudden movement, but she knew better than to make a fuss. There had to be good reason for it, at this point. She kept silent, looking at the man before glancing out. She blanched, pulling back some. She didn't trust anyone, let alone the government. They'd been the ones to start all of this, after all. Lachlan didn't seem to either, which was a bad sign. He was a soldier, wasn't he? If he didn't trust them, then there was something seriously wrong with this entire situation.
Lachlan waited until the vehicle was well and thoroughly gone before he let his shoulders relax. He hadn't even realized that they were tense in the first place. His vision was trying to become blurry on him, and standing was getting harder. He needed to treat the wound to his side. "Sorry about that," he mumbled to Rose Hip. There was a small amount of guilt tugging in the back of his mind at having grabbed her without warning.
"Government vehicles are a no go for me just yet. I need to avoid them until I get to the White House," he explained.
"It's perfectly fine," Rose Hip assured. "I'm glad you spotted it- I don't really trust anyone, let alone someone from the government." The woman looked at Lachlan as he relaxed, her arms going back around him to help him stay upright.
"I think it would be best to try to patch you up here," she finally said. "It's more exposed to people on foot, but you're in no condition to keep going."
(Sorry for the late reply. Things got busy. I graduate in a month so I might be off an on for a little while longer.)
Lachlan wanted to disagree, but he knew she was right. With a sigh he nodded. "Unfortunately yeah… I'm not gonna get much farther than this for a bit." He glanced around again just to make sure that there was no one else. Then he spotted an open door only a few feet from them. "Come on, let's just get out of the open," he said gesturing to the building.
(Okay! I haven't… been doing the best recently, aha…)
Rose Hip glanced at the door, pausing. It was better than out in the open, but it could also mean there were other people who thought the same things as them. Was it safe enough to risk it? Being cautious is what had gotten Rose Hip this far, after all. Still, now she had someone who needed some protection.
"Alright, then," she said, nodding some. He moved to help Lachlan towards the door, wary still of anyone they might find.
(Yeah, I get it. Again sorry for the late response.)
Lachlan took note of her moment of hesitation and a wave of guilt hit him. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I'm sorry I got you all mixed up with this. Thank you for helping me."
He got the sense that he was probably the luckiest person on the planet to have been found by this woman, and not someone else. He was also picking up that a lot more had changed in the US than he had been told about. A flash of anger coursed through him for a moment as he thought about why he and almost every other military member were not there. They had been purposefully kept away. And that fact pissed him off more than almost anything else.
(It's okay! Respond whenever you can, there's no rush)
"Hmph." Rose Hip looked to Lachlan as they walked to the door, a dry chuckle escaping her lips. "It's fine. I've been on my own and on the run since the beginning of all this craziness, there's not much of a reason I'd be able to give myself for leaving you behind. Besides, you must admit it's better for you here than in that vehicle, or dead on the beach." Rose Hip brought Lachlan to the door then, glancing in and doing her best to check for anyone else inside while supporting the man.