"Shit...." He breathed out, laughing shakily. "That was a close one!" Simon finally lowered his gun, from which he'd been putting bullets into the hoard of variant Slowers that had come at them from nowhere.
"You know, for a second there I thought--" He turned to look at Edel, and the grin dropped in shock, as did the gun from his hands. It barely hit the ground with a clatter before he had dropped to his knees beside the thin frame of the girl, shaking her shoulder. "Hey! Come on, we're almost at the end! You can't just stop now!"
The blood oozing slowly from the cuts eventually stopped dripping all together. He took her hands off her, letting them hang at her side in shock, eyes wide and feeling the hopelessness crash down on him. Again. It happened again. He couldn't protect her.