@whitetail-wheaty from here.
Old man. There had been countless times he’d fired back a comment about the kid’s lack of showers or questionable taste in music, but right now Eli didn’t have that strength.
He was in bad shape. Bad was putting it mildly. His shoulder was in pieces and the bandage was doing little - blood was already seeping through it and he felt lightheaded. Gritting his teethe when his knees hit the metal stairs, Eli bit back the groan and willed himself to get his feet under him again. He needed to keep moving because he needed to get Wheaty to safety. Fuck.
It was all so clear now; all the times the Dep had gone radio-silent and he’d just thought they were off in Holland Valley or down in the Henbane helping the resistance effort in those regions. Jacob had been using them as a pawn and he’d been blind to it. His blindness was laid bare now in the blood spilled in the Den; Tammy, Walker and no many other Whitetails that he’d let down. He couldn’t let Wheaty down too. “C’mon kiddo, I need your help to get up these dang stairs.”
Slowly, agonisingly slowly, they got there and the world was like it had always been; sun shining and birds chirping as if there wasn’t a county-wide war being waged. “Wheaty you’re in the driver’s seat,” Eli slowed down to take the truck keys from his pocket and hand them to the teenager, leaning his weight on Wheaty. His breathing was heavy and sweat beaded on his forehead. “ ... head towards the FANG centre, Wade’s got a decent medical centre for the animals, he can try an’ stitch me up.”











