Page 21 of The General's Captive
Name – Riley Brooks
Height (Feet) 6’ 1”
Appearance - Annoyingly handsome.
Intelligence – Too smart for his own good
Charisma – Too much of it.
Strength – Too many muscles to count. (Seriously, Alex, stop trying.)
Fighting Skill – Has to be a 10.
Notes - Soldier with ‘Action Man’ complex. Annoyingly optimistic. Trustworthy and reliable. Did I mention annoying? Did I mention that I might be in love with him?
The blaring alarm continued, and I knew this would only end up drawing more creatures here. So even though my savior was injured, I knew if I didn’t shut that thing up, and soon, we would both be dead.
I scanned the entrance, knowing this was where they normally kept the fire alarm control panels. My mom and I were evacuated from a store once and as we were walking past; I saw the manager by the front door trying to figure it out. For some reason it just always stuck in my head and, well, now I was thankful for the random memory.
I ran over, saw it needed a key, and grabbed the first heavy thing I could find, which happened to be a meat tenderizer that was on sale. The thing looked like a small metal mallet, and thankfully did the job as I smashed the panel open. Then all I had to do was hit the silence button and finally, silence descended once more. Well, at least it would make the Harpies stay away. Although it was the other Myths I was worried about.
I ran back to see what the damage was with the army guy, and I realized just how severely injured he was. A pang of guilt hit me, knowing that he was in this state because of me. Because of the way he had thrown me out of the way so the Harpy got him instead. Naturally, I instantly took back all the nasty things I had thought about him, half of which I had said out loud.
Kneeling next to him, the cooling blood surrounding him soaked my pants and moistened my skin. His arms were badly beat up where he had tried to defend himself against the Harpy’s bite. But that wasn’t the most worrying part. No, it was the blood I could see soaking his side, as though something had impaled him after he had fallen from the Harpy’s grasp.
“You know what we never did?” I said, wanting to keep him conscious as I dug around in my backpack for the last of my first aid supplies. “We never actually introduced ourselves.” I smiled, lifting my eyes to meet his, trying to stay strong and unconcerned as the first touches of agony appeared on his face.
He was sweating profusely. His eyes were closed but his eyelids twitched feverishly, and tremors shook through his body. From the pain, the adrenaline, or both, I didn’t know. Maybe his body was starting to shut down from the blood loss.
Either way, I kept talking, hoping to keep him focused enough to stay awake. Praying it wasn’t that bad and he would survive without a blood transfusion.
“I’m Alexandra but most people call me Alex. I am twenty years old because I think I had a birthday last month. I’ve losttrack of the dates, to be honest. Although, I did find a Twinkie that day, so I am classing that as birthday cake. I’m from New York, and before you say anything, Yankees all the way. Oh, and I think we have established by now my favorite chips are Cheetos, flamin’ hot to be precise.” I paused when he winced, and asked,
“You… always talk… this… much?”
I laughed and teased, “Only for hot action heroes who save my life,twice.”
He smiled, even though it ended with a grit of his teeth.
“You… think… I’m hot?” he panted.
“Oh, trust that to be the part you focus on,” I groaned, making him smirk.
Realizing I didn’t have much in the way of cleaning his wound, I cursed under my breath. Then I eyed the dead Harpy lying not even six feet away from us and almost gagged at how dirty her long taloned fingernails were. He was definitely going to get an infection, but that was something we would have to worry about later. Because if I didn’t try and stop the bleeding right now, it wouldn’t matter, regardless. He would be dead anyway.
“How’s… it lookin’… doc?” he wheezed out.
I laughed as I dug out my bottle of water, but it came out more nervous sounding than I intended.
“Oh, I have seen worse,” I said, lying through my teeth, because I absolutely hadn't.
“Liar,” he muttered, making me wince.
“Hold still, okay? This is going to hurt,” I said, before twisting the cap off with my teeth. Then I poured the water over the wounds on his arms, making him wince and moan. The water mixed with the blood, washing it away, allowing me to see the extent of the damage. I then lifted up his T-shirt, ignoring the very obvious six pack abs, and instead washed the blood fromhis wound so I could see it better. When more blood poured out, I grabbed one of my spare T-shirts from my bag and pressed it tight against the wound. His groan of pain made me feel guilty enough to say, “We have to keep the pressure on it.”
He nodded, keeping his eyes closed as he worked through the discomfort.
“Hey, keep talking to me, okay…? What’s your name?” I asked, trying to ignore the way his face contorted briefly as I held the T-shirt in place with my forearm so my hands were free and I could get what I needed.
