Free Surrounds (Bonds) by S.L. Simps Page A

again.
    She cleans up after he's out and wraps her own wounds with shaky fingers.
    (O)
    She had fallen asleep, she only realizes when she wakes up hours later. Henderson is gone from his spot next to her, which throws her into a panic. Bolting up, she nearly trips over Henderson's forgotten blanket, her insides in a twist. Her bones pop and wounds stretch, she bites back a wince.
    "Hen -" He's a few feet away, bent over a tiny table writing something on a piece of paper, barely standing if not for it.
    "What in the hell are you doing, Henderson?" She yells, stomping to him. His body is hunched, her awkward bandaging clean. A sigh leaves her. Good. He was no longer bleeding. The wounds weren't as deep as she had originally thought.
    "This is a map..." He croaks out weakly, pointing at the well-drawn drawing on a piece of paper in front of him. A few balled up pieces of paper were in piles next to him. "How to get to Mexico..." He quietly pants. He taps a piece of paper with worded instructions on them with his pen. "You're going to have to leave me."
    That's Henderson for you, when he's not being a vault of secrets, he is usually straight with whatever it is he's saying. Such an annoying quality, Lacey thinks. When Henderson finally faces her, her hands slams against his forehead with a little too much force. Henderson bumps into the table and winces. Lacey doesn't care.
    "Like I thought, you still have a fever." She blurts. "You're talking nonsense."
    Henderson takes her hand away from his face, breathing heavily, brown eyes darker. "I... I'm weak... unsafe a... place... too long..."
    "Alright you idiot..." The girl grabs his arm and leads him and settles him onto the couch. "I'm not going without you... I would never make it." He frowns at her and opens his mouth. "I'm stupid and I trip over myself daily... You really think I can survive out there by myself?"
    He takes another breath before looking her directly in the eye. "You... can do anything." He wheezes. "I believe in you."
    Lacey bites her lip, anger spiking, she takes a calming breath. "Thanks, but you shouldn't." The girl laughs a forced laugh. "I'm unreliable."
    "Yo -"
    "No, damn it, Henderson." She flops down next to him. He winces as his body bounces. "Its not fair..." She avoids looking at him. "Its not fair for you to ask me to leave you here. Am I really that type of person to you? Do you think I would leave you? Why do you always believe the worse in me, Henderson, huh?" Lacey glares at him. "It's always been like this, you being the hero. Not this go around, Hen. I would never leave you."
    He opens his mouth but closes a second later. Smart boy, Lacey mentally nods.
    "Shit, I wanna be a hero too." She finally says, leaning back into the couch, closing both eyes, showing that the conversation was over.
    "Curse... too much..." Henderson whispers weakly, but the girl hears him fine.
    Lacey cracks one eye open. "That's why you love me, though, right?" The girls asks smartly.
    Henderson eases himself back onto the couch beside her with a small groan. "Yes."
    (O)
    Four days, its how long Henderson allows himself to recover before he insists on them moving on.
    "I don't think staying here another day will hurt anything, Henderson." Lacey says, pausing in her attempts of shoving a blanket into her backpack. Henderson sits a few feet from her, holding his side and looking their food over, rechecking the numbers. "I don't think your well yet...."
    He tosses a few cans into his own book bag before glancing at her. "Its dangerous. One of those creatures might be looking for us, something else could have found our scents, and I'm in no condition to fight."
    "Well I am..." She crosses her arms with a huff. "I told you about what I did. How I saved you."
    Henderson gives her a look, one which shows his skepticism very clearly. He hadn't believed her when she told him she had been the one to save him from his attackers. He certainly didn't believe her when she told him she