Crutches

Charrack stayed up the entire night, sharpening arrows. A pack of wild animals kept him uneasy with their howling. The local equivalent of crickets added to the overall restlessness. John tossed and turned in a feverish nightmare.

Charrack was only too happy to see the sun rise, but John still hadn't woken up. Charrack stayed close to camp while gathering some larger sticks to make a set of crutches. When he finished John asked for water.

"Good to see you are finally done thrashing around in your sleep." Charrack handed John the canteen and set the new crutches down.

John reached into his pocket and pulled out a fresh stick of gum, popping it in his mouth. "I must have swallowed it in my sleep." He mumbled to himself in English.

"What is that?" Charrack asked.

"Chewing gum." John held up the package so Charrack could see.

"What does it taste like?"

John held it up to his face, "watermelon."

Charrack scratched his head, "I don't know what that is."

John shrugged, "It is just a fruit from earth."

John tried to stand up and collapsed suddenly onto his face. He forgot about the missing leg, phantom limb syndrome is something a lot of the soldiers were taught to deal with, always with the knowledge they'd get a replacement. That didn't seem possible at the present though.

Charrack unslung the bow from his shoulder and grabbed one of his new arrows. "I'm going to make sure these fly straight. Try those crutches out, but don't go anywhere."

He started shooting arrows into a tree, working on his grouping. John rose up on his new crutches and started wobbling around to work them in. The left crutch was about a half inch shorter than the right, but after working with the angle he circumvented the problem. John heard a rustling and hobbled over to Charrack as fast as possible.

"I'm really getting sick of all the oversized predators on this stupid planet!" He yelled.

Charrack spun around and held up his bow. A small rodent-like animal rushed to the water and began drinking. Charrack relaxed and John laughed. His arms were shaking and he was sweating profusely. Now that he thought about it, he was sweating a lot more than usual. His head began spinning and he collapsed into unconsciousness.

Charrack looked at John's sleeping body. "Really, you're going to make me carry you to another campsite aren't you?"

He sighed and started packing up camp. Scattering ashes like he saw John do before and tying him to his back before marching further up the river.

Due to the amount of large predators that used the river to drink, he stayed just out of sight of the banks. After an hour John started to come to and Charrack set him down.

"What happened? Where are we now?" John looked around slowly at the trees and reached for a new stick of gum.

Charrack pulled out an arrow and started twiddling it between his clawed fingers. "You passed out; maybe from blood loss, maybe some venom is still in your system, or you just moved to fast. Now we are heading somewhere where there may be less predators. Can't have another dragon attack with you hobbling around now can we?"

John nodded and stared at his stump of a leg. "It's hard to believe I'm still alive."

Charrack shrugged, "Don't be to worried. You are tough, for a human, I'm sure it'll grow back soon."

John chuckled, "You do realize we aren't like the Valk don't you? Humans don't grow their legs back."

Charrack went stiff, "I'm sorry. If I had known that, I probably wouldn't have cut off your leg so hastily. Now I see why you were so hesitant."

John waved him off, "Nah, it's fine. I probably would be dead if you hadn't. So, thanks."

Charrack seemed to relax a little and they listened to the birds for a minute.

"You asked earlier, about the war, but I want to know why you fight. What is your story John?"

John pressed his back up against a tree and set his crutches across his lap. "That's a good question. When I was found by the military I began training almost immediately. I learned everything from the ABC'S to trench tactics in two years. I knew nothing other than how to hate and fight, but I always felt sad. I knew their had to be more to life, but I only knew bits and pieces about the world from what my squad told me. I don't remember anything from my childhood, who I was, who my parents were. That part of my life is just missing. There are some things I think I can remember, one of them is chewing gum, believe it or not. I remember standing in a field with only one glove on, striped pants and a cap, in my mouth was chewing gum. Once I discovered it, I just chewed it because it felt familiar, now I can't live without it."

"Weird, Charrack said, "but I asked why you fight, not chew gum."

"I thought I answered that."

"Well you did, then went off topic."

John shook his head, "Well my mind is pretty fuzzy right now so maybe we should eat something before we move out."

They chowed down on some of the smoked "crab" and emptied the canteen. Without many tools or supplies they were easy targets out in the wild. They decided to set their efforts on finding a suitable shelter with water access. Long-term goals could be discussed after they were capable of surviving.

Charrack decided they had waited long enough and stood up to help John to his feet. Before he reached down he spotted a massive vine swaying closer and closer to them. He examined it more closely and discovered it wasn't a vine at all. Too slow to dodge the snake he became wrapped up by the giant constrictor in a mere second.

John scrambled up with his crutches and smacked the snakes body. Charrack let out a groan as the snake tightened it's grip and continued to wrap around his entire body. John looked around for the serpent's head but it was well out of reach in the branches above them. John heard several cracking sounds and assumed the worst. He pulled his trench knife out and started hacking at the massive snakes body, hoping their was enough of his friend left inside to be saved....