Severe Scars

The boy gets up in the morning. The sun is rising and the birds are chirping. It has always been cold early in the morning in the woods, today is no exception. He glances at the girl who is already all dressed up getting ready. He sits with his blank mind while trying to rouse his senses.

"Come on, wake up! there are a lot of things we should do," The girl says to him.

"Okay, let me wash my face and brush my teeth first," he steps up to the bathroom.

As he makes his exit from the bathroom, the girl immediately tosses him a shotgun. he clumsily catches it, surprisingly showing his good reflexes. The boy scans the shotgun thoroughly. It looks like a vintage shotgun. The handle is made out of high-quality walnut trees. There is a safety tang near the trigger. It has a form of standard American double gun with a barrel length of around 23 to 40 inches.

"Nice catch," The girl smirks playfully.

"What's with the shotgun? are we going to hunt?" The boy asks

"No, not really, it's for safety. We might be away from the city, but sometimes I see some of the creatures roaming around the woods too. So, no harm in bringing a shotgun."

"But yours is a ghost gun, can you just give me that one?" the boy protests.

"That's all I could find here in this house, this gun belongs to me, and I'm going to need you to shoot in a distant range."

"Why?"

"You'll know why" The girl replies flatly.

===

The boy and the girl leave their small wooden house and start their journey. The girl tells the boy that she wants to find several mushrooms since she gets sick of canned food lately. Meanwhile, the boy wants to go fishing in the lake. So they decide to hunt for some mushrooms first.

"Listen, you need to find this kind of mushroom." The girl shows chanterelle mushroom to the boy.

"You should never, ever, take mushrooms that look pretty and has nice color, anyway I'm going to teach you one by one. This one is chanterelle mushrooms." The girl explains confidently.

"Can we get some fruits too?" the boy asks.

"Sure, since winter is coming, there are a lot of highbush cranberries in this woods."

They don't do a lot of conversations after that as they are busy finding mushrooms and berries. Each of them has a medium pouch to store their precious hunts. After around two hours they both feel tired and casually rest their body in a tree.

Being side to side with the girl, the boy could feel butterflies in his stomach. He wonders whether he used to have someone too before he lost his memories. Sure, he has dreams of having families and friends but the girl is far different from that. Sometimes, he hates being a teenage boy. It gives him tingling senses when he is around the opposite sex. If it's not the girl would he feel differently?

The girl falls her head to the boy's shoulder.

"Lend me your shoulder, I feel sleepy" The girl mumbles.

"Didn't you get to sleep early last night?" The boy asks.

There is no answer from the girl.

The boy thinks that his heart is going to burst. He kind of wishes that the girl could give him some warning first instead of doing whatever she wants. The boy nervously takes a deep breath as he maintains his position therefore he won't wake the girl.

The girl slowly opens her eyes as she says to the boy "They are here,"

She has a fiery gaze that the boy has never seen before.

"Can you hear that?" the girl whispers.

There is a sound of a creature grimacing in distraught. It seems really hungry. The boy and the girl peek behind the tree. They see a huge creature jumping from one tree to another. It has a muscular body with legs that resembles those that belong to frogs. Its claws decorate the hideous hands and its teeth are all fangs that are meant to shred its victim.

"It's one of the strong creatures."

"You have to shoot that thing," the girl whispers to the boy's ear.

The boy nods and then he rises slowly. He puts his left foot slightly forward and aims the front sight of his shotgun upward-pointing it in the direction of the creature. His left hand holds the forearm naturally as his right-hand place itself on the grip. He is ready to fire and therefore he pulls the trigger. There is only a bit of click sound coming from his shotgun.

Nothing happens. The bullet doesn't come out.

The creature looks back their way.

"What are you doing? you haven't pushed the safety tang, don't you? hurry up and fire!" the girl scolds him with a small voice.

The boy panics and hurriedly pushes the safety tang. He finally shoots the creature as he pulls the trigger.

The bullet manages to land on the creature's chest, however it doesn't hurt the creature significantly. It begins to screech strongly and makes its way to the boy and the girl by hanging on the trees.

"Fire him again! shoot him on his neck or he'll call his friends! " the girl shouts.

The boy keeps shooting the creature from a far range. It is extremely difficult because it moves so fast while attaching its body from one tree to another. He successfully hits the creature on random parts of its body with his bullets. However, he doesn't get the chance to shoot its neck. The creature is approaching them in no time with its body covered in blood.

As the creature weakens, it screeches so loud ringing both of their ears.

The girl moves forward and instinctively fires her gun toward the creature's neck to stop it from calling its friends. Then she aims her attack at its legs. The creature couldn't pin itself anymore at the tree so his body falls down to the ground. Even though they accomplish their mission, it is already too late by then.

Another creature springs from the left side of the girl. The creature starts to tear the girl's stomach with its sharp teeth. Its claws cut through the girl's arms. The girl couldn't move at all. She helplessly kicks her legs at the creature. At the same time, the boy is trembling in fear as he couldn't see the sight of the girl being torn apart by the creature. With his short breath, he shoots the creature in the neck several times.

The creature shifts its gaze to the boy. The boy could feel wrath coming from the creature as he stands behind the it. Just when the creature is about to jump on him, the girl makes a critical hit on its head. She then violently shoots the creature several times although she's still laying on the ground.

The boy drops his gun and rushes to the girl.

"Wait…" the girl pants as she suppresses her wounds with her hands.

"You have to cut their heads, or they will regenerate," The girl talks as her lips tremble.

"Don't talk anymore," The boy hugs the girls tightly in his arm.

"Just do it! " the girl screams angrily. "Do what I tell you to do, here take it," the girl takes a knife that she places on her right hip.

"Then…wait here," The boy slowly puts back the girl to the ground.

He feels so frustrated and sad. It feels like there is a giant storm and hurricane at the same time on his head. He wants to hold her close right now but he should also make sure that the creatures die by cutting their heads. His heart is aching. Tears flowed down his cheeks unknowingly. While cutting its head, his anger reaches its peak.

He brutally cuts the creature's head hurriedly. Not giving a damn mind that the creature's blood splattered on his face.

He then goes back to the girl and hugs her once again tightly.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," says the girl as her breath is getting shorter.

He holds her so tight that the girl thinks he's only making it worse for her to breathe. However, he just lets him do it. The boy's hand intensely holds the girl's clothes making it wrinkled. The thoughts of losing her buzzing around his head. He is starting to pant and his hands are trembling. He knows that he only met the girl yesterday.

But being alone again in this wood while having a memory of the girl who dies because he's not capable enough tortures him.

The boy chokes on himself as he's breathing harder. The girl releases herself from the hug and puts her bloody hands on the boy's face.

"Hey, look at me….I'm not gonna die. Take a deep breath, okay," the girl smiles faintly.

"Now, inhale….then exhale,"

The boy follows what the girl instructs him to do. Slowly but surely, he regains back his calm. Will she really be okay? But she has a deep wound in her stomach and they won't have enough time if they go back to their wooden house.

"Listen to what I have to say, let's just go back to our house,"

"But…we probably won't have enough time anyway."

"Just believe me, and by the way, don't forget to bring our pouches. We already hunted for mushrooms and berries for so long."

"Is this really time to think about food?" the boy snaps.

The girl chuckles.

But again he does whatever the girl tells him to do. He carries the girl in front of his chest, his shotgun on the left side of his shoulder, and their pouches on the left side of his hand that also holds the girl's shoulder.

"Ugh…you're making me bring a lot of things, and we need to be fast," he scowls as he runs inside the wood.

===

When they both arrive at their wooden house. The boy lays the girl in her bed. He then proceeds to go to the bathroom to take some water. Next, he's rummaging the girl's backpack to find first aid. Thankfully, the boy finds what he needs. The girl is unconscious, probably couldn't stand the pain she has to endure. The boy is about to clean her wounds but then his hands stop when he's about to unbutton her clothes.

"Ahhh…damn it!" he exclaims.

Once again he hates being a teenage boy. At that moment he curses all the men that exist for being men. From all-time in the world, why is his heart fluttering now? focus! the girl is dying! he slaps himself.

He then unbuttons the girl's clothes and cleans her wound accurately with a piece of cloth that belongs to him. Next, he sews the wounds carefully with the first aid that he finds in the girl's backpack. Lastly, he puts a cover on the girl's body to ensure that she stays warm. After taking care of the wounds, he finally sighs in relief. The boy sits beside the girl. His gaze could burn through her face. Unknowingly, his hand touches the girl's hair.

The boy brushes the girl's hair softly. In his mind, he determines that he should train harder to protect the girl

===

The next morning, the boy wakes up as the girl stares into his eyes.

"You're awake…are you ok.." The boy couldn't finish his sentence as he startles.

His eyes are getting wider. He is too surprised that he rubs his eyes.

The boy scans through the girl's body. The girl is wearing her undergarments, and her fair skin is revealed as she's not wearing any clothes after the boy took care of her last night.

"Your wounds…. they are gone," he speaks in disbelief.

The deep wound on the girl's stomach and her arms are gone. She looks like she has never been hurt before. As if she's been fine all along. Left unscathed.

To be continue