Deserted - Auctioned

He held up four fingers.

Wonderful.

Darius chuckled through a grunt and straightened once more. The fabric he’d cut was still there, attached to the knife stuck in his leg. “All right. Soon as I pull out the blade, you gotta be ready.”

Gray nodded and opened the truck door so Darius could get comfortable in the back seat. “Get up here and be careful. Leave your leg off the edge. I’d rather not get blood all over the seats.”

It was bizarre how fast this came back to Gray. It’d become second nature to dress wounds and play nurse.

“You usually have more sympathy,” Darius noted.

“Then you put a tracker in my phone,” Gray muttered. While Darius got situated, Gray glanced around to make sure they hadn’t attracted too much attention. But either the area was dead, or the people of Philadelphia—the few who passed, anyway—weren’t interested.

“I’m sorry for stabbing you,” Jayden mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it, kid.” Darius winced as he leaned forward and gripped the knife. “You got a good technique, I’ll give you that.” He lifted his gaze to Gray. “You ready?”

“Hold on.” Gray squatted down and dug through the kit. With no water around, he went with a bottle of sodium chloride solution and a couple antiseptic wipes for cleaning the laceration. “Jayden, you don’t need to see this.”

“I’m not scared of some blood,” he retorted.

“Of course you’re not.” Gray suppressed a sigh and handed over the kit to him instead. “Then you can hold this for me.”

If anything, Jayden was happy to help.

The second Darius withdrew the knife from his leg, blood started seeping out. Gray was there in an instant, and he pressed two cotton balls to the cut. Then he tore off the plastic lid of the sodium chloride solution with his teeth and poured the liquid over the cotton, effectively soaking the wound.

Darius hissed and inspected the knife after wiping it across his thigh. “At least there’s no rust.”

“Stay still,” Gray ordered. While holding the cotton in place, he discarded the empty bottle on the ground and gestured for Jayden to come closer. Then he picked out a sterile dressing and asked Darius to open the packet.

It was bleeding quite heavily, but it couldn’t be a deep wound. The blade of the little pocketknife was maybe two inches and very thin.

“That’s so cool,” Jayden whispered.

Darius flashed a quick smirk.

Gray refocused on the wound, wishing Darius’s leg were more elevated. With the blood still trickling out, it was impossible to see if any dirt or fabric had gotten stuck in there. No, this would have to do for now. He’d check it later, assuming Darius was now joining them for part of the trip.

After using the antiseptic wipes, Gray covered the laceration with the dressing, then dug out a roll of bandage to wrap around Darius’s calf. Lastly, he finished with a roll of tape.

“That was more excitement than I signed up for today,” he commented and stood up.

“You’re a natural.” Darius checked the dressing.

“Don’t butter me up. I’m still mad.” And now he had blood all over his hands; it was cold, and it had started to rain. And snow. Fuck this noise. “You’re not fit to drive.”

Darius frowned and slid out of the car, keeping most of his weight off his bad leg. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Gray didn’t bother answering. He should’ve known better than to discuss rhyme or reason with a man who scoffed at getting shot.

“I’m bringing Jayden to Camassia,” he said instead.

“Perfect,” Darius replied. “I’ll drop off my rental, and then we can meet up outside the city. I’ll cab it there.”

“Do I have a choice?” Gray asked tiredly. He knew the answer.

“No.” Darius wiped off the knife again, then snapped it shut and extended it to Jayden. “This is gonna be a good story to tell people one day, kid.”

Jayden smiled timidly and pocketed the knife. He handed the first aid kit back to Darius.

This was rapidly becoming too much for Gray. The frustrations kept building up, and the feeling of being suffocated was returning. Dammit, he wanted to be alone. After saying he wanted a minute alone with Darius, he asked Jayden to get back in the truck.

Deep breaths.

An icy wind blew past them.

Darius retrieved his smokes and lit one up.

“I don’t want company, Darius.” He was honest. He had to be.

“I know.” Darius took a drag and exhaled the smoke through his nose. “You wanna get lost in this little bubble you’re creating with Jonas’s brother.”

Gray averted his gaze. Inside the truck, Jayden was busy buckling his seat belt.

“You don’t have to be on the move to be running, knucklehead,” Darius murmured. “I know all too well what it’s like to cling to someone innocent and hope they’ll show you that humanity is worth saving.”

Those words slashed through Gray, and he realized the truth of them. It was exactly what was happening. He was turning Jayden into his special project. One he wanted to take care of and protect from the horrors of the world.