As Christopher was severely wounded, Winnie had him sit between her and Riley to keep him from falling off the motorcycle.
When the first rays of the morning sun poured into the dense forest, Winnie turned around and exclaimed excitedly, “The sun is up, Christopher! Now that it’s easier to see where we’re going, I can go a little faster! It won’t be long before we reach the rendezvous point! We can all go home soon! Just hang in there a little bit longer, okay?”
This time, however, she did not get a response from Christopher.
Feeling a little worried, Winnie turned around and called out to him again, “Christopher? Hey, Christopher! Are you okay? Say something! Stop scaring me! This isn’t funny!”
The main road was just up ahead, but Winnie decided to pull over to check on Christopher anyway.
Riley had the first aid kit in his hand when they fled the scene earlier, but they didn’t have time to treat Christopher’s wounds as they were too busy making their escape in the dark.
With the sun up in the sky and no threats in the area, Winnie was finally able to tend to Christopher’s wounds. With Riley’s help, she carried Christopher off the motorcycle and gave his body a quick examination.
Although there were no gunshot wounds, Winnie noticed a stab wound on his abdomen and identified it as the cause of his excessive blood loss.
Fortunately, Winnie was able to stop the bleeding with the supplies from the first aid kit. Nonetheless, she still needed to get Christopher to a hospital for a blood transfusion or he could go into shock.
Winnie then quickly packed the things back into the first aid kit and told Riley, “We need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible! Come on, let’s help him onto the motorcycle!”
“Right! I’ll take his left side, so you can take his right!” Riley replied, his voice sounding a little muffled by the motorcycle helmet.
After helping Christopher onto the motorcycle, Winnie kicked it into high gear and sped off as quickly as possible.
In just a matter of minutes, they made it onto the main road, which was a lot wider and smoother than the jungle trail.
Winnie was just starting to enjoy the smooth ride when the motorcycle ran out of gas all of a sudden.
The look on her face was frozen in shock when the motorcycle came to a complete halt on the main road.
What the… I don’t believe it! Why would this motorcycle fail me at such a crucial moment?
Still in disbelief, Winnie repeatedly tried to start the motorcycle, but to no avail.
Her sweat continued flowing down her cheeks and into the collar of her shirt.
At that very moment, she couldn’t even bring herself to face Christopher.
She didn’t want to tell him that he could’ve been rushed to a hospital but would end up dying because the motorcycle ran out of fuel.
Suddenly, Winnie had flashbacks of the explosion, the firefight, Christopher sobbing about his comrades dying before him, and Xavier asking her to meet him at the rendezvous point.
For some reason, she subconsciously glanced at the navigation device, only to realize that the blip representing Xavier’s car had been stationary for a long time.
As though her brain had stopped working, all of her logic and reason went out the window in an instant.
It wasn’t until Riley patted her on the shoulder that she snapped out of it.
“I’m carrying him out of here! I don’t care how far it is—I need to get him to a hospital!” she yelled while preparing to help Christopher off the motorcycle.
“But…” Riley was about to say something but held his tongue when he saw Winnie’s bloodshot eyes. “I would’ve carried him if it weren’t for my wounded leg.”
“That won’t be necessary. You should worry more about yourself.” Winnie knew about Riley injuring his leg when they went down the sewer, so she wasn’t about to have a man with a broken leg help her out.
She then grabbed both of Christopher’s arms and placed them over her shoulders. However, Christopher was much bigger and taller than her, so she was unable to carry him on her back. As such, Winnie had no choice but to wrap one of his arms around her shoulder and drag him forward.
Because the position he was in put a lot of strain on his torso, the wound on his abdomen began to tear, sending a sharp pain through his body.
The pain was so intense that it woke him up from his unconscious state. “W-Where are we?”
Winnie stopped in her tracks and flashed him a relieved smile. “Oh, thank goodness you’re awake! The motorcycle ran out of fuel. I’m getting you to a hospital right now.”
“A hospital?” Christopher blinked in confusion as he looked at the seemingly endless stretch of road ahead. “Where is the hospital?”
“It’s just up ahead! We’re almost there, Christopher! You have to hang in there, okay? I know you can do it!” Winnie replied.
Christopher’s face had turned deathly pale at that point. “You think I’m stupid or something? I know there isn’t a hospital nearby… Stop wasting your time trying to save me, or none of us will make it out alive… Just leave me in a nearby forest and go with Professor White,” he said with a wry smile.
Winnie shot him a fierce glare. “No, I won’t leave you! We’re getting out of here together! We’ve come way too far to give up now! I can’t possibly leave you behind after dragging you all the way here!”
Christopher flashed her a reluctant look as he replied, “You have to… Sometimes, you need to discard some dead weight in order to keep on going. Right now, I am that dead weight that’s slowing you down. Just leave me, Winnie.”
“No! I didn’t risk my life rescuing you just so I could leave you behind in the forest! I saved your life, so you have no right to give up as long as I’m still trying!” Winnie snapped back at him firmly and tightened her grip on his arm.
Christopher struggled and tried to break free, but he was too weak to do so.
“Hey, you’re hurting my wound… I’ll bleed to death if you don’t stop dragging me along like this…” he mumbled with a sob.
Winnie immediately let go of Christopher and turned around to check his wound.
Sure enough, the wound had started bleeding again. “Why didn’t you say so sooner? Hold on; I’ll treat your wound right away.”
Winnie was about to get the first aid kit from Riley when Christopher grabbed her by the wrist.
“That won’t be necessary. All you have to do is avoid putting any more strain on my wound. Look, I really can’t move around right now. Just let me lie down somewhere safe while you go look for a vehicle. Who knows, I might still be alive when you come back for me,” he uttered with a pleading look in his eyes.
Winnie was starting to tear up as well.
“Don’t look at me like that! What will you do if I agree to that suggestion of yours? What if you end up dying here?” she sobbed.
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