Ratio Decidendi

[Pigeon Army†]

Kathy went to work.

She only had a cursory knowledge of first aid, but what Kathy lacked in skill or knowledge, she made up for in drive. She dabbed a swab of cotton wool with the rubbing alcohol and began wiping off the dried blood and cleaning up the cuts. Her head was arched back slightly, partly because the rubbing alcohol had a very strong smell, and partly because Becky's feet weren't exactly in the best condition.

"You don't have to do this."

Kathy looked up at Becky's face. She had stopped sobbing, but still seemed broken, defeated. She flinched as Kathy cleaned up a particularly nasty cut. Kathy looked back down at the feet.

"No, I do. I can't just leave you here and have your infected feet on my conscience, can I, heh? We have to stick together, anyways. There's no way I'm letting you walk around the island without the ability to run away from crazies like Dante. Anyway, it's not like I haven't been around cuts and bruises before. These should be easy to deal with."

Kathy wrapped up the first foot in the gauze, and then wrapped some bandages around it as well, just in case. Then she started on the second foot, and was done in half the time, having gotten into the groove. Kathy finished off the final bandage, then stood up, brushed off her hands, and picked up the socks and boots. She thrust them at Becky.

"You can have these. You need them more than I do, if you're going to survive. They should fit, and they're very comfortable."

[dinah_shore†]

Stunned, Becky took the boots from Kathy. "Thank you," she barely managed to whisper as she studied them, almost in disbelief. Gingerly, she reached for the socks, which were still in Kathy's hands.

As she slid them carefully over her newly-bandaged feet, she reflected on how lucky she was to find someone as helpful as Kathy was turning out to be. Next, she pulled a boot onto her right foot, and then onto her left. Once they were secure on her feet, Becky stood once more, using Kathy's shoulder and the wall to pull herself up. Letting go of her supports, she took a hesitant step. Then another. A few paces later she turned to face her new friend again, sighing in relief.

"If it wasn't for the bandages, they'd be too big," she said awkwardly. There was so much more she wanted to say to thank her, but the words weren't coming right now. It still hurt to walk, but not nearly as much now that they were protected from the elements.

Speaking of such, the downpour had been reduced to a lazy drizzle outside the cave's mouth. Becky wanted to leave, and she knew that Kathy was ready to get going as well. How long had it been since Ryan left them? If they retraced hers and Ryan's steps to the cliffs they would undoubtedly run into him, and then continue to the shore.

...Right?

"If we go the way I took to get here, we should run into Ryan somewhere between here and the cliffs. I can't lose him again," Becky paused. She hoped she remembered the way correctly.

[Pigeon Army†]

"Thank you."

Kathy smiled and lent Becky her shoulder as the girl put on the boots and stood up slowly. She was having a little bit of trouble, but not too much. Kathy wasn't going to let a fellow academic fall behind - competition was over now; co-operation and sticking together were the ways to ace this test.

"If it wasn't for the bandages, they'd be too big."

Kathy giggled. "Well, at least they fit, right?" she asked, as she went about packing up the first aid kit and packing up her daypack. "I mean, you can walk about in them fine, right? That's all that matters. I mean, if we have to run from a psychotic behemoth, I don't want you to be hobbling behind because you have no shoes or your shoes are too big, heh."

Kathy picked up the daypack and slung it over her shoulder, then picked up her umbrella and opened it, then held it over her shoulder. Kathy was trying to be positive about the whole situation, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. It also didn't help that Kathy was getting far too little sleep.

"If we go the way I took to get here, we should run into Ryan somewhere between here and the cliffs. I can't lose him again."

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea," Kathy said, her voice a depressed kind of chipper. "Have you got all your stuff? And are you good to walk?"

[dinah_shore†]

"Yeah, this is all my stuff."

Becky raised her hands in the air, indicating that she had nothing. "As for walking, I'll be fine," she said, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

Her heart was fluttering nervously. What if they missed Ryan on their way? What would they do if someone like Dante ran into them and decided to add a couple kills to their tally? How will they-

Stop it.

Their lives were in danger wherever they were, and the sooner they had a firearm-

Assuming it's still there, oh God...

-the better, even if it was a shitty musket. Too much time had been wasted already, and on top of that the caves smelled like rotted meat.

"Let's get goin'"

((Becky Holt continued elsewhere))

[Pigeon Army†]

"Let's get goin'."

Becky moved off into the rain, the boots Kathy gave her appearing to serve her well.

Kathy smiled. Things were looking up. She opened up her black umbrella and ran after Becky.

"Wait! You don't wanna get wet, do you? We can't have anyone getting sick later!"

((Kathy Holden continued elsewhere))