Tori narrowed her eyes at the man as he approached, her lips pulling back into a pained snarl. He was nearly as scruffy-looking as she was, but she could tell he was strong, and definitely not to taken lightly. Her right hand was applying pressure on the gash in her left arm, and in the unoccupied hand, her lighter was constantly flicking, sparks showering from it in a near-constant cascade. Her voice, when she spoke, was a low growl. It was largely a painful, angry warning, but tucked beneath it where she couldn’t stifle was a definite note of fear:
"Turn around. I do not want to deal with you or them right now. I’m getting the fuck out of here." With that, she continued on her limping path to the stream, wondering for a moment which article of clothing would be best to use as a bandage for her arm.
Kyle was caught off guard momentarily by the girl's sudden outburst, enough so that he just stood there for a couple of seconds, his brain still processing her words. It was then that his ears picked up on the commotion near the stream. When he turned around to see what the other survivors were up to, he realized that quite a few had actually made it out alive, considering the sheer brutality of the accident.
Kyle's eyes darted from person to person, briefly analyzing them. It was only when he noticed one of the survivors, a brunette that seemed to be around his age, that had knelt down beside one of the guys sitting next to the steam and was apparently tending to the wound on his head.
Kyle clicked his tongue in amazement.
"Well I'll be damned, there was actually a medic among those abducted, and she managed to survive! Seems like God didn't take a shit on us after all".Tori stopped nearly mid-limp at hearing the man's exclamation. Her face contorted in an expression torn somewhere in between relief and frustration, and for a moment, she debated whether or not she wanted to turn around and face him. After a second, though, her pragmatism won out and she sighed, painfully shifting on her good right leg to face him, face set in a stonelike lack of expression. She began limping back towards him, raising her voice to be heard over the small distance:
"I heard the word medic."Kyle's ears prickled once more, now, however, it was to the sound of a voice coming from behind him. He half-turned around, keeping most of his body facing towards the creek but leaving his head to face towards the girl. He looked at her for a moment, sizing her up, before a sneer crept up his face.
"Well," he said and pointed towards the brunette.
"She seems like she knows a thing or two about wounds, seeing from the way she patched up that guy's head".As much as her stubbornness hated her going back towards the people she'd done her best to rather painfully distance herself from, her arm was still bleeding pretty heavily and no matter how much pressure or how effective of a bandage she applied, it wasn't going to be better than the treatment that someone who actually knew what they were doing could give. As she drew up to him, she debated giving her name, before deciding that if it was of interest to him, she'd have to get his first. She occasionally flicked her lighter, more as an anxious tic than anything else.
Kyle looked as the girl silently walked towards him, noting the deadpan expression she wore on her face. He genuinely felt like laughing at that moment; she really looked like one of his friends from way back, when he was still with the orphanage. His friend used to wear the same expressionless face when she was feeling especially stubborn, and Kyle always felt like teasing her for that. One of the few memorable things about that damned place. Alas, those days were long gone now...
Tori cocked her head at him for a second, eyebrow quirked slightly as he stared off into space.
"Maybe there's something on the fifth dimension I'm missing," she muttered, walking past him,
"wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen today."Whatever. It wasn't her concern what he did. She was just interested in the coveted medical treatment that the brunette off in the distance could provide to stop her from bleeding herself dry from the damn arm. She glanced back at him before grumbling, continuing her limp which was, by the way, really starting to wince as the pain in her kneecap grew worse.
"Not my problem."Kyle remained oblivious to both the girl's words and movements as she walked past him, absorbed as he was in his little road down memory lane. When he came to, the girl had walked almost half the distance between him and the place where the rest of the survivors gathered. Without anything to say, Kyle merely sighed to himself before following after her. Soon enough, he had caught up with the girl; what with her leg injury, she couldn't exactly be called a fast walker or anything.
Biting back an angry snap to the man, Tori opted instead for grinding her teeth together and glaring as spine-chillingly as possible. The effect was somewhat lost by the fact that he was several years older than her and didn't seem to much care for any of her none-too-subtle signals of "leave me alone." After a moment, she sighed and dropped the glare. Then, like the angelic call of the Pearly Gates themselves, she heard a voice on the wind, calling out to her in whatever suitably overdramatic metaphor one so chooses:
"Hey guys! I've saved a few MREs from the train! Come here if you need some food!"
Only then did Tori realize just how hungry she was. She glared to the side again.
"Look, I don't know why you're following me, but as long as you're going in this direction too, I might as well try to not make another enemy. I have enough of those already." In lieu of attempting a handshake, she inclined her head, glare slackening off into neutrality, her stomach cramping, the days without food beginning to take their toll on her. She accelerated as much as she could with her limp, her salivary glands igniting.
"Tori Frejsdottir. I won't say it's a pleasure because let's both be honest, it isn't, but...hello.""Heh, this girl's funny..." Kyle thought, a non-committal expression on his face as he watched her having a mini temper tantrum. One thing was for sure, however. The moment the word "food" left that guy's mouth, both Kyle and she shared the same glorious expression. In all honesty, Kyle wasn't much of a foodie himself, but after the crash, his body practically screamed 'FOOOOOOOOOD' in order to repair itself, and Kyle assumed was the same for everyone there.
"Let's just hope there's enough for everyone", he thought.
"The name's Kyle Jensen", he replied with a weak smile.
"And yeah, this shithole really doesn't seem like the best place for first introductions, does it now?"A wan grin, so vague it was barely there, crept across Tori's face.
"Well, there's a time and a place. And the best time and place is always the worst time and place."With that bit of pithy wisdom, she finally limped just ahead of Kyle into the rendezvous spot, beginning to feel slightly lightheaded. She hadn't thought that the wound in her arm was that serious, but it just wasn't stopping.
"This isn't going to go well, is it," she muttered.