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‘Helicopter, bitch!’
Badger spun Jesse around without care and the two tussled inside the RV, tempers flared as they fought each other until Jesse got the upper hand, pushing Badger out of the RV and into the hot lands of rural Albuquerque. Jesse scrambled to the wheel and attempted to start up the old RV, turning the engine over desperate for it to start. He wanted to get away, forget the whole idea of trying to cook the crystal, and didn’t care anymore. He glanced out of the window and saw Badger loading up his crossbow and the panic was very suddenly real. Jesse turned the key praying for it to start, trying to get life into the RV but then he the felt the intense pain before it registered what had happened, and he doubled over in his seat as he grabbed his thigh and screamed.
The RV door opened, and Badger stumbled in, his face full of rage. He roughly pulled Jesse from the driver’s seat and left his reeling in pain on the floor, his hands clutching his leg now covered in blood. The RV started up on his first attempt and he drove them away from the cook site and back to civilisation.
‘We are so done, man, that was not cool!’ Badger simply yelled, the RV rolled Jesse around as it navigated the rough landscape, sending Jesse crashing into the far end with force, Jesse’s eyes rolled, and the blackness overcame him.
--
Walter White hesitated before approaching the gate and opening it. He glanced at the RV parked in the driveway and headed to the front door of the house; he knocked a couple of times but there was no answer, and he almost seemed relieved for a moment. He was about to start moving back to his car when he thought he heard a noise coming from the RV that made him stop, tentatively he approached the RV door and opened it immediately seeing the blood on the floor – he had cleaned the RV thoroughly the last time he’d been in it and then he heard the groan.
‘Hey man, whoever that is, help me,’ a raspy desperately weak plea was heard.
With concern Walt scrambled into the RV and found Jesse on the floor, he looked pale and in pain and then he saw the arrow sticking out of his thigh.
‘What the hell happened?’ Walt asked, but saw the kid was delirious so considered the situation. ‘When did this happen?’
‘Three four hours,’ Jesse panted. ‘ago, I think,’ he managed.
‘Ok, it must have missed any main arteries then or you’d have already bled out,’ Walt surmised. ‘Do you have a first aid kit anywhere?’
‘Bathroom,’ Jesse said with gritted teeth. ‘Ground floor bathroom.’
‘Ok, hold tight,’ Walt stated, and checked Jesses pockets.
‘Yo, man, what the hell,’ Jesse protested weakly.
‘I need your house keys, calm down,’ Walt stated as he found them, and shook them in front of Jesse to make a point.
--
‘OK, are you ready?’ Walter White asked, fear in his own voice. Jesse tensed up, clearly not ready. ‘Look, bite on this, it might help,’ Walt offered taking off his belt and putting it into Jesses mouth, thankful that the kid seemed to understand.
Walt took hold of the arrow, and heard the hiss of pain from Jesse, feeling awful about the situation. ‘It’s ok, Jesse,’ Walt said carefully. ‘I’ll try to make this quick.’
Jesse was already biting down on the belt, his own panic heightened. Closing his eyes, Walt took a deep breath and yanked the arrow out in one movement and threw it across the floor. Jesse’s scream cut through Walter like a knife, and his sudden stillness jolted him back to the present. He quickly put a bandage on the wound and pressed down to stem the fresh bleeding, and then checked on Jesse.
‘Hey kid, you with me?’ Walt checked, but Jesse was unresponsive. ‘Jesse, come on, wake up.’ Walt checked his pulse and was relieved it was still steady, so he started to lightly tap his cheek. ‘C’mon Jesse,’ Walt encouraged and was thankful when the boy started to stir finally. ‘Hey, are you back with me?’
‘Yeah,’ Jesse groaned and blinked his eyes tiredly.
‘I just need to fix this up, then we can transfer you back to the house so you can get some proper rest,’ Walt advised, as he began to secure the bandage.
‘You’re good at this,’ Jesse pushed himself wearily up onto his elbows.
‘Junior require a lot of medical care when he was growing up, we learnt to be self sufficient with first aid,’ Walt explained, then paused. ‘Tell me, did you cook in the RV without me?’
‘What?’ Jesse asked confused.
I cleaned the RV out after the whole Krazy-8 thing, so why is all this glassware and cooking materials in here?’ Walt asked. ‘And what happened that meant you got an arrow in your leg, Jesse?’
‘Ok, I cooked alright?’ Jesse stressed and saw Mr White wanted more. ‘It was nothing, just a disagreement on the quality.’
‘So, they shot you in the leg with an arrow?’ Walt questioned.
‘I was threatening to leave him in the desert,’ Jesse shrugged.
‘Well, I’m glad you’ve come to respect the chemistry,’ Walt simply said. ‘Come on, lets get you inside the house,’ he encouraged and helped Jesse to his feet. ‘Once you are back on your feet properly, we need to seriously talk about distribution.’
‘Yeah, whatever,’ Jesse stated, as he leant on Mr White and hopped alongside him with a pained expression.