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Larson woke up slowly, unaware of the world around him, hearing, seeing, smelling nothing, just feeling the intense pain coursing through his whole body. He couldn’t say it would have been the first time.
Without moving, waiting for the other senses to kick in, he focused on the pain to see where it was really coming from. After five minutes or maybe years, hard to tell, most of his pain concentrated on the left side of his torso, stinging and throbbing. The rest of his his body… he’d taken a fall, didn’t he? The aches sure would fit that sort of tumble.
What the hell had happened anyway?
Lara… shooting… he’d been shooting back, just your regular day.
Behind you.
Damn, behind him… there had been something actually behind him!
Cursing under his breath as memories trickled back, his ears started picking up the buzzing and chirring of insects and far away noises of traffic.
He groaned and opened his eyes blearily, squinting into the deep blue-grey sky, past sunset but not yet completely dark.
He moved his left arm an inch and sucked in a breath. Shit. That hurt.
He’d gotten tossed through the air by those weird snakes, and the way that damn beast had done it was grabbing him into its ugly maw. Couldn’t have gotten a good look at its teeth but they must’ve been long and sharp like knives.
Moving his right arm instead, he slowly raised it and navigated it towards his left side, hissing in pain.
It felt wet.
Right, he definitely smelled blood too now. Might’ve explained the buzzing, damn flies, he’d wave away the pest if it didn’t mean kicking the pain a notch by that movement.
He lied there for a moment, then grit his teeth, braced himself and rolled over to his right side. Pain whipped through his nerves like lightning and his vision went white.
Deep breaths.
Alright.
Fighting through the pain, Larson pushed himself onto his hands and knees and then sat back on his heels, taking another moment to let the pain settle down at least a little.
Finally, he turned his sight to the most obvious injury, though under the quickly darkening sky there wasn’t much to see anymore.
Hands it was then. Shit.
Larson reached with his right hand again, finding the hem of his leather vest and running his fingers over the material. Puncture holes, smaller than he expected though. He pushed away the leather slightly to feel underneath it, letting another painful hiss escape between his teeth.
And touching the holes in his actual body sure wasn’t at all comfy either. Moving now a bit quicker as he figured the line up of the teeth, he couldn’t count the exact amount of punctures, but one thing he noticed: They weren’t as big and bloody as the few he’d gotten just through his shirt, where the vest didn’t reach.
He was happy his imagination was crap so he couldn’t well imagine how much worse it’d have been without the sturdy leather protecting him.
It had been a gift from Pierre. Frenchie sure looked out for him.
With a tensing of his body that sent another jolt of pain into his brain, dread settled in.
Pierre.
Alone.
With Lara running around, seeing bullseyes in everything that moved.
In a sudden burst of anxiety and adrenaline, Larson heaved himself onto his feet, clasping a hand over the nasty bite.
He couldn’t worry about his injuries yet, not until he knew Pierre was alright. And if he wasn’t… well, they could take care of each other’s wounds, wouldn’t have been the first time at all.
With a goal in his mind that propelled him forward, Larson started limping resolutely through the cool nigh air.