The sun was setting, Jimmie felt the creep of exhaustion, it felt overwhelming; He had been awake for more than a day so it didn’t surprise him. But he couldn’t stop, he wouldn’t stop, he had to save Dick, and he had to do it quickly.

The landscape had smoothed out somewhat, rugged rocks and peeks were getting less prevalent. Still there, but not as many. Jimmie was keeping his head up, his thoughts positive, it was getting hard, but he did it, he needed to do it.

The sky looked barren and smooth, tinted with the slightest hue of red and green. It felt and looked sickly, as if the planet had caught a cold, a cold it would never get rid of. Its inhabitants making sure of that.

Jimmie’s foot faltered, and he tumbled forward onto his face. There was no pain, only a numb feeling of the earth pressing against him. He stayed there, ass up, face down, mind not thinking, merely existing, it felt weirdly comfortable to just stay there.

No, that would not do, he would not let his mind wander like that. He pushed down with his arms, very slowly pushing himself up on his feet. It took effort, effort that he didn’t have and promptly fell back down on his face.

With a glance backwards, Jimmie noted that the bag was the issue, weighing him down, so he unstrapped it and tried again. This time more successfully, still slow, but with time, eventually get up to his feet. The journey was still long, so it would not do to fall again, he thought. Jimmie promised himself to not fall, to keep his steps even and firm.

His first step was wobbly, and he cursed himself for it, but the next was better, then the third even better and he focused his mind on walking. His eyes felt heavy, opened only by the drugs fueling his system. Jimmie knew that this was not good, that it would have repercussions later, but he didn’t care; He just had to get them to safety. Anything else could be pushed to the sidelines.

A stone passed Jimmie, it was small, but big, it was round but square. It was weird. Jimmie had to look back to take a second look. But when he looked behind himself, it wasn’t there; It was just barren ground. He turned around even further, looking straight behind himself, trying to find that weird rock. But no matter how hard he looked, how far he turned, he just couldn’t find it.

That was weird, Jimmie thought, staring blankly at the barren landscape.

Moments passed, time passed, and he just stood there, not doing anything. His mind practically sleeping on the spot, his eyes not functioning, giving him visions of nothing and somethings. He saw things he couldn’t believe; He was in an ocean, how was that possible? Just yesterday he was home, drinking a nice warm cup of chocolate.

He shook his thoughts, no, not chocolate, it was tea. Yeah, Jimmie loved tea, it was his favorite, especially tea with cakes, could never go wrong with that.

Then, Jimmie saw his home, it stood there like a foreboding monster looming above him; He didn’t want to go home; He had never wanted to go home. He hated home; He hated what his father had become, what he would do inside his home.

Jimmie shrugged his shoulders, bracing for what was to come, he had to go, even if he hated it. Reaching for the straps of his backpack, he mentally prepared himself. But stopped as he couldn’t grasp anything, his mind puzzled and confused.

Then his mind came back to the present, he hurriedly looked behind himself, turning several times trying to find his backpack. Then he remembered Dick. He looked around even faster, searching for Dick, but he couldn’t see him.

His mind went flaring, alert and blaring. What had he done, how could he forget him, Dick was alone. Jimmie started to panic, he started pulling at his hair, the only grabbable thing. He kept turning, spinning, searching, and thoughts glaring.

Suddenly, he fell, his legs too weak for the sudden burst of movement. Head whip lashing onto the ground, sight getting groggy and blurry.

Seconds ticked by before his vision returned, Jimmie’s mind still a sess pool of panic and fear.

Then as he looked up, he saw him, a distance away still lying on top of the makeshift stretcher. Jimmie jumped up on his feet to the best of his abilities. Galloping on his arms and legs before getting up to his feet, then jogging like his life depended on it. Looking like a drunken fool.

Coming up to Dick, he fell down next to him, his face a wreck of emotion and his mouth screaming.

“Dick I’m so sorry, I’ll never leave you, I’m so sorry I won't do that again-“

On and on until his mouth felt wobbly, his speech blurred into an incoherent mess. Dick opened his eyes, but didn’t react, didn’t seem fully awake neither. He was just, existing at the moment. Weak and paralyzed, his wound yellow with brown encapsulating it, puss leaking out like blood from an opened wound.

Jimmie continued on in delirium, not even noticing he was incoherent.

But all things must end, and Jimmie eventually quieted down. His mind coming back to the task at hand.

His hands grasped for the backpack and reached for his vial, pushing the rest of it inside the needle, half of a full vial, more than Jimmie wanted but considering his state of mind, he felt that he needed it. Pushing the needle inside himself and letting the painkiller enter his system, it quickly numbed his emotions, his pains, his exhaustion. Jimmie hurried to fasten the backpack, strapping it on and making sure that Dick was still behind him.

Looking forward again, his mind wandered into nothing. But Jimmie kept one thought clear, one important thought.

He needed to get out of here.