Sara pulled her thoughts from the past and concentrated on the task at hand.

She quickly tied two branches to the skin with black paracord. Day approached quickly. This would have to do.

It took little of her strength to move the man from the ground to the skin. He didn't stir as she moved him. His lack of response to what was undoubtedly painful concerned her. There should have been some response but there was nothing, no grunt, no groan, no twitch.

She covered him with the other half of the skin. She looked up at the skyline as she grabbed the branches tied to the skin. She still had time. It wouldn't be a catastrophe if she burned a fire in the day light. Most of the smoke would be filtered through the shelter roof. The scent would still drift on the air but this far from town it was unlikely to draw attention.

She pulled the litter behind her, avoiding fallen logs and roots. She knew she'd have to remove traces of their presence later. But for now it was important to get him to the Hide. She needed to check his wounds.

On the outside of the Hide she sat down her burden and moved some of the branches that narrowed the entrance. She sat them aside. She took him in and replaced the branches. She tried to make it look natural but knew that if anyone was looking closely it would be noticed.

She pulled the pot of water from the edge of the fire pit. She sat it aside to cool as she transferred him to a raised bed.

She used leaves, grass, and a thick blanket to soften the sleeping area. On top of the old blanket sat her two sleeping bags. The first was old and thin a purchase made years ago when she found herself alone.

He didn't move when she transferred him to the bed. It required more work than getting him on the deer skin.

She tried not to look at the part of him that made him male but he was the first man she had seen naked since Lonny. The feeling his nakedness produced were not the same as the ones she had experienced with Lonny. She pushed the feelings aside even as Evodin purred in her head.

She ripped an old sheet in half. Then she ripped one of the halves in strips to use as bandages and cloth to clean his injuries.

She cleaned the gash on his hip, covered it with a thick salve, leaves and wrapped strips of the cloth around it to hold the salve and leaves in place.

She then set about cleaning the wound under the man's collarbone. With all the dirt and grime cleaned away she could see what it was a gunshot wound.

It wasn't life threatening and she felt the bullet with the tip of her finger. It was only about two inches deep and at a slight angle.

It took another ten minutes to sterilize a pair of tweezers. She removed the tweezers and dropped in a few willow twigs too steep in the water.

Her first attempt at retrieving the bullet failed. She was afraid to cause damage and had to yell at Evodin to shut up. Biting her lip she pushed the tweezers deeper and felt the bullet. It took her a moment to grab it. She pinched the tweezers and gave it a tug. She lost it again when he groaned in pain.

"Shit." She grumbled restarting the process. Digging the tweezers in her found the bullet again. She pinched the tweezers and gave it another tug.

Eventually, in what seemed like hours but probably lasted only a minute it was done. The bullet lay in a wooden bowl. Blood clung to the shiny metal.

She wondered what kind of man he was that someone would shoot him. She knew that not only bad people got shot. Still, it didn't look good for his character.

She cleaned up the mess, sat the bullet aside, made breakfast of strips of rabbit, cattail flour pan bread, sautéed cattail root and stalks, and mint tea. She made enough for her uninvited guest as well. She sat the deep plate aside and covered it with a reed mat. The bowl with the bloody bullet sat a few inches from the food and cup of sweetened willow tea.

She ate half of the food as she watched the fire burn out. With a sigh she went outside and removed the marks of the litter being drug to her Hide.

She collected some greens and tomatoes from the scattered garden. She gathered wood to be used in the fire pits. She checked on the man but he still slept soundly. She checked the bullet wound and smiled. The bleeding had completely stopped. The skin around it looked less red and inflamed. Covering it back up with the leaves she left him to sleep.

She could have checked the gash on his thigh but chose not to. His nakedness made her more nervous than she wanted to admit. Besides she hated the tingling sensation she felt when she touched him. It was unnatural and made Evodin hum, coo, or shiver delightedly in her head.

She kept busy. She stayed outside the Hide. She even went and gathered more wood. She chopped, stacked, chopped, and stacked until the wood pile had doubled in size.

She wiped sweat from her brow with her left hand. The long handled ax hung in her left.

Much more and it won't fit under the camp tarp. She thought to herself. Not that she minded. None of it would go to waste. She placed a log on chopping block. She lifted the ax overhead and swung. The ax landed splitting the wood in two. She positions one of the split pieces on the chopping block. She lifted the axe and swung. This piece to split in two as the ax landed.

She started to move the pieces and felt a warm sensation in the center of her back. She froze as the foreign feeling spread. Forcing her body to move she turned.

The man stood, the torn sheet wrapped around his waist. His chest bare except for the bandage covering the gunshot wound. He had one hand hanging at his side the other pressed to the bolder.

"You shouldn't be up. You were shot." She told him more sternly then required.