Whumptober 2024 Day 29
Bucky allowed himself a second to breathe before turning his attention back to Steve. Now that they weren’t in immediate danger of an exploding building, he was able to get a good look at the wounds in his friend’s stomach and leg.
“Shit,” Bucky muttered.
“That bad?” Steve’s eyes were unfocused, but the fact that he could still hear and understand what Bucky was saying was a good sign.
Steve pushed himself into a sitting position against one of the larger chunks of concrete. He had a hand pressed tightly over each of the wounds, but blood was quickly seeping out between his fingers. He tried to focus on Bucky’s face in front of him, but it was getting more difficult by the second. He hated this feeling, being helpless. He had felt it enough growing up, and he had thought that the serum would have ended it for good.
Bucky was fumbling for something at his belt. His hands were shaking.
“Buck.” Forcing words out took an effort. “Take a breath. I’m going to be fine.”
Bucky smiled weakly. Of course Steve would still be the one to keep a level head.
“This is gonna hurt.”
Steve nodded and gritted his teeth, but he couldn’t stop a cry of pain as Bucky tightened a tourniquet around his injured leg.
Bucky pulled one of Steve’s arms over his own shoulders, then put his own arm beneath Steve’s.
“We’re going on three, okay. One, two, three.”
Steve nearly blacked out from the pain and the sudden movement, but he managed to stay upright, leaning heavily on Bucky for support.
The rubble complicated their path significantly. What should have been a straight shot into the surrounding forest became a twisting and turning journey. They had to detour and backtrack as they encountered massive piles of rubble. Bucky could feel the time slipping away.
Their radio had been destroyed in the explosion, otherwise Bucky would have called for someone to bring help. Instead, they just had to keep walking.
They had to keep walking. Steve knew that, but that didn’t make it any easier. His limbs felt like lead. Spots of red were blooming across the bandages on his stomach and leg.
“Stop,” He said.
Reluctantly, Bucky lowered Steve to the ground.
“I just need a minute.” Steve’s eyes were closed, and his words slurred. “Just need to catch my breath.”
“Steve!” His eyes opened. “Who said you could rest? Get up, we’ve got to keep moving.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” Bucky said, forcefully. “You know why? ‘Cause you’re Steve fucking Rogers, and you don’t give up. Alright, that’s not Captain America, that’s you. You remember what you said to every bully? Every asshole who thought he could push you around?”
“I can do this all day.” It was barely audible.
“That’s right. Now look, the sun’s going down, so that’s not much longer. You think you can do that?”
Steve didn’t answer, instead, he tried to push himself back into a sitting position. Bucky took his hand and pulled him back up to standing. He couldn’t help but grunt under nearly the full weight of his friend’s body.
“This would be a lot easier if you were smaller.”
That got a small chuckle out of Steve, which in turn made Bucky laugh in relief. They continued on, Bucky trying to find humor in anything in order to keep Steve from shutting down.
Finally, like drifting sailors landing on a beach, they made it to the treeline and then to the clearing where the rest of the team was waiting for them.