#poor jake bb

Jake was tired of finding his stashes of things raided.  He had no solid idea who it was, although he tended to suspect Nea.  She was resourceful with what little supplies they had, but it still gave her no right to take what didn't belong to her.  He waited until she had come back from a trial, sporting a very good flashlight that Jake knew he recognized from the three scratches on it's handle, marking it with the letter J.  

“Nea.”  

Nea calmly looked towards Jake, crossing her arms.  The flashlight was turned in her hands, and Jake saw the deep gashes in the handle.  

“You and me need to talk.  Privately.”  

Nea rolled her eyes, following Jake into the woods beyond the campfire.  They walked far enough to see the fire, but too far to be heard by the others there.  

“What’s your deal?”  

“You taking my shit without asking.”  

Nea groaned, rolling her head in an exaggerated motion.  

“Really, you’re bitching about that?”  

This was going to be a long conversation, and Jake could already tell.  

“Yea, especially when you take my stuff without asking me and end up getting it damaged to hell and back.”  

He gestured to the flashlight in her hands, which she groaned in response.  

“We all know I’m far more resourceful with these things than anyone else.  You don't even bring anything in, so what's the point of having all this stuff?  It's going to waste and I can use it to keep everyone alive.”  

Jake took a step closer, glaring down at her.

“If you asked, I wouldn't have a problem.  It's finding out that half my stuff is gone because you keep taking it “

“You wouldn't mind if Claudette took some of your medkits, would you?”

“No, because she would fucking ask, first.”  

Jake's voice grew quiet as he tried to keep himself from yelling, but the anger was clear.  Nea narrowed her eyes.

“Fine, you worry about your stuff more than the others?!  Take your damn flashlight back!”

She threw the flashlight to him, turning to head back to the campfire.  

“I didn't-”

Jake was cut off as the flashlight spun in the air, one of the gashes in it’s handle having cut to the batteries.  The throw caused acid to spray from it, landing across his face and in his eyes.  He screamed in pain, doubling over and pressing his hands to his eyes.  Nea turned around, suddenly shocked.  

“Jake?  Shit, I’m sorry!  I didn’t mean to!”  

He pushed her away when she got close, stumbling to the nearest tree to lean against it.  He still cried in pain, trying to manage to get his eyes open to blink rapidly.  The humming of a lullaby sent a chill up his spine.  

He heard Nea curse under her breath, but didn’t stay to hear more of her speaking.  He turned to run away from the humming, the last thing he needed now was to get caught by a Killer when he was so vulnerable.  He was sure the song was getting louder, and he knew he couldn’t outrun the singer.  He felt around for the nearest bush, crawling under the leaves and branches and bit into the scarf around his neck and stayed as still as he could.  

Anna heard the scream of the survivalist, and immediately knew he was injured badly.  She respected his ability to survive and traverse the woods with a skill that only came with living alone.  She came to the clearing with a beat-up flashlight resting just at the edges of the undergrowth.  She knelt down to turn it over, spotting the slashes in the batteries and the leaking of a clear liquid.  A quick touch burned, but just as quickly it stopped.  She stood up and followed the trait of disturbed plant life, knowing well that his ally had ran in a different direction at the sound of her humming.  

She knew that the clear liquid coming from the flashlight was something dangerous; it wouldn’t be kept contained or burned if it wasn’t.  The Entity granted her a great resistance to pain, but the survivors were not granted the same mercy.  The survivalist was clearly severely hurt by this liquid, and Anna found herself concerned.  There was no blood trails to follow, only footsteps and the shift of plants around her.  

She knelt down when the trail stopped suddenly.  Tracks never simply disappeared so suddenly, and Anna intently looked at the nearest places to hide.  Climbing a tree would’ve taken too much time, and she undoubtedly would have heard, but she still checked the upper branches.  She heard an extremely soft shift, the sound of branches and leaves moving.  She could have missed it easily, but she was too well-trained in picking up the smallest of details, even as she hummed the comforting song.  

She only stopped her humming when she saw him cowering in the bushes, muscles tensed and his eyes shut.  He was most definitely scared and in pain, and she was sure that he had gotten the burning liquid in his eyes.  She noticed the beginnings of burns across his face, confirming her suspicions.  His ally must have thrown it at him, had she been unaware?  She shook her head, there was no way the survivors would so legitimately turn on each other.  She quietly knelt beside the bush and stopped humming, thinking of how she could ease him to trusting her.  The last thing she wanted was for him to hurt himself in a panic, as she knew injured and scared animals to do when they were cornered.  She tilted her head, putting her axe aside.  

Jake tensed when the humming stopped, not needing to see to know she had found him.  He didn’t want to admit he was terrified; there was nowhere he could go without being seen and far too easy for her to grab.  But why isn’t she now?  He heard her say something he couldn’t understand, the language being her native one.  Is she taunting me?  

“Poor little Raven..”  

He scooted further away, knowing that she was talking to him.  He was sure that she was going to terrorize him before killing him.  Does dying outside of a trial mean dying permanently?  His face and eyes still burned from the acid.  He heard her shift, then move closer.  

“Stay away from me.”  

Any sternness in his voice was diminished by the shakiness.  He didn’t hear her move more, instead hearing her deep, accented voice.  

“Will help you.  You are hurt.”  

He tensed again, trying to reach for the nearest sharp object he could find.  He didn’t trust her in the slightest; she spent trial after trial singing as she killed them.  He shook his head, the burning pain of the acid starting to worsen.  

“Will not hurt you, promise.”  

His breaths were shaky, and he let his head hang as he thought about his options.  The Entity surely wouldn’t let him die outright, but would it let him go blind?  He heard her move again, making him recoil.  He heard her move the bushes aside, grabbing a small branch from the bush and held it defensively.  

“Don’t touch me!”  

He heard her move again away, but he tightened his grip on the branch, just in case.  

“Eyes are hurt.  Will help you, little Raven.”  

Jake fought to keep himself from whining, biting into the scarf.  He slowly dragged himself out from the bushes, blindly reaching for where the Huntress was.  He gasped when he was picked up gently, cradled against her chest.  She started humming again, Jake could feel the rumbling of her vocal chords and hear the deep, soothing song.  Why was it soothing now?  Her footsteps sounded more solid as she stepped on the wooden floor.  

He was set down gently on a soft blanket, listening to her footsteps as she moved around.  He stiffened when she came back, stifling the whine as she delicately lifted his head.  He felt a cool, wet fabric wipe at his eyes and face.  He tried opening his eyes, blinking rapidly to clear them out.  

He saw now that she had taken her mask off, being extremely gentle in her handling of the rag.  There was no doubt he was still afraid that she would change her mind, and that he would meet the end of an axe blade.  His vision was still blurry, but he could make out rough shapes.  Her hand delicately brushed along his cheek.

“Better?”

He hesitated for a moment before nodding.  He swore he saw her smile, before she reached up to pet his hair.  

“Good.  Should rest now.”