Opening his previously shut eyes, Vigil slightly tiled his head upwards and looked at the belt wrapped around his waist.
As he did, he could not help but ask himself why he had not used his belt instead of his bloodied shirt to help stop the bleeding in his arm.
'No... That would not have worked anyway. Tying a belt tightly is just to stop the bleeding of a limb by cutting off blood flow. If it was just my arm that had been damaged then that would be a different story. Sadly...'
He thought as he looked at the full area of injury - the upper arm all the down to the middle of his left pectoral.
It was quite unfortunate that, as a small child, attacks that concern a covered area would affect him much more severely than it would someone of a larger stature.
'Thankfully the hateful thing's mouth was not too big. I am more than sure that I would have died from blood loss otherwise.'
As his thoughts were finishing up, Vigil looked slightly to the right of his belt and at a bag that was tied neatly to it.
Reaching his arm downwards and towards the small sack, the boy lightly undid the small knot that he had tied around the pouch on his waist. When he did so, he grabbed the bag and brought it up the middle of his chest, making sure not to be too rough with it as the contents within might have fallen out.
After successfully placing the bag on the uninjured part of his bare chest without spilling what was within, he then opened it up and began to reach inside.
A second later, his hand was revealed to the outside world once again. This time however, trapped between his fingers was a long flat stick of jerky.
Vigil himself was unable to discern what type of jerky it was as he had pillaged the unknown piece of dried meat from a random corpse. However, in no way did that mean that he was opposed to eating it. In fact, the boy could not help but salivate as he brought the piece of aged jerky to his mouth.
He then put the jerky within his jaws and ripped off a large piece from the rest of the stick.
As he was chewing the tough piece of jerky, Vigil set down the rest of the stick near his food pouch then reached towards a separate bag that was placed nearby.
As Vigil grabbed onto the leather bag, he was able to feel the contents that were inside.
Nothing.
'Oh yeah, I poured all of my water onto my injury...'
"Hah..."
He let out a slow exhale as he threw the rest of the already half eaten stick of jerky into his mouth.
Reaching into the bag that still lay on his chest and picking out another piece of jerky, Vigil began to think about what he should do from here on out. Afterall, there was not much else he could do at the moment. Not without feeling an immense amount of pain course through his wrecked shoulder.
'For starters, I should definitely head back to that old battlefield from yesterday in order to stock back up on supplies. While I am there, I might as well try to find some bandages, and if not, hopefully a better piece of cloth to wrap around my wound... Now that I think about it, why did I not think of finding any bandages when I got shot? Or splints for that matter?'
While his brain kept active by thinking, his body was kept active by eating as he had once again sunk his hand back into the pouch.
About thirty minutes later, as Vigil reached for yet another stick of jerky he found that his hand would now be coming out empty if he tried anymore. As now, the bag had been emptied by his ravenous appetite.
Though, who could blame him?
His body did crave nutrients and a form of sustenance from all of the blood that he had lost from his sustained injuries.
Noticing how the bag was now empty, Vigil decided to do something that, in the moment, he knew he would regret.
Firmly placing his right elbow onto the seat that had become his makeshift bed, Vigil rolled over onto his right side while using his arm as a way to lift his torso up ever so slightly.
"Mmm...!"
As he did so however, he was unable to stop himself from letting out a few painful grunts and moans.
Now with his elbow sandwiched between the seats and his upper body, he then used his arm as the initial driving force to lift his body upward. Midway through this action is when he changed the position of his right arm in order to place his palm on the seat, in turn switching out his elbow. This made it much easier to finish the whole motion of helping him sit up correctly.
Only then, after a few moments of struggle accompanied by a multitude of noises that clearly pointed out the boy's pain, was Vigil able to sit up straight.
Afterwards he turned his body ninety degrees to the right, allowing his legs to rest comfortably inside the footwell while also being able to lean his back on the old yet comfortable chairs.
But no matter how well made and cushy the seats were, he still felt a harrowing wave of pain hit him as the back of his left shoulder touched the seat.
It was only after a few seconds of letting his injury calm down that he no longer felt too much pain.
Vigil then looked down at his feet, bent over with a little bit of difficulty, and grabbed the Promise. He then lifted the sword onto his lap and unsheathed it. Although, unsheathing it did prove to be more difficult than he initial thought, what with having only one functioning arm and all.
Only after a few minutes of comical struggle was he able to release the Promise from its humble abode, putting the sheath back into the footwell while keeping the blade itself on his lap.
As the Promise was laying on his upper legs, Vigil reached over to his left thigh and proceeded to undo the clasps of his pistol's holster, releasing the gun from its grasp directly after. He then removed the holster itself from the leg strap and swapped sides from where it was originally located. This made it so that when Vigil attached his holster to his right leg instead of his left, he would actually be able to draw his firearm with his right arm.
With that finished, Vigil then picked up his gun and released the empty magazine from its magazine well. Subsequently, the boy reached down towards his belt and picked up a new fully loaded magazine and inserted it into his firearm.
Finally, he took his helmet into his hand and sat it back atop his head.
Now that he had finished preparing, Vigil looked to the door closest to him and opened it wide.
Hopping out of what he still believed to be a metal carriage, Vigil turned around to look back into the vehicle and grabbed both his unsheathed sword and his gun, putting the gun in its holster while keeping his sword drawn.
Thereafter he turned back around to look at the battlefield that lay in the distance.
'Alright, let's get to it...'
***
Just like that, two full weeks had gone by.
Within these weeks Vigil had both learned and experienced new things.
On day one he had found himself both food and water.
The food itself was not as good as the jerky he had originally picked up. Not from the first battlefield he had gotten food from or this one that he had acquired food from the day before.
Vigil could only assume that it was because of the amount of time that had passed.
On the other hand, the hydration situation was much better than it was before, as now he had acquired a metal bottle in which he could store water.
Not only that, but he was also able to secure himself plenty of bandages for both his leg and the left side of his upper body.
Sadly he had no luck in finding a better splint than the one he had already made the day prior, as now, the sun was beginning to set and Vigil did not want to take any chances, not after last night.
That was not to say that on the next day, day two, he did not find anything that could help his injured leg. Afterall, he did find something that was able to improve his situation.
After a small amount of searching, Vigil had found who he could only believe to be a combat medic due to all of the needles and odd substances they had kept on themselves. Within their wondrous bag of drugs and medical supplies, the boy had found something that was truly amazing for his situation...
A splint, not drugs...
Weirdos.
Anyway, although the splint did appear to be quite odd looking to him - he had just chalked it up to him not being too knowledgeable about most things - with some effort he was still able to place it on his injured leg. Thus making things much easier for him.
Not only did he find a splint that day though, he was also able to find some more nine millimeter ammo for his gun.
He did try to find some on the first day but had only found ammo of all types besides the one he needed.
The only thing he could do at the time was say-
"How unfortunate."
The final thing that had happened on the second day was something that really did shock him quite a bit. That being that, for some reason undenounced to him, the sword that he had been carrying around, the Promise, weighed much more than that of the average longsword.
When Vigil was looking through the bodies that were scattered all over the place, he had coincidentally moved a random person's longsword off of a corpse that he was about to pillage. Just as he did, he was able to feel its weight.
While the Promise weighed in at around a solid ten kilograms (~twenty-two pounds), the one that he picked up only felt to be around two (~five pounds).
However, this revelation mattered just as little to him as it was shocking.
Afterall, Vigil would never get rid of the Promise, no matter what.
But just as things were looking up, on the third day, a hard reality had hit the young boy.
As he was out scavenging for some more supplies such as food, bandages, and water, he had caught a glimpse of something moving in the distance.
Seeing this, Vigil struck the tip of his sword into the ground beside him and drew the gun from his holster, pointing it towards where he had seen movement a moment ago. After a few seconds of waiting, standing still in that same position, he heard a slight echo that sent chills down his spine.
It was the sound of a multitude of small thumps, its sound increasing exponentially within the span of a second or two.
He knew that quick thumping all too well, as it was the same thing he heard right before falling victim to the nightmarish creatures' tight jaws and small yet sharp teeth.
It was within the first second after the familiar noise had sounded out that he was able to see it quickly sprinting in his direction.
However, things would not turn out the same as last time.
Just as Vigil had seen the vile thing, he sharply turned the muzzle of his gun in its direction and shot at it. But just as the shot was taken, something that the boy considered to be unimaginable had occurred.
Although he could not see it, he was sure that, just as the bullet was about to hit its target, or at least close to it, the beast had sidestepped to its left.
It had dodged the bullet and not by sheer luck either, as it had dodged both the second and third ones that Vigil had fired at it directly after seeing it evade the first one.
Noticing how shooting at it had only bought him about a second of time, Vigil immediately began to swap tactics.
Dropping his firearm to the floor in order to save time by not putting it back in its holster, Vigil gripped the hilt of his sword that he had previously struck into the ground and began to raise it up. Although it gave him some difficulty to lift with one arm, he was still able to do it.
He had noticed when he originally exited his temporary shelter on the first day that these creatures relied heavily on their speed. Too heavily in fact.
Vigil had come to this conclusion after a small investigation.
The first thing he did was stab the creature in order to make sure that it was truly dead. When he did, the tip of his sword was able to penetrate its flesh with minimal effort.
Its defense was lacking.
After making sure that it would not jump up and try to kill him again, he had taken a look inside the things jaws in order to get a better read at the damage it had inflicted by looking at how long its teeth were. And although they were sharp, they were rather small.
It too was lacking in offence.
Just based on this and the single encounter he had with it, he was able to come to the conclusion that its primary and only form of defense was evasion. While its primary, but not only, form of offense was its momentum.
So, using his prior information, Vigil realized that he did not need to land a powerful blow on his opponent. He just needed to land a blow in general.
A full second had passed while Vigil tried to raise his sword. And by this time, the foul creature was pretty much right on top of him.
Just as the beast had gotten close enough to the boy, he was able to glimpse at how, in this specific moment, the creature had lifted its front legs higher than it did at any point before... Just as he was hoping for.
Seeing as the creature was lunging at him, Vigil let go of the blade's hilt and quickly jerked his head forward, headbutting the damned thing while it was midair. Afterall, Vigil knew that it would go for one of his vital spots that it could bite down on, like his neck or head, just like the first time he had encountered one.
Directly after landing a promising attack and sending it flying down towards the ground. Vigil, without wasting a beat, lifted his one good leg - his left one - and stomped directly onto the beast, sending the sole of his shoe flying straight through one side of the beast all the way to the other, only stopping when it had eventually met ground.
From this encounter, Vigil was only able to obtain one thing.
The answer to a question that had been gnawing at him since he first thought of it. That question being, why did the world still commence in melee combat when such prevalent weapons existed?
The answer he had come to was quite simple.
Some beings, and most likely people too, could dodge bullets. And if they could dodge them, then he was sure that they could be blocked too. This would inevitably force people into a melee, whether they liked it or not.
That was how he wrapped up day three.
Ever since then, Vigil had not left the safety of the metal vehicle other than when he needed to find food and water and go to the bathroom.
It was now day fourteen... The day Vigil decided to leave this place.