With A Whimper (Part Eleven)
Oct. 24th, 2006 03:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missmara13Title: With A Whimper (Part Eleven)
Author: Mara
Rating: R
Warnings: Serious character injury. Lots of blood. Dubious medical knowledge.
Summary: Most of the world is either dead or Crazy, but in California a group of survivors tries to find a way to avoid both fates.
See the devil on the door step now
My oh my
~'We Are' by Ana Johnnson
PART ELEVEN
When they found the hospital in Hartley, California, Summer had Luke and Zach carry Ryan inside to a trauma room and put him on a bed, while Alex took the kids into a room across the hall and got them settled. "What can I do?" Luke asked as he watched Summer start pulling Ryan's shirt the rest off the way off his limp body.
"Search the cabinets, and find me scissors," Summer ordered. She had been able to loosen the belt partway through the drive, when she'd gotten the bleeding slowed enough that pressure on the wound seemed to be enough, but she wasn't ready to feel relieved yet. Ryan hadn't regained consciousness during the ride, and his skin was far too pale underneath all the blood. When Luke held out a pair of scissors, Summer began cutting away Ryan's jeans, starting at the hole from the bullet and going first up several inches then down to the ankle so she could pull the pants leg open and better see the wound.
"Summer?" Kirsten asked, her voice shaking.
Summer looked up and shook her head. "You shouldn't be in here," she said.
"You need help," Kirsten argued, swallowing convulsively and forcing herself to stay calm as she stepped closer. "What can I do?"
Summer hesitated, then finally nodded. "Check his shoulder, see if it's still bleeding," she said. "If it is, then put pressure on it. If not, then I need you to find me all the bandages you can, because all I can do is maybe stitch him up then wrap the... the wounds..."
"Just do what you can," Kirsten said as she checked Ryan's shoulder. "He's bleeding."
"I'll get the stuff," Alex said. "Luke, stay in the hall and check on the kids every few minutes."
Luke nodded. "Yeah, sure," he said as he headed across the hall to check on the kids.
As Alex rushed out, Summer grabbed the bag she had thought to grab from the rover and found a small flashlight, which she used to inspect the wound in Ryan's leg. "Doesn't seem to be arterial," she muttered to herself. "More like... more like muscle, maybe, went all the way through, so no bullet stuck in there to worry about."
"Summer?" Kirsten asked.
"If I can get it to stop bleeding, I think it might be okay," Summer replied, her voice shaky but her hands steady. "Luke! I need your help!" she called. A moment later, Luke was in the trauma room again, his face almost as pale as Ryan's as he looked at the blood. "Get his boot and sock off for me," Summer instructed as she tied the arm of the hoodie around Ryan's leg again. Then she headed up to check on his shoulder.
Luke quickly complied, his fingers slipping on the blood. "Okay," he said once they were off.
Summer glanced up, nodding to herself when she saw the foot looked normal, if a little pale. "Press your thumb hard against the top of his big, then remove it and tell me how long that area takes to return to the same color as before."
Again, Luke did as told. "Maybe 5 seconds?" he said.
"A little slow, but... but it could be worse," Summer said, biting her lip. "I think... I think that means he still has good blood flow into his foot, which means there isn't any arterial damage... I think."
Alex returned with the supplies she could find, and Summer quickly grabbed a suture kit and returned to Ryan's leg. "What now?" Alex asked.
"Now I try to fix this," Summer replied.
~~~~
It seemed like hours before Summer finally stepped away from Ryan, blood all over her arms, clothes, and even in her hair. There were layers of gauze taped over the wounds, covering the stitches Summer had done in an attempt to help repair the damage, and there was nothing else she could do with her limited knowledge. "We're gonna have to wait," she said.
"How long before we know?" Alex asked from the doorway, where she could see Luke further down the hall keeping watch both in general and over Zach.
Summer shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "Whenever he wakes up, and that... I don't think that'll happen before tomorrow."
Alex nodded. "Okay, so... what do we do?"
"Someone needs to try to get up to the roof, and keep an eye out for any vehicles other than ours," Kirsten said. "Take one of the radios, leave the other one down here, call us if you hear an engine or see anyone coming."
"Right, I'll go," Alex said.
"No, we need you down here," Kirsten said. "Luke, too. We need to make sure no one can sneak up on us, and that if anyone does get in, we can protect ourselves."
"I'll go," Kaitlin said. "I mean, it's the roof, anything would have to come through here first, right?"
"Kaitlin..." Kirsten began.
"Yeah, it could be dangerous, but... but I'm small, and I'm fast, and... and I can't just sit there. The little kids know Ryan's hurt, but they don't... I don't think they understand that it's really bad, that he... that he could have died. I do. And just sitting there..."
"It's a good idea," Alex said. "But, Kaitlin, I'm gonna give you a quick lesson with one of the handguns, okay? Just in case. Anybody comes near you that isn't one of us, you shoot them."
Kaitlin nodded and followed Alex out of the room, leaving Summer and Kirsten alone. Summer leaned against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor, tears trailing down her face. "Oh God," she whispered.
"You did the best you could," Kirsten reassured her, walking over and sitting beside the girl to wrap arms around her. "It's going to be okay, Summer."
"What if it wasn't enough?"
"It has to be," Kirsten said. "It has to be enough." She gently stroked the girl's hair, ignoring the fact that Ryan's blood was now covering both of them. "You did everything possible, honey, and it has to be enough."
"How is he?" Zach asked from the doorway, and Summer was on her feet in an instant. She crossed the room quickly and slapped him, making him stumble back.
"You get the hell out of here!" she said. "You've done enough, Zach."
"No one was suppose to get hurt!" Zach insisted. "Volchak just said..."
"You think I give a damn what the asshole who shot Ryan said?!" Summer replied. "What were you thinking, Zach? We welcomed you into our group, Ryan would have got between you and a Crazy, same as he would have for any of us, and you get him shot?!"
"I owed Volchak! He saved me life, and..."
"And all he asked in return is that you betray us?"
"I'm sorry," Zach said. "It wasn't... He said that... he thought you never would have let the rest of us come, so... he wanted to follow you to where you're going... strength in numbers, you know? And..."
"Ryan wouldn't have turned anyone away unless he thought they were dangerous," Summer said. "So you know what? Maybe he would have turned this Volchak guy away. Because clearly he's psychotic!"
"What the hell?" Luke said as he came over. "I told you to keep your ass on the floor by the nurse's station," he said to Zach.
"I just..."
"You just thought you'd come piss everyone off?" Luke said. "Because the way I see it, that's all your doing..."
"I know more about Volchak's group, I can give you information!" Zach said. "I know how many people he has, who can shoot and who can't, who might... who might be willing to turn against him..."
"So you'd betray him like you betrayed us?" Summer said. "Oh, yeah, we really should trust you."
"Donnie's a good shot, but he's not a murderer, he's the other guy who was there when we came around, Luke," Zach said. "And... and Lindsey can't shoot at all, she's really bad at it. But there's 3 good shooters, Casey, Z, and..."
"Just shut up," Summer said. "Shut up and get the hell away from me, and away from Ryan. Because if I see you anywhere near him? I will kill you. I know the right places to stab you so that you bleed to death in seconds. Or, the places where you'll bleed to death slowly, and the smell will attract the Crazies to finish you off after we tie you to a lightpost outside. Remember that."
Zach nodded and quickly left the room, leaving Luke and Kirsten to stare at Summer in shock. "Summer..." Kirsten began.
"I wouldn't really," Summer said, running her hands through her hair and whincing as she realized she was just spreading the blood. "But he doesn't have to know that."
"Maybe we should try to get you cleaned up," Kirsten suggested.
"Unless we get another sudden rainstorm, I don't see it happening," Summer countered.
"I saw one of those watercooler things in the waiting room," Luke said. "The bottle on top looked just about full. Maybe I could try to bring it down here?"
"Good idea," Kirsten said. "And check the staff lounge and anywhere else there might be one."
"The, uh... and I need some of the hand wipes, so I can clean Ryan up some," Summer added.
"I'll be back soon," Luke promised before leaving again.
Summer leaned against the wall and stared at her bloody hands for a long moment, then looked back up at Ryan. "You have to be okay, Chino," she whispered.
~~~~
Luke returned with three water jugs and the handwipes, and Summer headed into the bathroom to wash up. Alex brought a change of clothes for Kirsten, and a set of scrubs for Summer, who figured she would get more blood on herself when she checked the wounds and didn't want to ruin more clothes. It seemed somehow less terrifying to see blood on the green scrubs than on her light colored shirts and her jeans.
Kirsten helped Summer wash her hair, then headed back to the trauma room to try and get Ryan cleaned up better. Summer scrubbed her skin until it was raw, trying to get all the blood off, and only stopped when Kirsten walked in and grabbed her hands to stop her. "I know it's gone, but I still see it," Summer whispered.
"I know," Kirsten said, tucking the girl's still wet hair back behind her ears. "But Ryan looks a little better now, so I think you did good."
Summer nodded and started pulling on the scrubs, having to role up the pants legs so they would fit her. "I'll check on him so you can get cleaned up," she said. She helped Kirsten fill two of the sinks with clean water, finishing off the 2nd jug of water, then headed back to Ryan, shooting a glare at Zach before going into the trauma room, which had also been cleaned up. Luke was siting in a chair by the bed, clearly watching over Ryan, and Summer couldn't help smiling. "Hey."
"Hey," Luke said. "I helped Kirsten get him into a new bed, and we wiped up the floor as best we could" he explained, gesturing at the blood soaked bed that had been shoved into the adjoining room. "Figured I'd stay until one of you got back."
Summer nodded and checked Ryan's pulse, first at his neck, smiling in relief when she felt that it was strong. Then, she checked his pulse at his wrist, nodding to herself. "His pulse is strong," she told Luke. "It means he's got good blood flow through his arm." She moved to his leg, pulling back the sheet to find Ryan was in just his boxers now, and checked his foot for a pulse, nodding again. "Good pulse here, too," she told Luke, relief clear in her voice as she folded the sheet back over his leg. "I think he might be okay."
"Like I ever doubted you," Luke said. He paused for a minute then looked back at Ryan's face. "I'm sorry. I'm the one who brought him to Ryan, I thought... I thought we could trust Zach."
"So did I," Summer said. "I just about destroyed things with Ryan because of Zach. I mean, we didn't really talk until last night, and then we... we decided we were gonna put everything relationship related on hold until we got... where we're going. Until everyone was safe. Then we'd figure it out."
"You're still gonna get to do that," Luke said.
"But we could have not gotten that chance, Luke," Summer insisted. "He could have died... what the hell happened? I mean..."
"Last night and then again this morning, Zach went to the bathroom and was gone a long time, so I went to investigate, and I heard voices. Last night Zach said he was talking to himself, but later I pulled Chino aside and told him, and he seemed worried. This morning, I pulled him aside again, and he said that he wanted me to call out to Zach after he had a chance to walk around the trees. So Zach came out, and I heard someone moving away, then voices, then... then the gunshots."
"So only Ryan can tell us what went down."
"I know there were at least 2 guys there. One of them was bleeding from his arm, looked like a graze, like when I got shot at that party last year. The other... I shot the other, I think I hit him in the side, but... but I'm not sure."
"Zach made it sound like there were at least... 6 people in their group. At least one is a girl who can't shoot, so that leaves us with no more than 5 shooters, and one of them was hit in the arm, the other in the side, so 3 uninjured shooters, at the most," Summer reasoned.
"Yeah," Luke agreed.
"Of course, we're down to 2 good shooters..."
"Somehow I think you'd be pretty good if someone came charging in here," Luke said. "Wouldn't let anyone hurt him."
Summer returned to the head of Ryan's bed and stroked his hair off his forehead before leaning down to kiss him softly on the lips, then pressing her forehead against his. "You don't let the person you love get threatened," she whispered.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Sometime in the next few chapters, I'll have a flashback chapter that reveals how Volchak's group got together... But not until I reveal who else is in the group... lol
Author: Mara
Rating: R
Warnings: Serious character injury. Lots of blood. Dubious medical knowledge.
Summary: Most of the world is either dead or Crazy, but in California a group of survivors tries to find a way to avoid both fates.
See the devil on the door step now
My oh my
~'We Are' by Ana Johnnson
PART ELEVEN
When they found the hospital in Hartley, California, Summer had Luke and Zach carry Ryan inside to a trauma room and put him on a bed, while Alex took the kids into a room across the hall and got them settled. "What can I do?" Luke asked as he watched Summer start pulling Ryan's shirt the rest off the way off his limp body.
"Search the cabinets, and find me scissors," Summer ordered. She had been able to loosen the belt partway through the drive, when she'd gotten the bleeding slowed enough that pressure on the wound seemed to be enough, but she wasn't ready to feel relieved yet. Ryan hadn't regained consciousness during the ride, and his skin was far too pale underneath all the blood. When Luke held out a pair of scissors, Summer began cutting away Ryan's jeans, starting at the hole from the bullet and going first up several inches then down to the ankle so she could pull the pants leg open and better see the wound.
"Summer?" Kirsten asked, her voice shaking.
Summer looked up and shook her head. "You shouldn't be in here," she said.
"You need help," Kirsten argued, swallowing convulsively and forcing herself to stay calm as she stepped closer. "What can I do?"
Summer hesitated, then finally nodded. "Check his shoulder, see if it's still bleeding," she said. "If it is, then put pressure on it. If not, then I need you to find me all the bandages you can, because all I can do is maybe stitch him up then wrap the... the wounds..."
"Just do what you can," Kirsten said as she checked Ryan's shoulder. "He's bleeding."
"I'll get the stuff," Alex said. "Luke, stay in the hall and check on the kids every few minutes."
Luke nodded. "Yeah, sure," he said as he headed across the hall to check on the kids.
As Alex rushed out, Summer grabbed the bag she had thought to grab from the rover and found a small flashlight, which she used to inspect the wound in Ryan's leg. "Doesn't seem to be arterial," she muttered to herself. "More like... more like muscle, maybe, went all the way through, so no bullet stuck in there to worry about."
"Summer?" Kirsten asked.
"If I can get it to stop bleeding, I think it might be okay," Summer replied, her voice shaky but her hands steady. "Luke! I need your help!" she called. A moment later, Luke was in the trauma room again, his face almost as pale as Ryan's as he looked at the blood. "Get his boot and sock off for me," Summer instructed as she tied the arm of the hoodie around Ryan's leg again. Then she headed up to check on his shoulder.
Luke quickly complied, his fingers slipping on the blood. "Okay," he said once they were off.
Summer glanced up, nodding to herself when she saw the foot looked normal, if a little pale. "Press your thumb hard against the top of his big, then remove it and tell me how long that area takes to return to the same color as before."
Again, Luke did as told. "Maybe 5 seconds?" he said.
"A little slow, but... but it could be worse," Summer said, biting her lip. "I think... I think that means he still has good blood flow into his foot, which means there isn't any arterial damage... I think."
Alex returned with the supplies she could find, and Summer quickly grabbed a suture kit and returned to Ryan's leg. "What now?" Alex asked.
"Now I try to fix this," Summer replied.
~~~~
It seemed like hours before Summer finally stepped away from Ryan, blood all over her arms, clothes, and even in her hair. There were layers of gauze taped over the wounds, covering the stitches Summer had done in an attempt to help repair the damage, and there was nothing else she could do with her limited knowledge. "We're gonna have to wait," she said.
"How long before we know?" Alex asked from the doorway, where she could see Luke further down the hall keeping watch both in general and over Zach.
Summer shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "Whenever he wakes up, and that... I don't think that'll happen before tomorrow."
Alex nodded. "Okay, so... what do we do?"
"Someone needs to try to get up to the roof, and keep an eye out for any vehicles other than ours," Kirsten said. "Take one of the radios, leave the other one down here, call us if you hear an engine or see anyone coming."
"Right, I'll go," Alex said.
"No, we need you down here," Kirsten said. "Luke, too. We need to make sure no one can sneak up on us, and that if anyone does get in, we can protect ourselves."
"I'll go," Kaitlin said. "I mean, it's the roof, anything would have to come through here first, right?"
"Kaitlin..." Kirsten began.
"Yeah, it could be dangerous, but... but I'm small, and I'm fast, and... and I can't just sit there. The little kids know Ryan's hurt, but they don't... I don't think they understand that it's really bad, that he... that he could have died. I do. And just sitting there..."
"It's a good idea," Alex said. "But, Kaitlin, I'm gonna give you a quick lesson with one of the handguns, okay? Just in case. Anybody comes near you that isn't one of us, you shoot them."
Kaitlin nodded and followed Alex out of the room, leaving Summer and Kirsten alone. Summer leaned against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor, tears trailing down her face. "Oh God," she whispered.
"You did the best you could," Kirsten reassured her, walking over and sitting beside the girl to wrap arms around her. "It's going to be okay, Summer."
"What if it wasn't enough?"
"It has to be," Kirsten said. "It has to be enough." She gently stroked the girl's hair, ignoring the fact that Ryan's blood was now covering both of them. "You did everything possible, honey, and it has to be enough."
"How is he?" Zach asked from the doorway, and Summer was on her feet in an instant. She crossed the room quickly and slapped him, making him stumble back.
"You get the hell out of here!" she said. "You've done enough, Zach."
"No one was suppose to get hurt!" Zach insisted. "Volchak just said..."
"You think I give a damn what the asshole who shot Ryan said?!" Summer replied. "What were you thinking, Zach? We welcomed you into our group, Ryan would have got between you and a Crazy, same as he would have for any of us, and you get him shot?!"
"I owed Volchak! He saved me life, and..."
"And all he asked in return is that you betray us?"
"I'm sorry," Zach said. "It wasn't... He said that... he thought you never would have let the rest of us come, so... he wanted to follow you to where you're going... strength in numbers, you know? And..."
"Ryan wouldn't have turned anyone away unless he thought they were dangerous," Summer said. "So you know what? Maybe he would have turned this Volchak guy away. Because clearly he's psychotic!"
"What the hell?" Luke said as he came over. "I told you to keep your ass on the floor by the nurse's station," he said to Zach.
"I just..."
"You just thought you'd come piss everyone off?" Luke said. "Because the way I see it, that's all your doing..."
"I know more about Volchak's group, I can give you information!" Zach said. "I know how many people he has, who can shoot and who can't, who might... who might be willing to turn against him..."
"So you'd betray him like you betrayed us?" Summer said. "Oh, yeah, we really should trust you."
"Donnie's a good shot, but he's not a murderer, he's the other guy who was there when we came around, Luke," Zach said. "And... and Lindsey can't shoot at all, she's really bad at it. But there's 3 good shooters, Casey, Z, and..."
"Just shut up," Summer said. "Shut up and get the hell away from me, and away from Ryan. Because if I see you anywhere near him? I will kill you. I know the right places to stab you so that you bleed to death in seconds. Or, the places where you'll bleed to death slowly, and the smell will attract the Crazies to finish you off after we tie you to a lightpost outside. Remember that."
Zach nodded and quickly left the room, leaving Luke and Kirsten to stare at Summer in shock. "Summer..." Kirsten began.
"I wouldn't really," Summer said, running her hands through her hair and whincing as she realized she was just spreading the blood. "But he doesn't have to know that."
"Maybe we should try to get you cleaned up," Kirsten suggested.
"Unless we get another sudden rainstorm, I don't see it happening," Summer countered.
"I saw one of those watercooler things in the waiting room," Luke said. "The bottle on top looked just about full. Maybe I could try to bring it down here?"
"Good idea," Kirsten said. "And check the staff lounge and anywhere else there might be one."
"The, uh... and I need some of the hand wipes, so I can clean Ryan up some," Summer added.
"I'll be back soon," Luke promised before leaving again.
Summer leaned against the wall and stared at her bloody hands for a long moment, then looked back up at Ryan. "You have to be okay, Chino," she whispered.
~~~~
Luke returned with three water jugs and the handwipes, and Summer headed into the bathroom to wash up. Alex brought a change of clothes for Kirsten, and a set of scrubs for Summer, who figured she would get more blood on herself when she checked the wounds and didn't want to ruin more clothes. It seemed somehow less terrifying to see blood on the green scrubs than on her light colored shirts and her jeans.
Kirsten helped Summer wash her hair, then headed back to the trauma room to try and get Ryan cleaned up better. Summer scrubbed her skin until it was raw, trying to get all the blood off, and only stopped when Kirsten walked in and grabbed her hands to stop her. "I know it's gone, but I still see it," Summer whispered.
"I know," Kirsten said, tucking the girl's still wet hair back behind her ears. "But Ryan looks a little better now, so I think you did good."
Summer nodded and started pulling on the scrubs, having to role up the pants legs so they would fit her. "I'll check on him so you can get cleaned up," she said. She helped Kirsten fill two of the sinks with clean water, finishing off the 2nd jug of water, then headed back to Ryan, shooting a glare at Zach before going into the trauma room, which had also been cleaned up. Luke was siting in a chair by the bed, clearly watching over Ryan, and Summer couldn't help smiling. "Hey."
"Hey," Luke said. "I helped Kirsten get him into a new bed, and we wiped up the floor as best we could" he explained, gesturing at the blood soaked bed that had been shoved into the adjoining room. "Figured I'd stay until one of you got back."
Summer nodded and checked Ryan's pulse, first at his neck, smiling in relief when she felt that it was strong. Then, she checked his pulse at his wrist, nodding to herself. "His pulse is strong," she told Luke. "It means he's got good blood flow through his arm." She moved to his leg, pulling back the sheet to find Ryan was in just his boxers now, and checked his foot for a pulse, nodding again. "Good pulse here, too," she told Luke, relief clear in her voice as she folded the sheet back over his leg. "I think he might be okay."
"Like I ever doubted you," Luke said. He paused for a minute then looked back at Ryan's face. "I'm sorry. I'm the one who brought him to Ryan, I thought... I thought we could trust Zach."
"So did I," Summer said. "I just about destroyed things with Ryan because of Zach. I mean, we didn't really talk until last night, and then we... we decided we were gonna put everything relationship related on hold until we got... where we're going. Until everyone was safe. Then we'd figure it out."
"You're still gonna get to do that," Luke said.
"But we could have not gotten that chance, Luke," Summer insisted. "He could have died... what the hell happened? I mean..."
"Last night and then again this morning, Zach went to the bathroom and was gone a long time, so I went to investigate, and I heard voices. Last night Zach said he was talking to himself, but later I pulled Chino aside and told him, and he seemed worried. This morning, I pulled him aside again, and he said that he wanted me to call out to Zach after he had a chance to walk around the trees. So Zach came out, and I heard someone moving away, then voices, then... then the gunshots."
"So only Ryan can tell us what went down."
"I know there were at least 2 guys there. One of them was bleeding from his arm, looked like a graze, like when I got shot at that party last year. The other... I shot the other, I think I hit him in the side, but... but I'm not sure."
"Zach made it sound like there were at least... 6 people in their group. At least one is a girl who can't shoot, so that leaves us with no more than 5 shooters, and one of them was hit in the arm, the other in the side, so 3 uninjured shooters, at the most," Summer reasoned.
"Yeah," Luke agreed.
"Of course, we're down to 2 good shooters..."
"Somehow I think you'd be pretty good if someone came charging in here," Luke said. "Wouldn't let anyone hurt him."
Summer returned to the head of Ryan's bed and stroked his hair off his forehead before leaning down to kiss him softly on the lips, then pressing her forehead against his. "You don't let the person you love get threatened," she whispered.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Sometime in the next few chapters, I'll have a flashback chapter that reveals how Volchak's group got together... But not until I reveal who else is in the group... lol
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Date: 2006-10-24 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 07:36 pm (UTC)