The cut on my arm was shallow, thanks to my leather jacket. It had bled a lot at first, but was already starting to slow to a seep; that was the coagulants in the toxins working. The scourge preferred their meat to remain juicy.
The arm was starting to feel heavy. The cut itself didn’t hurt because of the toxin, but the dislocated shoulder was killing me. I wasn’t sure what was worse.
I mentally urged the contaminator to run faster. We’d learned that a specially designed high dose of vitamin B 12, alpha lipoic acid, and thiamine did wonders if administered quickly after the injury. They acted as a nerve protectant. I just wasn’t sure how quickly they meant.
Should I have taken it before the decontaminator? Did Bael’k even have any of the shots on his shuttle?
I was suddenly feeling extremely tired. I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, I was no longer in the stall.
I was cradled in Bael’k’s arms, and we were sitting on the shuttle floor just outside the decontaminator. The first thing I felt, aside from the heat of his body, was the pain radiating from my dislocated shoulder. I’d never actually experienced a dislocation before, but I was pretty damn sure that was what it was. And I never wanted to feel it again.
Someone pounded on the shuttle’s door, and he moved just enough to open it.
“Kiera!” Connie burst into the shuttle and almost tripped over Bael’k’s cross-legged form. I could practically feel her look ofrelief when she saw me. “Oh, thank God! I come bearing gifts of healing.”
She dropped to her knees in front of us. “Have you been in there already?”
“Yeah. Just came out… I think.” I actually had no idea how long we’d been sitting here.
“Great.” She produced and uncapped the autoinjector pen, then unceremoniously jabbed it into my arm.
“Oww! What the fuck!” I yelped. “You could at least warn me.”
She looked chagrined. “Oops. It hurts less when you don’t know it’s coming. But I didn’t know you fucked up your shoulder too.”
“I think it’s dislocated.”
“Gimme one moment.”
Connie stepped out of the shuttle, and another woman stepped in.
“I’m Sammie,” she said. “I’m a nurse for the Mountains group. I’m going to put your shoulder back.”
A quick introduction, a move over to the bed, and one extremely painful maneuver that had me yowling and Bael’k growling at the poor woman later, my shoulder was back in place.
“Thank you,” I said at the immediate relief.
“I know it doesn’t feel like it, but the cut’s a little more serious because of the toxins,” Sammie said. “So do two rounds on the medical device on the cut and one on the shoulder, and keep alternating until tomorrow morning.”
Bael’k was already there with his medical device.
“Hunter! You’re injured too. Your leg!” Sammie admonished. “Rest and get a device on that too.”
“I only have one.”
“We have an extra! I’ll go get it!” yelled Connie from outside the door.
Sammie handed me a small orange pill bottle. “Painkillers. The good stuff. Take it. This is exactly what we save them for.”
Seconds later, Connie was back inside the shuttle and shoving a handheld Xarc’n medical device at Bael’k. “You know what to do.”
She looked around the shuttle, and so did I for the first time. All of Bael’k’s belongings were scattered across the floor. No wonder I was tripping over things earlier. I’d known he was fighting with his shuttle, but what the hell happened here?
“If you’re missing anything else… or can’t find it in this mess. Let us know. Jorg’k and I are going to visit the Colorado group for a few days while you two heal up and search the mountains to the north and finish your quest.” She turned back to me. “I know some Tech Wizzes think you should go home and let Bael’k finish the quest, but I know you, Kiera. You’d never be happy with that now that you’ve gotten this far.” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “So I’m going to tell them it’s just a teeny, tiny cut, and that Bael’k totally freaked out over nothing.”
“Thank you,” I said, grateful. She was completely right. I wasn’t going to quit now. Hell no!
