The surgeon was standing there, mouth agape, hands shaking. I’d never seen her so…terrified.
“What?” I asked her, looking over my shoulder, sure the giant or some skid was about to take my head off. Ronnie was never terrified.Ever.
“I don’t have my med bag,” she said, looking completelylost.
Well, this night just keeps getting better andbetter.
“We’ll figure it out. Move!” I told her, and Lucy hissed at me from her spot draped around Ronnie’s neck in her littlesack.
I ripped the clean fitted sheet from the bed as I ran, and we all booked it into the pod forest and away from the lake, away from thegiant.
Using my knife, I tore a few long strips off the fitted sheet and twisted them together quickly in a thick makeshift braid. Brisk was limping bad, and I knew running with that thing wrapped around his leg was killing him. I had one medical item I always brought with me, something they taught us in cadet school to take in, in my thigh pocket. A tiny medical staple gun. It fit in the palm of your hand, and in a pinch, it could save yourlife.
“Let’s stop up here,” I told the group as we came to a cave-like structure of flat rocks and bright purpletrees.
“Ronnie,” I calledout.
She walked over and looked at the sheet rope in myhands.
“Tourniquet?” she asked, and I nodded. Then she saw the other thing in myhand.
She sighed. “No anesthesia, no disinfectant, no beautiful suturekit.”
“Ronnie,” I groaned. Not everyone could have perfect stitches and walk away with minimalscarring.
She took the items from me, then removed the baby kitten sling from her neck and handed it tome.
“Um, what?” I asked her, as Lucy stared at me with one bugged-out eye. This cat had had way too much coffee. I was surprised it was able tosleep.
“Shut up and hold her. If she gets away, I’ll never talk to you again,” Ronniewarned.
Even though we were best friends, ride or die, I knew she was telling the truth. This kitten was her greatest life’s accomplishment, and if I lost it or let it get injured, I would be dead toher.
I took the cat and noticed inside where her collar was, Ronnie had tied it to the sling so she couldn’t jump out. I put the sling over my neck, and Lucy batted at the zipper that hung from the top of mysuit.
“Stop it!” I told her, pushing her paw into the sling. “This is a serious moment kid.” The second I pulled my hand away, she went back to attacking the danglingzipper.
Fine, whatever. Shred up my five-thousand-dollarsuit.
Brisk was now lying on the ground, Nox on his right, and Ronnie on hisleft.
“Bite down on something, baby,” she said, and I jerked my head back at her term of affection for him.What the hell? In twenty-four hours, they’ve already gone to the ‘baby’ stage? By next week they’ll be married and having kids.That actually gave me a warm feeling in mytummy.
But that warm feeling was ripped away when I heard Brisk’s violent muffled scream. He bit down on a piece of wood as Ronnie tightened the tourniquet above the tentacle cutting into hisleg.
“I haven’t even pulled it off yet,” she toldhim.
“Just do it!” he roared, with the stick still in hismouth.
Ronnie flinched. Now that they were romantically involved, this must’ve been twice as hard for her. With a deep breath, she yanked the top of the meaty tentacle and, using both hands, unwound it from around his leg. With swift precise movements, she cut his pant leg off exposing his entirelimb.
Brisk made small grunting noises but kept his shit relatively together given the circumstances. Once the thing was off, Ronnie went to town with the stapler. With each staple, the Marine just bit into that stick until I thought it was going to snap in his mouth. There must’ve been fifty puncturemarks.
When she was done, she looked up at him. “Okay, you feel all right?” she askedbreathlessly.
He spit the stick out of his mouth, forehead covered in sweat. “You really want me to answer that?” He looked pale and on the verge of passingout.
She chewed her lip. “Good news is, there doesn’t seem to be any torn arteries. The wounds are all pretty superficial. Once I can get you home and on an IV of antibiotics, I’ll feel betterthough.”
