Chapter 6:
Marik held his breath as Jenny began to stitch. The implant in her head, all it did was awaken the knowledge that she had been born with. She was a natural healer, but not a touch healer. Or at least he didn’t know yet if she was a touch healer as well.
She stitched with a slow and steady hand. Her fingers never trembled. When the wound was stitched, he looked up over her head and motioned for the child. Melinda appeared, clutching the refresher bottle, which held only a few drops of liquid in it now. He spoke to her softly, “Take the tip of the bottle and place it just on her lips. Only put what you have in the bottle into her mouth. She doesn’t need anything more. You have saved her exactly the right amount.”
Melinda gave him a solemn stare and then she knelt beside her mother. She dripped the water into her mother’s mouth and then drew back when her mother let out a pained and low moan.
Marik continued to soothe the child. “It’s all right. She’s not even awake. She won’t be awake for quite some time. You must stay with her. Keep everyone away from her. Don’t let anyone touch her where she’s injured. Don’t you touch her where she’s injured either. I’ve given her medication and cleaned her wound, but that infection is nasty. If it comes back again, and it will if people touch where she’s been sewn, she may not live. It is your duty to take care of her now. Do you understand?”
Melinda whispered, “I understand. I won’t let anyone hurt her.”
Marik stood. “Good.”
Jenny stood as well. Her eyes went to the child, and he read pity in them. They did not have time for pity nor did they have time to coddle the girl anymore. This was war. Unfortunately, children were often caught up in the aftermath or even in the actual event. Melinda was lucky just to be alive. They could do nothing else for her at the moment, and there were so many who needed their help right now.
Jenny didn’t have to be told that. She followed him to the next person. She held the young human male down, pressing her entire body weight onto his shoulders while Marik sat on one of his legs in order to set the other. The cracking of bone and the screams of the young man filled the room. He saw Jenny flinch slightly, but she did not let go.
After the young man’s leg was splinted and bound, they moved onward.
It was a nightmare. An unrelenting and terrible nightmare made up of bloodied agony and death. There were so many that they could do nothing for. It was already too late. The only thing that they could do was assign people who were more able and less injured to sit with those people and hold their hands and talk to them as best they could while they died.
Jenny wept a few times but her tears were always silent, and they never stopped her from working. Marik watched her with real appreciation. She had no idea how much strength it took to do what she was doing. She had no idea that she was strong. She also had no idea that her touch comforted those that she was working on.
The implant, the reminding of her ability that it was there, had been useful but he worried that the strain of what was happening and the lack of rest would eventually wear on her.
Hours passed, and he barely noticed. Every time he thought he had seen the worst case, a new one presented itself.
He and Jenny split up at one point because they had come across almost an entire room of patients who just needed minor care and who were in desperate and dire need of food and water along with that. When they finished in that room, they met again in the hallway. Jenny leaned against one wall. There were lavender half circles below her lovely eyes, and she said, “Marik, I don’t know how much more I can take today.”
He said, “No more.”
She looked over her shoulder, her eyes going back to the patient’s huddled in the room. “I can’t believe this happened. I can’t believe so many are so hurt. All I want to do is scream, I’m so mad. Is that normal?”
He nodded his head. “Yes, of course it is. You have every right to be angry. These are your people. They are suffering and dying all around you. If you are not angry, that would not be normal.”
She gave him a tired smile. “Thank you. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me.”
He said, “The only thing wrong with you right now is that you need food and sleep. We both do. There are other healers here, and they’ve been working all day too. Unfortunately, you and I absolutely have to go rest now. We can’t tend to them if we can’t think, if we can’t even keep our eyes open to care for them.”
Jenny lifted a hand to her hair. During the long day, it had come loose from the coil that she had put it in earlier. Little tendrils of blonde hair waved all around her face and along her brow. She sighed heavily. “I hate to admit it, but I think you’re right.”
He said, “I think Talon and Jessica have made space upstairs for us and the crew. Let’s see if we can find them.”
They started up the stairs. Marik’s entire body ached with fatigue, and he stumbled a few times. Jenny’s hand came out and went underneath his elbow. He looked over at her, and she gave him a wry smile. “To be honest, if you really did fall, I’m not sure me trying to hold you would do you any good at all but it makes me feel better.”
To his surprise, he was still able to laugh. “It makes me feel better as well.”
They went upstairs again. On the second floor, far to the left, they finally found Talon and the others. Talon was seated before a table, his face wearing a thick scowl. Jessica lay on the floor under a single cover, her face turned toward the wall and her weapon cradled in her arms.
Talon said, “Bad news. The Rovers that we evaded have begun to draw closer toward the side of the city. It seems they have looted all that they could over by the western edge of the place. They’re either hungry enough to be desperate or violent enough to just want blood. Either way, they may be something we have to fight.”
Marik pointed Jenny toward a corner and a blanket, and she went towards it gratefully. He saw her settle in and he watched her for a moment before turning back to Talon. “The ship is still circling?”
Talon said, “I don’t dare leave her at the dock. I don’t truly dare to leave her up in space either. At least not in this solar system. Those are my only options though. I keep her on the planet, they’ll try to take her. If I keep her in the sky, there may be ships up there that will try to take her. Also, if we have to escape really fast, we may have to wait until she can dock again. It’s a no-win situation, but it’s the only situation at hand, so there you go.”
Marik spoke softly. “We have been in far worse situations.”
The smiles that they exchanged were grim. It was true enough. A light snore came from the side of the room were Jenny lay and Marik shot her sleeping figure an amused glance before saying to Talon, “I can see why you care.”
