Andrea pushed the passenger’s seat up and crouched down behind it, “Try to keep us on smooth ground. If she’s jostled too much, it could make the wound worse.”
“I’ll do my best.” Jagger replied.
Eric sat down in the passenger’s seat with his knees close to the dash, “Wait, what makes you think you’re coming with us?”
Andrea turned and sat against the side of the jeep, “I was seen. There’s no way I can go back now. Let Dr. Castillo worry about the wounded. If nothing else, it’ll keep him away from his experiments. Besides, you could use a doctor here with what you’re planning.”
“That’s true… and Raiya isn’t going to get better without help.” Jagger sighed as he looked at Rollins, “What about you?”
“My place is here and I don’t answer to Dr. Castillo. I’ll be fine.” Rollins replied.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to square off against his cronies. I’ll be fine.”
Andrea looked over at him and nodded, “Thanks buddy. Now get out of here, I don’t think they saw you. Lay low until we’re gone.”
“Will do, good luck Andy!”
Jagger grabbed the roll bar and pulled himself behind the driver’s seat. Lt. Rollins took a few steps back into the darkness, “Good luck everyone.”
A few gunshots prompted Jagger into action. He put the jeep in drive and slammed his foot on the gas. The tires squealed as the jeep took off down the broken road. The pungent stench of burnt rubber filled his nostrils as the jeep pulled away.
Eric turned back and fired a few shots at the soldiers that appeared from the gate, trying to buy Jagger a few minutes, “Won’t they follow us?”
“No.” Andrea replied. “Dr. Castillo has a lot of influence out here, but not even he can requisition something fast enough to catch us. Charleston’s resources are too limited to allow him to go off on an insane adventure. Trust me, we’re safe… but I wouldn’t go back there.”
“I don’t intend to.” Jagger replied. “Not ever, after that…”
Raiya moaned from the back seat as she slowly regained consciousness. Jagger peaked back when he heard her, “Doc…”
Andrea nodded, “I’m on it.”
He slowly turned Raiya on her back and carefully pulled her pants off her hip, “Excuse me…”
He carefully inspected the wound as Raiya opened her eyes, “Am I dying…?”
“From a bullet in the hip?” Andrea asked. “I’d have to be a pretty piss poor doctor to let that happen.”
He gently pressed his hand around the wound, searching for any sign shatter bone. He felt the protrusion of the bullet against her hip, “It looks like it’s a flesh wound… unfortunately the bullet is still in her hip.”
“Can’t believe you guys still use those old guns.”
“We use whatever we can get our hands on. We have bolt guns and lasers, but we save them for dragons.”
Jagger nodded, “All right… so what do you need to do?”
Andrea sighed as he looked at Raiya, “We need to stop somewhere so I can operate.”
“Not an option…” Jagger replied. “I know your patrols are probably still out this far. It’s not safe.”
“If I don’t get the bullet out, she could get an infection or lead poisoning. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t have any way of administering a chelating agent. I’m sorry my friend, but this has to come out now.”
Jagger bit down on his lip. If he stopped, it would put them all at risk, but if he didn’t, they could lose Raiya. Normally, the logic of numbers would prevail in such a situation, but not here and not where Raiya was concerned. Without her, the whole adventure would be for nothing and Jagger had become too protective for that. There was no question, they had to stop.
Luck was with Jagger as an old warehouse came into view. An opening had been blasted in the side that was just large enough for the jeep to get through. He turned off the road and headed straight for it, “Hold on… and hope no one’s in there.”
Eric’s eyes widened, “Jagger… uh Jagger? What are you doing?”
The jeep crashed through the side of the building. Eric screamed, “Holy shit!”
Jagger slammed on the breaks and brought the truck to a stop. The tires screeched and the jeep stopped right as it was about to hit a massive piece of concrete. The debris was large enough that it would have destroyed the truck on impact.
In the back, Andrea did the best he could to brace Raiya. Any sudden movements could make her condition even worse. Once the jeep stopped, he immediately jumped out and sifted through the back of the jeep, “I had Rollins bring some of my equipment out. Hopefully he remembered… Ah here we go!”
He pulled out a clean white sheet and placed it on top of the large slab of concrete in front of the jeep, “Bring her over here and keep the headlights on.”
Jagger nodded as Andrea pulled his medical case out of the back. He jumped out and picked up Raiya from the back seat, “You okay?”
“It hurts a little… but yeah… I’ll manage.” Raiya replied.
Jagger saw the tears in her eyes and quickly used the bottom of his shirt to wipe them away, “Looks like it hurts more than a little…”
“I said I’ll manage… Stop talking and get me over to the cloth before I bleed out.”
Eric also came around from the passenger’s side and stood on the far corner of the slab, “What can I do?”
Andrea opened his case and looked at his tools, “I’ll need you both to hold her down. This isn’t going to be pleasant.”
“Don’t you have any painkillers?” Jagger asked.
“If I were in my operating room, I’d administer anesthetic though an IV… as it stands…”
Andrea pulled out a small syringe, “We’ll have to settle with good old-fashioned morphine.”
He tapped the needle and made sure it was ready, “Okay Raiya, just a slight pinch… though you probably won’t even notice.”
………………….
Raiya squeezed her eyes closed as Andrea went to work. He quickly jabbed the needle into her skin. As the liquid left the small tube, Raiya slowly began to feel better, “I think it’s working… it doesn’t hurt as much.”
“It should help. The pain won’t go away completely, but it should make it tolerable enough to keep you from going into shock while I work.”
Raiya released a tense breath, “In other words, not quite excruciating…”
“Exactly.”
“Great…”
Andrea quickly went to work. He grabbed a small black cylinder from the case and held it up to Raiya’s mouth, “You’ll want to bite down on that. Trust me… bullet wounds I can cure. Dental work, not so much.”
Raiya opened her mouth, allowing Andrea to place it between her jaws. It had a spongy texture to it, but was firm enough that she would have a hard time biting completely through.
Andrea looked down at the wound as dark purple blood dripped out, “Okay… are you ready?”
“Do I have any choice?”
“Not really.”
Raiya nodded as she closed her eyes, “Fuck it, do whatever you have to…”
Andrea grabbed a small scalpel and a pair of tweezers from his case, “Here we go…”
Andrea reached into the wound with the tweezers. Raiya tensed up and released an agonized grunt as Andrea worked. She began to struggle and instinctively attempt to make him stop.
Andrea looked up at Eric and Jagger. The two had horrified looks on their faces. Apparently neither of them had seen a surgery before.
“Hold her down, but stay out of my light.” Andrea commanded.
Jagger grabbed her arms and crossed them over her chest. He pressed down hard enough to keep them in place, but not so much that they impeded her breathing. Eric grabbed her legs. His arms straightened as though preparing for a vicious kick.
Andrea sighed as he placed the tweezers down next to her, “Fuck�
�� I was hoping the bullet would be right near the surface. It feels like its deeper down.”
“How bad is it?” Jagger asked.
Andrea pointed at the wound, “The bullet ricocheted off her hip. It’s embedded against the bone. This is going to be difficult. Hold her!”
Jagger gripped her arms tightly and placed her head between his knees so that she couldn’t thrash her shoulders. He looked down at her with a sympathetic smile. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she braced herself for what was coming.
Andrea picked up the scalpel and looked into her eyes, “Okay, Raiya… bite down hard.”
He carefully cut into her skin just above the bullet wound and made an incision down to the opening. The skin separated without much trouble, giving Andrea a little more room to work with.
Raiya’s scream was muffled by the cylinder in her mouth, but it was still ear piercing. Jagger winced as he looked down at her. His ears were ringing.
Raiya’s face was soaked with tears. Her eyes looked up at Jagger pleadingly. He frowned and shook his head, “I’m sorry… just a little more, okay?”
Blood flowed out of her wound as Andrea worked. Within moments, his hands were completely stained a purplish red color. He picked up the tweezers and inserted them into the wound, “Okay… here we go…”
Pain shot through her entire body as the tweezers passed through her skin, paralyzing her muscles. She struggled to scream through the cylinder in her mouth, “Stop, please stop!”
With one final thrust, Andrea extracted the bullet. “Got it!”
Raiya opened her mouth to breath more freely, revealing that she had completely bitten through the cylinder with her sharp rear teeth. The pieces fell from both sides of her mouth.
Andrea held the bullet up in triumph, “There. That won’t be causing trouble anymore! Nasty little thing…”
“Are… we… done?” Raiya asked through a sob.
“I wish… I still have to stitch up this wound or you’ll bleed out.”
Raiya sighed as she looked up at Jagger, “You’re okay?”
Jagger nodded, “Thanks to you… you saved my life again.”
Raiya forced a faint smile before the pain could overtake her again, “You’re my partner… that’s what we do…”
Jagger placed his right hand on her cheek and nodded, “Damn straight.”
Raiya smiled as she rested her head against his hand. She breathed heavily, trying to absorb the pain. Her body began to tremble as she lay on the slab with an open wound.
Andrea pulled a small needle and thread out of his pack, “All right… this won’t heal properly if I don’t stitch it closed. You’ve already lost a lot of blood, so we need to work quickly.”
Raiya closed her eyes as her muscles tensed up in preparation for the agonizing pain, “I’m ready.”
Raiya’s tough façade wasn’t fooling anyone and she knew it. If anything, it was more for herself as a way to hold on to her pride. She’d never liked opening up and showing weakness to anyone if she could help it.
Andrea threaded the needle and made several small incisions on either side of the wound. He quickly ran the needle through on one side, then did the same on the other. After every stitch, he pulled the wound closed.
Tears continuously fell from Raiya’s eyes. The pain was intolerable. She was starting to wish that it would send her into shock. Anything to end her suffering, “Stop… please… I can’t take anymore! Please…”
Andrea shook his head, “Just one more incision.”
“No… I can’t do it. Please stop!”
“I know you’re in pain, but you’ll bleed out if I don’t finish.”
“I don’t care… stop!”
Andrea stopped pulling the stitches and looked up, “Jagger?”
Jagger adjusted himself so that he was looking straight down at her, “Please Raiya, we can’t lose you here.”
She looked up at Jagger with a distressed expression. Her eyes showed nothing but pain. She had fought through it, but had almost nothing left.
Jagger looked deep into her eyes, trying to help her calm down, “Do it for me.”
Raiya grimaced as she closed her eyes, “Fine… for you…”
Jagger looked up at Andrea and nodded. Andrea immediately went back to work. He made the last incision and pulled the needle through. Once the thread was in place, he pulled the wound as tight as he could, “There we go… one last step.”
Raiya’s body quivered as he tied the stitching in place and pulled a small white bottle from the case, “You guys better hold her tight… this is going to burn.”
He popped the cap off the bottle and carefully dripped its contents onto Raiya’s hip. The clear liquid spattered on the wound and cleared away most of the blood that was still seeping out. It then quickly began making a sizzling sound as it bubbled.
That was it. Raiya couldn’t stand anymore. She let out an agonized cry as the wound went from stinging to burning, “Fuck… fuck… ah… are… we done?”
Andrea nodded as he pulled a square of gauze out of his pack, “We’re done. The stitches will fall out in a week or so.”
He gently pressed the gauze against the wound and stretched a white bandage around it. He slowly wrapped the stretchy fabric around her hip, across her stomach, and gently lifted her off the ground to run the bandage behind her. He repeated this process several times until the bandage was strong and tight, “You did great.”
“It still hurts…” Raiya replied softly.
Andrea looked up at her, “I know and it’s going to sting. If it doesn’t get better in a few hours, I’ll give you another injection of morphine. For now, you’d do well to try to get some rest.”
“Can she be moved?” Jagger asked.
“Yeah, but I’d be careful. The sutures are being held in place by thin cuts and a lot of hope. If she’s not careful, she could rip the whole thing open again. This is a deep wound. I don’t even really want her walking. In fact, I’d rather her just rest on the ground for a while.”
“Not a good idea, buddy.” Eric replied. “A patrol could have easily heard all that screaming. We need to get out of here before we’re discovered.”
“I understand. Then we need to move her gently and lay her into the back of the jeep. We also have to keep her legs as straight as possible.”
“In other words, hanging out of the jeep.” Raiya replied.
“Pretty much.”
“No problem.” Jagger said as he ran his hands under her shoulders and legs. With a strong grip, he picked her up and carried her back to the jeep.
She looked up at him with a small grin that was all she could muster through the agony, “Don’t get any ideas…”
“Never crossed my mind.”
He turned and looked at Eric as Andrea cleaned up, “Can you drive?”
“No problem.” Eric replied. “What are we going to do with Doc back there?”
Andrea looked up at them, “You can drop me at the next city we pass by if you want, or I could stay with you.”
Jagger sighed, “We’re going after the Dragon Lord that took our Richmond, you know. We may not be coming back.”
“I know that,” Andrea replied, “but if you do, you’ll have dealt a crippling blow to the dragon hierarchy and given our people a major boost in morale. I’d like to be a part of that, even if my job is to basically just close holes that the dragons poke in you.”
Jagger chuckled, “You’re either really brave or really stupid… then again I haven’t even figured out which one I am yet.”
“I have.” Raiya replied.
Jagger rolled his eyes, “All right Doc, welcome aboard.”
“Thanks… so where are we going anyway?”
“New Framingham…”
Eric looked at Jagger in surprise, “What? Why?”
“I need to see what happened… the dragon that attacked when I was there was a lord. I’m willing to bet that it was the same one. I need to know if what Lieu
tenant Rollins said was true…”
“Why? I thought they kicked you and Raiya out. I figured that’s the last place you’d want to go.”
“That’s true,” Jagger admitted, “but our current situation aside, those people took me in. I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for them. I owe them at least this much.”
Raiya sucked down a deep breath, “I agree… they weren’t nice to me… but that might be the best place to pick up a lead.”
“All right… New Framingham it is.” Eric replied.
The jeep pulled out of the old warehouse and slowly turned back on the road. Jagger was in the back, letting Raiya rest her head on his lap. Andrea sat in the passenger seat with his eyes darting around the darkness.
Eric looked over at him oddly, “You all right, man?”
“How do you guys do this?” Andrea asked.
“Do what?”
“Travel in this death trap…”
“What do you mean ‘death trap’?” An angry voice demanded from the back seat.
“Jagger… look at us. It’s dark, we’re out in the open… A dragon could pick one of us right out of the car and we’d never see it coming.”
Jagger shrugged, “Hasn’t happened yet. They don’t usually attack at night.”
“Just because it hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it can’t.”
“I dunno Andy…” Eric said softly. “If a dragon attacks, I’d rather be in a car that I can quickly get out of. Doors can jam and enclosed cars can quickly become a furnace.”
“That’s true I suppose…”
Jagger reached behind the driver’s seat and grabbed the bolt gun, “Andy, here.”
Andrea took the gun, “Really?”
“Yeah, you’ve earned it.”
Andy turned around in his seat and planted the gun on the roll bar, “Thanks… I’ll keep a lookout for now.”
“You know how to use that thing?” Eric asked.
“Yeah I’ve been through basic. I should be able to hit anything that comes at us.”
Jagger looked down at Raiya as she struggled with the pain. Every few minutes, she’d adjust in place and let out a soft grunt. Her eyes winced every time.
Drakin: The Story of Raiya Page 16