by Lena August
Chapter 9
The light streaming through the gaps in the walls wakes me the next morning. I don’t know what time it is, but my stomach is rumbling. I hope Flynn is coming with more food. Kyla is already awake, picking moodily at the dirt floor. I can tell that she is in a bad mood, but I don’t blame her. The girl hasn’t eaten since we arrived at this hell on earth. When I sit up, I realize that my stomach wound has opened up again in my sleep and has bled through its bandages. Before I can assess the extent of the damage, I hear footsteps approaching and eagerly look up at the door. I may not like or trust Flynn, but at least he will bring more food. He frowns when he sees my open cut and starts toward me.
“Don’t let him near you, Brie.” Kyla warns.
Flynn rolls his eyes and says exasperatedly, “Okay, then I will just let that cut fester. If you would rather Brie bleed to death than have me treat her, I guess I won’t argue with you. But I am guessing Brie wouldn’t like you much for that.”
I give Kyla a look indicating that it’s okay, and she gives a resigned shrug and allows Flynn to pass. He unwraps my bandage and his brow creases when he sees the cut. “It looks like you are going to need stitches after all.” Flynn tells me, “we were trying to avoid it, but now it looks like the stitches will be necessary.”
“Stitches?” I ask, immediately wary. People often got stitches back on Innocents, but they were always done by a trained professional, and I strongly doubt there are many of those here. “Who is going to do it? You?”
Flynn looks entertained by the idea. “Of course not,” he says, “I know someone who is good at this kind of thing. In fact, it’s the same person who treated you when we first brought you here yesterday. I’ll bring him by in a bit.”
I frown, “Is that the guy who helped carry me back here?”
“Heath?” Flynn asks incredulously, “God no, he ran back to base camp as soon as he dropped you off and now cowers in fear that someone will find out that he helped me. No, Landon is much more useful than Heath.”
He leaves us with some food and heads out to find this Landon, who I hope is a trained doctor. This time, Kyla is too hungry to turn down the food so we pass the can back and forth. After a while, Kyla stops eating and looks up at me. “I don’t trust this Flynn guy.” She tells me. “How do we know that he is not going to double cross us the first opportunity he gets?”
“I know, I don’t really trust him either. But right now, he is the only thing keeping us alive.”
“Brie, I really think we should try and escape,” she whispers, looking toward the door to make sure Flynn hasn’t come back.
I cross my arms, “That’s what I suggested yesterday and you wouldn’t go along with it.”
“Yesterday was different; we didn’t know the full situation. It was better to wait and see what was going on. And besides, we can’t help them escape, Flynn is Domus, do you have any idea how bad it would be for us to be associated with him.” Her voice rings with frustration.
“Listen, Kyla.” I say, “I think our best chance of survival is with Flynn so I am staying here, and I really think you should also.” I am not sure that I have Kyla completely convinced, but she doesn’t argue and we sit in silence again.
The sun is high, around noon maybe, when Flynn comes back. With him he brings another Domus, this one is a few years older than us, around twenty probably. The new guy smiles when he sees us, it is a nice smile, but it fades as soon as he sees my cut. He lets out a low whistle, “Yeah, this cut is worse than it was yesterday.” He turns to me, “Unfortunately you are going to need a few stitches. It’s our best bet to keep infection out but it is going to hurt like hell.” He pulls out what looks like a regular needle and thread.
“Wait!” I yelp, “You do know how to do this, right? I mean you’ve done it successfully before?”
He gives me a cocky smile. “Relax sweetheart, I know what I’m doing. I had some medical experience on Mainlands before coming here. Now just try to hold still and not scream too loudly.”
I dig my fingers into the ground and grit my teeth in anticipation of the pain. When it comes, the pain is blinding, and it takes all my resolve not to cry out. Finally it fades into a dull ache and I open my eyes. The Domus is examining his handiwork.
“That’s about all I can do for her,” he tells Flynn, “it should be fine now, but if it gets worse make sure to get me.” He gets up and turns to leave, “And Flynn, I wouldn’t stay too long. Marek has been asking where you’ve been disappearing off to. I think he is getting suspicious.”
Flynn nods, “Thanks Landon. I’ll be right behind you.” Landon exits, leaving us alone with Flynn.
“Who was that?” Kyla demands, “Why does he know about us and how do you know you can trust him?”
“Landon’s a friend.” Flynn explains, “He knows about you because Brie obviously needed medical attention and he was the best one for the job.” He nods toward me, “and I take it you’re not sorry I let him help?”
“But how do you know you can trust him?” she inquires.
Flynn stares icily at Kyla, “Landon is about the only one I do trust, well, apart from maybe Heath. I doubt Heath would have the courage to betray me, at least. But you should also start to trust Landon, because he is coming with us.” Flynn turns and follows Landon out the door.
