“We might need a hand with a surgery, can you handle it?” I ask, and she nods, her eyes steely.
“Anything to help Quiyl, or any of you. You have shown me how to feel belonged and I don’t want to lose one of you now.”
I nod once to her and we rejoin Xavier and Sonji, who are bent over Lee’s prone form.
“I brought back-up since you will be taking my blood again.”
She looks to me with an eyebrow quirked. “You gave him some yesterday, let me do it today. I am an O negative, its dangerous to donate too close together.”
Sonji looks to her long and hard, before nodding. She helps Lynx sit on the other bed and quickly inserts the line, attaching it back to Lee. The red blood begins to run through the line and a knock comes on the door. I open it to be handed the burner and a metal rod, around an inch thick. The door slams shut with a bang and I sweep the binders to the corner of the counter, setting up and lighting the burner, letting it heat. I look back over to see Xavier bent close to Lee’s torso, shining a light into the wound.
“It hit his spleen. Shit. Geneva, come hold it closed for a moment and I will heat the rod.” Xavier mentions, and I swap places.
He holds it until the tip gets bright orange, then gestures for me to step back. I get a feeling and hold the sedative nearby. Sonji holds open the wound and Xavier positions carefully, before firmly sliding it home. Lee gasps, and I plunge the needle into his elbow, pushing the stopper, and watching his eyes close again. Xavier removes the rod as I remove the needle, and I notice the slightly burnt skin smell. I grab the rod and toss it in the metal garbage can, handing him gauze.
“Do we not need to remove the internal blood?” I ask, and he nods, performing it quickly.
Sonji moves in with a needle and thread afterwards, and I clean the stitches. All girls turn to clean themselves and Xavier changes his pants quickly, tossing the blood-soaked ones in a bag. Sonji walks over and worriedly checks on Lynx, and I follow questioningly with my eyes.
She comes back to finish disinfecting and mumbles to me; “She has had Vitamin K deficiency issues sometimes, got to keep a close eye on her levels.
Chapter 59
My respect for Lynx grows, willing to put her health on the line to help someone she has known barely a week. My feet carry me back over to Xavier who seems to be in shock, and I subtly nod to Sonji, hoping to gesture to check Lynx. Lee’s breathing is slowly evening out, and I look to see Xavier’s blood-soaked gloves clutching the bed rails. I walk beside him, near Lee’s head, reaching up with my hand to turn his chin to me.
“You did the best you could have ever done. Not one person I know could have put as much passion into saving someone as you just did. If love alone could pull someone through, he will heal. Not one person in this building doesn’t care for someone, we care for each other. Let me help you right now, and I will keep an eye on him and Lynx.”
His left eye drips a tear down his cheek, and I reach up to wipe it off with a gentle thumb.
“Rest, my love. You did amazing and the best you could have.” I reassure, beginning to peel his gloves off gently, not caring I will have to wash my hands again.
The red soaked rubber joins the bag with Lee’s blood-soaked clothes, and I help him out of his medical apron. The moment he is free he collapses into me, and I hold him up, gently rubbing where I can reach.
“Breath my love, you aren’t saving anyone right now besides yourself. Just…calm…and peace. I have you, I have Lee, and we have everyone. You are not alone, we are safe.” I mumble into his ear, absorbing his sobs with my shoulder. “Sweetheart, we are okay.”
Sonji’s wide eyes reach mine and I rub his back lovingly, closing my eyes as I mumble reassuring words. She runs to the door and I open my eyes to watch her gesture to bring in a chair, and Dainan disappears. He returns with one and moves it behind Xavier, and I help him sit. I kneel in front of him and catch his eyes, willing him to breathe. He says incoherent things before pulling me onto his lap, burying his face in my shoulder. We sit like that for a while, Sonji cleaning things up before going out to update the people outside, handing me hand sanitizer on the way out. Xavier’s breathing evens, then he raises his head to be level with my ear.
“Thank you beloved. I am okay now. Check on Lynx, I will sit here for a bit.” I pull my head back and search his eyes for a lie, then nod in acceptance.
He helps me stand then grabs the hand sanitizer himself, using it. I go to check on Lynx, and then Lee. I make sure the clock is still going then begin to clean the tools.
“We are allowed food now, yes?” Sonji pokes her head back in, and I nod, hearing my stomach growl.
She passes plates through to me and I bring them to Lynx and Xavier, who dig in quickly. I lean against the counter and eat the eggs, already exhausted by today so far. We finish with barely any talk, and Sonji goes over to Lynx and talks to her, which evolves into an argument.
“You can’t give anymore Lynx, let someone else take over for now.” Sonji says angrily, and Lynx’s face is rebellious.
“He is not okay yet, I can go for ten minutes more.”
I check the timer and notice she has been going for half an hour, and clap my hands, snapping them out of it. “If he needs more, I can give it. I have never had an issue donating blood. Lynx, he will be okay, and we really thank you for stepping up.”
She glares at me, then holds her arm out to Sonji. “Fine, but I am a willing donor even if I have a shorter maximum then most.”
“We will keep that in mind, thank you Lynx.” Xavier says sincerely, which throws Lynx off a bit, before she winces as Sonji pulls out the needle.
She gives her a bit of gauze and we settle in for the wait, Xavier eventually leaving to nap while Sonji and I watched Lee. Quiyl wanted to come in but we wanted to let him wake up first.
As it crept towards the noon hour his breathing quickened, and his fingers began to twitch. I sat up from where I was dozing beside the bed, holding his hand to wake me if he did.
“Quiyl?” Lee’s raspy voice whispered, and I squeezed his hand.
“Sorry to disappoint, it’s Eva. How are you feeling?” I stand, keeping his hand in mine as I test his heartbeat with his wrist.
“Like someone impaled me.” He hissed, and I let his wrist go.
“We are trying to build you a brace to take some pressure off. We didn’t realize the bullet had hit your spleen, we had to make the wound larger and burn it shut. On the other hand, we made sure nothing was there this time.” I explain, and he groans. “I know man, I am sorry. Let me get you painkillers, but first…”
I trail off as I hug him gently and press a kiss to his forehead. “I am just happy you are alive and safe. Let me get you something to numb the pain.”
I dig up one of our precious bottles of morphine pills and take out one, filling a small cup of water, returning to Lee’s side, whose brown eyes were looking around slowly.
“Now do you want me to let Quiyl in now or later? Later you might be kind of…loopy?” I laugh, and he holds up one finger for the first option.
Sonji goes to the door and makes Quiyl promise something, before opening the door, and she rushed in. She took the chair I vacated after pressing a light kiss to his lips. I walk over to the hall door to give them some privacy and update everyone, noticing how close we are to noon now.
Violet’s face is the first one I see as I let the door close behind me, and I take a deep breath, almost everyone is clustered around me waiting to hear. “He is going to be fine, for sure this time.”
Everyone breaths a sigh of relief, some hugging each other, smiles being trading everywhere. “We missed the fact the bullet punctured his spleen and had to resolve that. He is awake but will be asleep soon. Feel free to visit, we just ask only two at a time.”
Violet hugs me, and I return it. “You did amazing Evie.”
I smile, returning to my patient. I give the pill and water to Quiyl, murmuring ‘morphine’ as the pill drops
from my hand to hers, knowing she will have better luck getting him to take it. Sonji gestures at me to shoo, and I go to find Xavier, the hallway still crowded but people move when I emerge. I take the stairs two at a time to our room, then knock gently as I open the door.
Chapter 60
The light from the window is glinting off Xavier’s glasses, his red hair almost touching his shoulders, the wild curls shining in the sun. He sits at the desk relaxed, a book pressed against the table. His blue eyes brighten as they see me, and his lips curve into a smile. I walk over, swaying my hips, before leaning across the desk sensually.
“Lee is awake and stable, Sonji sent me to tell you. And the others are distracted by Lee right now, no one would notice if we disappeared for a few…moments.” Those last words are whispered against his lips, me leaning across as I spoke.
“You are a fucking tease and you know that.” He responds, before forcefully catching my lips with his.
He breaks and sweeps around the desk, pressing my hips against the edge, nipping my neck and tangling his fingers in my short hair. He pulls, dragging a moan from my throat as he pulls me upwards, onto the table, using his free hand and my thigh. He presses his hips to mine, his fingernails firmly dragging up my spine as he drew his hand upwards.
“You are just so delectable, I want to rip those sounds from your throat forevermore.” He growls, quickly sweeping his hand back down and moving my shirt, his palm against the base of my spine. “You are just so desirable!”
His hand releases my hair and caresses the back of my head, before crushing our lips together. He bites my bottom lip, my mouth opening as he forces his tongue into my mouth. He ravages it, bending me back and pinning me to the desk with his torso. He pulls his hips back and slams them into mine, one of his hands pinning my hips in place.
“You know what I want to do to you, yet you encourage it? Could it be you actually want this?” He hisses, and I nod, almost panting. “Let me know if this is too much.”
He kisses the corner of my mouth and I shake my head, and he latches onto the base of my neck, sucking a mark in. His hand that was pinning my waist slips under the shirt, slowly moving upwards. I mumble encouragement, catching his eyes blown wide with lust. His hand brushes over the mound of my breast, before massaging it firmly. The heat shoots to my core, forgetting where we were as my moans grow louder. He slams his palm over to my mouth, cutting the volume. I feel my cheeks heat and he snickers wickedly.
“I want to hear those sounds forever my dear, but if you don’t want to let our friends know how I make you feel then you might want to silence yourself.” He rasps, and I nod frantically. “Now, we should stop and go downstairs before your cheeks permanently turn red. I wish to check on Lee anyways.”
He pulls me off the desk and into his arms, giving me a gentle hug while pressing his lips to the top of my head. We walk out the door with his arm around my waist, his free hand fixing my hair as I blush. He elbows open the door and we go back downstairs, noticing the hall by the nurse’s office is empty. Xavier pushes open the door and walks over to Lee, discussing a few things while doing his checks. Sonji and Lynx get up from where they were sitting on the bed and leave, mentioning how they are needed for lunch clean-up.
I walk over to Xavier and Lee, smiling. “Hey Xavier, I am going to go find Violet and Idris, and try to plan an outing today to retrieve some things. I will catch you later?”
He nods, and I say goodbye to Lee, leaving to check the kitchen first. Bella and Phoenix’s laughter echo from behind the door, and I see the two of them washing dishes while Sonji and Lynx package leftovers. I decide to check the greenhouse next, wandering that way while nodding to the people I see.
As I reach the greenhouse door I see Violet far into the house and walk over to her.
“Hey lovely lady, I am here to help now and discuss something with you.” I say, picking up a ruler.
“If it’s about the outing, it’s a go depending on how you feel. We ended up deciding the party being you, Sonji, Phoenix and Lynx. A good mix of knowledge and fighting skills, also Phoenix is cool with us using her Jeep.” She affirms, writing down the measurements as I read them out.
“Awesome, well when you can spare us I would love to go do that, so we can be back before dinner.” I reply, and she nods.
“Once we are done this we can track them down, then I will tell Idris the plan is a go.”
We work in an easy harmony, finishing within an hour. I lead Violet back to the kitchen and we find the other three members of our raiding party. We discuss quickly, and then decide to meet in fifteen minutes in the front hall. I quickly run and change into heavier clothes and grab my knife, and my backpack to carry things. As I sprint back downstairs Xavier meets me at the bottom, holding out his shotgun to me.
“I want you to be safe, so just bring this with you. I can crash-course it right now for you, and it would bring me peace of mind.” He looks to me, and I nod.
Sonji, Lynx, Bella and Phoenix are sitting on the bench and talking, so I turn my full attention to Xavier. He mimes how to load and reload the gun, and how to hold it to shoot it. The girls come over to join me as Xavier teaches me, and he shows the rest of them how to shoot it as well. He places it in its holster that is strapped diagonally across my back, so I can just reach up to grab it.
Idris and Violet walk into the main hall, Violet holding her handgun out to Lynx. We go over our plans one more time, Idris showing us how to work the handgun. They wave to us as we leave to go on the raid, Violet handing me a bag of snacks before we left, Phoenix starting her Jeep with a mighty roar as we jump in, myself taking shot gun to navigate.
“Garden center first?” I say, and Phoenix nods.
Chapter 61
She begins to drive with my directions, and Lynx straps the hand gun to her belt.
“Man, we went all out with bringing the firepower today, eh?” I comment, and the girls laugh. “Hopefully now that it’s been almost a week the infected have wandered off to somewhere else.”
“Not quite.” Sonji mentions, pointing to a group of three staggering out of a house.
“The universe just loves proving me wrong doesn’t it?” I moan, half referencing an old cartoon.
“Avatar is appropriate joke for right now.” Sonji comments, her eyes sparkling.
The garden center’s green walls come into view and we park beside some other abandoned cars. Lynx and Phoenix pull out a tube and a gas can and begin to siphon the gas out of the few cars there. Sonji and I nod to each other, each drawing our knives out and pushing the door open. I zip my backpack open and begin stuffing seed packs into it. Sonji stands watch, the center quiet. As I finish clearing out their seed stores we begin to grab rooting hormone and other helpful nutrients, packing them on-top of the seeds in the bag.
“Shall we poke around the rest of the center and see what else we can loot?” Sonji suggests, and I nod.
We walk back outside and toss the backpack in the back of the Jeep, Phoenix and Sonji joining us after filling their third gas can. “Hey guys, we want to explore a bit deeper into the garden center to see if there is anything else we can take, want to come as backup?”
They nod to me, and we walk back inside after locking the Jeep. We walk through the main hall and into the plant area, peering around at the already browning plants. I grab a cart and start to just pick a few plants that would be helpful already grown, like a few apple and fruit saplings. Sonji and I direct Lynx and Phoenix which plants to grab and by the time we are done we have three carts full. Sonji finds an old metal trailer out back of the greenhouse and Phoenix runs to get her Jeep. We hook up the trailer using some old chain and the hitch and load the trailer full of the plants we found.
“This should definitely help with the food worries. What other stops did we want to make?” Phoenix asks as we lay tarp over top of the trailer, bolting it to the corners to protect the plants.
“Just wanted to go by my house again so I can grab
a box of my favourite books.” I say, and Sonji nods understandingly. “Then we could probably clear out the pharmacy downtown again, we will always need medical supplies.”
Phoenix starts her Jeep and we all pile in. She shifts to a gear for towing and begins to drive in the direction I points. We make small chat as we come closer to mine, and then park in the driveway. I run my hand over my Mom’s car, and debate something for a moment.
“Hey guys, if I can find the keys she runs beautifully.” I pat the hood of the Toyota Rav4, and the others gather near me.
“We could always use another car that is better at terrain driving then something like Lee’s.” Lynx says thoughtfully, then nods. “Let’s do it.”
I push my front door open again and begin to search for my Mom’s purse, going to her room first. I find it tucked under the bed with both her and my step-dad’s wallets, her keys, and some other sentimental things like her favourite picture of us three. I throw it over my shoulder and find a crate, going downstairs to my old room. I hear the others scavenging through the house, and I hear Lynx and Sonji shout they are going to see if they can get into the neighbour’s house on the right. Phoenix joins me in my room as I am sorting through my books, adding some to the crate and leaving others stacked on the floor.
“Since you have your Mom’s car now you could grab more.” Phoenix suggested, a smile on her face. “I understand the want of having personal belongings, I wish I could have grabbed more.”
“Well these are all will be available for anyone to borrow, I enjoy sharing any stories with my friends.” I mention, finding another long storage box under my bed. “I am just going to grab a few of my favourite comic books and finish grabbing the series I want. Feel free to poke through my collection, if you want to read any toss them in a pile.”
We work with small talk exchanged, Sonji and Lynx coming to join us in helping me pack. We finish, with five various boxes full of books, and begin to haul it to my Mom’s car. We load it quickly, Sonji tossing in a few bags of miscellaneous things they found at my neighbours. Mom’s car is manual, so I step on the clutch and crank the ignition, the engine roaring. I leave the door open and walk over to where the others are leaning against the Jeep’s grill.
Friends Against The World (Book 1): Bite Me Page 23
