“Is there no other way?” Ashton whispers, as if the words are taking everything out of him.
“Not if you want to make sure that it’s completely clean and sealed up. We can’t take any chances with infections,” responds Christine.
“Do it,” he says. “I’ll take the heat.”
I walk over to him and drop down to my knees so that I could put my hand on his shoulder. “You’re a brave man, Ashton.”
“I’m a dead man,” he deadpans.
“Well, now that that’s decided, I need someone to get me a razor and a pair of scissors. I’ll also need a clean washcloth. We need to do this quickly before she wakes up. We’ve already lost a lot of time.” Christine barks the orders at us, and we all scurry off to find the items that she requested. It was easy for me to get my hands on the clean razors and washcloths since I already snooped in the bathroom earlier.
Once I get back into the living room, I see that she slapped a bandaid on her eyebrow, hopefully stopping the blood from flowing long enough to put Ashlynn back together. Isaiah found a pair of scissors and was just handing them to Christine. “The moment we sign your death certificate,” she mumbles to Ashton. After that cryptic warning, she gently grabs a chunk of hair in the area where the blood seems to come from and chop it off without a second thought.
The room grows silent as we all watch the midnight strands flutter to the floor. The tension is so thick in the air, I’m almost expecting Ashlynn to turn around with an automatic rifle and spray all of us. Once Christine was positive that we weren’t going to die right that moment, she takes the razor and shave the remainder of hair. The gash is deeper than we thought. The gash was nasty. Like, ‘I just dry heaved three times just looking at it’, nasty.
“She’s going to need stitches,” Christine said. “She more than likely has a concussion and it’s a little alarming that she’s been out this long. I’ve only stitched someone up twice, I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You can do this, because we have no other choice. Even if it isn’t pretty, I know you can fix her,” I say with all of the confidence I could muster. You see, I had no fucking clue that Christine knew medical stuff. Who would’ve thought? The girl barely talks, and to be honest, I barely look her in the eyes because I don’t know which one to focus on. But we really don’t have a choice. The most sewing I did was in school when I made my mom a pillow for Mother’s Day. There were so many gaps in the pillow, it looked more like a pin cushion. I’m sure Ashlynn wouldn’t want me to pin cushion her scalp.
Christine looks at me for a minute and then nods her head, eyes steeling with determination. She wipes down the wound with an antibacterial wipe, making sure to be gentle as she does. The more she cleans it, the less ugly it starts to look. She then threads a needle and get to work.
After about five minutes of her working, Ashlynn starts to stir.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
I start looking around for something to knock her out with when I notice Christine pick up pace. Her movements become surer and her tugs are a little stronger. She ties off the string and cut the rest. She re-wipes the wound before sitting back on her heels.
Ashlynn has a pretty big bald spot. Like, its palm sized. And not Isaiah’s palm, but like Derrick’s palm. She’s going to flip when she fully wakes up and realize she can feel the air on her head a little bit more.
“We have to wrap her head up before she comes to, which will be any minute now,” Christine informs the rest of us. I take a couple of gauze pads and press them gently to her head, holding them there until Christine does her first pass with the gauze wraps. She just finished tying them off when Ashlynn jerk in her arms.
We all jump back, even Christine, waiting to see if Ashlynn is really awake or if her body is just going through it from the pain. We only have to wait a few minutes before Ashlynn turns her head towards us and sluggishly blinks her eyes.
“Ash, are you ok? Can you hear me?” Ashton asks.
“Of course I can hear you, what kind of stupid question is that?” she mumbles, barely coherent.
Well… at least we know she isn’t brain dead. That has to count for something, right? Christine disappears for a little before coming back with a flashlight. “I couldn’t find anything smaller, but this will have to do.” She squats down in front of a still disoriented Ashlynn. “Ash, I’m going to point this flashlight in your eyes. You don’t have to do anything but try to keep them open. Ok?”
“Ok,” she mumbles.
Christine turns on the flashlight and points it into each eye. She repeats that twice before sitting back with a big sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Ash asks, pouncing on Christine at the first sign of her discomfort.
“She definitely has a concussion. Her eyes reacted too slow to the light. We’re going to have to stay here for at least a few days before I think she’ll be able to move. And even then, she’ll have to rest more frequently than normal.”
We can’t afford to stay here for that long and we damn sure can’t afford to stop that often once we do get on the road. We’d never make it in time. The room is silent and I can feel everyone looking at me. Not me and Derrick, just me.
I walk over to a worn leather recliner and flop down in it. I can feel everyone’s impatience with me, but I need to think. I reach down to grab the lever to recline. Once I’m comfortable, I close my eyes and try to recall everything I ever read about concussions.
“Ki, I don’t think this is the right time to take a nap,” Brian states.
“I know, I’m thinking. Give me a few minutes.”
I can hear everyone sitting down somewhere, trying to get comfortable.
Concussions aren’t as detrimental as they used to be. A few decades back there was a breakthrough on a drug that’ll help the brain heal itself at an incredible rate. The first stage of testing didn’t go so well, so they stopped it. But then one day, they figured it out. I believe it was an accident, but they called it a scientific breakthrough. Whatever. The gist of the matter is, they found a way to all but cure a person of a concussion.
Now, the only problem is how am I going to get my hands on that drug? And when? I haven’t told the others, but as soon as I find an opening, I’m leaving to go and find Derrick on my own. Today was an eye opener on the amount of danger that I’m putting the others in for my own selfish needs. I couldn’t imagine how I’d be feeling right now if there was someone I cared about lying on that couch.
I could tell them that I’ll head out and find the cure on my own. Make some excuse up that it’ll be easier for me to sneak around alone than if I had someone else with me. But I know for a fact that Brian wouldn’t fall for that. We’ve only started building a friendship, but I can already tell that he’s loyal. Maybe even to a fault. He’d demand to come with me and then I’ll have no choice but to drag him along. He’d be totally against going for Derrick. Not when the others are sitting ducks. Who knows when a Bandit is going to stop by, looking for their friend?
I can always bring the drug up, suggest that me and Ashton will go and look for it at first light and then give everyone the slip when they’re sleeping. But then Brian would demand that he stand watch first, giving me all the rest I need for my endeavor. Shit.
I guess I’m going to have to keep this to myself, volunteer for first watch and then slip off in the middle of the night. I can find Derrick, get the drug and make it back hopefully before everyone starts to freak out. I can leave them a note, stating what I’m doing and leaving strict orders for no one to follow me. If I’m not back in time for when Ashlynn is ready to move, leave me.
That’ll work. Now I just have to see how good of an actress I am. I open my eyes and I see that Isaiah is fast asleep on the loveseat and Ashton is sprawled out in front of the couch his sister is lying on. The only ones that are up is Christine and Brian. No shocker there. I motion for them to follow me into the kitchen, trying to put as much distance between our v
oices and the sleeping beauties.
“I thought you fell asleep,” Brian says, studying me closely.
“Same.” says Christine.
“Sorry, I was deep in thought. Trying to think of every scenario and every option that we have,” I reply.
“So what do you think?” she asks.
“I think that we should revisit the situation in the morning. If Ashlynn’s condition worsens, then we may have to consider staying here much longer. If it’s better, even by a little bit, then it’ll be great for all of us. I think we should all find places to sleep, change the sheets on the beds, get some food in us and try to rest.”
“I agree,” Brian says while still staring at me with his warm brown eyes. “We should all rest, especially you Kiani. You did get choked up against the wall and beat into the ground. I’ll take first watch.”
Shit. “I’m fine, really. That wasn’t the first time I was pinned up like a picture frame, and it won't be the last. I’ll take first watch.”
“While you guys figure that out, I’m going to go change the sheets on the bed. I’ll move Ashton and Ashlynn to one room and me and Isaiah will go to the second one. Is that ok with you two?” Christine interjects.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Let us know if you need help with Ashlynn. And clean your wound,” I answer.
Christine leaves the kitchen and a stare down ensues between Brian and me. I know that if I keep fighting him on this he’s going to get suspicious, but if I relent too easily that’ll also raise some red flags for him. Better to just argue a little bit to sell it.
“I said I’m fine, I’ve had first watch before after getting slapped around. It won’t bother me.”
“If Derrick was here, who would get first watch?” he asks.
“Well, he would but --,”
“Exactly. So clean up and get some food in you. I’ll take first watch. We can switch off every six hours.” His tone leaves no room for argument, and that’s fine by me. I make a show of rolling my eyes and leaving the kitchen as if I’m pissed off. Christine has already moved everyone to their respective rooms. I ask if I could shower first and she gives me the ok.
I carry my pack into the bathroom, happy that I have clean clothes to change into. I turn the shower on and wait until it’s hot enough for me to get in. I use the shower gel that’s left out and apply it to my body using my hands. I didn’t think to grab a washcloth and it’s too late for that now. I try to shower quickly, not knowing how much hot water is available and not wanting to use it all up.
Once I’m out, I’m faced with another dilemma, no towel. I dry off as best as I can and then I get dressed in my clean clothes, a pair of jeans and a purple tank top. I emerge from the bathroom, feeling a hell of a lot better and more confident than I would have thought. A fresh water shower really can’t be beat. My mouth definitely still hurt like hell, though.
The first thing that I notice is that the house smells like pure heaven. I quickly walk into the kitchen and I see Christine throwing down at the stove. I must have moaned out loud, because she turned around with a smirk on her face.
“This place is stocked better than the house we stayed at. It should be of no surprise since people are… were currently living here,” she says.
“What are you cooking?” I ask while consciously wiping the saliva from my face.
“Taco salad! They have taco shells here, but they were crushed up. They’re still crunchy so it’ll work.”
“Anything I can do to help?” I ask.
“Everything is pretty much done.”
I lean against the counter, enjoying the smell of the food, when I realize that this is the first time I’ve ever been alone with Christine. This could be the perfect time to ask her where she learned all of that medical stuff from.
“It was a great thing that you did back there for Ashlynn,” I say.
“Yeah, I was a little nervous. It’s been a while.”
“Where did you learn all of that stuff?”
She tenses for a second and I instinctively do the same. I should have thought about whether or not this could be a sore subject for her. It’s kind of an unspoken rule that we don’t ask the others about their past and what brought them here. But clearly, I just did.
She relaxes slightly and continues to stir the ground beef in the pan. I don’t know what she put in it, but it smells absolutely incredible. I go back to cutting up the vegetables when she begins speaking. I honestly didn’t think she was going to answer.
“My mom was a nurse. She was a great nurse. She worked long hours and I barely saw her when I was growing up. The little time that I had with her, she tried to teach me small things. How to properly clean a wound, how and where to tie a tourniquet, stuff like that. I didn’t want to learn any of it, so most of it went in one ear and out of the other. I was mad. I hated medicine and the fact that my mother spent more time in a hospital instead of with me. I hated her for choosing medicine over her child.
“She was brilliant. She could have been a doctor if she wanted to. When I got older, I started paying a little more attention to what she was saying. Picked up more information on how to be helpful. I think deep down I realized that the world was ending or going to shit. After all of the ‘important’ people left on the first couple of fleets to leave this planet, mom didn’t really have a job. I mean, she could have worked in one of the farming buildings, but that’s not what she was passionate about. She was devastated, but I was happy. We spent time together, talking about things that wasn’t related to medicine. That happiness was cut short. She was killed by a Bandit, even though at the time we just called them thugs. They murdered her for her money. Left her to bleed out on the sidewalk alone. I was only fourteen at the time. I was alone until I found you guys.”
I’m stunned speechless. I didn’t expect for her story to be so heartbreaking. It makes me think about the way my mom died… I can’t go there. I have to stay in the here and now.
“You survived almost three years on your own? How?” I ask.
“I stayed in our home. I left once a week at night and collected food from the grocery stores. I know you remember how quickly things went bad. After my mom was killed, and no one tried to find the culprit, things went from bad to terrible. I rationed my food so that I can make as few trips as possible. One night, as I was going to get food, I was cornered by a group of Bandits. I barely escaped them with my life. I knew I couldn’t go back home, so I ran. I didn’t stop until I was safe in an abandoned store. I resigned myself to staying there until I was sure they were gone, and then I was going to go back home. I probably would still be there if you guys didn’t stumble upon me.”
Her story has made me respect her so much more than I already did. I can’t believe she went through all of that alone and still has that fire in her core. “Thank you for telling me, and I’m sorry about your mom.”
“Not your fault. Anyways, enough of that. The food is ready. Bring the plates and I’ll go wake everyone up. I’m sure they’ll go right back to sleep afterwards.”
Christine goes and round everyone up, except for Ashlynn, and we all enjoy the delicious meal she prepared. She was right about one thing, Isaiah and Ashton immediately went back to their rooms after finishing their meal. Christine waves goodnight while following Isaiah into their shared room. Brian tells me that there’s a ladder that leads to the room and that’s where he’ll be for us to switch off.
I’m nervous about what I have to do, but there’s no point in being exhausted. I snuggle into the sofa, watch set to wake me up in six hours, preparing myself to go and find Derrick. Derrick, I don’t know where you are, but I’ll be there as soon as I figure it out. And once I got my revenge punch in, I’m not going to ever let you out of my sight again.
I sleep for about four hours before my anxiety wakes me up. I lay and stare up at the ceiling, trying to reconcile myself with the fact that I’m doing this for everyone I care about. I sit up and place my feet on the floor. The weight o
f everything is pressing down on me and it’s making it really hard for me to get a lungful of air. I prop my elbows on my thighs and drop my head into my hands.
I’m fucking terrified.
I’m terrified that Derrick messed around and got himself killed and that I’m following him to my death. I’m terrified I won’t live long enough to find the medicine that Ashlynn needs, which we really need if we want to leave this city with her alive. With any of us alive, to be honest. If we’re so busy concentrating our efforts on her well-being, the Bandit’s will cut us down easier than a chainsaw to a toothpick. I’m terrified of the danger that I put Isaiah in. Christine said that he’ll be ok, just a little sore, but it could have been much worse. He could’ve died right in front of me.
Sitting here and thinking about all of the what-ifs will accomplish nothing besides driving me insane and causing inessential stress. I give my cheeks a solid slap before heading to the restroom. A quick face wash will go far in waking me up and bringing me clarity.
I’m leaving the restroom, feeling so much better, when the idea to check on Ashlynn pops in my head. I don’t know where the foreign thought is coming from, but I have nothing else to do to kill time, so why not? Besides, she needs to be woken up at least every two hours. You know, to make sure she doesn’t kick the bucket in her sleep.
I open the door to my left, which I remember is the bigger of the two, and sure enough I find the Ash’s sprawled out in the queen bed. The room is the same greyish-blue as the rest of the house. A long mahogany dresser is placed in front of the bed with a large tv on top of it. There’s a closet beside the dresser on the far side and that makes up the entire room. No pictures, nothing personal.
Christine put all black sheets and pillowcases on the bed to go with the all black comforter. The twin’s jet-black hair blends in well with their pillowcases, making them both look like they don’t have any hair. Well, Ashlynn barely has any hair, but that’s another story.
Kiani’s Journey- Mayhem Page 10
