Zephyr Chapter 20 #2
“Elskling, it’s gonna be alright. I’m here, and I’m gonna fix you up. All I need you to do is breathe and tell me where it hurts. Can you do that?” I asked. My voice trembled.
“It hurts… in my back,” she said hoarsely.
“Nowhere else? How about in the front?” I asked.
“No, just…there. I don’t think… the bullet went… through. I felt it hit…me in the back. I-I can’t catch...my breath.”
I heard her struggling, and that scared me because that suggested her lung had been hit.
I wasn’t equipped to do surgery here. It had never been necessary for us.
Sure, I took out bullets and stuff like that.
Or sutured up cuts until they had time to heal on their own, but not this.
Fuck, I might have to call for an ambulance, which would lead to questions we didn’t want to answer.
But I’d do that if it meant saving her life.
“How is she?” Raider’s gruff voice asked from behind me.
“She’s been shot in the back and is having trouble breathing. I need someone to bring a vehicle up top to the door. I might need to take her out of here and to a hospital, Pres. I’m not equipped to handle it here. Fuck!”
“Stay calm. We’ll do it. See what you can do for her while we get things set.”
I heard the rustle of feet leave, but he came to stand next to me, so I guess someone else had been with him. I hadn’t bothered to look around. I found the hole in her sweater, stuck my fingers inside, and tore it wider. I had no time for scissors.
There it was, a small hole in her upper thoracic area, right where her lung was. Blood was coming out at a steady rate. With the material no longer covering it, I heard the sucking sound. I slapped my hand down on it.
“Get in that drawer. Find me a package. It’ll say chest seal on it. It’s on the right side of the drawer,” I ordered.
In this room, in this situation, I became the boss, the leader. Raider never hesitated. He went straight to it, and after barely any rummaging, he came back. I held my palm sealed to the wound as I waited.
“Is this it? He asked, holding up the package.
“Yes. I need you to open it, but don’t touch the dressing inside,” I instructed.
He peeled it open, avoiding the chest seal.
“Okay, now grasp it on the top and lift it. I need you to pull on that red tag so it takes off the backing so it’ll stick,” I instructed next. Pres did it swiftly.
With it ready, I picked up the gauze from the sealed package.
I hastily wiped around her wound, clearing as much blood as possible to help with the adhesion.
Suddenly, hands were presenting alcohol preps, the large ones.
It was Slayer. I nodded to her as I grabbed those and cleansed more.
The pressure I’d applied to the wound had slowed the bleeding.
As soon as it was clean enough, I grabbed the seal by the valve and adhered it to the bullet hole.
It worked by sticking to the skin on four sides.
The one-way valve allowed air and blood to escape, but when she inhaled, it sucked the occlusive dressing over the hole, preventing outside air from entering the lung.
I prayed that it would prevent her from developing a pneumothorax, which is a collapsed lung due to air leaking into the space between her lungs and the chest wall.
If that occurred, pressure would build, preventing her lungs from expanding. That would be a medical emergency.
As soon as the seal was in place, I instructed Everlyn. “Take slow, deep breaths.”
She struggled with it, but after each inhale and exhale, I noticed her breathing eased.
“That actually helped. I feel like I can breathe,” she said softly after a couple of minutes.
“Great. Now, I need to finish examining you for other wounds.”
“I’ll step over there with my back turned. Let me know if you need me,” Raider said as he backed to a wall.
“I’ll help. Just tell me what to do or what you need,” Slayer added.
“Thank you both,” I said.
“How is Allegra? Is she hurt?” Everlyn asked. I heard the panic in her voice.
“Allegra is fine. Spoiler is with her, and so are the others. She’s being given a tour of the clubhouse. We thought that would distract her. You should’ve seen her face when we brought her inside. She was beyond stunned,” Slayer told her, chuckling.
“I bet,” my woman replied, smiling slightly.
While they chatted, I cut away her top so I could see the rest of her skin.
She wore a bra that maintained her modesty.
I was somewhat in a quandary. On one hand, the fact that there was no exit wound meant I only had one to worry about.
But on the other hand, it meant there was a bullet somewhere inside of her, and I had no idea where it was, and if leaving it would cause harm.
Vaguely, it registered that Raider was busy on his cell phone, tapping away.
I figured he was keeping the rest of the club up to date.
I finished checking out her lower body. Even though I saw no blood, to be sure, I removed her jeans.
She was good there. I covered her with a blanket that was folded at the foot of the gurney.
“Evie, how is your pain? Your breathing?” I asked next.
“My breathing is better. As for pain, it hurts like a motherfucker, but Slayer is distracting me,” she said through a gritted smile. Slayer held onto one of Everlyn’s hands.
“Give me a minute, and I’ll give you something for the pain. Are you allergic to anything?” I asked.
“Not that I know of. I’ve never really taken too many medications, whether antibiotics or pain meds,” was her answer.
Praying she didn’t have any, I went to a cabinet where I kept pain meds.
Even if we were immortal, we still felt pain.
With everything happening that night at the rally, Everlyn hadn’t seen that I’d given Raider a pain med from a travel pack I carried with me.
And after I was shot, I’d taken something, too.
Everlyn grimaced and wiggled to find a comfortable spot.
She wasn’t finding one. I’d checked her pulse as I asked about pain.
It was faster than normal. And her breathing was increased, though that could be more due to the damage to her lungs.
I decided to give her a Vicodin and see what it did.
If she needed something stronger, I had other meds I could give.
I knew once this was over, I’d have to answer questions about this room. And how I knew what I did. I was prepared to explain. It was due to a need to be able to help even if it wasn’t usually needed.
I grabbed a paper cup of water from the nearby sink. I took both to her. Slayer helped Everlyn raise herself enough to take it. The movement made her cry out. She swallowed the pill and water, and then was placed back down as fast as possible.
“Elskling, I need to talk to Raider for a minute. I won’t leave the room.”
“Go ahead. I’m fine. Slayer can tell me all your embarrassing secrets while you do that.”
By the gods, she was shot, and who knows how badly, and she was teasing me. I placed a chaste kiss on her mouth before I walked over to my president.
“Pres, I’m gonna have to take her to a hospital.
The bullet is still in there. She could have internal bleeding.
Or the bullet is in a place that, if it stays or migrates, it’ll kill her.
I know the lung has been impaired. Sometimes they can repair themselves with time, but she’s not like us. Her healing will take weeks or more.
“I’ll take her in by myself. When they call the cops, I’ll tell them a story and hope they believe it. If they don’t, I’m the one who’ll go down, but the club will be protected. They can’t keep me locked away forever. All I ask is if that happens, the club takes care of her for me.”
Raider shook his head. I was about to argue, but he stopped me with his words.
“That’s not gonna happen. And I’ll tell you why.
There’s a doc in Mobile. That’s an hour away.
He’s equipped to take care of her and find out what’s happening inside of her.
And the good thing is, he’ll keep his mouth shut.
I know it’s a bit of a drive, but if she stays stable, we can do it.
If she becomes worse along the way, then a hospital will be the way to go. ”
“How do you know this doctor? I never heard you speak of him.”
“I don’t know him, but Ragnar does. He vouches for his ability to keep his damn mouth shut and to help her. And if you want to be the one to do it, using his equipment, he won’t pitch a fit.”
I felt relief mixed with apprehension. I didn’t know the doctor. I hated trusting unknown people, but I didn’t have a choice.
“Alright, let’s do it. Did Ragnar send directions? Do we need to call the man?”
“Ragnar is taking care of the contact, and he has already sent me the address. There’s a car up top waiting. Give us five minutes to round up an escort. Some will go with you. The rest will go hunting.”
I saw the feral look come over him. I hadn’t wasted a moment asking who would go with us.
“Who was in the SUV?” I asked, thinking of the shot-to-hell vehicle and the men who shot my woman.
“It was four fucking Wanderers from the Georgia chapter, according to their cuts. They won’t be returning, but we will. They declared war, and we’ll be ending it, at least with that chapter.”
The growl in his tone said it all. I wished I could be part of the crew crushing them, but I had to care for Everlyn. She took priority over revenge.
“Gódan heill, Good luck,” I told him. We grasped each other just below the elbow.
“Gódan heill. I see the worry in you. Pray to the gods to keep her safe. We’ll do the same.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Raider nodded, and then it was all business as I went to explain where we were going while Raider rounded up our escort. An hour away had never seemed that far, but tonight, in this instance, it might as well be on the opposite side of the country. I began my praying.