Chapter 11 #3
I was impressed with how calm they both seemed given the current situation, and I watched in admiration as Sadie quickly, but neatly, stitched Martin’s open wounds together, and the way Parker packed and bandaged the wound on his other arm with the skill of a trained medic.
She really hadn’t been exaggerating about having experience with tending to injuries.
Parker asked for my help when it came time to set Martin’s leg, and I held everything steady as she carefully wrapped the splint into place.
When the women were finished, all of Martin’s wounds had been successfully cleaned and bandaged, but he was still unconscious.
He was breathing, though, and I knew the lack of consciousness was just his body’s way of fighting through the pain.
There was also a light sheen of sweat on his forehead that worried me, and it seemed to worry Parker as well.
“He’s developing a fever,” she muttered as she felt his forehead. “We need to give him antibiotics to fight the infection.”
Tyler and I carefully lifted Martin up and held his mouth open while Parker gave him antibiotics and Tylenol for the fever and pain.
It was a bit tricky to get the unconscious man to swallow the pills, so we had to grind them up and mix it with one of the waters, then carefully pour it down his throat.
I was wary about staying in the clearing, especially because we’d already made all sorts of noise and possibly drawn attention, but there was no way we could move Martin’s body.
So, there was nothing left to do besides wait. I hoped we could pass the rest of the night peacefully, and he could get one of those strange, healing injections in the morning when we got back to the ship.
The girls did a great job patching him up, but none of us were doctors, and if he wanted his leg to actually heal correctly, he needed real medical help.
“Liam, you’re hurt as well,” Parker said as she scrutinized the slice across my stomach.
“Hmm?” It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about.
I’d been so focused on Martin and the others that I’d completely forgotten about my own wound, but once I was focused on it, the burning sensation was at the forefront of my mind.
“Oh, that,” I sighed as I tried to hide it from her view. “It isn’t a big deal. It’s not that deep.”
“It looks like it hurts, though,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, maybe a little bit.” I tried to downplay it.
“It’s actively bleeding,” she added.
“Mhmm,” I agreed in a nonchalant tone.
“Let me bandage it for you,” she insisted as she got up to retrieve the medkit again.
When she returned, she knelt down beside me and had me lift my shirt for her while she carefully cleaned my injury.
I glanced over at Sadie to see what she thought of Parker being so close and personal to me, but Sadie’s expression was unreadable as she watched us from her spot near the fire.
Parker’s hands were warm and gentle as she dabbed at the blood, and she reached back into the medkit and produced a small bottle of alcohol and several cotton balls.
“This might hurt a bit,” she warned as she poured the alcohol over the pads and dabbed them along my cut.
Damn, it stung, and I winced a little, but I didn’t cringe or try to move away as she cleaned me up.
The most awkward part was when she wrapped the gauze.
She had to wrap the bandage all the way around me to hold the gauze in place, and I could feel her warm breath plume across my bare skin as she leaned close to reach around me.
I was keenly aware of Sadie’s eyes on me, and I didn’t want her to feel jealous or uncomfortable, so I had to focus all my attention on not blushing or showing any other signs that I enjoyed Parker’s proximity.
I felt guilty for feeling the way I did, but I had to keep reminding myself that Sadie and I weren’t even official yet, and a little crush never hurt anyone. It was normal to be attracted to more than one person.
Though, the feelings I had for Parker in that moment certainly felt like more than just a harmless little crush.
Once Parker was finished, I thanked her and quickly moved away, which only made Parker smirk, like she knew why I’d done it.
I glanced at Sadie again, but as she sat and stared into the flames, I couldn’t see any sign of anger or jealousy.
That was a good sign.
For the first little while, nobody tried to fall asleep again because we were all too keyed up and worried about Martin and other potential attacks.
Clarisse in particular had been inconsolable since she saw her ex-lover’s limp form, and I was sure she was filled with a lot of worry and guilt. One affair didn’t suddenly erase your feelings for the other person, even if you were over it.
I sat beside Martin as I watched the flames, and eventually, the man began to stir.
“Uuugh,” he groaned, and everyone rushed over to check on him.
He continued to moan as he slowly regained consciousness, but it took several more long minutes before he finally opened his eyes, and even more before he was able to open his mouth to speak.
“W-What happened?” he croaked out, and his voice was barely strong enough to hear. “What happened to the bear?”
He tried to sit up, and I reached out to stop him, but it wasn’t necessary because he paused to let out another groan of pain and slumped back down.
“What the fuck happened to me?” he demanded in a clearer voice. “Why do I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus?”
“It was the bear,” I explained. “It got to you pretty good. Do you remember anything?”
“Not really,” Martin muttered after he paused for a moment to think about it.
“You needed stitches,” I continued my explanation. “And it broke your leg.”
“Well, what the hell happened to it?” Martin’s eyes widened.
Kyle opened his mouth to say something, probably to take credit or something like that, but I wasn’t sure because Tyler cut him off.
“Liam killed it,” he said.
“Seriously?” Martin’s wide eyes turned back to me. “Did you really?”
“It was a team effort,” I corrected.
“Yeah, but he dealt the killing blow,” Tyler went on as if he were a proud parent bragging about his honor student. “You should’ve seen it. It was insane.”
I rolled my eyes at Tyler’s enthusiasm.
“Well, damn,” Martin muttered to himself.
“Listen,” I went on. “I’m not sure how much time we have until morning, but you should get as much rest as you can. Hopefully, in the morning when we get taken back to the ship, you can receive the same injection that healed us yesterday.”
We’d been given the medkit, which seemed to be filled with all sorts of random but useful stuff, so I wasn’t sure why the aliens hadn’t also provided one of those injections in there to begin with. It certainly would’ve been helpful.
“You should try to get some sleep, too, Liam,” Sadie said. “You were already up and keeping watch before all the nonsense with the bear happened. You need rest, too.”
“Yeah, she’s right, dude,” Tyler agreed. “I can take watch for a while so you can get some sleep.”
I felt like I was too on edge to sleep, but my companions were right. I needed my rest, especially if anything else happened.
“Alright,” I finally agreed with a small nod.
I moved closer to the fire and laid down near its warmth. It took a bit of time, but I was finally able to close my eyes and slow down my mind enough to drift off into an uneasy sleep.
I wasn’t sure how long I was asleep for, but I suddenly found myself awake. I sat up and glanced around at the others who were all sleeping peacefully, with the exception of Tyler, who was wide awake and keeping watch.
“What’s wrong?” he mouthed to me when he saw I was awake.
I merely shook my head as I continued to look around for the cause of my abrupt consciousness.
That’s when I felt it. A small splash of something cool and wet hit the side of my face, and I reached up to feel what it was. When I pulled my hand back to investigate the substance, my finger was shiny and damp.
Water.
Then I felt another splash at the top of my head, and a few seconds later, another.
I looked up at the sky, and I could no longer see the stars. Instead, the sky looked a deep, charcoal-gray color, and as I tilted my head up, more water droplets hit my face.
And the speed at which the water fell was steadily getting faster.
Suddenly, there was a bright arc of light across the black sky, and a few moments later, a loud clap of thunder woke everyone else up, too.
A storm was here, and we were out in the open.
Shit.