03-22-2019, 01:06 AM
The air was cool with the promise of a hot day ahead. A smell of antiseptic wafted in. Nina worked—here and there, she nodded to herself and moved onto the next broken part. His injuries were clean, surprisingly clean. And lucky. A fracture had missed his lungs by the most remarkably slim margin. Even so, it was pretty bad. Nina worried his injuries might have left a glancing blow across the heart muscle, a weakness that might rupture if Bas exerted himself too soon. He should be banned from even getting out of bed.
But they didn’t have a bed for Bas. She was cautiously nursing Bas’s wounded body flat on the ground below the stoop where he sat. He was pale from blood loss and trauma and his face was pinched. She was afraid Bas wasn’t going to last long, despite her care. He’d lost so much blood…
“Don’t you go dying on me, Bas,” she growled. She wanted to keep him talking. About anything, any old nonsense. She was worried what might happen if Bas fell asleep.
“Yeah, a tattoo? Hmm... I’d like that,” she lied to him, and kneeling down to apply a tourniquet to Bas’ thigh.
Series of sutures; heavily bandaged ribs; some time later.
“All done,” she reassured the boy, but Bas had blacked out.
“Are you all right, Bas?” asked Nina. There was concern in her green eyes. She felt an immeasurable sympathy for the wounded boy. Taking any deep breathes must be agony.
There came no immediate reply, and he was very pale. Bas was too far gone from pain and damage to register her.
Mmmh… Perhaps, yes. She might have overdone things...
She had some trouble getting the right dose. Her morphine supply felt light now. Had she been giving Bas too many? Seriously, it was no joke. These were powerful drugs. If she was abusing the dose…
It scared her. Doubts were in her head and they wouldn’t leave her alone. Nina frowned as she worked; through these nagging fears; through her strange sense of unreality; through the smells of blood and disinfectant.
Through an answering mumble from Bas.
Her eyes opened wide as she wheeled round at Bas sharply. Reading Bas’s expression.
“What did you say…?” Nina asked quietly.
The silence between them returned.
She didn’t get these religious types, too intense for her liking. And ever since their family settled here she’d heard people rambling on and on about faith and miracles. So what?
Nina didn’t hold with that sort of stuff much. You lived, you died, end of story. Sometimes you were lucky and lived well. Sometimes you got unlucky and died badly. Gods and saints and angels and stuff was the sort of nonsense her parents filled her and her sister’s heads with whenever bad luck came calling. Mom and dad mooned about visions and monsters, clearly bought into the whole atharim “gods” fixation...
But for Nina, the memories were not pleasant. She decided she wanted to be out of here someday, on a train and far away. There was nothing here now she wanted to stay for, or needed to stay for.
She wiped her hands on a rag, and began putting tools and supplies back into her pack. This mob of gangsters was a crazy lot. Nina was sure Bas only ended up wounded because he’d been going balls-out in the fight against “northsiders". And Nina was only here because Rena had the hots for some local boy or classmate, who was incidentally a liability in Nina’s humble opinion. Bas was the only one who seemed remotely okay.
“Bas?” asked Nina, getting to her feet, a tired half-smile on her lips. “How are you feeling, Bas?"
But they didn’t have a bed for Bas. She was cautiously nursing Bas’s wounded body flat on the ground below the stoop where he sat. He was pale from blood loss and trauma and his face was pinched. She was afraid Bas wasn’t going to last long, despite her care. He’d lost so much blood…
“Don’t you go dying on me, Bas,” she growled. She wanted to keep him talking. About anything, any old nonsense. She was worried what might happen if Bas fell asleep.
“Yeah, a tattoo? Hmm... I’d like that,” she lied to him, and kneeling down to apply a tourniquet to Bas’ thigh.
Series of sutures; heavily bandaged ribs; some time later.
“All done,” she reassured the boy, but Bas had blacked out.
“Are you all right, Bas?” asked Nina. There was concern in her green eyes. She felt an immeasurable sympathy for the wounded boy. Taking any deep breathes must be agony.
There came no immediate reply, and he was very pale. Bas was too far gone from pain and damage to register her.
Mmmh… Perhaps, yes. She might have overdone things...
She had some trouble getting the right dose. Her morphine supply felt light now. Had she been giving Bas too many? Seriously, it was no joke. These were powerful drugs. If she was abusing the dose…
It scared her. Doubts were in her head and they wouldn’t leave her alone. Nina frowned as she worked; through these nagging fears; through her strange sense of unreality; through the smells of blood and disinfectant.
Through an answering mumble from Bas.
Her eyes opened wide as she wheeled round at Bas sharply. Reading Bas’s expression.
“What did you say…?” Nina asked quietly.
The silence between them returned.
She didn’t get these religious types, too intense for her liking. And ever since their family settled here she’d heard people rambling on and on about faith and miracles. So what?
Nina didn’t hold with that sort of stuff much. You lived, you died, end of story. Sometimes you were lucky and lived well. Sometimes you got unlucky and died badly. Gods and saints and angels and stuff was the sort of nonsense her parents filled her and her sister’s heads with whenever bad luck came calling. Mom and dad mooned about visions and monsters, clearly bought into the whole atharim “gods” fixation...
But for Nina, the memories were not pleasant. She decided she wanted to be out of here someday, on a train and far away. There was nothing here now she wanted to stay for, or needed to stay for.
She wiped her hands on a rag, and began putting tools and supplies back into her pack. This mob of gangsters was a crazy lot. Nina was sure Bas only ended up wounded because he’d been going balls-out in the fight against “northsiders". And Nina was only here because Rena had the hots for some local boy or classmate, who was incidentally a liability in Nina’s humble opinion. Bas was the only one who seemed remotely okay.
“Bas?” asked Nina, getting to her feet, a tired half-smile on her lips. “How are you feeling, Bas?"
Nina