The Breach

13. Silence

Joaquin knew he had to act fast. Blaze was knocked out because of the blow, but he will probably come to in a moment. First he made sure that the man was secure and that he would be fine when he woke up and restrained enough so that he wouldn't try to attack him again. With that he wanted to turn his attention to Theo but remembered that his own wound needed to be taken care of first. If he was to help the other man, that is. Luckily, the stab wound wasn't that bad and a simple dressing should be enough for now. Theo however was an entirely different story. Honestly, he had no idea which injury he should take care of first and if it was going to make any difference at all.

The stab wound to his abdomen wasn't bleeding much as the knife was still there, but the leg and the ear were both in a pretty bad shape. Honestly, there was not much he could have done about the ear if he didn't have proper equipment. So he approached Theo and decided to take a good look at the leg instead.

„Wh... what," Theo was trying to speak, but he was shaking badly and it was hard for him to form actual words. „Where..."

„That's it, keep talking," Joaquin said both to himself and Theo. „You need to stay with me, kid. And I'm sorry, but it's probably going to hurt. Don't move."

Theo moved his head a little and noticed the knife sticking out of his abdomen. He gasped in surprise, but the gasp was followed by a pained grunt when he tried to move.

„The fuck... is this..."

„I said don't move!" Joaquin shouted, placing his hands on Theo's hips and pressing down. „You're going to make it worse. Stay still. The knife went in pretty deep."

Theo nodded and tried to relax, but he was obviously failing. He started taking deep breaths, balling his hands into fists and uncurling them again. Good idea, Joaquin thought. If he focuses on the motion, he will have something to keep his mind off the pain. At least for now. It was time to go through his trauma kit and see what he could do.

As if on cue, Joaquin suddenly heard footsteps. At first he thought it might be the Rikers coming back to make sure that they swept everything clean. But these were no Riker footsteps. It was more like a panicked run through the rubble, uneven, too fast for the runner to keep the momentum. And it was just two people. Taking a quick look confirmed that it was a woman accompanied by a much taller man. It was probably Anna. He sighed. She wasn't going to be happy about this.

Turning back to his trauma kit he took another look at Theo. He was biting his lower lip, obviously trying to fight the pain. Tears were running down his face, leaving visible trails among the blood and dust.

„Hang on, kid," Joaquin said, moving Theo's leg a bit to be able to assess the wound. „Anna will be here in a second."

He was hoping that hearing this would help, but it made the man cry more instead. He was also trying to say something but failing miserably, his face contorting in pain instead. He couldn't find an exit wound on Theo's leg and judging by the amount of blood the artery was probably damaged. He needed to apply a tourniquet and he had to do it fast.

Before he managed to take the bandage and scissors out of his trauma kit though Anna was with them, falling to her knees right next to Theo's head and immediately placing her hand on his cheek.

„Theo," she whispered, her voice laced with worry and tears hiding just beneath the surface. „I'm here. I'm so sorry. I should have never left."

„Fine... just... I'm fine," he answered trying to smile, the smug bastard that he was, but it obviously didn't make Anna feel relieved at all.

„Hey Anna," Joaquin said, bandages and scissors in his hand already. „Nice to finally meet you in person. I mean, it would have been nicer if the circumstances were different. You have to help me with this."