sin and sawdust

10

Eve bolted from the door, barely dodging the dead ones that littered the floor, crushed by the huge tree that had come down in the storm. The unseen help.

She leapt to the one side as a bullet whizzed past her head followed quickly by another, rounding the corner she dove into the trees, but not before the third bullet hit her in the thigh.

Eve cried out, clamping her hand over the wound and hobbled as fast as she could manage further into the safety of the tree cover. She ran and ran, not daring to look back to check if she was being followed. She hopped over a fallen log and caught her foot, tumbling forward and onto her knees.

"Fuck," Eve hissed as pain seared through her leg, she lifted her hand and blood poured from the wound. The bullet was embedded in her flesh mid thigh and the firey pain made her vision swim. Eve was fucked and she knew it, she had to get the bullet out and fast. She cursed that fucking bitch up and down, she'd kill her on the spot if she ever saw her again. She swore it.

She pulled her knife from its sheath, picked up a stick from the floor, put it between her teeth and bit down hard. With a deep breath she pushed the tip of her knife into the wound and dug around for the bullet. A scream gargled in her throat as she wiggled it around, black spots swimming in front of her vision. The pain was sickening, it shot up and down her leg as she dug further in. She was on the edge of fainting, her surroundings closing in as she finally got some purchase on the bullet and managed to pop it out of the opening.

Eve spat the stick out and vomited, her hands shaking like a leaf as she tried to rip up a shirt from her bag to make a bandage. Her vision blurred and swam more and more, darkness pulling at her, she fought to keep her eyes open but it was no use.

It was over.

She was done.

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Eve's eyes fluttered open, the gentle rocking motion slowly bringing her back to the land of the living. She sighed and closed her eyes again, just five more minutes and she'd get up. She tried to turn over, eyes shooting open at the pain that radiated up her leg. Hissing through the pain, she tried to sit up, but she didn't have the strength. She tried to see where she was but it was too dark.

She swung an arm out, hitting her hand on some boxes and groaning at the added pain.

"Ah, you're awake," a male voice came from the front of the van and Eve stiffened.

"Don't worry, don't wanna hurt ya, you've done a good enough job of that by yourself."

Eve braced herself and pulled herself into a sitting position, the pain making her cry out uncontrollably,

"Seriously, just take it easy," the voice sounded slightly irked, "We'll be arriving before long, rest,"

"Who are you? she asked," Where are you taking me?"

"All in good time, girl, all in good time," the man answered flatly,

Eve tried to fight off the new waves of exhaustion that flowed through her body to question him further but she couldn't, she just didn't have the fight left. She allowed herself to lay back down and closed her eyes, the driver whistling a tune as she succumbed to sleep.

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The bright light stung Eve's eyes, even through closed lids. She squinted as she opened them, the small room blurry and unfamiliar. Her head span as she tried to get her bearings, the pain in her leg a dull ache. She tried to move her hand to check the bleeding but she came up short, she couldn't lift her arm. She was bound in place.

Panic swept her body as she tried to sit up but whatever was anchoring  her prevented much movement. A fine sweat broke out across her body, her breath coming in shaky, shallow pulls. Eve shook her arm trying to work it loose.

"Hey, take it easy," a soft voice reached her and she span her head in the direction it travelled from.

"I'm Doctor Carson," he said smoothly, moving over to her with a small light in his hand, "I'm sorry about the need for restraints but I honestly didn't know if you were going to die and, well, ya know..." he left the sentence hanging in the air but Eve knew what he meant.

Everyone turned.

"Can I just check you over?" he held his hands up, "Just to see how you're doing?"

Eve nodded and turned her gaze up at the ceiling while the Doctor checked her over, humming a quiet melody while he did so. A nerve in Eve's neck bounced, she was on edge. The humming driving into her brain like a spike, an alarm screaming danger, danger, danger over and over. She needed to get out, she needed space, silence. She trailed her fingers down the knife on her hip but coming up empty as it had been removed. Not that she could use it while restrained anyway.

A smattering of tears flowed from her eyes, not through fear but frustration. Eve blinked them away fast.

"We're not here to hurt you, I promise," the Doctor said as gently as he could, "I'll be back, please, don't worry,"

He left the room and with the door shutting came silence, save the drip of the IV bag that Eve hadn't even realised was feeding into her vein.

She wiped her eyes dry with the back of her sleeve, realising she had been untethered, he pulled needle out of her arm slowly, letting it drop to the floor and swung her legs off the side of the bed, her brain felt like it was rattling in her skull, making her dizzy as it fought to keep up with her quick movements. She checked her leg, it was bandaged up neatly with fresh, clean gauze and the pain had reduced to a dull throb.

She scouted her eyes around for her knife, but couldn't see any of her stuff. A tray of surgical tools sat atop a counter across from her bed and Eve stood to go and grab the sharpest thing she could find, she felt extremely vulnerable unarmed in this unknown place. She picked up a scalpel turning it over in her hands, beggars couldn't be choosers and it was better than nothing.

Eve hadn't heard the door open quietly behind her, her heart leaping into her mouth when a voice drawled behind her,

"Now whatcha gonna do with that, sweetheart?"

A/N:

This was such a clunky chapter, I didn't know quite how to move it forward to where we needed to be! Hope it reads OK. xo