GB: Taken

Ch 9: Forging Ahead

The next morning, the air was still cool and filled with dew from the night before. The forest was quiet, the only noises were the birds chirping away. Thankfully during the night, the Ghostbusters had not been approached or attacked by any wild animals. Although they had heard some rustling, no creature came at them.

Ray was still slumped against the stone wall asleep. He was slightly aware of his surroundings such as the rocky ground, birds chirping, and the fresh, cool forest air. He felt pain in his left shoulder and numbness throughout the rest of his arm. His right knee was throbbing and so was his right hand. He felt a slight pain in his chest probably from some injured ribs.

The engineer heard some rustling and slightly opened his two different colored eyes. Through his slightly opened eyes, he saw Peter kneeling down and rummaging through the bag he had been carrying. He turned his head slightly and saw Winston walking up from the stream with the canteen.

"Pete...?" Ray said groggily as he opened his eyes all the way.

"Rise and shine sleepy head, here's your breakfast." Peter sarcastically remarked as he tossed Ray an apple.

"Thanks..."

"Let me check your shoulder real quick." Winston said as he set down the canteen and kneeled beside Ray.

"Ok, just make it quick." Ray replied as he slipped his arm out of the sling. He then mentally noted that he felt unusually out of breath.

Peter had taken out some bandages when he heard a moan. He turned his head and saw Egon's good eye fluttering as the physicist tried to fight off sleep. Peter grabbed the canteen and kneeled next to Egon.

"Here Spengs, you need this." Peter said as he pressed the metal bottle up to Egon's lips. The physicist then took a big sip.

"Thanks...Peter..." Egon replied a bit dizzily.

"How are you...feeling?" Peter asked as he all of a sudden felt somewhat out of breath.

Egon took in some heavy breathes before responding. "I can't...seem...to breathe...well..." He then let out a harsh cough.

Winston had just finished checking Ray's shoulder for any more injuries. After placing Ray's arm back into the makeshift sling, he shuffled over to Egon and placed a hand on his chest.
As Egon breathed, Winston could feel his breaths were slightly trembling. He put his ear to Egon's chest and heard a slight rattling along with some weak breaths.

"I think one or both of your lungs is bruised Egon." Winston replied as he shook his head, "That's causing fluid to build up, making it difficult to breathe."

"Yeah, I feel a little out of breath too." Peter said as he let out a slight cough.

"Me too." Ray added.

"I think we all have varying degrees of bruised lungs." Winston said as he took a deep breath,

"We're all at risk of more fluid buildup and possibly infection. I'm gonna give each of us a small dose of antibiotics to ward off the chance of infection for a moment."

"How much...farther til we...get to...the road?" Egon asked as Winston rolled up the sleeve of his jumpsuit.

"Uh, let me see..." Peter replied as he took out the map. He glanced at it and did some calculations in his head before answering. "I think about 10 miles to the northeast."

"That'll probably take us all day." Ray noted, "And once we get to the road, who knows how long it will be before we can find a phone or someone who can help us."

"Well, let me finish up with these antibiotic doses and we'll get going." Winston said as he finished with Egon.

"Yeah, I wanna be as far away from those dickless bastards as much as possible." Peter said.