Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Seventy

I rode on Harvey's back and carried the messenger bag filled with medical essentials as he flew through my Tiger King's territory to the homes on the northern edge. The greying fox sped ahead, leading us to his den. It looked like any other home. Small, with maybe three rooms and made from stone with a straw roof.

I dismounted when we arrived and Harvey shifted to take the bag from me and put on a robe. From just outside the thin wooden door, even I could hear the soft mewling sounds of newborn kits. So not a female cub. That's good. Kits were easier to birth.

But my relief was short lived. We were ushered inside the dark home and found three other males standing around the main room's fire pit with looks of utter despair painted on their faces. Each one was holding a grapefruit sized fox cub.

"I brought the healer as fast as I could. How is Laura?" The fox who led us asked.

None of the other three males looked up. In fact, they seemed to shrink in on themselves even further as tears dripped from their eyes and onto the heads of the newborns. Our guide's face turned impossibly whiter and he collapsed to his knees.

Harvey understood faster than I did and moved toward the room where he must have smelled the female. He flung aside the curtain and no one stopped him as he went in. It was rare that any male would let a stranger, even a healer, into the bedroom of their female. I followed shortly behind, still slightly confused as to why no one was saying anything.

When I entered the room, I was immediately assaulted by the smell of blood. It was everywhere. Red, like a garish paint, was pooled all over the bed of furs, the floor and even parts of the walls. The form on the bed was still and covered by a stained deerskin. I finally understood. We were too late.

Harvey moved closer but he didn't need to in order to hear the female's heart had stopped. He stayed standing there and closed his eyes in respectful mourning. I could not.

My mind worked faster than it had in twenty years. Everyone had given up and even the healer felt there was no hope, so I pushed him aside and touched the softly wrinkled white hand that I could see laying over the pelt.

It was still warm.

I stood back upright and turned back toward the front room, lifting the divider. "How long?" I asked, my voice one of emotionless demand.

One of the males, a fox with black fur, looked up from his grief to finally acknowledge my presence. "Just before you arrived." His voice choked on each word as though each was a stab to his gut.

I dropped the curtain and looked back at the female. If it's only been a few minutes... I removed the fur from covering her naked body, but before I laid hands on her, I needed to explain or I would die by her mates' hands.

I looked at my leopard whose skills he felt where no longer needed here, "Harvey. Her heart has stopped, right?"

He nodded solemnly, "Yes."

"So anything I do to her now cannot hurt her, correct."

He looked confused, "That's correct...but what-?"

The same black-haired fox lifted the partition to look at me. "What are you going to do?"

I gave him my best eye contact, "I'm going to try and restart her heart." Then I looked back to my mate. His job wasn't done. I needed him. "Harvey, I need you to check her body for bleeding and stop it as best you can. What I do next will look like I am hurting her, but she won't feel it unless she comes back."

The black fox with the cub in one hand entered the room and the other three males filled the doorframe with looks of hope, confusion and irritation. The male that had come to us for help asked, "Are you saying you can revive her?"

I looked down at the form of her body and shook my head, "...No. I'm saying I'm going to try." And with that I had no more words or time to waste. There was no guarantee I could give them. If she had truly bled out, nothing I did would bring her back. But if the issue was her heart and not her lack of blood...

I kneeled on the bedding and the wet furs squished beneath my knees, painting them with the still warm liquid. The female was in her forties, with streaks of starlight through her dark brown hair. As she was already naked, I easily found her sternum and placed one hand over the other, straightening my elbows and lining my upper body directly over them.

Then, with gravity and strength, I pressed down hard. One. Two. Three times and then finally a loud crack let me know the soft bone broke and the depth was finally deep enough. The sound of the bone breaking alarmed her mates and the three from the doorway would have rushed in to attack me if not for the black-haired fox blocking their way. He held one arm wide, preventing them from coming in all the way and looked over his shoulder at me with the slightest glimmer of hope in his eyes.

I only looked up long enough to see I wasn't going to be killed and then continued my movements. One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four. Over and over and over again.

I looked to the side and saw Harvey looking for bleeding from her vagina, cleaning it and placing pressure or hemostatic where he thought it would help.

I kept going. One and two and three and four. One and two and three and four. Sweat started to bead on my forehead and drip into my eyes. My arms felt like lead and I was panting. CPR is harder than anyone can imagine. Even five minutes feels like a marathon. But I didn't stop. Minutes passed, but I didn't stop.

After ten minutes, the glimmer of hope the foxes' eyes had faded, replaced by despair. My heart reflected that emotion as I thought of their fates and the fates of her cubs. In my mind's eye, I saw Shuu, Winston, Lance, and Harvey if I was to be the one to go first. Lost without an anchor. All will to live fading with the memories.

I couldn't let it happen.

With renewed resolve, I kept going. My back and neck ached. My hands felt numb. I had to bite my lip to try and regulate my breathing. One and two and three and four. Over and over.

Blind and deaf to my surroundings, I was focus solely on the body beneath my hands. I didn't stop until I felt a warm soft touch on my shoulder, forcibly pulling me back from her.

Angry at the interruption, I looked at the criminal. Stopping me was indeed a crime. The perp was Harvey and on his face was a look of awe.

"Bailey." His voice was reverent. "Her heart. It's beating again. She's breathing."

I looked back down at the body, no, the woman, to see he was right. She was breathing. Deeply.

All the remaining energy in my body fled and I collapsed onto my ass with tears of relief streaming down my face. My tears matched those of her mates who were all sobbing in happiness now instead of grief. They rushed into the room to crowd their female and I scooched myself away to lean against a far wall.

Harvey patted my shoulder again. "I'll take it from here. Rest." He said before moving to the female's side. The doc was in and he started to order her mates to boil water, replace the furs, and wipe her down.

For an hour he worked, mixing herbs and constantly monitoring her pulse. He checked her body's reflexes and looked at her pupils. All was normal. We had done it. She was going to be ok and soon she would wake to see her adorable three kits.