Hidden in the Depths

Chapter 12

Throughout the entire journey back and the treatment of injuries, Techno had to will himself not to throw up. The poor guy's leg was a mess, the remaining stump tightly wrapped in scraps of fabric and a belt cutting of the blood flow as best as possible. It was a mystery how this guy was still alive. If blood loss wouldn't kill him, then an infection definitely should have. There were stitches, but some had ripped open again from the movement, too fresh to hold tight as they moved him about and swam all the way back, even with Techno and Fit carrying him most of the way.

But here he was now, alive and breathing. In pain, but alive.

They had washed his wound as best as they could with the last of their water supplies, after he had taken a few gulps of it first, leaving half a bottle for the wound. Fit already confirmed that he would go out and hunt some fish as soon as they were done. After the wound was washed and they had given their best attempt at replacing the stitches with what is left of their medical supplies, they quickly applied the salve over it. With great relief they realized that it pretty much sealed off the stump and prevented any further blood loss or movement of the stitches.

The man hasn't said a word since his rescue, only making pained whines and wheezes whenever he had to move. His friend, Cellbit if he heard Tubbo correctly, had only given a brief answer to the question if there were both able to swim if they give the injured man a mask. It forced them to swim near the surface, since they only had three masks, but it was better than nothing. Techno had to wait at the surface until Fit guided them up to him, unable to hold his breath for so long.

That was not something Techno wanted to think about. Not really. It doesn't matter anymore, they were here and will be taken care of as best as they could provide. Bringing up any memories of their time trapped in the pod is a terrible idea anyways, those two are probably traumatized far too much as it is.

It had taken him a bit, but he did recognize the two as people he had helped into one of the escape pods. The black haired man had his leg crushed by one of the support beams crashing from the ceiling. Back then they had spoken in a language Techno couldn't identify, not even sure if they spoke English at all. He was a little glad that they did, but they would have figured out a way to communicate regardless.

"That should do it. The pain-relieving effect will kick in any minute hopefully, it did for our buddy at least." Fit gently patted the shoulder of the injured man, wincing at the pained whine he got in response. "I know. I'm sorry we can't do more." The man looked like he wanted to respond, but nothing outside of wheezes and raspy groans leave his throat. "You've done plenty for us already." The brunette's- Cellbit's- voice was just as raspy and will most likely take a few days to fully come back to him, much like the still unnamed man. If his voice will come back at all. "Thank you. For saving us."

"Of course! We came as soon as we were prepared and had your coordinates figured out. Well, they did. I wanted to come too, but they wouldn't let me, which was still unfair, by the way." Cellbit laughed, weakly patting at Tubbo's knee, not really able to lift his hand any higher to reach his shoulder. "Probably for the best. You look terrible." The teen huffed, lifting a hand up to the burn on his face. "Yeah I know. But it's mostly healed up to where it doesn't hurt anymore. I already went out to swim once and it didn't hurt, I would have been able to handle it."

Techno watched the interaction carefully. Tubbo had never talked about Cellbit when he came visit him in the garden area of the ship, but it seemed like they were good friends. Why had the teen never brought him up before? Then again, he wasn't sure if he ever brought up Techno when he was with Cellbit. That would be interesting to know.

"I would try and catch us some food now. Can you two handle the injured?" Tubbo gave an immediate nod, while Techno hummed a confirmation, deciding to check the med kit on what supplies they had left now. There was barely anything left... How were they supposed to get more? The plant salve can't be used for everything, probably. Maybe they could get more from other pods...