A New World ~ Violentine

Chapter 12

Violet's POV

I listened to Ruby sigh holding in all of my fear for a moment.

"Ruby?"

"She's alive. I don't know if she'll stay that way, but for now she's still breathing. Time will tell if she lost too much blood."

I felt the tears start to well in my eyes again.

"No. I can't cry. Not now."

"Can I see her?"

"Not right now, sorry shug. You can come with me once I go back to change her bandages."

All I could do was nod.

"Well in a little bit of a lighthearted moment, dinner is ready. I know you guys are down, but you need to eat. We all need our energy."

"Wow Omar. That may be the most optimistic thing I've ever heard you say."

The group was able to laugh a little.

"Haha. Come and eat."

The group ate in a silence they haven't sat in for awhile. Clem was always starting conversations and making everyone bond whether they wanted to or not. It was hard to have any sort of fun at all. Dinner flew by as I sat by myself not wanting to see anyone or be asked if I was okay again.

"Vi. I'm going to change her bandages if you would like to come."

"Yes of course!"

I stood up instantly and followed behind her, panic filling my mind.

"Ruby."

"Yes shug?"

"Does she look okay? Do you...do you think I'll be able to handle seeing her?"

"Violet stop. She loves you, you love her. You want to see her, you're just letting panic set it. No matter what she looks like, you know this will calm your nerves."

All I could do was smile.

"Thanks Ruby."

"Of course hun. We're at the room now. You ready?"

"Yeah. I want to see her."

I watched as Ruby opened the door, to reveal a dimly lit room. I stepped in and realized what I hadn't before. The normal bunk beds were deconstructed so there were four beds laying on the floor. This way it was easier for Ruby to work on people without hitting her head I guess.

"This was a good idea. The room rearrangement."

"I know right! She's on the one in the right back corner. I'm going to grab more wrap."

"Okay."

I walked slowly over to the bed in the corner that Ruby said Clem would be on. She was laying there wrapped in bandages that were slowly staining with blood. She was pale, but her chest was rising and falling. She was breathing but it was very slow and spaced out.

"Jesus Clem."

I reached out for one of the chairs that was by the bed and sat in it before my legs gave out from panic. I grabbed her hand which was cold, colder than normal.

"Clem...I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have listened when you told us not to move. I should've been out there with you. I should've taken the shot for you. I should've done literally anything for you but hide. Why am I always so useless when it comes to you risking your life."

I felt the grip tighten on my hand.

"Don't...don't talk like that."

"CLEM?!"

She tried her hardest to smile at me but you could tell she was still in pain and struggling to stay awake.

"RUBY! CLEM IS AWAKE!!!!"

Ruby came sprinting in with more bandages, hydrogen peroxide and some very expired pain meds.

"Hey shug. How you feelin?"

"Not good."

"I'm sorry. I gotta clean your wound and change your bandages. It's gonna hurt."

"Yeah."

Ruby walked over and took off Clem's bandages as I held her up. When I laid Clem down, Ruby brought out the alcohol and a rag so she could clean off Clem's wound.

"Alright shug, this is gonna sting."

Ruby dumped the alcohol on the wound which made Clem grimace in pain.

"Shit."

"I'm sorry, it's over. I just gotta rewrap your bandages."

I held Clem's still cold body up again so Ruby could rewrap her shoulder, then I gently laid her back down.

"Vi she has a fever and her body's cold. It isn't good. At all."

"Clem, hold on. Ruby, let's talk about this outside."

Ruby nodded and started to head out of the room which I followed. Once we were outside and the door was shut we continued the talk.

"So Ruby, what does all that mean?"

"She's running a fever which means there is an infection somewhere, but I don't know how bad. Plus her body is cold and pulse is low, which means she lost a lot of blood and I don't know if she'll be able to pull through."

"But she's awake?"

"It doesn't matter. If her blood doesn't regulate itself sometime soon, she won't recover and the infection she has now will probably get worse. Which means she'll never recover and we'll lose her."

"Oh my god. How do we stop this?"

"Well I need to continuously clean her wound, every hour. Plus I know these are expired but she needs to take them. I don't think there will be any harmful side effects that are worse than the fever taking over."

"Okay I'll give her the meds right now then."

"No it's okay, I will. I just wanted you to know what I was giving her and so you wouldn't be worried."

"Oh alright. Can we go back in now? Is that all?"

"Yeah that was it. Let's go see your girl."

Ruby opened the door to the remade medical room. When the two girls walked back in, Clem had fallen back into a state of unconsciousness.

"Shit. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted her to hear me even if she didn't have the energy to speak back."

"She needs the rest, Vi. I know you don't like it but this is a good thing. I'm gonna give her these meds now."

"Yeah alright. I'm gonna head out with the others. I want to be here but I know she needs rest that I'd just interrupt.

"Alright shug. I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Thanks Ruby. For all of this. I know this has been stressful."

"Anything I can do to help."

I smiled at her and headed out towards the courtyard where I saw everyone sitting by the fire.

"Hey Vi! How is she?"

"I honestly don't know. She's barely hanging on."

"Aw Vi I'm sorry."

"It's okay. She's strong. She'll pull through. She has too."