"Kenna, I wouldn't suggest it."
"Doc, I need to move," Kenna insisted. "I can't stay cooped up in here with your preserved animal eyes and dissection notes any longer."
Doc sighed. "No one appreciates science anymore, it seems." He held up a small vile of muddy liquid. "This should help the pain. I made it from.... Actually, I think you'd rather not know."
It was Kenna's turn to sigh. "Thanks, but I think I'll tough it out."
"Are you certain? Because" — he laughed gleefully — "I have yet to test this painkiller and am very excited to see what the results will be."
Kenna gulped. "I'm...great. I'm hardly in pain." Her side burned angrily at this.
"You rolled into a fire, Kenna."
"Doc, have you seen my face?"
"Ah, yes," he said, "good point. Be careful, then. Don't do any strenuous work. And if Banner, RJ, and Rina return, let me know what happens." His eyes twinkled excitedly.
"Sure thing," Kenna said. She rose into a standing position, and her side buzzed and went numb. She raised her arm to her side, and the limb burned under the bandages.
"Ooh," she mumbled.
She reached over to grab her cowboy hat and the raw skin stretched. She sucked in a breath.
"I still have this painkiller," Doc mentioned.
Kenna eyed the vile. "And you said that that will help the pain?"
"Well, I said it should help."
Kenna sighed, and then yelped when her ruined skin protested once again. "Sure, fine. But if you kill me, I'll kill you."
"Fair enough," Doc laughed. He removed a small syringe from the table and pulled in some of the liquid.
"Is that even distilled all the way?" Kenna asked. "My daddy taught me about distilling when we went camping once."
"It's as distilled as I could make it with a rudimentary and handcrafted distiller," Doc assured.
"Oh, dear god." Kenna was going to die, she was sure of it.
"You don't by any chance have a rubber band on you, do you?"
Kenna patted her hair. "No."
Doc sighed. "Just as well."
He reached for her arm, flicked the veins in the crook of her elbow, and stuck in the needle. Kenna watched, feeling sick, as the muddy brown liquid shot into her blood flow. Yep, she was going to die.
"Now, this is the only dose I'm giving you until I find a simpler and more efficient way of making it. If my calculations are correct, you should be nearly pain free until sundown."
"Thanks, Doc," Kenna said. She could already feel a blissful numbness begin to run across her skin.
He studied her, his huge white eyebrows flapping up and down in the light draft. "Are you feeling anything? Fatigued, angry, like you've just been injected with acid?"
Kenna felt queasy, but was sure that was just nerves. "I don't think so...."
"Wonderful!" he exclaimed. "You're free to go dear. Here, take your hat."
She was shoved joyously out of the tent. Doc went puttering away happily at his success, leaving Kenna no more assured than before.
A new man jogged up to her. "Kenna! So glad to see you up and about! Well, not really. I was hoping you'd stay unconscious for a few days, at least. But that's not the point! I'm on Kledao duty and you know we're not supposed to go alone. Everyone else is busy with other chores, so I need a buddy."
