Wasteland

Chapter Five

Frey-

 I was there when he awoke, standing in the flickering shadows cast by one of four lanterns. He had been unconscious for three hours, but in that time that entire of the Hole had gradually regained its feet and begun work once more. No one now stood around Dock's clay plinth that he had used to dissect dead residents and map out their insides, no one except me. His work disgusted me, and I had never watched, but this time I had to be there. No dissection would take place today; everyone was too afraid of this man to do anything like that. As soon as senses were regained by many, the Outsider was carried off to the secluded room that lay off the corridor that ran past the Baths. It was a long room where the clay walls were rougher than most. This room had been dug out in a hurry, and it had only been around since Dock had needed it, so a decade or so.  Once on the plinth, Dock had skilfully removed the cloth which covered the Outsiders mouth before attempting to detach the glasses. I watched, horrified as the back strands of the glasses morphed and stretched as Dock tugged at it. It looked disgusting to touch and I cringed, but soon they had been removed and beneath the layers of cloth and that disturbing substance, Jason, I had to admit, was actually rather handsome. His face was relaxed, and as long as his eyes were not as large as the glasses had made them seem, he may even be better looking than anyone in the Hole. Using a rough cloth, Dock wiped smears of dirt and grease away. His skin beneath was quite dark, I had never seen anything like it! Everyone I had ever met were as white as freshly washed cloth, but this man; well he was a little brown, not like dirt, but maybe a bit like a stain.
 Next, Dock had unwrapped the cloth from Jason's arm and as the pressure was released, a glob of black blood oozed from the wound. I had let my breath out slowly as the blood was wiped away, and Dock leaned over to examine what was revealed. After a minute or so of light probing, he straightened up and announced,

 "There is something in there!" He then proceeded to snatch a sharp dissection knife and was about to plummet it into the wound when Deesee stopped him.

 "No no no, Dock! That''ll make it worse! Use, erm, this..." Out from the deep pockets in the front of his overalls; he drew out a strand of wire, which he quickly bent into a shape which I had never encountered before. He had forced the 15cm or so long metal strip in half before curving each tip slightly and twisting the end. He passed the makeshift tweezers to Dock, and Dock looked puzzled, but after a second of squeezing the tips together He seemed to have worked it out. With fingers set like rock, Dock eased the twisted metal into the wound, prising apart the flesh. More black blood bubbled up, but Dock wasn't fazed. The metal sunk deeper and deeper into the hole until finally it struck gold. Not literally gold, but the object wedged deep in Jason's arm. I don't know how he did it, but Dock managed to grip it first try, and ever so slowly he drew it back out. Dock let the object fall. The hunk of that hit the clay beside Jason's head was strangely shaped, a silver-coloured metal that had beads of red settled on its face. It looked crumpled, like one of the artifacts in Deesee's museum that I could recall him showing me. After one last inspection, Dock wrapped a fresh bandage over the gaping wound that now welled with red blood, pulling it tight to keep pressure on it. That what he had always told me, if I had skinned my knee on the rough ground and approached him, the answer would always have been, "Keep pressure on it, It will stop the blood flowing..." I had always idolised Dock. He was the most caring man in the Hole, and despite his strange choices in pastimes', I found him to be the easiest to talk too.

  Deesee had returned to his collection a mere half hour ago. Before that, we had stood in an awkward silence, Deesee on one side, me on the other. Occasional eye contact was as loud as the room got. I felt as if we had been through a lot today, him and I, although in reality the time spent together had been merely five minutes. Before he left the room, I could tell he had one thing on his mind. That device; the tool Jason had held to my head. On his way out, he leaned over the sleeping figure over to where it was nestled. Seizing it by the handle, he drew it and carried it off. Now I was alone with him, as Dock was of making herbal remedies for all sorts now that his patient was taken care of. Now I was in charge.