The Herd

Chapter 16

P.O.V.: Ben
     I sat in the passenger seat as James drove the four of us home. It was quiet between us. Not a word was spoken the whole way. Cameron had woken up a few minutes after we left the others, but he quickly fell back to sleep. Kap was quiet as he held Kahu in his arms.
Damn... I thought. What a day.
Thinking back at my thoughts then I realize it was an understatement. We took a huge hit. A traumatizing hit. No one will be the same after this. But one thing was for damn sure... the Jocks were going to pay for this one. And they're going to pay for it hard. I'd personally make sure of it.
The drive was long and even more salient than it had felt before, but when we finally got home, James and I rushed to get Cameron out of the car. By the time we did so, Kap was already in the house with Kahu.
     James and I rushed through the door, dragging Cameron between us. Catherine was there to direct us straight to the health room making it a little easier on us, even when we already knew where we were going. When inside, we quickly set Cam onto a hospital bed.
     It was rushed movements and chaotic care, and we hadn't even noticed that an entire hour had passed by. We were just focused on helping Cameron. Luckily no major surgeries were needed. Just a lot of pain killers, stitching, and bandaging.
When we were done, Cameron's arm was completely patched, along with his chest and abdomen. He slept peacefully as Catherine did some paperwork. What it was, I couldn't tell you, but when she was done she assured us that Cameron was going to make it. We were very relieved.
On the other side of the room, Kap and Luna were attending to Kahu.
     At first I thought that Kap was being a slight prick considering he seamed to not even care about the condition of Cameron, but the more I thought of his perspective the more I understood. Kap and Cam were friends or years, yes, a lot longer than Kap had Kahu, but Kap raised Kahu.
     Kahu was an injured abandoned puppy we found on a heist. Kap took him in and nurtured him back to health. From there, they grew up together. Learned together. And, even with Cameron being our on-the-field medic, Kahu has saved Kap's life more than twice as many times as Cam and the girls combined has.
     Thankfully, from Kap's current mood I assumed Kahu was going to make it. Kap was pacing the room while Luna did some work on the machine that was plugged to Kahu's pulse, but his expression was looser and he didn't seem so upset as he did before. Before he seemed just about ready to hunt down the Jocks by himself.
"You good, Kap?" I asked.
He looked at me, shocked at the sudden speech, but he nodded his head. "I'm fine." He said. "He's fine." He looked at Kahu.
"Cameron's going to be fine too." James said from the side of Cameron's bed.
"I know." Kap replied. "I was listening."
Catherine walked passed me and stepped in front of Kap. She held up a needle and thread and gestured to Kap's wounds. His forehead was covered in dried blood, as was his left arm. The bullet wound from a few days ago opened up and his new gash from earlier today was still gushing into a simple bandage he had quickly patched on on arrival.
"No." He declined. "I'm fine. These two need you more than I do."
"Hello, dummy." Catherine said. "That's why there's two medics." She gestured to Luna, making her laugh. She then grabbed Kap by the ear and dragged him to a chair, making me laugh. Kap sat down and allowed her to tend to his wounds.
     "James, can you bring me a towel and a bowl of hot water?" Catherine said.
"Yes, ma'am." He said and left the room.
I walked over to them and put my hand on my girlfriend's shoulder. "Anything you need me to do, babe?"
Kap rolled his head back and sighed. "Yeah, I'll take a double McCheese Burger, a side of fries, erm..."
I kicked his shin, making him jump, and said "Not you, dumbass."
He ground and puckered his lips. "But, baaabe..."
     "McDonalds does sound good, babe." Catherine said.
     I sighed and thought about it. Unhealthy food is a great antidote for a bad day. "I'll call Noah. See if he can pick up on their way here."
     "Yaaaay." Kap pumped his fist.
     I walked out of the room, stepping out of the way as James came back in with Catherine's supplies, and pulled out my phone.
     After dialing Noah's number I put the screen to my ear. It rang for a little but he eventually picked up.
     "What? We're driving back now." He said.
     "Yeah, we were winding if you could stop and get McDonalds." I sad casually.
     "Did you really just ask me that after what just happened two hours ago?"
     "Hey man," I said. "We're all tired, I think we deserve a treat."
     "Diabetes?" He said.
     "Are you really complaining?"
     "Oh, no. I'm turning around right now."
     I laughed. "Yeah that's what I thought."
     "I'll just roll up in the drive through towing Kap's car. Cuz that won't raise any suspicion at all." He says sarcastically.
     "Just get the usuals alright?" I said, wrapping up the conversation.
     "Yeah yeah yeah." He said laughing ad hanging up.
     I put my phone away and went back into the room. When I got there, Catherine was still sitting where she was before but Kap was gone. I looked over and he was petting Kahu's maw.
     "Hey, bud." He said, a tear running down his face.
     Luna stood by my side. "He just woke up." She said.
     James sat on the edge of Cam'd bed and crossed his arms.
     We all stood there, watching. Not long after, Cameron woke up as well. We all greeted him back with warm hugs. It was nice. It was calm. Everything was as if we weren't all almost killed a few hours ago.
     "Noah's getting McDonald's." I said, ruining the mood.
     "Oh, goodie." Cameron said. "Where's my guitar?"
     "Bra, you can't even move your left arm." Luna said.
     "So?" He replied, making us laugh.
     "I'll grab it." James said, waking out.
     After a few minutes of small talk, we all stood there in silence. Cameron tried his best to play his guitar, breaking the silence every no and then, James fell asleep on the chair beside Cam's bed, I leaned against the wall talking to Catherine, Luna was on her phone, and Kap was sitting on Kahu's bed. Everything was alright until Noah walked into the room.
     He held bags of McDonalds food but he face expression was serious. "Sorry to break the mold, guys." He said "but we need to talk about today and we need to talk about it now."