A World's Bounty

(16) Ersi

Well. It was out. And Morgan probably wanted me dead for the amount of pain I'd just put her through.

Let's just say, I tried nearly every angle possible before the thing finally pulled out. And I was right about the hook theory. In fact, it looked just like a fish hook.

The skin was reddened around the spot of the hook's protrusion, but that was explainable from all the irritation I'd done to it in the last agonizingly painful half hour.

The bloody stinger lay on the floor next to me, the end stained a deep red. I could only hope the wound wouldn't get infected, and that Kylie would return back soon.

During the time after the violent stinger removal, Alex had listened at the door, upon hearing no buzz, slowly cracked open the airlock by a slit. And, no hooked stinger creatures were around. So he'd radioed, letting everyone know the coast was clear for coming back to the ship. I only hoped Kylie would make it back here soon.

Suddenly, the earpiece beeped, alerting me of an oncoming message.

It was the authoritative voice I'd been hoping to hear for awhile now. Adelpha.

"Everyone listen up. Everybody is to be on guard, and to finish the last of their testing for the day, and head back to the aircraft immediately. Zac's whereabouts are unknown, and Kylie has sustained tremendous injuries. I'm bringing her back to the aircraft now."
A small beep, as the line went silent.

I only hoped Kylie was well enough to look at Morgan's leg. Who knows what damage I could have caused.

"Hey, this is actually pretty good."

"Hm? What's good?" I searched for Alex, finding him only a few feet away from me, cross legged on the floor with Morgan's sketchpad on his lap.

He ignored me, or maybe he didn't even hear me. He was too busy admiring Morgan's half finished sketch. Speaking of, the woman still felt comfortable in her position on the floor, her back to Alex.

Silently, I watched him pick up the pencil, his arm stretching and fingers wrapping around the thin mechanical lead holder.

"What are you doing." I intervened with a quirked brow, readjusting my position against the wall.

He shrugged, balancing the pad on his knee as he began to write.

I jumped to my feet, quickly going over to see what he was adding to the sketch.

'Alex Xela Gold Dust', he printed, in a slopped loop of print. I rolled my eyes, "Really?"

"It's permanent now." He sectioned off a decent chunk at the bottom of the page, then shoving the pencil and pad into my face. "Here, you write. My writing's complete trash."

I scrunched my nose up at him, crossing my arms with finality. "What? No. I'm not taking pet in the defilement of Morgan's notebook. Of she wants to write in it, then let her do it."

We both glanced at Morgan, but she seemed completely oblivious to our conversation. Guess she was still recovering.

"Maybe so, but at least I wasn't the one who participated in putting her through thirty minutes of torture instead of just waiting for Kylie!"

My eyes hardened, as my nails began to dig into my arm. "Ok. We didn't even know Kylie's status- she could've been dead! Besides, Morgan was clearly in a lot of pain, so I took it out myself."

He chuckled. "And you thought you could get it out why? With no experience? It was a terrible idea that just happened to work out." He placed the pad and pencil on the floor, spinning around to face me.

"Okay, that's not entirely true! I do have experience!" I protested.

"Oh yeah? With Alex Xela Gold Dust stingers?" He fired.

"No, with fishhooks!"

"Oh, would you two just shut up?" Interjected a tired voice flatly.

"Morgan!" I scrambled over to the girl's side. "How are you feeling?"

She paused. "Well, I can't exactly feel anything. My leg's gone numb."
At this point, I began to panic. Was it poison? Did she need immediate medical attention? Would I able able to help her if her condition got any worse?

Instead, I nodded calmly, like I had everything under control. I didn't.
"Well- there's no real need to worry. Kylie's on her way back, and she'll be able to take a look at your leg if it's still bugging you."

Her leg had feeling before, as told from her pained wails while the hooked stinger was still stuck in her leg.

"Alright... okay..." Morgan wheezed.

My face tensed in alarm. "Morgan, is it getting hard to breath?" I tried to recall any of the hospital stories my older sister had told at the dinner table, or around the fireplace, but for some reason I was struggling to bring up even one.

If Adelpha and Kylie don't return soon, and Morgan's condition worsens, than I don't know what I'll do.

Not even a day, and already this new planet was beginning to seem cursed. But it was or only option, after deeming Mars non-compatible for human life.

I sighed, seeing the beads of sweat forming in the older woman's face. What am I supposed to do? Her temperature's rising. Fast.

"Alex."

Said male glimpsed up at me through his glasses.

"I need to go get Morgan something cold, or at least do something about her fever, it's not good. Got any ideas?"

I wasn't expecting anything, but it didn't hurt to ask. Maybe he'd surprise me.

"Can she walk?"

I turned my eyes back to her curled form. "I can carry her."

Alex nodded. "There's a freezer here, to keep the space food fresh during our couple year flight here, why don't you hold the door open and let her stick her head in? It'll at least cool her down."

Brilliant. And I was supposed to be the genius here. Instead of boosting Alex's ego, I settled with an approving nod. "That's great. Okay, help me get her to the freezer."

Once the freezer door was swung open, Morgan let out a soft sigh. I was careful to wipe off her sweat before sticking her head inside the cold air.

We sat there for minutes, which turned turned into an hour. I was getting cold, but Morgan refused to leave the cool.

I had to keep her upright, because apparently she'd lost all her strength and balance from whatever was in the stinger.

Finally, the loud sound of the airlock door swooshing open, was like a jolt to my nerves system.

"Alex! Kylie! I have to stay here with Morgan."

He dashed off without a word, heading back down the wing to the main entrance.

I couldn't hear any voices from where we were, but eventually I heard footsteps.

The thing Adelpha carries in, couldn't possibly be Kylie. Sure, the face, and the hair and the height were all the same, but she was so mangled and frazzled that I was in shock she was still breathing.

"Rhea." Huffed Adelpha, as her and Alex lowered Kylie to the floor. "Morgan's gonna have to hold out a little while longer. Kylie needs immediate medical attention."

Baffled, I shook my head. "From who? No worse knows anything about the medical field, that's Kylie's job!"

But the raven haired woman only glared at my loud tone. "Kylie is still able to talk. She's going to talk you and me through a surgery preformed on herself." How Adelpha remained so calm and postured was beyond my comprehension.

"So, what?" I squeaked, feeling my hand go numb. Although, it may have had to do with the cold.

"You heard me. Now let's get to it."