A World's Bounty

(19) Ersi

"Which one?!" I scrambled through the scattered vials strewn across the floor.

Alex had left her room, leaving just me, Adelpha, Morgan and Kylie.

Kylie had her leg cut so badly, I was scared to lay a single finger on her. Adelpha controlled her body, holding her down as she directed me between strangled gasps of pain.

I lifted up a clear glass vial of green, and she fervently shook her head. "No! It'll be... silver. The only silver one in there!"

Silver. Okay. I forced my hands to steady, taking another forced deep breath as I scanned the pile on the floor. But I didn't see any silver.

Adelpha looked up at me questioningly.

I ignored her, searching through the pile once more. "Uh.. I can't find it. It's not in the pile."

Well? How else was I supposed to say it?
Somehow, Kylie managed to keep a calm face. "Well, we need to find it. It's.. it needs to go on my leg."

I groaned. No doubt Adelpha would make me so that too. Even bought my sister was a doctor, I could never shake my own fear of needles. So, having to stick an IV into someone, was probably he hardest thing I've had to task myself with in my whole life. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration.

I felt panic rise in my throat, before realizing that Is was just bile. I swallowed, feeling the acid burn a little at the back of my throat.
Concentrate. Stay calm. If you freak out, everyone else will freak out.

"Silver, you said? It must have rolled over here."

My head snapped to where Adelpha's head was cocked, and sure enough, a few feet away, lay a small silver vial.

I withheld a sigh, because the hardest part wasn't over yet. And I knew it. Kylie already told me a summary of what I'd have to do. And based off all my sister's gruesome hospital stories, to say I was scared would be an understatement.

But Kylie's the only medic on this entire planet. If she died of infection because you were too chicken to clean her wound properly...

I frowned. But why do you have to do it? Why can't Adelpha, who seems unfazed by anything, preform the surgery herself? I found myself listening to the new voice in he back of my head.

But she's busy holding Kylie down. My rational side reasoned.

Switch places. Well. There wasn't much that could counter that.

My eyes drifted to the awkward angle of her leg, and the mounds of dried blood caked around it. No, you need to do this. Stop making silly excuses. You can't go on living with a weak stomach forever!

But as I looked at Kylie's leg, I was reminded of a candy apple. The blood covered her leg, completing a full layer over her skin.

Stop thinking such weird things, and let's get this over with.
I shook my mind to be as clear as I could get it, before finally extending my arm out to the vial. I wrapped delicate fingers around the thin glass, momentarily wondering exactly who decided to make it thin glass. I mean, really?

Stop. You're getting distracted again.

"I got it."

Kylie heaved. "Oh-okay... don't- .. just pour it over the biggest gashes, the ones with the most blood caked around them."

I didn't need that clarification, but thanks anyways. I popped the lid off the top, holding in my left palm as I tilted the glass with my right.

"Is there dry blood over the wound?" Kylie asked suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Then you have to clean that off first, because... the liquid needs to fall directly.. directly on the wound to properly clean it and t- to seal it."

I put on the pair of latex gloves that came with he medical kit, my lips puckering as I stared down at the crusted brown. I have to scrap all that off?

Maybe switching with Adelpha wasn't such a bad idea.
I gently started to peel off the blood, and it came off her like a second skin. Disgusting. Every time I had to tug a little, I would glance up at her, waiting for a loud scream or shout. But, it turns out the IV was doing it's job just fine.

While the glass had been thin, the liquid itself was quite thick, reminding me of the velocity of honey.
It flowed slowly to the edge of the glass, raining down in one thin, steady stream over the now visible wound.

Not once had I had time to ask what happened, and it only dawned on me as I finished pouring in the medicine.

"Kylie? Just what happened out there?" My voice sounded small, all trembly and quivering, and I hated it.

Adelpha answered for her. "A thing attacked them, and Zac was killed. Once Kylie's health has returned, I'm sure she can give us a more.. copious description of the creature that attacked them."

My head tilted back to the medic, who was biting the edge of her lip. Guess I'm not the only one. It was clear Adelpha was an amazing leader, boss, or whatever you want to call it, but in terms of her social awareness? She must have been below zero. Zac, her partner co-captain, had just died, and all she could do was push Kylie, who must have been traumatized- for more information.

But at least things for Tech crew turned it well. Kylie was able to instruct me on treating Morgan, and how to extract the poison from her system. I'm not going to say anything further after that, though.

Now, the sun had begun to set, and pairs began to trickle in by the hour.

Morgan, who took it upon herself to hold all the data, pulled out yet another book, though this one was full of lined paper, for taking notes.

She recorded a list of casualties for the day, Zac being the only death. She then busied herself with recording anything of interest reported by the numerous pairs, while we all waited for Kylie to recover. Once she did, Morgan took to turning Kylie's words into a sketch of the supposed thing that attacked them, and made sure to show it to all the other teams, with strict orders to evade the scene if they spotted it.

We all headed to the sleeping quarters on the ship's second floor. The beds were quite small and narrow, in order to fit them all in without taking up too much space.

I made my way to Morgan, who was once more indulged in her sketchbook. Halfway there, I watched Alex sit on the bed in the next row over from her, and watched as she shoved the sketchbook into his face whilst pointing at him accusingly.

She must have found Alex's out of place messy scrawl within her world of neatness.

I halted a few feet away, taking in a moment to observe the two's confrontation. Maybe I should leave them to it.

My lips turned upwards into a small grin. Ah, who am I kidding?

Without another moment of hesitation, I jogged to the pair, hurling myself straight into the line of fire.

After a couple minutes of hilarious banter, we were forced to shush down to whispers, as everyone else began to fall asleep.

We all bud each other good nights, as we all tucked into bed.

"Just another regular day for Tech Crew." I mumbled with a smirk.

Morgan spoke up from her bed below mine. "What was that?"

My eyes fluttered closed. "Oh, nothing."