La Sombra [Ben Hargreeves]

On The Hunt

I opened the door to the front house for Allison and Diego. They carried Five inside. He had been going in and out of consciousness.

"We should have taken him to the hospital." Allison told us. As they shuffled towards the living room.

"A kid with a shrapnel wound might raise some questions." Diego replied.

"Put him on the bench or the couch. I'll be right back." I gave them a nod. "Hey, I'm going to go get some medical supplies."

"Hurry." Diego grunted out. He adjusted his grip on Five.

I traveled through the shadows in search for medical equipment. Rummaging through the drawers in the medical room, I grabbed some needle nose tweezers, a probe, and gauze. I quickly traveled back to the living room. Going to the bar after I placed everything on a large piece of gauze on the side table, I grabbed a bottle of whiskey.

"Did you get everything?" Allison asked me.

"The important stuff for now." I made my way to Five. I started to lift his shirt. "I need either you or Diego to get me some thread, a needle, a wet rag, and a dry rag."

"Okay, I'll go grab it." Allison licked her lips and ran out the living room.

"Okay," I muttered to myself. I grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured a little over the wound. It cleared most of the blood surrounding the shrapnel. Five's face contorted in pain. "Sorry about that."

I quickly sterilized the medical instruments with the whiskey. I got the probe and poke around to see how big the shrapnel was. It didn't appear bigger than two inches. I grabbed tweezers and a piece of gauze ready as I eyed the shrapnel.

With a sigh, I went to go grab the piece of metal with the medical tool. The tip of the tweezers made contact with the shrapnel. I pinched the ends of the tweezers and slowly moved my hand upwards. The shrapnel came out, the piece being about an inch and a half.

I quickly placed the gauze on top and applied pressure. Grabbing another square of gauze, I placed the piece of shrapnel on top. I lifted the gauze on his stomach and checked for any more pieces. There was no more.

"I'll hold that." I heard a voice walking towards me. I jumped and turned around.

"Mom?" My mouth opened from shock.

"I can handle the rest of the procedure if you like." Mom gave me her famous smile. I stood there frozen. "I've got it from here, Tamela. Why don't you go throw that away. I'll be done by the time you come back."

Slowly nodding, I stood up and moved aside. Allison came running in only to stop at the sight of Mom.

"Mom-"

"Bring me the supplies in your hands, Allison." Mom waved her over. "Quickly."

Allison rushed towards Mom and handed her the supplies. Mom quickly went to place a new set of gauze and medical tape Five. Diego stepped next to me.