Opodiam: A Space Story

Chapter Six | Frustration

LUCAS

    We laid Rowan down on the ground, and Taylor put her jacket under Rowan’s head.
    “Come on, Rowan! Stay with us, okay? Say something.” Tears swelled up in my eyes as I looked down at her waist. She couldn’t die! Then what would happen?
    “I’m… Fine..” She growled. Rowan was awake, but barely. The only things really keeping her up, were my constant “You’re okay’s” and “Say something’s”, and Taylor constantly spilling some cold water on her forehead. 
    I looked down at her pale face, and made direct eye contact with her. “Rowan, can you hear me?” I questioned sternly. She furrowed her eyebrows and nodded. “Okay, I am going to pull the metal piece out on the count of five, got it?” Rowan bit her lip and nodded again.
    I  breathed out a heavy sigh and prepared myself. Grasping the metal shard firmly, I steadied my grip. “Alright, on the count of five, remember?” She shut her eyes, and Taylor put a rag in her mouth to bite on. “Okay; one, two!” I jerked it out of her as quick as I could, and tossed it to the ground.
    “What the fuck??” She coughed out. I wiped off the saliva on her cheek, and pushed my mouth to the side.
    “I’m sorry; I knew if I pulled it out when you expected it, it would probably hurt more.” A single tear fell down her face, and I almost regretted my action; but it had to be done. “Taylor, grab the alcohol please.” The blonde rummaged through the kit and held up a hefty brown bottle. “Thanks.”
    I opened the bottle, then rested my left hand below the wound, and hung my right above it. I turned it upside down, and squirted all over the gash. Rowan winced in pain as she arched her back. It seemed as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t get the words out.
    "Taylor: I need a cloth and some bandages please!" I forced my hands against Rowan's wounds until Taylor handed me the items I needed. After shoving the rag against her waist, I sat her up and wrapped the bandage around her about six times before stopping it. 
    Footsteps landed on the dirt behind us as two figures gleamed over her body.
    "What else does she need? Is she okay? I--" 
    I interrupted Milo--more harshly than I probably should have--with a snarky remark. "No thanks to you two." Milo's face paled, and Jackson's hardened.
    "What's that supposed to mean, Lucas?" He growled. He snuck a quick glance at Rowan before folding his arms.
    "If you two weren't off dilly-dallying somewhere, maybe we could have had her stitched up by now! Or is the gash small enough for superglue? See, I have no clue what I'm doing! Taylor was shaking so much I thought she was going to have a damned seizure! Maybe we could see if Rowan is actually going to survive with the Optical Scanner you took with you. Who knows? Maybe I screwed up so bad with this, that she actually is..." I bit my lip, and swallowed the frog in my throat. "..Going to die." I blabbed my mouth much too far, before the silence flushed over.
    "I'm sorry Milo was practically puking up his guts! Sure, I'll leave an anxious, seventeen year old, barfing boy all by himself just to help a stronger girl who already has two people by her side. Sure, Lucas, I'll let him feel like he's absolutely alone in this! I'll let him have a panic attack, and not even try to help! That sounds like an amazing idea." Jackson laughed in disbelief and shook his head. "Why would you care about that, anyway? The only two people you seem to care about is Rowan, and yourself." He took four steps away before saying, "You're gonna need to stitch that up by the looks of that shard. You can handle that by yourself, can't you?" Once he finished off the bitter sentence, he stormed away in the direction of our base.
    Following Jackson, Milo trudged behind him in slight embarrassment. Taylor's Canis Lupis Familiarus Monstera climbed onto her shoulder and nuzzled into her neck. She glanced at me with a look of guilt before standing up.
    "No--Taylor, please! I didn't mean to offend you, if I did. I just... I want Rowan to be safe. I made a mistake, I'm sorry. Just, stay for her, please?" Taylor stared at Rowan's close-to-sleeping face, and plopped back down.
    "Fine, Lucas. I'm here to help Rowan, then I'm gone, got it?" I nodded with a grin and grabbed the med-kit. "Ack! Get off of me, dog!" She gently grabbed the creature and set him on the ground beside her. 'Don't touch me, you're gross."
    I laughed and looked down at Rowan. "Okay, let's stitch her up."

    Taylor's new pet dug a hole and she started puking in it during the process. I didn't have time to be amazed at the animal's intelligence (if it really knew she had to barf somewhere that wouldn't be in the way) because I had to focus on Rowan. Her whines were faint, but fairly loud through the rag in her mouth, and every time she winced, I wanted nothing more than to trade places with her. 
    I should have gone searching instead of her. I shouldn't have just stood around like an idiot and watch her run towards the danger; I should have held her back and fought to let me check around. It was dumb of me to let her go in blindly; I should have at least tried to go with her.
    There were so many "should have's" going through my mind, but at least they were better than the "what if's" just waiting to escape.
    I wrapped the last of the bandage around her waist again, while Taylor gave her some pain medicine with water. "Alright, Taylor: Let's bring her back to camp. You grab her legs and I'll hold her upper torso, okay?" She nodded and stumbled over to Rowan's feet. I put the med-kit under in my armpit, and put my arms under Rowan's. "On the count of three, ready?" Taylor gave a nervous smile as confirmation. We both prepared ourselves before counting. "Three, two, one!"
    We lifted her light body--much lighter than I anticipated from the amount of strength she has--off of the ground, and made our way to the pod.
    You're going to be okay, Rowan.

A/N: very much love ♡♡♡