His shield

47. Injuries

Hunter thrashes against Falco, snarling and letting out muffled barks as Falco held his muzzle shut. "Knock it off! HEY!" Falco lifts the boys head and slams it into the ground. "Bloody stop! Hunter! Snap out of it!"
Celeste weakly gets up and slowly makes her way over to Hunter and Falco. The ground now had smeared blood in the grass and dirt and Falco's had had blood from holding Hunters muzzle shut. His muzzle and some of his neck had blood from attacking the girl. It was all Kasa's. She didn't even have a chance to get away.
Hunter was thrashing even harder as he saw Celeste come over. "Celeste! Stay!" Falco shouts and looks at the thin wolf with panicked eyes. She did not need this stress. "Go to your tent! Please!"
She was quiet and just standing there with no words to be spoken. She had nothing to say except. "Seriously?" Her eyes look over Hunter.
The one word hurt his entire soul. He knew what she meant. He'd basically killed Kasa. For good though. Those injuries weren't something you could just stitch up. Little did he know the Kasa lost two of her fingers when he bit her hand and he'd bit her leg so hard that it seemed as if a chunk of her flesh was going to come off.
His thoughts were winding as the two wolves meet eyes and he stopped thrashing. Stopped panicking. Falco now had a firm hold of him and his gaze went to Celeste. "Sweetie, can you please get me my wool blanket? Quickly."
All she did was nod and leave, soft huffs and coughs coming from the girl. Soon enough she had the blanket in her mouth and Falco took it from her to put it over the boy and pick him up with a heavy groan. "Go lay down Celeste." He begins walking to Hunters tent and disappears into it.
That left Celeste standing alone. Why did everything turn bad? Her eyes were hazy and she was trembling a bit. She didn't want to trouble Falco with how ill she was feeling. Her paws take weak steps forward and for once she wanted to know if Kasa was okay. Slowly she slid into Falco's tent and spots the girl and Notaku.
    He had to pull up the animal hide dress she was wearing so he could get to the wound on her rib cage. She was naked under it but at the time nobody was fazed by it, especially the other Native American. He was pouring a bottle of Falco's alcohol onto the wound to try and clean it and Kasa's body flinched and trembled even though was was out cold from the shock and pain.
    Celeste just lays down in the 'dog bed' Falco had made for her. "Is she okay?"
    Notaku jumps and turns to look at Celeste. "You really shouldn't be in here." He frowns. "Yes... I think so. The blood is beginning to stop but I'm not worried about blood loss right now. Infection is my worry... especially during this summer. The heat wave is just starting and I think that's going to make an infection come."
     She stays quiet for a long moment and lets out a few coughs, some blood dripping from her nose. Nobody knew what she had or how to treat her illness. She had tuberculosis and it was slowly increasing and getting worse. "You think she'll die?"
     Notaku looks at the young girl with a deep frown and pauses what he was doing. "I really wish I could say no." He mumbles and slowly begins to attempt to stitch her wounds on her ribs. "Falco would know more but I'm sure he might say the same as me."
     As if on cue Falco rushes into the tent. "I gave him some medication and he's out for the meantime. Celeste." He clenches his jaw. "I said your tent!" He then shakes his head and goes over next to Notaku to examine her wounds. "Shit." He sighs. "Keep doing what you're doing. You're doing great, Notaku." He nods and goes over to Celeste. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Are you okay?"
      "I'm fine." She lied but made it seem as genuine as possible.
      Falco's eyes wander the girl before letting out a sigh. "Do you need anything? Water? Food? Are you hot?" He watches as she just shakes her head and all he could do was let out a sigh and go over to Notaku. She was just probably going to sleep.
     So she did. She slept long enough to wake in the middle of the night. It was dark. Very dark but she could see in her wolf form at night. She sits up a bit and whines softly. What she saw was Falco asleep in a chair with his arms resting on the back of it, as he would always sit backwards on it and his face pushed into his arms, letting out quiet snores.
     As for Notaku, he was leaning his back against Falco's desk with his arms folded across his chest and head hanging down so long strands of black hair hung in his face. Kasa.... she was asleep and it was probably for the better. Yet the girl would let out quiet whines and cries and her breathing seemed to be a bit jagged. Hunter practically killed this girl and it was going to take awhile before she died. She knew Falco would fight for that girls life, whether he liked her or not and she knew he wouldn't put her out of her misery knowing she might have a slim chance at surviving.
      Was Hunter still asleep? He had to have been if Falco gave him drugs to keep him under, right? She flinches and her head jolts over as she saw Falco panic and wake up. His eyes were wide open and he was letting out soft pants. Nightmares frequently woke up and he never admitted to having one unless it was Notaku. He'd cry in Notaku's arms some nights while she was pretending to be asleep. Maybe sometimes he'd cry in his sleep or shout, even jolt away and leave the tent in the middle of the night. Only god knew where he went or what he was doing.
      He looks around for a moment and slowly stands up with a grunt. He needed to check on Hunter. She watches as he leaves the tent obviously not seeing the she was awake. She weakly got up and followed behind Falco like a ghost in the night. She lay outside of Hunters tent once Falco went in and all she did was listen, curling up in a ball in the dirt.