Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 48 - WOKE

So this is it. The latest update ever. I don't even have a good excuse, except that life is hectic at the moment. Are you guys all doing okay? Still alive?

ALSO, question time - because it'll cheer me up and hopefully you guys too. Tell me about your pets and how cute they are on a scale of 1 to infinity. If you don't have any, what kind of pet would you like? For example, my doggo is fast asleep on my lap. She's a big, crazy mongrel who likes eating rocks and biting people's noses. I'd probably have written this a lot faster if she would keep her muddy paws away from my keyboard.

But anyway, on with the story, that's why you're all here. As always, slay the typos :)

The car ride to Ember was the longest twenty minutes of my life, but Rhodri's heart kept thudding and those shallow breaths kept coming. He was a fighter — there was no denying that. Somewhere past Riverside, he started to wake up properly, his eyelids fluttering and his entire body twitching. I was pretty sure he was seizing, and it wasn't long before the vomiting started. Liam had to help me roll him onto his side before he choked on it.

We stopped the car on a verge that I recognised in some vague, distant way. And then I trotted behind as Seth and Liam carried him into the woods. There was a lot of panting. A lot of stumbling. And a lot of swearing.

Sam found us after a few minutes. For once, there was no flock of children at his heels, but he wasn't alone. My little sister had come too. It wasn't the welcome party I'd expected. Not even close. But on the bright side, they weren't scary enough to worry Seth, who gave them all sidelong glances but didn't start trembling when they helped carry Rhodri towards the camp.

Rhodri's mother — the resident doctor — was waiting for us inside one of the tents. It was a poor excuse for a hospital, that tent, but there was a fold-up table and rucksacks full of medical equipment. It didn't get much better than that in our camps.

Bryn was sat on the table with a needle in his arm. He was watching a blood bag fill, but he looked up quick enough when we came in. And then he jumped down to make way for them to set Rhodri down on the table. Bryn stared at his brother with wide eyes and a face drained of all colour.

"Oh, shit," he breathed. "What happened?"

His mother was a good deal calmer, even with her son at death's door. I could smell the panic on her breath, but there wasn't a trace of it on her face. She brushed the hair from his forehead while she felt for a pulse.

"Flockies," Liam said quietly, and that was really all there was to say.

Seth stepped forward, scratched at the back of his neck and offered, "I've got IV access. He's hypovolaemic and recovering from an opioid overdose. Multiple fractures. Started seizing in the car. I'm hoping that's just the naloxone — it's a common reaction in shifters."

"You're a doctor?" Aunt Cassidy asked. She was human, so she couldn't tell that he was a flockie, and that was probably for the best.

"Yes," Seth said.

"Good. You can help me put him under. We'll start the bloods, too. His brother is donating."

They cut his shirt away. I'd never seen doctors so hesitant. They didn't know where to start. They could pump blood into him all they liked — it was just going to come straight out again. And sewing up all those cuts would take hours of surgery. The broken bones were another matter. They'd had time to heal in the wrong places, and that would make their job so much harder.

"There's too much," Aunt Cassidy said, her voice breaking. "He's ... I don't think..."

Seth agreed with her, if the look on his face was any indication, but he swallowed those doubts and said instead, "We can't make it any worse."