Fortunate Sons

Chapter 43: Rebirth

For the next two weeks, Taylor hadn't slept at all. The awful, sharp pains in his back and shoulders kept returning along with a shuddering twitch beneath his wounds that would wake him up in the middle of the night and leave him breathless. But no one, not even Sue, was able to make it stop.

One night while the full moon hovered over all of Than Ahn and the surrounding land, everyone tried to catch some sleep but Taylor was suddenly awoken by something hot and wet running down his shoulders. He put his hand to the wound but when he gazed at the palm of his hand he was outright horrified. Taylor's entire palm was coated in a deep crimson red liquid, hot, sticky and slippery. The pungent odor of blood assaulted his nostrils as he bolted upright and saw that the sheets were completely stained.

Shit!!! Shit!! No this is not happening!! This can't be happening!!

He rushed into the bathroom, brushing away the dust from the mirror in the medicine cabinet. In the hazy glass he saw that the stitches on his back looked near to bursting as the new nub beneath began to grow. The skin was completely inflamed and red, burning like fire as he tried to touch it. Another stab of pain shot through him violently, holding Taylor in its grip before it finally let go again.

As he gazed at the ghastly wounds on his back, Taylor had decided that enough was enough. He opened up the medicine cabinet to try and find something that could be of use, searching hastily until he found a pair of small silver scissors Sue had used to cut bandages. He took a deep breath and prayed that it would work. If not, he would have to try again.

Taylor picked up the scissors and reached over his shoulder to try and get a good hold but the blade slipped and dug into his inflamed skin every time he tried. Over and over again they slipped, falling onto the floor in a blood splattered mess and the stinging inflammation growing worse.

"Stop! Don't keep doing that, you'll make it worse."

Taylor sheepishly bent and picked up the scissors when he saw Sue's reflection in the mirror. His fingertips were coated in sticky clots of blood and his head spun from what he had lost through his wounds. "Please take them out," he pleaded, handing her the scissors.

Sue ordered him to sit at the edge of the bath and promptly got to work on removing the stitches. A few clips with the scissors and a snip of the knots and they were finally out. Sue grabbed a washcloth from under the sink and soaked it in warm water before she cleaned away the blood that stained Taylor's whole back.

"Feel better?" she asked.

"Alot," Taylor replied. "Still hurts like a mother but I think that's normal."

"You sure?"

Taylor wasn't so sure but the sweet relief from undoing the stitches was better than he had imagined. Once Sue had properly bandaged them up, all that was left to do was switch out the bloody bedsheets.

"My God I haven't seen this much blood since I treated a soldier with a damaged carotid artery," Sue remarked as she and Taylor remade the bed. "You think you'll be able to sleep now?"

"I should be able to try and get some sleep," he replied. "I could use as much as possible."

As soon as they had finished, Taylor crawled back into bed with Sue moving in as close as possible. The night was cool enough that Sue drew the thin flannel blanket over them both as they lay close together. "It's only going to get worse isn't it?" she asked.

Taylor nodded. "They shouldn't have done that," he replied. "I know it's not your fault or Doc's."

"Do you at least feel better?"