***AAAAHHHH!!! THANK YOU MY WONDERFUL COCONUT FRIEND!!!!!!***
(what the heck happened to the horizontal line, tumblr??)
Present (Friday, continued)…
The first siren was the most beautiful sound Jones had heard in a very long time. His sense of time had been growing increasingly fuzzy, but his estimate would have leaned toward a wait of at least an hour. Likely a gross exaggeration, but with Killian in such dire straits, and the attention-seeking behavior of his own dizzying pain, every moment had stretched to an interminable age.
Thankfully, Emma had resumed the duty of applying pressure to her husband’s wounds, and Jones could take advantage of the respite to recline back against the bloodied altar. He didn’t know for sure, but he had a suspicion that fragments of the stun projectile remained in his throbbing shoulder. Emma had graciously wrapped a second bandage around the first, which seemed to be containing the bleeding for the most part, but didn’t do much for the agony. All adrenaline now long gone, Jones could feel each heartbeat through the wound, and an overwhelming exhaustion pressed down upon him. More than once, he had caught himself beginning to topple sideways, close to passing out. Dizziness bordered on nausea. He could only imagine how Killian must be feeling. As far as Jones could tell, his counterpart drifted in and out of consciousness, frequently coming back with sobs of terror as he relived tortures endured, and Emma could not always soothe him easily.
Now, as the first scream of a siren echoed up to the rafters, Jones forced himself alert and struggled closer to Killian’s side, knowing that Emma would want to direct the help where it was needed most. She met his gaze gratefully, squeezed Killian’s knee with a murmured word of encouragement, then rose. As she jogged toward the front door, Jones listened to the labored breathing beside him and prayed that the medics weren’t too late.
“In here,” called Emma, one foot still inside the church. Evidently she was reluctant to leave her husband for too long. “Hurry!”
Killian whimpered and Jones lay a gentle hand on his forearm.
“Still with us, mate?”
Uniformed paramedics trooped inside, following Emma’s urging, and Killian shivered, seemingly only half-aware of his surroundings. The detective managed one more reassuring squeeze before shuffling aside. He watched with hooded eyes the efficient dance of emergency medical assessment, waving off attention for his own injuries in favor of faster intervention for Killian.
The medics were quick to administer supplemental oxygen as they measured vitals and made a preliminary examination of his wounds. Emma managed level-headed answers to their questions, keeping out of their way but determined to stay by Killian’s side. He seemed confused and afraid, struggling against every touch despite Emma’s pleas for him to remain calm. The medic at his left side was already on her third cannula as she tried to hit a moving target. Pouches of blood and saline awaited only a reliable access to Killian’s compromised circulatory system.
Emma’s phone buzzed. After reading the message and typing a quick reply, she reported to no one in particular,
“Second ambulance is close. My dad’s following in his truck. He’s gonna direct them in here.”
One of Killian’s medics seemed to be getting ready to activate a power drill into his upper arm. Jones wondered if he might be starting to hallucinate, but in response to Emma’s look of confusion, the medic explained how the long bones can be just as effective at transporting drugs and fluids as peripheral veins are. “It’s not overly painful,” yeah right. Already woozy, Jones couldn’t watch, and even Emma had to look away as the battery-powered device buzzed a stylet through skin and muscle and into the humerus. Perhaps the woman was correct; Killian didn’t seem excessively bothered. He’d grown quiet and mostly still, focused on the effort of breathing. Under the mask, he almost looked like a fish out of water, gulping at air too thin to metabolize. The impression was only strengthened by the bluish-gray tinge to his skin.
This was evidently cause for concern. The activity around him doubled in calm intensity, and even Emma backpedaled to allow them more space to work. Jones was just gathering the fortitude to stretch out a comforting hand when the church door scraped open again. He had missed hearing the new ambulance come wailing up, but he could see a doubling of the whirling flashes outside.
David still had his arm in a sling, but that didn’t stop him from being the first one inside.
“Emma!”
Fixated on her husband’s struggles to breathe, Emma didn’t seem to even hear her father’s call. David urgently beckoned the new arrivals inside and started up the aisle himself. He did an impressive double take at the monstrous corpse on the floor, watching it warily as he skirted an unnecessary circle around it, then hurried to the foot of the stairs. He faced a moment of indecision when catching a glimpse of his son-in-law in the midst of the crowd of medical professionals, eventually deciding to creep up in between Emma and Jones in order to provide his daughter with moral support. Kneeling behind Emma and pulling her close against his chest, he cast a worried glance at Jones.
“Hey, partner. You okay?” he murmured, making sure to keep his voice at a level that would not disrupt critical communications elsewhere.
“Glad you could j-join us, mate,” Jones gritted out, shivering painfully. The sackcloth tunic he wore certainly did not provide much warmth. He was beginning to regret having insisted Emma lay all of the blankets she’d found over Killian, especially considering that most of them were now strewn carelessly in a heap after the medics had desired better access to their patient.
David read his thoughts and reached gingerly around Emma, grasping at one of the discarded blankets nearby. Absently, Emma helped him to drag it back out of the way. The prince tore his eyes away from the frantic scene in front of him, gave Emma a comforting squeeze, then pulled away. As he spread the blanket over his quaking partner, David hissed,
“What the hell happened? What were you two even doing here?”
“Saving the world, naturally,” grimaced Jones. The second band of EMTs had finally arrived, and they were trotting toward the altar, though to Jones it appeared as if they were moving in slow motion. David finished tucking the corner behind his good shoulder, leaving the fabric loose beneath the saturated bandage on the other side.
One uniformed man started to set up shop at Jones’ right just as Emma turned and reached for David, her strong façade crumbling. David was forced to adjust his position in order to accommodate his wounded shoulder blade. As the prince gathered his weeping daughter in his arms, Jones could hear him whispering words of hope. He’s going to be ok. They’ll get him home; Whale will fix him up. People could survive a collapsed lung. And they were talking about Killian, here.
Jones heard all of this despite the other portion of his attention devoted to responding to the questions being put to him by the two EMTs assessing him. Turning his face away from the blood pressure cuff that was currently magnifying the throb in his coat-hanger-pierced forearm, Jones caught sight of what had so deeply upset Emma. Not only were the medics inserting some sort of drain in Killian’s chest below the still-protruding dagger, but they were also preparing to intubate and take over his respirations with mechanical ventilation. It all looked serious and scary, but was obviously for the best, if his own efforts were ineffective.
True professionals, Jones’ medics kept their focus solely on him despite the commotion nearby. Their attempts to start an IV were barely distinguishable from the squeezing, pulsing anguish lower down his punctured forearm; Jones was just grateful they hadn’t yet pulled out their bone drill to use on him. As he looked past the gurney that was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, Jones spotted the massive corpse of the Master slumped where they’d left it. And surrounding it…
“Bloody hell,” muttered the detective. Still in the dark about the situation and extremely on edge, David’s head snapped up and he looked around wildly, fumbling for his gun.
“What is it? What’s the matter?”
“They’re over there.” Jones gave a stiff nod to indicate the direction in which he was looking.
The slaves were gathering around their Master. Forming a mournful and eerie circle tribute. Or maybe it was panicked directionlessness. Even those too weak, stunned, or injured to walk were compelled to slither along the ground, inch by agonizing inch, all to be closer to the commanding presence they could no longer feel or hear. If anything were to remind the detective of a zombie horror film, the sight before him now would have been a top contender. Even more were staggering their way into the bustling church, clogging up the doorway through which additional paramedics were attempting to enter.
“Wow,” grunted David, still slightly alarmed. “That’s disturbing.” He glanced warily back at Jones. “You’re not… feeling the urge to join them, are you?”
The detective’s attempt at a laugh came out more like a groan. “Not yet, mate; thank the gods. I’ll let you know if I do.”
“Well,” said David thoughtfully, “at least it will make it easier to round them all up.”
A sudden frenzy of activity distracted both men from the sight. Emma scrambled to her feet as Killian’s backboard was hauled up in preparation for transport to the ambulance. She shot the briefest of glances at her father, but was already making as if to follow even before he had a chance to say,
“You go. I’ll handle things here.”
Just as the front doors had ground to a close behind Killian’s gurney, one of Jones’ medics rose to her feet. She found a place on the altar’s façade on which to hang his bag of saline, saying,
“Okay, Mr. Jones. I know you’re probably anxious to get to the hospital where you’ll be more comfortable, but since you’re stable for now, we are obligated to triage the rest of the scene before deciding who gets priority.”
“Understood,” Jones assured her. “I can wait.”
As she collected her remaining equipment, her partner turned to David.
“Would you mind keeping an eye on him? I’ll tell you what to watch out for.”
David hesitated, looking torn. “I…” He turned stricken eyes upon Jones. “Killian, I didn’t want to give Emma one more thing to worry about, but in her message she said that Hope was… safe? I didn’t see her… and who’s taking care of her right now?”
The detective gave him the best impression of a reassuring grin that he could manage under the circumstances.
“She isn’t here, mate,” replied Jones with a definite slur to his words. He could feel some kind of narcotic beginning to take effect, blurring pain and mental acuity alike. “But she is safe and being looked after; I give you my word.”
David’s teary smile was laced with confusion. “She… but then where…?”
With a deep sigh, the detective closed his eyes and rested his head back against the hard surface behind him. “I don’t believe that’s my story to tell, David. Sorry.”
He heard the medic begin to relay quiet instructions to the prince and slitted one bleary eye open to interrupt.
“If you’d rather assist with the injured slaves, I should be okay here. This thing has an alarm, doesn’t it?” Jones indicated the portable EKG currently monitoring his heart rate. David winked at him, rubbed his eyes with one hand, and settled in next to Jones.
“Nonsense. What kind of friend would I be if I left you here all alone?” He shifted his weight a bit, trying to get comfortable. “Besides, I wouldn’t be much help anyway with one arm out of commission. Bossing the medics around, I guess, but I get the feeling they don’t need my input.”
Jones gave him the barest hint of a smile before closing heavy eyelids again. “Thank you.”
For the second time in three days, Detective Jones was reminded of that lonely Seattle night, when the poison in his heart had nearly killed him. He even had the aching soreness in his chest as an additional parallel.
How much nicer it was to have a caring friend by his side while he waited!
Um auf ein angenehmes Nervositätslevel zu kommen und mich ein bisschen von der Aufregung um die Nyx Face Awards abzulenken, lass ich mir jetzt einfach mal ein bisschen mein Bein dauerhaft verschönern.. @elianjoastattoo hilft mir mit sanfter Hand und ganz viel Lachen so richtig tiefenentspannt meine Woche zu beginnen!
Volkov smiled and touched the tip of Ben’s nose. “You’re going to scream for me today and let your brother know just how much he regrets crossing me, aren’t you?”
Ben’s heart was going through jumping jacks in his chest. Was he supposed to answer that? How was he supposed to answer that?
“Um… sir?”
“I need you to scream, so that your idiot brother knows how much we’re punishing you for his mistakes. We’ll be recording the whole session.”
“Wh-What a-are you going to d-d-do?”
“Well, choosing worked well yesterday, so I thought I’d give you a choice again today.”
Aw, fuck no. Sick fucking bastard!
“I don’t…”
Alexsei laid his finger over Ben’s lips. “Shhh. We’re not there yet. You need to digest your food so that you aren’t sick when you’re under stress.” Volkov glanced over his shoulder. “Dmitri, Andre, help him get ready.”
“No! No wait. Please. Just wait.”
Volkov dug the remote out of his pocket and Ben immediately went quiet. Volkov raised an eyebrow at him. “Dmitri, Andre, it appears he’s ready to cooperate. Get him on the table.”
