Claire C Riley [Dead Saga 01] Odium (epub)

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.“I mean it; get your ass over here, now!” She finally looks up at me, her nostrils flaring at my slowness.There must be something in my look that makes her calm down though.“It’s okay, we just need to stop the bleeding and clean the cut.He’ll be fine.” She stands and looks at me, and I nod and make my way to her, still wary.“I need you to squirt some more saline into the cut while I prepare some sterile gauze for it.I can’t suture it until it stops bleeding, or at least slows.”I pause with a shaky hand on the bottle.“Will this save him?”“Maybe,” she shrugs.“It’ll clear the wound of any surface pathogens and debris, and hopefully…” she pauses and takes a deep breath, “and hopefully save him, but I’m not promising shit.This is basically just a cleaner for the wound; I’d need a lot more equipment to go making promises.”I do as she asks, and when Duncan starts to scream again, JD Looks at Crunch and she nods.Before I can ask what the look was all about, JD punches Duncan hard and knocks him out cold.Crunch leans over, pressing hard onto his face with some gauze.My jaw hangs low as I look from her to JD.“The more he panics, the harder it is to stop the bleeding,” she replies casually.I nod and look away, a shiver running down my spine.Mikey runs over to one of the doors and starts barricading it so that nothing can follow us in, and JD moves to the door at the back of the room and does the same thing.“Nina, I need you to hold this in place.”I reach over with shaky hands, trading places with her and holding the gauze against his sticky skin.“Okay.”“Press harder,” she snaps.I nod.Crunch tips her bag out and rummages through all the bits and pieces for something—a needle and a strange-looking thread, by the looks of it.I look down at Duncan.His eyes are rolled back into his head, and his breathing is shallow.The blood has stopped pumping from between my fingers now, and Mikey uses his sleeve to wipe some of it away from Duncan’s eyes and nose.Crunch stands by my side with the needle and thread in hand.“Okay, lift it up and let me see.”I lift up the gauze, which sticks to him a little as I pull it up.It breaks free, releasing a small spurt of fresh blood, but it stops after a second or two and then just oozes.The bite is deep, but thankfully not as bad as I first thought.It seems to be just surface skin and not the deeper flesh; however, it does look swollen and unhealthy.The sight makes me feel queasy again and I’m glad I don’t have to look at it anymore, however mean that may seem.I hold the gauze in place while Crunch tapes it.Crunch puts her fingers to Duncan’s wrist and does some weird counting thing with her eyes closed before placing his arm back down next to him.“Well?” JD asks.She looks worried, but shrugs in her nonchalant way and lowers the needle and thread.“He should be fine as long as an infection doesn’t set in.I’ve cleaned it the best I could, and I’m going to stick a couple of sutures in it since the deader took a lot of flesh.” Crunch readies her needle while she talks, and I turn away.“We need to find a lot more antiseptic cream, gauze, painkillers.We’re going to need to go back to the medic’s room again.”“Okay, I’ll go get the medical supplies.Crunch, see what you can do for Duncan.Mikey, you and Nina stay here.Try and see what’s left here—and be on your guard, we haven’t cleared this room yet.” JD storms off to the door without another word.Crunch quickly zips up her bag and follows after him with her weapons in hand.I look at Duncan on the table.His breathing is shallow, his skin sweaty.I still don’t want to get too near him, so I walk away, heading for the kitchens, carrying my small machete.Mikey catches up to me.Neither of us talk as we clear the room, and then the kitchen area, checking under tables and behind doors for any lurkers.Zombies aren’t known for their sneaking, though, so I think we’re good for now.Other than a few bloody bones and old blood patches, there are no live deaders—huh, that sounds weird.I check the pantry, and even when I see it half full of food, I can’t smile.I had come so close to death, or at the very least serious injury, that I feel a bit shocked.And poor Duncan.Shit, what if he dies? I pause in my search, lean against one of the boxes of cans, and take a breath or two to calm myself down.Mikey comes into the pantry and looks at me.“You okay?”I nod my head yes, and rub a hand across my sweaty forehead.Why this incident scared me so much, I don’t know.It’s not like I haven’t been nearly killed by these things before; I’ve been fighting them all day.But I guess the truth of the matter is that I felt safe around this group, and it all came as such a fucking shock to the system.One minute we seemed badass and unstoppable, and the next a deader was taking an afternoon snack from Duncan’s face.“I’m fine.” I take a steadying breath.“Crazy shit, huh?” Mikey turns back around and examines the food and water on the shelves.“Crazy is one way to put it.” I start checking the boxes by my feet, wanting the distraction.“Do you think he’ll be okay?”“I guess so.I mean, I hope so.He’s kept us all alive the past year or so, and he’s a nice guy, you know?” Mikey opens up a box of cereal bars, tearing one open and shoving it in his mouth greedily.“Yeah, I guess.” I catch the bar he throws me.“It was kind of a dick move locking everyone in here, though, don’t you think?”Mikey shrugs.“Yeah, but then—we all make mistakes.I mean, no one’s perfect.”“But his mistake cost a lot of people their lives.” I rip open my wrapper and take a big bite.It tastes like shit, but it’s food.Mikey stares at me for a long minute before replying.“So, even if someone tried to make up for their mistakes, you saying they don’t deserve a second chance?” He scrunches up his wrapper and throws it to the floor, looking pissed off.“That’s not what I was saying at all, it’s just that.” I huff.“He condemned everyone in here to die.He fucking locked the door on them.”“Who says they weren’t condemned anyway? Who says we’re all not condemned?”“Whatever, Mikey, I’m not in the mood to argue with you today.” I have no idea what crawled up his ass, but I’m too tired and worried to fight him.There are other things way more important going on.“I’m just saying that he made a mistake, a mistake that he feels guilty enough for.The last thing that he needs is everyone hating on him.He’s spent the last couple of years trying to make up for what he did.”I jump when I feel Mikey close behind me, and when I turn and am met with his angry glare, I’m even more confused.I scowl at him.“How has he tried to make it up? He spent the last however long trying to keep you all away from this place, away from putting these poor people out of their misery!”“You don’t fucking know him enough to comment on this shit, Nina.”“No, and clearly I don’t fucking know you either.”“Clearly!” His jaw grinds.We stand there staring at each other, both of us waiting for the other to say something else [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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