Kristi and Marielle worked in perfect sync, cleaning and dressing Brick's wounds. The young man had passed out shortly after being pulled free from the iron rods—a small mercy after the excruciating pain his body had endured.
"The compression is working," Kristi murmured, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. "No signs of hemorrhaging."
The news eased some of the tension hanging over the group.
Following Kristi's instructions, Marielle took a syringe from the medical bag and administered a powerful painkiller through the IV line that had just been placed in Brick's forearm.
Next, she elevated a glass bottle of saline solution to maintain a continuous flow, but before long, her arms began to tremble from the strain.
Watching from a few steps away, Daniel headed to the edge of the clearing. One clean motion of his knife sent a thick branch, naturally forked at the tip, crashing to the ground.
Upon returning, Daniel planted the makeshift stand beside Marielle.
"Hang it there."
She hung the glass bottle on the improvised support and gave him a brief nod of thanks before turning her full attention back to Brick.
A short distance away, Boyd stood motionless, staring at the dark mouth of the cave.
"You've been here before?" Daniel asked as he approached.
The sheriff took a few seconds before answering, his chin tilting toward the weathered structure.
"I have. These ruins were here. But this stone slab... and the cave behind it... weren't."
Just as I thought. This is new, Daniel thought.
Four minutes later, Kristi got to her feet.
"He's stable for now." She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her gloved hand. "Now let's get Brian out."
Brian, however, was nowhere near as cooperative as his companion had been. Between fits of dry coughing and muffled groans, he weakly shook his head.
"No..." His voice was barely above a whisper. "Kelly... I need to see Kelly first."
"Brian, every minute matters." Kristi's firm tone left no room for argument. "The longer those rods stay in you, the greater the risk of infection."
"I don't care!" He choked on the words as tears carved thin trails through the dirt on his face. "I heard what you said about the risks. I'm not going anywhere until she gets here. I need to talk to her. I need to..."
Kristi exchanged a look of frustration with Marielle before turning back to her patient.
Boyd drew a deep breath, ready to insist, but stopped himself when he realized Brian wasn't going to change his mind. In his condition, trying to convince him would only waste time, and Kenny should be arriving any moment.
"After leaving her behind to become monster chow, I wouldn't get your hopes up." Daniel spoke without the slightest trace of compassion. "I doubt she's that eager to see you."
Boyd glared at him in open disapproval, while Marielle's eyes widened at the harshness of the remark.
Brian lacked even the strength to answer. Only the muscles tightening along his jaw betrayed what he was feeling.
"Not helping, Daniel," Boyd said.
"Kenny should have arrived by now. You pointed him in the right direction, but he could've gotten lost in the woods. We'd better go look for them," the sheriff continued.
Daniel considered it for a moment. He could use Danger Wi-Fi to scan the area, but he wasn't about to waste energy.
He had plans for when the bar was full.
As far as he was concerned, he was already doing more than enough for people he didn't even know.
"All right. Let's take a look." Daniel merely shrugged.
The two of them headed into the forest side by side, the silence broken only by the snapping of dry branches beneath their boots.
Every so often, Boyd cupped his hands around his mouth.
"KENNY!"
…
It took less than ten minutes of brisk walking before they spotted the group making their way through the trees. Kenny led the way, followed by Father Khatri, whose expression carried an unusual weight. Just behind him was Kelly.
Julie brought up the rear and was the only one who didn't look out of breath.
As soon as she saw Daniel, she quickened her pace and reached him before the others.
"Miss me already?" Daniel raised an eyebrow, wearing an utterly narcissistic expression, completely ignoring the heavy mood around them.
"More like I needed an excuse to escape my mom's lecture." Julie rolled her eyes, muttering quietly enough that only he could hear.
Once everyone had gathered, Boyd got straight to the point.
"They're both alive, but they're badly hurt. We need to get back quickly." His gaze settled on Kelly. "Brian wants to talk to you before we start treating him."
She simply nodded. She didn't fully understand what was happening, but the urgency written across the sheriff's face was enough to keep her from asking any questions.
The group set off through the forest once more. Daniel and Julie stayed near the back, and she took the opportunity to quietly tell him about the argument she'd had with her mother.
When they reached the clearing, they all came to a stop almost simultaneously.
A stunned gasp escaped Kenny's lips, followed by Father Khatri muttering something about a satanic ritual before breaking into hurried, barely audible prayer.
Beside them, Julie clenched her jaw, her eyes fixed on a scene that, while not the worst she had witnessed, was far from easy to stomach.
But it was Kelly who finally found the strength to move. Covering her mouth with trembling hands as tears filled her eyes, she fought the urge to collapse. Somehow, she forced herself across the clearing before dropping to her knees beside Brian, oblivious to the mud staining her pants.
"Kelly..." His voice trembled as he struggled to keep his eyes focused on his girlfriend's face. "Kelly... I'm so sorry. Please... forgive me. I was so scared."
She remained silent for a long moment, staring at his pale face, its features etched with pain and guilt.
"I know." Her voice caught in her throat. "I know you're sorry."
Her gaze lingered on the iron rods piercing his body, the cold sweat glistening on his forehead, and the effort it took him just to keep his eyes open.
This was the same man who had abandoned her the night before. Now, he could barely stay conscious.
"I forgive you."
The tension in Brian's face eased into a faint sigh of relief.
Kelly clasped his hand between both of hers, but behind that forgiveness, her decision had already been made. She could forgive him, but she couldn't forget.
Once he recovered, they would have a conversation. When that happened, their relationship would come to an end.
"Kelly, step back. We have to do this now." The urgency in Kristi's voice left no room for hesitation.
"Is he going to be okay?" Despite the decision she'd made, the concern in her voice was unmistakable.
"We're going to do everything we can."
With no other choice, Kelly nodded and stepped back.
"Boyd, Daniel, Kenny, take your positions. Hold him steady. We need to lift him straight up."
The three men took their places around Brian.
"On three." Kristi positioned the surgical gauze, ready to apply pressure the instant the rods came free. Beside her, Marielle was already preparing the compression bandages.
"One... two... three!"
In one synchronized motion, they lifted Brian's body.
This time, the outcome was completely different.
Brian couldn't even scream. His lungs seemed to fail before a single sound could escape.
The instant the last rod came free, a jet of blood burst from the wound in his abdomen.
"Shit!" Kristi threw herself over him, both hands clamping down over the wound. "It hit something vital. We have to stop the bleeding now!"
A sharp, desperate scream tore through the clearing. Kelly tried to run to Brian, but Kenny caught her before she could reach him.
"Marielle! Gauze, now! More pressure here! Don't let up!"
Without wasting a second, Marielle rushed in. Her hands were quickly covered in blood as she piled gauze upon gauze, each one soaked through almost the moment it touched the wound.
"It's not stopping." For the first time, her voice faltered. "Kristi... it's not stopping!"
"He's losing blood too fast." Kristi looked up at Boyd. "We need blood. Now!"
Without hesitation, Boyd rolled up his sleeve and extended his arm. As a universal donor, his O-negative blood was the best, and perhaps the only, chance Brian had of staying alive.
Even with trembling hands, Marielle worked with precision, inserting the needle into the sheriff's vein while Kristi focused all her strength on compressing Brian's abdomen. With every passing second, the young man's face grew paler, his lips losing what little color they had left.
"Stay with me, Brian," Kristi repeated over and over, trying to draw any response from him. "Look at me. Stay with me."
His eyes slowly turned toward her, but there was no real focus left in them.
"Kelly..."
"I'm here." She managed to pull free from Kenny's grip and dropped to her knees beside him once more, cradling his cold hand between both of hers. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
Blood continued to seep between Kristi's fingers, soaking through the gauze faster than it could be replaced.
The transfusion flowed through the thin tube connected to Boyd's arm, but it simply wasn't fast enough.
It never could be.
Brian's chest rose at longer and longer intervals, each breath weaker than the last, in a rhythm that no one there needed medical training to understand.
"Come on... come on..." Kristi whispered to herself, without easing the pressure on the wound.
Then his chest simply stopped moving.
Her fingers immediately searched for a pulse in his neck.
Nothing.
She tried again, as though persistence alone could change the inevitable.
Nothing.
Even then, she started chest compressions. One. Two. Three.
Brian's body jolted with each impact, but the silence that followed every attempt felt final.
After the tenth compression, Marielle gently placed a hand on her fiancée's shoulder.
"Kristi..."
Her voice broke before she could finish.
"He's gone."
Kristi remained motionless, her hands hovering over Brian's lifeless chest, blood running between her fingers and dripping slowly onto the soaked earth.
For a long moment, she barely breathed, as though accepting that defeat demanded more strength than any procedure she'd performed that day.
It was a shared defeat. Kenny stood with fists clenched over yet another life lost, while Boyd, the needle still embedded in his arm, stared with the profound emptiness of a man who knew the battle was doomed from the start.
Without saying a word, Julie stepped closer to Daniel and wrapped her hand around the sleeve of his jacket. It wasn't fear. Just the weight of one more death added to all the others.
Daniel didn't react. His gaze never left the body resting on the stone slab, and, as always, his expression revealed nothing.
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