though. We've got to get some
blood inside of Kristin and get her on oxygen or she'll never make
it. Honestly, the way you're looking we probably need to get a bag of
saline and some oxygen into you too."
The image of
Ash trying to sneak a canister of oxygen out of the hospital under
his jacket struck me as being so funny that I nearly broke out into
laughter again, but I'd learned my lesson the time before.
"I'm not
complaining, just trying to make sure you're working on a plan. I'm
not going to be good for much of anything once we get there, so I
can't bail you out this time."
"Your vote
of confidence is absolutely overwhelming, but yes, I'm working on
it."
"That's
good then. I'm just going to close my eyes then."
"Did you
get yourself all taped up?"
"I think
so."
I wasn't
positive I had, but I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Whatever
I'd managed to get done was just going to have to be good enough.
"Okay,
hold on the best you can. I'll have us there soon. And, Isaac…"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks
for taking care of Kristin and helping me keep things together."
"No
problem. You would have done the same for me if it had been Jess."
"Yeah, yeah, I would have."
Chapter 8
Isaac Nazir
River Parishes Hospital
New Orleans, Louisiana
I must have
fallen asleep at some point. I came back to myself enough to be aware
of my surroundings about two minutes before we arrived at the
hospital.
The relief in
Ash's voice when I asked him how close we were was palpable. I
stripped off what was left of my ha'bit and used it to wipe away the
worst of the blood before I slipped my clothes back on.
I rolled out of
the vehicle as soon as Ash pulled up to the emergency room entrance,
and the two of us carried Kristin inside of the hospital. It was like
walking into a tidal wave. Within seconds of stepping inside the
modern-looking, gray building we were surrounded by people in blue
hospital scrubs, all of who were asking us what had happened as they
took Kristin out of our arms and placed her on a bed.
Ash handled
things much better than I would have. He'd had the benefit of being
able to plan out his story while I'd been passed out, but even so I
couldn't have done as good of a job throwing everyone off of the
truth.
Within seconds
he had everyone convinced that Kristin had been attacked by a
mountain lion. It wasn't a perfect match to her wounds, not unless
someone had run across a new breed of cat that had six-inch claws,
but at that point the doctors were more concerned with getting
Kristin into an operating room than with poking holes in Ash's story.
He made sure
that the surgeon knew that we'd stitched up the worst of the vascular
damage, told one of the nurses that I was in shock and in need of
some oxygen, and then disappeared back into the night.
I tried to wave
the nurse off—by that time I was feeling much steadier than I'd
been in the car—but she was pretty insistent. In the end I
decided not to fight her. Even shape shifters don't bounce back
instantly from that kind of blood loss, so I figured it was only a
matter of time before the adrenaline wore off and I'd be back to
staggering around like a drunk.
Ash showed back
up to my room fifteen minutes later with all three bug-out bags.
"I checked
with a nurse on my way back in. They've got her in surgery. It will
probably be another couple of hours before we know anything
substantial, but from what I could hear from outside the operating
room it sounded like they have her on oxygen and are transfusing
blood."
"Good, if
she's made it this long then she'll be okay. Once they get her
hematocrit and blood pressure back up then the only other thing to
worry about is infection."
"Yeah, if
we can avoid Onyx's people long enough for the doctors to finish
stabilizing her then she's got a good chance. One of the doctors was
admiring your handiwork, by the way. Craziest thing I've ever seen.
You can't run an IV, but you stitched her up like a pro."
"I got
lucky. You
blood inside of Kristin and get her on oxygen or she'll never make
it. Honestly, the way you're looking we probably need to get a bag of
saline and some oxygen into you too."
The image of
Ash trying to sneak a canister of oxygen out of the hospital under
his jacket struck me as being so funny that I nearly broke out into
laughter again, but I'd learned my lesson the time before.
"I'm not
complaining, just trying to make sure you're working on a plan. I'm
not going to be good for much of anything once we get there, so I
can't bail you out this time."
"Your vote
of confidence is absolutely overwhelming, but yes, I'm working on
it."
"That's
good then. I'm just going to close my eyes then."
"Did you
get yourself all taped up?"
"I think
so."
I wasn't
positive I had, but I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Whatever
I'd managed to get done was just going to have to be good enough.
"Okay,
hold on the best you can. I'll have us there soon. And, Isaac…"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks
for taking care of Kristin and helping me keep things together."
"No
problem. You would have done the same for me if it had been Jess."
"Yeah, yeah, I would have."
Chapter 8
Isaac Nazir
River Parishes Hospital
New Orleans, Louisiana
I must have
fallen asleep at some point. I came back to myself enough to be aware
of my surroundings about two minutes before we arrived at the
hospital.
The relief in
Ash's voice when I asked him how close we were was palpable. I
stripped off what was left of my ha'bit and used it to wipe away the
worst of the blood before I slipped my clothes back on.
I rolled out of
the vehicle as soon as Ash pulled up to the emergency room entrance,
and the two of us carried Kristin inside of the hospital. It was like
walking into a tidal wave. Within seconds of stepping inside the
modern-looking, gray building we were surrounded by people in blue
hospital scrubs, all of who were asking us what had happened as they
took Kristin out of our arms and placed her on a bed.
Ash handled
things much better than I would have. He'd had the benefit of being
able to plan out his story while I'd been passed out, but even so I
couldn't have done as good of a job throwing everyone off of the
truth.
Within seconds
he had everyone convinced that Kristin had been attacked by a
mountain lion. It wasn't a perfect match to her wounds, not unless
someone had run across a new breed of cat that had six-inch claws,
but at that point the doctors were more concerned with getting
Kristin into an operating room than with poking holes in Ash's story.
He made sure
that the surgeon knew that we'd stitched up the worst of the vascular
damage, told one of the nurses that I was in shock and in need of
some oxygen, and then disappeared back into the night.
I tried to wave
the nurse off—by that time I was feeling much steadier than I'd
been in the car—but she was pretty insistent. In the end I
decided not to fight her. Even shape shifters don't bounce back
instantly from that kind of blood loss, so I figured it was only a
matter of time before the adrenaline wore off and I'd be back to
staggering around like a drunk.
Ash showed back
up to my room fifteen minutes later with all three bug-out bags.
"I checked
with a nurse on my way back in. They've got her in surgery. It will
probably be another couple of hours before we know anything
substantial, but from what I could hear from outside the operating
room it sounded like they have her on oxygen and are transfusing
blood."
"Good, if
she's made it this long then she'll be okay. Once they get her
hematocrit and blood pressure back up then the only other thing to
worry about is infection."
"Yeah, if
we can avoid Onyx's people long enough for the doctors to finish
stabilizing her then she's got a good chance. One of the doctors was
admiring your handiwork, by the way. Craziest thing I've ever seen.
You can't run an IV, but you stitched her up like a pro."
"I got
lucky. You
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