“Gonna need to sew this up kid, it’s to the bone.” Said Orm, taking a needle and some thread like material from his bag. “Sorry, but this will hurt kid. Bite down on this,” continued Orm as he handed Jacob a rolled piece of cloth to place in his mouth.
Removing Darren's hand and the blood-soaked cloth, Orm began to stitch the wound. Silently bearing down on the cloth, Jacob looking away as he fought back the swelling tears. Finishing closing the wound, Orm covered the area with some cloth, tying it tightly around the wound.
“Try to take it easy kid, I’m running out of medical supplies.” Said Orm with a laugh, as he packed up his first aid kit.
“This one is different than the others I’ve seen,” said Jacob, looking down at the soldier in red armour, while he played with the knife.
“Yeah, the day we found you on the roof the other ones left in their airships with all the people they've taken. That’s when these red-suit ones started showing up,” said Darren, as he removed the belt and knife sheath from the soldier and handed it to Jacob.
“These ones don’t seem interested in taking anyone either, kid.” Said Orm, gesturing over to Tom and Maggie, as he threw his pack across his back and headed for the stairs.
“We need to get moving. More of them will be on their way,” said Dawn, who had been watching from the top of the stairs. “Here, it’s getting cold out there,” continued Dawn, tossing one of Tom’s old winter coats down to Jacob.
Following Orm and Darren up the stairs, Jacob began to painfully put the coat on as he felt the cold air moving through the open door of the house. Pausing briefly at the top of the stairs, he looked down into the darkness of the basement, hoping to hear Alex call out to him again. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Jacob noticed Dawn standing beside him looking down into the dark with him for a few moments. Gently pulling on his arm, as if to say there is nothing down there, Dawn left to catch up with the others, with Jacob following close behind.
X
The trees bowed and creaked, as they stressed against the strong wind picking up from the north east. The light from the two moons high above barely able to diffuse through the increasing cloud cover that cast a vale of darkness over the landscape. Standing high above the ground on the cold and twisted remains of their ship, Jin stared off at the distant silhouettes of trees barely visible as they danced in the fading light. The increasingly cold winds began to carry a flurry of fast-moving snow and ice forcing Jin to retreat to the safety of what remained of the ship. Opening the hatch into the hull, Jin took one last look out across ground he recently buried the deceased members of the crew, before climbing down into the ship.
Closing the hatch above him, Jin pulled a lever turning on some dim orange lights along the wall, before declining through the narrow shaft. Arriving at the open interior hatch below, he noticed the ladder he used to climb up had broken off, forcing him to plan out the eight-foot drop to the floor of below. Holding onto the rim on the hatch, Jin groaned as he slowly lowered himself through the opening as far as he could before dropping the remaining distance. Slamming hard onto what was meant to be the roof of the habitat ring, he grimaced in pain as loud echoes bounced through the vessel. Following the tarnished piping around the curvature of the ship, he carefully navigated along the roof to the other side of the ring.
“It's colder than the ether out there... Looks like a storm is coming in,” Said Jin, dropping down from above and sitting down next to Reliq.
With the latches snaping loudly apart, Jin opened a silver hard shelled case next to Reliq. Removing a small vial of clear blue fluid from the case, he proceeded to screw the vial onto a crude, intimidatingly large needle. Although this wasn’t the first injecting since the crash, Reliq observed in anticipation as she prepared for Jin to administer the medication
“This should be the last dose. That was a nasty break,” said Jin, as he pressed the needle into Reliqs bruised and purple outer thigh. “Should be healed enough to start walking on it tomorrow,” continued Jin, placing a bandage over the site where a fractured bone broke through the skin only days prior.
“Bet you sure miss the rapid healing pods back on Tyde.” Said Jin, snapping the medical case shut.
“Nah, how else would I ensure my ships doctor can still perform without all the fancy equipment,” Said Reliq with a chuckle that forced her to grab her ribs and withdraw in pain.
“Take it easy captain, the medication may have expedited your healing, but it will hurt for a while. Now get some rest, I am going to see if I can get some of the main systems back up.” Said Jin as he climbed up onto a nearby desk and jumped up into a tube above, leading into the command module at the centre of the habitat ring.
Starting to feel the pain-relieving effects of the medication, Reliq fell into a deep dreamless sleep before being suddenly awoken by the sound of ice and hard snow beating against the hull of the ship. Groggy and unsure how much time had passed, Reliq stared at the soft day light spilling in through the exterior windows of the vessel. In the dim light of the interior of the ship, Reliq removed her bandage trying to examine the wound on her leg. Finding little evidence of any wound, Reliq used the workstation next to her to try to pull herself to her feet.
