Rapture

[Kestra15]

As their casualty was taken inside and the girls went to work, Mak remained at the threshold of the kitchen long enough for James to address him. With Emily, Wisperlee and Petra still outside Mak was grateful that James would be out there to protect them. "Just be careful while you look - don't go out of sight," Mak said needlessly, well aware the other man was probably the most capable of protecting himself and others and that by comparison Mak was little more than a clucking mother hen. He then slipped indoors to support Erin, Ez and Micah.

 

Ez had the situation comfortably in hand, her own natural authority and steady head carrying her through the emergency care they had to give to first close the wounds and then deal with the collapsed lung. Mak instead carried on with the quiet task of keeping everything clean and in order as the rest of the group battled to preserve the man's life. As dirty laundry and waste was created it was swiftly moved away, keeping Ez's impromptu operating area as clutter-free as possible. Blood had dripped through the kitchen and stained the carpet, so as well as giving Ez and her nurses plenty of clear room to work Mak also started clearing away what blood he could.

 

* * * * *

 

Out on the field past the garden, sheds and line of trees another figure appeared. Unlike the first, when this one collapsed to the ground out of sight of the others it took only a few minutes for them to get up under their own strength and start making a slow, determined shuffle to the house. With unnatural accuracy the figure scuffed forward in a straight line towards the other newcomer.

 

When she finally broke through the tree line into view of those still in the garden, the woman was an equally-sorry sight to see. A threadbare grey dressing gown covered a nightdress of indeterminate colour while her blonde hair was matted with knots and blood. Her gait showed she was clearly in pain, her bare feet showing that frostbite had set deeply into both fingers and toes, and although determination gave her strength it was clear that was all she had left at this point. Arms wrapped around her weakened body she didn't stop in her approach to the house.

 

* * * * *

 

If the group had access to the kind of advanced diagnostic equipment that populated modern emergency departments, they would have been able to see what the inevitable outcome of their efforts would be long before it happened. While Ez's care was phenomenal given the circumstances, the man in question was already in a state incompatible with life. Toxins from his necrotic tissue permeated his bloodstream, poisoning his organs. Dehydration and malnutrition left him in a weakened state, while a lack of proper rest further reduced his chances of surviving the common cold, much less the extensive injuries suffered. The blood loss he'd suffered even before appearing before the team was enough to threaten the life of even the largest man, and with no way for the team to replenish his blood volume his cardiovascular system just couldn't provide oxygen to enough organs. Another unidentifiable cause meant his body was in a much more severe state of shock than even these extensive injuries could account for. His collapsed lung was the straw that broke the camel's back - it just took his body a few minutes to realise it.

 

As Ez finished draining the blood from his haemothorax, the man made one last shuddering breath, and then all respiratory effort stopped.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Kestra15

[Fortune86]

James nodded his acknowledgement of Mak's request to be careful. He had every intention of playing it safe. With a last glance at the house where the others were doing their best to help the wounded man, James started to head towards the back gate.

 

He didn't get far when he heard some kind of shuffling from beyond the tree line. Suspicious of the strange noise James pulled the shotgun from over his shoulder and carefully held it out in front of him. Moments later the source of the sound revealed itself, a rather dishevelled looking woman in a tatty old dressing gown. For a moment James stared at her in surprise, and then called out to the others.

 

"Guys? We got more company."

 

As the woman made a beeline for the garden James could see that she looked as frost bitten and as bloody as the last arrival. Since she was still moving on her power James assumed that meant she wasn't as badly injured, but the way she was walking suggested she was still in a pretty bad state.

 

"Lady, are you okay?" he asked as he slowly moved towards her. While he knew he should run over and help, he'd seen enough zombie movies to know how well that might go for him.

[Kestra15]

"Where is he?" came the croaked reply. The woman paused as she looked up at James with sunken eyes, shivering as she looked at him and swaying slightly on her feet. Although she was able to focus on James it was clear that it was a Herculean effort on her behalf just to stay there. The shotgun she barely even glanced at. "My husband. The Loper got him and he Slipped. I couldn't keep up."

[Fortune86]

The loper? thought James. What the hell is a loper? And why do I really not like the sound of that?

 

Since the woman was capable of speech James figured she was mentally stable enough not to do anything too crazy. After a moment's hesitation he swung the shotgun back over his shoulder and moved forward to help the woman.

 

"What does your husband look like ma'am?" he asked. "We just found a guy, but I have no way of knowing who he is."

 

James figured now wasn't the time to ask questions about where she had been or what had happened. She was hurt and worried about her husband, that stuff could wait until later.

[Kestra15]

"He's the one with the ripped open chest in the house," she simply replied, starting to walk forward again now James had holstered the shotgun. "I tracked him here. And...I want to say goodbye to him." Her voice cracked again, this time through emotion. "Please."

[Fortune86]

James wondered how the hell the woman knew that her husband was inside the house. Had she seen them take him inside? And what did she mean by 'tracking' him? Nonetheless James knew she needed looking at, so he offered her his hand so that he could help her to the house. Even though she was currently walking on her own, she looked like she might collapse at any moment.

 

"Ok lady lets get you inside. We'll see what's happening. Was there anyone else with you?"

Edited February 18, 2016 by Fortune86

[Fangirl05]

Okay, it was taking a little too long for this guy to inhale again, Erin thought.

 

"Ez, compress his chest!" she squawked, manhandling his head into the right position and pinching his nose before blowing into his mouth.

 

"Oh, God, that's cold" she commented of his nose, and went back to her job.

[Quhanta]

Erin yelled and Ez dropped everything back into the sink and ran over to the man. She began chest compressions immediately, blood oozing out of his freshly stitched wounds. She thought that the bleeding was good, but when the pause came to check his pulse and give him air, Ez realized that it was just her squishing the blood out with her compressions. There was no pulse and he wasn't breathing. She went another round, but she knew she couldn't fix him.

 

"Erin." She said solemnly and touched her shoulder. "He was dead before we started compressions. He's gone."

[Fangirl05]

Erin sighed and dropped her shoulders at Ez's touch. She'd thought he might be dead when he'd stopped breathing, but still. She felt like she'd failed him. At least Charles had been dead when they found him. There'd been a chance to drag this guy back from the brink and she hadn't.

 

She pulled a towel up over his face with another sigh and waited for Micah to come back. "You wanna administer Last Rites?" she asked him.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Fangirl05

[Avialae]

Micah headed into the living room with a bunch of sheets and blankets piled up in his arms when he noticed that Ez and Erin had moved away from the strange man, and the atmosphere in the room had drastically changed. He thought the man might just be asleep for a moment, but then he realized that the stranger was far too still for someone in his condition. It had never occurred to Micah that the man might die - besides the injuries on his chest, he hadn't seemed all that badly off if you discounted the exhaustion and frostbite, so he'd assumed that as long as they were able to warm him up and treat his wounds he would recover. Then again, it wasn't like he was a doctor.

 

Moving closer to Ez and Erin, Micah dumped the now-unnecessary pile of blankets onto the floor. "Has anyone gone outside to tell the others?" he asked, referring to those of their group who hadn't come in to assist with the man's treatment.

 

OOC: Starting Sunday, I'll be on vacation for the next week and a half. Just assume that Micah is hanging out in the background until then, and feel free to make any group gameplay decisions that need to be made without me.

[Kestra15]

"Just us two," the woman replied, leaning heavily on James as they made their way to the house. Her skin was bitterly cold to the touch, and as she walked James could feel her trembling with the effort. There was little doubt that she was in almost as dire a state as her partner and that she too was in dire need of urgent care, but her determination made it clear that she would refuse to care for herself until she was inside.

 

Not a metre from the door she paused, sighing deeply. "He's already gone," she whispered, and with that promptly slid to the floor, a dead weight at James's side.

[Fangirl05]

Erin looked up quickly at a sudden distant thump. Had nobody bothered to check that the house was locked down in all this chaos? Her face twisted in fury as she jumped up and drew her knife.

 

Whatever killed this guy had probably done the same to her family. When she was done with it there wouldn't be anything left to dissect!

 

Except it wasn't a creature; it was a woman in a similar state to the dead guy in the next room.

 

Well, s#*.

 

"He's right through there" she gestured, sheathing her knife.

[DragonSpirit009]

“Come on you stupid piece of rock.” Emily scolded out loud. Digging holes to lay a new fence wasn’t a really easy task. Especially, if there were lots of rocks in the surrounding area. Luckily the ground was fairly soft. Not like back home.

On all fours, hands and knees, Emily stabbed the ground with the small spade around the rock. Wiggling it left and right she finally got it out and gave a sigh of relieve. As she wiped the sweat of her brow she heard a commotion. She couldn’t see much from her current position but when she heard panicked voices she got up and stared in the direction of the house. For some reason she didn’t want to go look in fear what might happen.

 

Still struggling on what to do, she saw James emerge around the corner. He seemed fine which kind of relieved her but he was looking at something. Following his line of sight she was a women looking in a horrific state. She was shocked and dropped everything running toward her.

 

“Wha-what happened?” she asked as Emily reached James and this new comer. They were already by the house and it was then Emily noticed the mess outside. A broken table, blood, what the hell happened here she thought to herself.

 

[Quhanta]

Ez washed her hands quietly as more people approached the house. They had lost someone who may have had some descent information about whatever the hell was going on with the world. On top of that, they would have to share Ez washed her hands quietly as more people approached the house. They had lost someone who may have had some descent information about whatever the hell was going on with the world. On top of that, they would have to share yet another death among the few survivors left. She dried off her hands and then whipped the towel onto the counter. When she exited the kitchen into the living room, her mood changed a bit; there was another one.

 

Female, frostbitten, dehydrated, injured, but in much better condition than he had been in, by far. Ez almost smiled. The man was completely covered, so she moved to the door.

 

“Hey. Put her in the recliner. She needs medical treatment.” Ez spoke quickly and seriously, then took off to go get the IV that they had ‘acquired’ from the hospital. There were plenty of unused blankets in the living room and she could reuse the bowls with new water for her hands and feet.

 

[Fortune86]

"Oh sh..."

 

James managed to grab the woman just before she hit the floor. He took her in his arms and lifted her up. She weighed practically nothing and was as thin as a rake, but James could just make out her chest as it raised and fell with her faint breathing. Well, at least she was still alive.

 

Emily came up to him, looking as bewildered as he felt. When she asked what was going on he just shrugged.

 

"A couple of people dropped by."

 

Ez asked James to place the unknown woman in a recliner, so he nodded his understanding and walked past her, trying to make sure he didn't bump the woman off the doorframes. He put her down in the recliner and stepped back to let the others see what they could do for her. He hoped she would be okay, he wanted answers.

 

[DragonSpirit009]

“Dropped by?” Emily whispered to herself in confusion. She still wasn’t sure what was going on but the blood trail she saw really caused her to worry. She wasn’t really sure if it was these people who dropped by or one of their own that got injured.

 

“Is everyone okay? Is everyone even here?”

 

[Fangirl05]

Erin refilled the bowls and carried them back into the living room. Good thing her uncle had taught her how to waitress carry.

 

Oh, God, bad train of thought.

 

She set the bowls down and picked up one of the woman's painfully cold hands. "This is gonna suck" she warned her, then turned to Ez and James. "Be ready to hold her down" she warned them.

[Quhanta]

"You hold her down." Ez directed James. "I have to get Mak. He knows how to put in an IV, I hope. She's too thin for me not to hurt her." She moved away from the group of makeshift nurses and found Mak. She told him the issue she would have with putting the IV in such a thin woman.

"Do you think you could manage it? I could if she weren't so skinny."

[Fortune86]

"She's out cold" pointed out James. "I think I can handle it."

 

He walked around the recliner so he could approach the woman from the other side, keeping him out of the way. He knealt down and carefully laid his hands on the woman, ready to hold her in place if need be. While he waited, he look up and over at Emily.

 

"I think everyone is still present, though maybe we should come up with some kind of roll call."

[Fangirl05]

Erin threw a blanket over her and lifted one of her feet. Even with her own muscles, it probably shouldn't have been that easy.

 

"Micah and I picked up a bunch of radios back in Stanleytone" she suggested, "Maybe those would work."

 

She dunked the woman's foot in one of the bowls and waited for the shriek.

[Kestra15]

Initially caught out by their second guest, especially so close to the passing of their first, Mak physically froze for a moment as James brought in their second visitor of the evening. With some difficulty he managed to help rearrange the room so they could work on the less critical female survivor without physically tripping over the male - though with a body physically in the room Mak couldn't help but feel his skin crawl. Without ever turning his back on the sheet-covered body, Mak answered Ez's question.

 

"I only volunteered or did clerical work," he helplessly replied. "I know what one is and looks like, and watched hundreds get put in, but never actually placed one." He paused. "But...some of the experiments we did in the bio side of my course did include some intricate work. I doubt I'd be any better than you, but I was fairly decent with the small-scale biological manipulation and insertion aspects. So if it's last-ditch I can give it a try."

[Fangirl05]

At Ez's mention of her hesitation, Erin untwisted the rubber band from her hair and slipped it over the woman's wrist and up her arm to just below her elbow, then gave her skin a few good slaps. Hey, if it worked for smack hounds...

[Quhanta]

"Small scale is good enough." She handed the IV bag, tube, and needle to Mak, and patted his shoulder. "You've got this." Erin had made the veins a bit easier to get to, but the woman was dehydrated as well, so it wasn't going to be easy. Ez began searching the woman for any major or minor wounds, being careful only to expose what she was looking at and keep the rest of her under the blankets.

[Kestra15]

While Mak didn't have the kind of experience Ez had with cannulation, he managed to keep a steady enough hand and a good enough eye that her guidance he managed to place the cannula on a second attempt, though it certainly was as much luck as anything else in his mind. Still they had something, and once he had it in place and secure they went to work on doing what they could for the woman. Fishing the old hat-stand out of the hallway and with a bit of cajouling they managed to hand the first bag of fluids, leaving it on a free run to get the fluids in as quickly as they safely could.

 

With the woman's care needs seen to, Mak turned to James next. "Make sure everyone is inside and safe - once this woman wakes up we'll want to chat with her, and I'm not confident on how much time we'll have if she does come back," he confided in the other man.

[Fangirl05]

"I'm gonna go let Arwen know everything's clear" Erin announced, rising to her feet and re-tying her hair. She double checked the doors and windows on her way up.

 

"Arwen?" she called when she got to what she thought was the right room. She made sure the window was locked.