Chương 25: Ch. 23 - First Aid

Luna was hyperventilating. I was frozen stiff. It didn't look real. The body was atop a leaky pool of red. His jumpsuit absorbing the color that floated on the sides. I couldn't see his face, but he would've been from my class. He had a Gatherer unit so this was his first Delve. I hazarded a step. It was one thing to know Jacob and Eric died. It was one thing to hear uncle Wilhelm died. But I was about to see someone from my class… from my age. A surge of anxiety balled in the pit of my stomach.

Each step was harder than the last. Luna didn't move, holding onto her knees as he gasped for air. I braced myself and ran down the list of names it could've been. Pietro? No, this guy was too short. Miles? No, not the right hair. I held my breath as I got closer. Jeromy was on the ground. One of the few people that I considered a friend. I dropped to my knees and a trembling hand reached for a pulse. I got halfway to his neck and closed my eyes before committing.

A moment between heartbeats can feel like an eternity. Bump. I wasn't sure what I felt. I fixed myself and got closer. Bump. I felt it that time. His chest was moving but it was hollow. Barely any air movement.

"Luna!" I yelled.

"Luna! He's alive. Help me!" Luna didn't move. She was still clamped onto her knees, panicking.

"Caddie, help me out here! What do I do?!" I pleaded.

"Apply firm pressure onto his wound," he said. A thick blue scan ran over Jeromy.

"It appears he was harmed by a low velocity penetrating injury."

"What does that mean?" I pressed where the blood was leaking from on his chest. Blood was filling my hands as I pressed down.

"It means he was stabbed. His vitals show he is developing a tension pneumothorax. I recommend creating a chest seal," said Caddie.

"He will require medical aid. There is a stasis pod that can be purchased which would suspend his medical status until he can get the medical aid he needs."

"Luna! Get here!" It was only then that she trotted over. She dropped to one knee and held pressure on the bleeding. She wasn't mentally all here, it was clear on her face. But she was helping.

"Keep pressure. I'm going to get a stasis pod!" I sprinted towards the shop. Air was exiting my lungs faster than I could inhale. It was the fastest I ever ran.

"Ilonar!" I yelled.

"A stasis pod! I need a stasis pod!" I burst open through the door and rushed in. Her eyes scanned me as I approached, and fixated on the blood in my hands.

"Are you injured?" she asked.

"It's not for me. It's for my friend. Please. I need a stasis pod."

"Bring your friend, my daughter is a healer." I was unsure. The stasis pod would keep him at how he was until we could get him back on the ship. But he couldn't go anywhere because he didn't have a Frame. Caddie didn't think of that. Or did he not know that? I threw my hands in the air in frustration. Regardless, I still needed it, if only to bring him here without moving him too much.

"Alright, but I need that stasis pod to bring him here." She pulled the tablet and I paid the 1000 credits.

"Bring him upstairs from the back of the building," she said, rolling up her sleeves.

"I'll go tell my daughter." I sprinted back, faster than it took me to get to the shop. Luna's face had turned to focus and she pulled a needle from a pilot's first aid kit. She stabbed at his chest with the needle and breathed a sigh of relief when Jeromy's chest expanded.

"What was that for?!" I yelled, coming to a sliding stop next to them.

"Air was getting trapped in his chest cavity. He needed the air pocket to breath again," she said, calmly.

"Do you have the stasis pod?"

"Yeah," I said.

"But he doesn't have a Frame." I pointed at the Gatherer unit that was still docked.

"He needs to stay here until he can find a Frame. Ilonar said her daughter's a healer. We need to take him there." Luna nodded and shifted positions to give me room. I reached into Caddie's inventory and found the stasis pod. I yanked with both hands and a large metallic like tube clattered onto the ground. It had a glossy film over the top to see the person or object inside. It opened with a swipe of my menus, hissing as it emptied the cold air inside. This story has been taken without authorization.

Report any sightings. Luna got to her feet while I moved to his shoulders. We lifted him on a three count and gently put him down on the cold coffin-esque device. I was about to swipe it when Luna stopped me.

"If you put him in stasis, it lowers his chances of surviving. Since he's staying, let's just get him to the physician," she said. Her hands left a bloody hand print around my arm. I closed the menus and grabbed a handle on the pod. We kept a steady pace, making sure to avoid moving faster than the other. It was heavy, but it wasn't impossible. Luna to her credit, was moving faster than I was.

"She said the back of the building," I said, pointing towards the alley next to the building. At the stairs is where it got tricky. Our pace slowed to a crawl. I had to push the pod over my head, keeping the strain on my shoulders and triceps to keep the pod from tilting. They ached with each step upwards.

"Hold up. I'm losing my grip," I said half-way up, adjusting.

"Alright, I'm good." She kicked the half-open door open with a mule kick.

"Where?" she yelled at the room.

"There," said presumably one of Ilonar's daughters. They had cleared a table in the living room with four Elvian women ready. We hoisted up the pod and brought it down as gently as we could. Luna took one side while Ilonar was coordinating the chaos. I had to take a step back, stretching my arms to feel the circulation in them again.

"Palina," said Ilonar.

"Fetch the decanter. Your mother is going to need the excess mana. Lixana, help your sister." The two that were equitable to teenagers, ran past the door.

"Yula, can you do it?" Yula came up, her hands glowing a bright white. A younger version of Ilonar with a bubbly face. Her red eyes moved likes flames in shadow, radiant and powerful. Stepping into the light, she had a face shield that shined like a screen. Symbols bouncing all over that I didn't recognize. Her hands hovered over jeromy's body, his breathing growing more labored.

"It will take time," said Yula. Her voice was calm and the tiniest bit deeper than Ilonar's.

"The decanter we have here won't be enough. I will need more pure mana."

"Where?" I asked.

"How much? What is in the decanter?" Ilonar took a step closer to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"He will be fine for the moment" she said.

"But she will use up all the supply I currently own of it. She can remove the threat to his life with what she has now. But to fully heal him, she will require specialized water." Yula's radiant hands grew brighter as they hovered over Jeromy's wound.

"Where would we find it?" asked Luna. She had blood all over her jumpsuit. Her hands trembled at her waist. She pulled us towards the front door and leaned closer to speak in a hushed whisper.

"Every territory has a supplier. The supplier of this territory lives on a different island, due south. Kal'quina island. He's the one who knows where to find it."

"Then that's where we're going," I said, picking myself up.

"Calm down," said Luna.

"We can't just leave. Why did this happen?" Her voice trailed off like she was afraid of what my reaction would be. But she was right, of course. We had blood on us and we weren't calm. If the squad who did this saw us leave the hangar now, we'd be caught in an ambush. We needed to wait and find out as much as we could. We needed a shower. And we needed to do it in shifts.

"I'll stay and and keep an eye on Jeromy. You know, in case he wakes up," I lied. She nodded.

"Go get cleaned up. I'll stay here and when you're done you can come back and wait for Jeromy to wake up." I didn't trust what was happening. Not that I didn't appreciate what they were trying, it just didn't make sense. She opened her mouth in protest, but quickly shut it. She nodded again and left towards the Inn. I popped a squat, next to the door frame as Yula worked. Red sweat was beading down her face as whatever she was doing, it looked stressful. Ilonar offered a seat but I refused.

There was a kindness to her that I didn't fully trust, so when she insisted, I obliged, sitting on a simple wooden chair. She took a seat next to me and explained, like a nurse would a family member watching a medical procedure.

"Right now," she said.

"She's aligning her mana to the wound, stimulating healing from the energy in his cells."

"You keep talking about it. Mana. What is it?" I asked.

"I'm not in my mech and this is clearly magic."

"It's not magic," said Caddie. His voice felt like an intrusion but not an unwelcome one.

"You have a different anatomy than her, Stefano. Your cells produce energy. Elvian cells can, in simple terms, communicate with exterior energies when focused. I'll simplify it further since you're… confused. Their cells are made of mana. Your cells are made of energy. They can convert one to the other and that's how they are healing him."

"So they are just using his own cells?" I asked.

"Precisely," said Caddie.

"They use a focus, in this case the face mask she is wearing, to manipulate the conversion."

"How long will she be at it?" I asked.

"She will be at it for a number of hours," said Ilonar.

"Once the wound closes, she will rest, but he will be left under sedation." I nodded. The two daughters returned after a moment, each holding a pitcher of a viscous liquid. It was clear and poured slowly into a bowl. Ilonar got to her feet and gracefully ambulated to her daughter's side, tipping the bowl to her lips. She drank it and continued working. Ilonar returned to the seat next to me and placed a gentle hand on my leg in a show of comfort. She took it back and simply watched with me.

I lost track of time as we watched Yula work. I wondered what my mom could do with that ability. Healing people the way Yula did. In many ways she reminded me of her. Caring for people she didn't know sometimes. Having to return to the Hospital in Central was probably not what she wanted, but it was still where her skills were the most useful. I felt so useless here. So useless. Luna emerged from the doorway, her hair still wet. Her jumpsuit was somehow clean and dry, except for the wet spots her hair touched.

She nodded and motioned me towards the exit.

"What's up?" I asked. She brought her voice to a whisper in response.

"Do you know him?" she asked.

"Yeah. He was my friend from the Academy. I hadn't spoken to him since graduation."

"Alright. I'll keep an eye on him until you're done showering and changing. Then we need to find that supplier, I think. He can't leave without a Frame. And he can't get one without being good enough to pilot." I nodded, pushing down the rage that filled my stomach. Why did this happen? Why attack a fellow squad mate. It made no sense.

"Alright," I said. The warm water from the shower turned the drain red as it washed the blood off me. The message on the quest hadn't changed. I felt so stupid for wanting it. It hovered in the air with it's grim reminder, but it didn't make any sense. Jeromy didn't die. So who did? [QUEST] [A Murder Most Foul] [How did someone die in what is supposed to be a safe zone? I guess we'll figure it out together]