Astrid sat in the back of an ambulance with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders while a doctor looked at her leg. The damage around them was unspeakable. Half of the hospital was destroyed, as well as 3 quarters of the city. There was no power anywhere. No even back-up generators were working. Rescue teams were still searching the hospital for survivors.
"You're quite lucky, ma'am," the doctor said. "Nothing is broken. Just stay off of it for a few days and you'll be fine."
"Thanks," Astrid said, her mind elsewhere.
Outside the ambulance were three dragons; Garff, Stormfly and Toothless. Garff and Toothless kept glancing back at the hospital, waiting for their riders to come out. The building was too unstable for the dragons to enter without risking its stability.
Time seemed to pass slowly for everyone as they all waited with bated breath to see who would be brought out alive or dead.
"How is he?" Astrid asked.
"He just woke up again and I put him back to sleep again," Jorn answered. "Other then that, no change."
Astrid sat next to Hiccup's head and started running her fingers through his hair. "Don't worry. Hiccup is tough. He'll find a way to get through this."
In the corner, Toothless purred in agreement.
Jorn shook his head. "I've seen men the size of his father break under the pain Johann caused. The fact that he is still breathing is a miracle. He refused to break. He was in constant mind-blowing pain and he still refused. Tough isn't the word I would use."
"What word you use?" Astrid wondered.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say Hiccup was a god," Jorn admitted.
Astrid studied the man. He was in awe with Hiccup's willpower, but he was also tired. He'd been awake for Thor knows how long.
"You look exhausted. You're no good to Hiccup if you run yourself into the ground. I speak from experience. Why don't you go wash up in the stream and get some sleep? I'll watch Hiccup for a bit." Astrid suggested.
"Do you know what needs to be done? How to change bandages and clean wounds?" Jorn asked.
"Been doing it a while," Astrid answered. Jorn gave her a pointed look. "How about this: if anything goes wrong, I'll come and get you. Deal?"
Jorn sighed. She was right he was exhausted; how well could he treat the kid if he was dead on his own feet? "If anything happens, I want to know right away."
Astrid held up her hand in a promise. "I'll get you if anything happens."
Jorn stood up and stretched his tight muscles. "If he wakes up again, try to get him to have some boar broth, before giving him the tonic. His stomach can't handle solid foods quite yet."
Astrid nodded. "No problem."
Jorn walked down the stairs and left. Astrid removed the covers hiding Hiccup's bandaged wounds. She had never gotten a good look at Hiccup since they found him and Jorn flying toward them.
He wasn't wearing any clothing aside from a pair of skivvies that rested just above the wound to his right leg. His chest and stomach were entirely wrapped in bandaging. His left shoulder and right forearm were wrapped as well.
Her eyes moved down to his stump. From what she understood, not only had Johann taken his fake leg, but he cut into the scarring, the most sensitive part of it.
She remembered watching Gothi doing her best to stitch the remaining part of his lower left leg together. She had lost count after about a hundred stitches. Gobber later told her that Hiccup had 213 stitches holding his leg together. So much for someone so small. But all the damage caused by the inferno and Toothless grabbing him, it was amazing he didn't lose more of his leg.
Astrid felt tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. It was hurting her to look at him like this. Johann did much worse this time around.
The warrior quickly wiped the tears away and forced herself to continue looking at Hiccup's injured body. His right leg and foot were in a splint and was wrapped up tightly in more bandages keep him from moving the broken bones.
Higher up, his thigh was wrapped tight. Johann had stabbed him just above the knee. Both of Hiccup's legs were damaged. It would be weeks, maybe even months before he would be able to walk on his own again. He would be laid up in bed, unable to do anything but recover and be waited on hand and foot.
Astrid pulled the blankets over Hiccup, covering up his battered body. She sat back down and watched his chest rise and fall.
John stood by the door, listening for a sign of anyone looking for them. He was about to give up when he heard shouts coming from the distance. He stepped into the hallway and shouted. "Over here! We need help!"
A light shined down the hall, blinding John for a second as he heard. "I found someone! Down here. Come on, guys!"
Within a couple of minutes, John was greeted by a rescue team of three. "Is there anyone else with you?"
"Yes," John led them into the room. "He's been injured, and the only way to move him is if we can get him into a wheelchair."
"Don't worry about it," one of the rescuers assured. "Ronny, go see if you can find a wheelchair. We have a path cleared to the nearest exit. We'll get you out of here. How about you sir? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," John answered. "Let's just get out of here."
John pushed Harry down the hall with two of the rescue workers in front of him and one behind them.
"How bad is it outside?" John asked.
"Horrible. Most of the city itself is gone," Ronny answered. "The power grid is completely wiped. Communications as well. We can't even radio ahead to let them know we found survivors. No way to get a signal of any kind. We don't know about anywhere else. Dragons are in a bit of frenzy though. It's like they know something we don't."
"Dragons are very intuitive creatures," John stated. "They'll know things long before you or I ever figure it out."
"Tell me about it," Ronny agreed. "My little girl was playing in the yard about a week ago when a dragon came out of nowhere, picked her up, and moved her twenty feet from where she was. I was about ready to go after the dragon when all of a sudden a car comes barreling into the yard and crashed into one our trees. Right, where she was playing. If it wasn't for him, my little girl wouldn't be here."
"Dragons are amazing creatures," John said. "I'm glad your daughter is okay."
"Exit's up ahead," one of the other workers said. "Just a few more yards. Fred, run ahead and let them know we have injured coming out."
John watched as Fred ran ahead, shouting as loud as he could.
Upon exiting, Harry was immediately taken from John by a medic toward a nearby ambulance. John followed. "His name is Harry, 20 years old, prone to seizures. He was stabbed by someone."
Harry was removed from the wheelchair and loaded on to a stretcher in the ambulance. A doctor was sitting inside the vehicle ready to treat Harry. "How long has he been unconscious?"
"About four hours," John answered. "I treated the wound as quickly as I could. He lost a lot of blood and will need a transfusion. Surgery might be required to see if there is any internal damage."
"We'll do everything we can," The other doctor promised. "Someone will come and find you when I'm done."
John nodded his thanks and began to look for Astrid in the crowd. He wasn't looking for long when he was tackled by an orange blur. "Garff!"
Garff let out a happy tune and began to lick his human. John carefully pushed Garff of him and stood up. "I'm happy to see you too, buddy. Where's Astrid at?"
Garff bobbed his head and turned around, running back into the sea of people. John followed closely as the Deathsong led him to another ambulance. As they got closer, John saw her sitting on the edge, wrapped in a blanket, drinking from a foam glass.
"Astrid," John called out.
Astrid looked up and smiled with glee "John!"
John closed the distance and sat down right next to her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Astrid said. "Just have a rather nasty bruise from the pipe. The doctor treating me went to find a pair of crutches. Where's Harry?"
John didn't answer, he simply frowned.
"John," Astrid said more sternly. "Where's Harry? Answer me!"
"He's going to be fine," John promised before he went on to explain everything.
Astrid held back the tears threatening to fall. "Where is he now?"
"In another ambulance being taken care of," John answered. "He's in great hands. Someone will come and find us when they have news."
Astrid just nodded. She didn't say anything. They just had to wait for news. That's all it was now; a waiting game.
A/N: Hope everyone is enjoying themselves so far. As for the guest review about spicing it up, trauma is my specialty, so hurting Hiccup is going to happen here and there and this story is spiced it up, just give it some time.
Idea time: I was thinking about breaking this story up into two part. End it on a cliff hanger and post the next part under a different title. Let me know what you think.
As always thanks for reading. Don't forget to favorite and review.
Special thanks to Draconicbeing2.0 for being an amazing beta reader. Don't forget to tell them thanks. Without them they this series wouldn't exist.