Hello everyone, here's the next chapter. I am sorry for the extreme wait, life has a way of moving past in a blur. Anyway, enjoy and thanks for the reads, reviews, and favorites.
CHAPTER NINE
Knowing we were going to split up so Mitch could try and make the cure while Jackson was in surgery I gave Jamie a few of the throwing knives I had on me and handed Mitch the Glock I had just taken out.
"Be careful." I told both of them sternly before kissing Jamie on the forehead and dropping a quick kiss on Mitch's lips I turned and began to follow behind the doctor who had been waiting for me.
I began to walk beside the Doctor as he began to wheel Jackson away from the lobby, Abe came along with us. While a singular nurse helped the doctor get what all he needed to do the surgery.
I kept my full attention on the surroundings not paying any attention to the doctor as he talked to Abe.
"I'm sorry but you can't come with us." Brought my attention back to the doctor just in time to see him telling that to Abe who grabbed ahold of the stretcher Jackson was laying on,
"Wait. Be strong Rafiki." Abe said to Jackson who was lying motionless on the stretcher,
"You may want this." The Doctor said as he pulled the gun he had been holding off of the stretcher where it laid beside Jackson and handed it to Abe,
"Thank you." Abe replied before giving me a look, I handed him the machete I had taken from the roof earlier and gave him a firm nod, letting him know without words that I would keep Jackson safe.
"Let's go." The Doctor said as he pushed the button to open the hospital doors and began to wheel Jackson into another part of the hospital, a single armed guard standing to the side of the doors.
I stayed near the doctor and Jackson and in the end killed two crocodiles and a lioness while the doctor did the surgery to remove the bullet from Jackson.
When the surgery was over I made sure the hallway was clear before thanking the doctor, offering him my other untraceable Glock, he hesitated but declined it, "He'll be asleep for another hour or two, as soon as he wakes start the antibiotic, the other one is for the pain." He said before he hurried down the hallways searching for someone, probably Abe.
Turning to Jackson as the nurse handed me the antibiotics and hurried after the doctor I decided to move Jackson from the operating room, it was to open and there was only the one door in or out, and I didn't want Jackson and myself to be trapped with an angry animal.
Checking the hallway again I moved Jackson out of the operating room and into the near-by Post Operation Care Unit as there was several other patients in there and another nurse who was more then a little happy to see me and my weapons.
I pushed Jackson into a space beside another patient, not paying attention to the other patient I made sure that everything was okay with Jackson before checking the windows and making sure they were all shut and locked, then I checked the doors and found that I didn't care for how many doors there were and how easy they were to open.
Peering through the one doorway I saw the hallway was empty but it was small, to small to wheel Jackson out of the room in a hurry down but large enough for a lion to creep up it so I blockaded it with the desk the nurse had been sitting behind. She helped as the desk was not on wheels but a heavy wooden desk.
After we pushed it in-front of the one doorway I waved for her to continue her work on the patients while I went over to the other doorway and peered out.
Keeping up my guard I constantly circled between the doorway that we had blocked off, and the doorway that was still, unfortunately very much open.
About an hour later I heard a soft growling noise and motioned for the nurse to stop moving as I peaked through the glass at the top of the door and saw a leopard stalking down the hallway.
Using hand gesture's I made sure the nurse was standing between the beds of the two awake children, I had noticed that the three patients in the room besides Jackson were kids in my rounds between the doors.
Once she was there I motioned for her to speak or make a loud noise of some-sort as I put away my Glock and pulled out my twin daggers, holding them at the ready.
The leopard burst in through the door way heading straight for the nurse who screamed loudly as did the children, jumping I was on-top of the leopard and had its neck sliced open before it got within three feet of them.
However, the loud screams of two of the kids and the nurse must have woke up Jackson who shot up into a sitting position reaching for the needle that was in his arm,
"Stop Jackson! You need that drip right now, but since your up we need to move." I said including the other three people in the room in my gaze.
Thankfully there was a smaller room that went off the Care Unit with a thick wooden door that locked, I helped Jackson walk over to it while he rolled his drip then I had all three of the kids get into one bed and pushed them into the room behind Jackson, the nurse right behind me.
About to close the door I remembered that Abe would probably come for us so I wrote a big note and stuck it on the wall behind where Jackson had been sleeping so Abe would see it if he came to get us before we went to get him.
Turning to the nurse I paused and mentally sighed, from the terrified look she was giving me she would be no help.
"Jackson, you shouldn't be walking with that injury you could rip your stiches and get infected, kids would you mind if Jackson sat up on the bed with you guys?"
The kids shakily shook their heads and climbed off the bed, I helped Jackson get up on it before helping the kids get up on it as well and then I moved to the door, pressing my ear to it to listen for any sounds in the other room.
Not hearing anything I peeked out of the door and glanced around the room, just in time to see Abe enter the Post Op room.
"Abe." I whispered before I opened the door fully knowing the Abe would have double checked behind him and feeling sure I could kill anything that came our way.
"Jackson?" Abe asked worriedly his eyes peering into mine like he was trying to see through my soul. Stepping to the side of the now wide-open door I motioned for the nurse to wheel out the full bed.
"Abe." Jackson said in relief upon seeing his old-friend. As they re-united I moved out of the room to check the hallways finding them clear I stepped back into the room.
"Abe can you push Jackson and the kids? Nurse you just stay with us and you'll be fine." I told her.
Abe nodded and took the nurses place behind the bed, handing his gun to the nurse.
"Which way Abe?" I asked keeping an ever moving eye on the hallway, my ears straining to catch any sounds. As Abe directed me I moved through the hallways when a faint but familiar sound touched my ears. A growling leopard.
Holding up a fist to tell Abe to stop I peered around the corner of the hallway and saw a leopard stalking straight towards us. Putting my Glock away I pulled out my a throwing dagger I had, not wanting the gunshot to alert the other animals to our position.
As it turned out however, I didn't need to do anything. Several armed men spilled out of the stair-case that was directly to the left of the incoming leopard and promptly tranquilized it.
Recognizing them as the 74th Special Tactics Squadron, United States I called out to them.
When we got outside and the kids and nurse went off with a few armed men in one way, Jackson, Abe and I walked in the direction of a group of vehicles that had been pointed out to us. Jackson having decided that he didn't want to be pushed around in a bed anymore.
"So, I'm guessing the cure works?" I asked Abe as I looked down at the dog that was happily walking beside Abe. It had surprised me when Abe had insisted that we stop at a room so he could retrieve something and came back with a pet dog that was very obviously non-aggressive.
Abe chuckled and nodded when Jamie's voice called out,
"Juipter! Jackson, Abe!"
Looking forward I noticed Jamie and Mitch standing by the vehicle that we had been pointed towards, after giving Jamie and Mitch a quick hug I stayed standing in between them my back to the vehicle as I kept watch of our surroundings.
"Hey those kids and the nurse are they okay?" Jackson asked one of the 74th members who stopped to answer him.
"Their already on their way to Nyanga. We'll track down the kids parents." The man said.
"How'd you know we were here?" Jackson asked, voicing the question everyone looked like they wanted to ask.
"All I'm authorized to say is your location was provided by a French national. But we're gonna get you to Johannesburg and from there on a flight to DC." The man said.
"I made a promise. Can you spare two men to take him back home?" Abe asked gesturing to the dog who was wagging his tail happily.
"You serious?" The man asked.
"Yeah." Abe said handing over the leash.
Deciding that I had waited long enough I reached over to Mitch and pulled the bag containing Kujo into my arms. Peeking in at the still awake cub I began to stroke his fur with my fingertips humming softly to him as I got into the vehicle.
The journey was mostly silent but thankfully it was quick and we were in the jet and up in the air less than two hours later.
After getting into the air I could no longer stand staying still and since Kujo had ate half my dinner and fell back asleep I had no worries about leaving him with Jamie who was slumbering on her seat beside me.
Jackson and Abe were a seat up on the opposite side so I asked them to keep an eye on my two slumbering passengers. They agreed and I gave them a quick smile before heading to the back for some alcohol.
I saw Mitch taking a swig straight from a bottle and smiled at him, "Willing to share?" I asked jokingly as walked up to him.
"I was just pilfering some of these adorable little bottles that haven't grown up yet. Would you like one?" Mitch asked.
I grinned, "I would like nothing more." I replied reaching down and picking up one of the mini bottles of Vodka that were on the counter. Twisting off the lid I took a long pull of the liquid, feeling it move through my body with it's normal heat.
"Ahh." I sighed relaxing for what felt like the first time in forever.
After taking another sip I leaned a hip on the counter and turned my attention to Mitch who was watching me as he sipped from his own bottle.
"How many animals do you think have nearly eaten us?" I asked randomly as I took another sip.
Mitch laughed,
"Um, well to be fair to them they wouldn't have eaten us, they would have just killed us." Mitch replied.
I pursed my lips in thought before giving Mitch a nod, "That's true."
Holding my bottle out we bumped bottle before we both took another mouthful of the Vodka.
Feeling the Vodka burn it's way down but knowing I still had a long way to go if I wanted to get drunk I sighed and ran my left hand through my hair as I thought of the possible things that awaited us when we landed again.
"Hey, we did good alright?." Mitch said pulling my attention back to the present,
I gave him a half smile, "Yeah, yeah we did." I replied before leaning towards him setting my half-empty bottle of Vodka down,
"I think we should reward ourselves." I told him seriously but with a playful smile, Mitch smiled back at me and set his bottle of Vodka down and leaned towards me.
Easily closing the gap between us, I captured his lips in a soft kiss that began to quickly grow more heated as we both poured out our feelings into each second of our kiss.
All of the sudden there was a thump and the plane rattled, instantly a sick feeling hit my stomach, "The birds." I whispered to Mitch who gave me a wide-eyed look. The Capitan came over the speaker.
All I caught was 'airspace closed' and 'migratory behavior' as I laced my hand with Mitch's and we began to hurry back towards our seats when there was a loud thud and the air pressure inside of the plane dropped violently nearly tossing Mitch and myself into the air.
I saw Jamie's wide-eyed panic gaze and hurriedly shoved Mitch into his seat with Jackson and Abe as I turned and grabbed Jamie's hand to reassure her that I was there when something hit me in the head from behind.
