Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters from Biker Mice from Mars! Any characters and situations herein are purely ficticious, and any similarity between those and persons living or dead is coincedental :)
I do own my own characters - these are all characters that come from my own work, although I have altered names and occupations slightly so they fit into the real world! I also own The Legacy - unfortunately only on paper but I can dream! :D
Chapter 10 – Waking Up
Freda led Modo into a light airy room below her own. Modo halted just inside the doorway.
"Freda ma'am." The mouse gulped looking around at the hand quilted patchwork quilt and beautiful furnishings. Freda stripped the quilt and the majority of the bedding off the bed before indicating Modo should bring Rimfire over. Modo slowly and gingerly laid his nephew down on the bed. Freda barely waited for Modo to move out of the way before she began stripping Rimfire's torn and bloodstained clothes off; swatting Modo's shaking hands away whenever they appeared in her vision. The others had followed more slowly. Carbine and Stoker looked deadbeat, but Freda knew suggesting they sleep now was a lost cause. She frowned as she took in the full extent of the young mouse's injuries; common sense told her to get the wounds clean, but she was unsure how a Martian would react to human medicines.
"Charley I need hot, salty water and rags for the wounds, and cold water to try and control his fever – put ice in it. Vinnie go and get blankets from the airing cupboard – its along the landing. Throttle I need you to ram-raid my book shelves for anything on medicine or healing. Modo – sit down before you fall down. And you two." Freda glared at Carbine and Stoker. "In or out – not in the doorway."
"Yes ma'am." Stoker gave a mocking salute before stepping into the room and perching on one of the two wide window sills. Carbine hurriedly followed suit; watching Freda closely all the while. Modo sat down in an armchair near the bed head and rocked backwards and forwards, his hands covering his mouth and the lower part of his face as he watched Freda begin work.
Charley reappeared with two earthenware bowls, one let off a wreath of salty smelling steam, whilst sounds of ice chinking against the sides came from the other.
"Give the cold water to Modo – thanks Charley. Modo I need you to keep a cold rag on Rimfire's forehead okay?" The giant nodded and began wringing out the first cloth, Freda turned to Charley. "I need you to help me – we need to clean these wounds up fast."
Charley looked at the wounds all over Rimfire's body; most of them had already gone badly septic. Her eyes widened.
"How?" At Charley's questioning glance Stoker and Carbine exchanged a look.
"We don't know." Carbine replied dryly. "We did clean and dress the wounds as best we could, but it hasn't done any good has it?"
"It's better than if you'd done nothing. Sometimes wounds go septic no matter how carefully they're cleaned up after the injury occurred." Freda's brow furrowed in concentration as she bathed blood and pus from one of the many deep gashes on the young mouse's body.
"How do ya know?" Modo asked in a shaky voice staring at Freda's calm and collected movements.
"I was a very accident prone child, but I was always very well cared for. I certainly put my parents through their paces when it came to patching me up! So I know that sometimes even the tenderest care will not prevent infection." Freda smiled reassuringly. "Rather than asking what wasn't done in cleaning the wounds up, we should rather ask how clean was what caused these wounds in the first place?"
"It was filthy." Carbine admitted.
"Well you can't keep a spaceship clean all over – I mean the front of the panelling looked ok, but the back was revolting." Stoker grimaced.
"Then I doubt there's anything more you two could have done to prevent this." Freda smiled at Carbine and Stoker. "I'm guessing you had limited water and medical supplies?"
Stoker nodded glumly staring at the torn and infected body on the bed.
"He ain't woken yet." Stoker pointed out.
"With what we're doing that's probably a good thing." Freda shook her head. "The pain would be bad, real bad."
"Where do you want these?" Vinnie asked from the doorway, his arms full of blankets.
"Anywhere, we don't need them immediately – it's fairly warm in here." Freda barely looked up as she continued working. Modo changed the cloth on Rimfire's forehead; Rimfire let out a small sigh, Freda glanced at her patient to ensure he wasn't waking up before continuing the grim task before her. Vinnie silently picked up a rag and watched Freda and Charley as they cleaned Rimfire's wounds. Deftly the white mouse mimicked their actions in order to help; Carbine's eyebrows shot up as she realised she and Stoker could do the same. She nudged her now dozing Uncle and pointed; Stoker nodded grimly.
An hour later the wounds were all clean, and had been disinfected with surgical alcohol. Charley looked at Freda's bag in curiosity as Freda began rummaging. Bandages, padding, dressings, scissors, suture kit, plaster, antiseptic creams and gels; Charley was beginning to wonder how much Freda had squirreled in the bag! A groan from the bed drew everyone's attention.
"What..." Rimfire opened his eyes groggily, he felt so heavy and so ill. He cast his eyes toward the apparent light source in the unfamiliar room and saw a strange human. He started up violently only to be pressed back down gently, but firmly. Turning he saw his Uncle beaming down at him with tears in his eyes.
"Uncle Modo?" Rimfire croaked, his eyes narrowing to try and compensate for his head spinning.
"It's ok nephew – yer at a friend of Charley ma'am's, she's patching ya up." Modo spoke gently and was rewarded by Rimfire immediately relaxing back into the bed.
"Charley, could you get a glass of water for him?" Freda asked quietly. Charley nodded and padded off to get a glass from the kitchen. Freda busied herself preparing dressings, and then paused.
"What is it?" Stoker asked nervously from behind her.
"Nothing, just an idea – Vinnie go and get all the honey you can find from the kitchen." Freda looked at the now puzzled mouse; Vinnie rolled his eyes at the seemingly random request and followed Charley downstairs.
"Honey?" Modo looked completely nonplussed.
"You'll see." Freda smiled. "Rimfire right?"
She waited for Rimfire to respond; at first it seemed like he'd dozed off, but there was a slow, almost imperceptible nod of response.
"I'm Freda, I moved in next door to Charley about ten days ago now. I need to ask you some crazy stuff, but it'll help tell us how bad you're hurt okay?" Freda spoke slowly and clearly, always keeping in mind that English wasn't the Martian's first language. Modo nodded encouragingly and Rimfire forced his eyes open.
"Okay." Rimfire squinted, the light was obviously hurting him so Freda motioned to Stoker to pull the blinds down.
"Light hurts huh?" Freda asked, Rimfire gave a small nod. "Okay – now can you tell how many fingers I'm holding up?"
Rimfire pulled a face as he squinted at Freda's upheld hand.
"Three." he replied, Freda nodded and lowered her hand. Charley and Vinnie reappeared with a glass of water and several honey pots.
"Modo, just lift his head up enough so he can drink – that's it." Freda carefully held the glass at the right angle for Rimfire to drink. Rimfire gulped at the water greedily before wincing at the pain in his head. His Uncle slowly lowered his head back down.
"Right, you can close your eyes for the rest of my daft questions if you like." Freda spoke softly, Rimfire chuckled, but closed his eyes none the less, "When's your birthday?"
"September 18th." Rimfire replied hesitantly as he translated Martian dates to earth dates for the human, Freda winced slightly at the answer, but hid her discomfort carefully from the mice.
"Cool. Now who's – er – let's see, who's in charge of the Freedom Fighters?" Freda asked, desperately hoping this would be an ok question in place of the usual one.
"General..." Rimfire screwed his face up. Freda placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"It's ok if you don't know off hand." she reassured.
"It's Stoker or Carbine, I don't know." Rimfire groaned. Modo looked worriedly at Freda who shook her head to quiet the worried mouse.
"Right we'll leave off daft questions on random subjects then," Freda quickly ran through what else she should check in her mind, "ok Rimfire I'm gonna try touching your feet and hands to check your nerves are still working ok?"
Worst explanation ever Freda thought glumly as she moved to the foot of the bed after Rimfire had nodded his consent. Gently she pressed her fingers against different parts of Rimfire's feet to check he could still feel sensation; she repeated the process with his hands.
"Okay, cool. Looks like nothing serious got hit with regards to your body – there's a nasty wound on your abdomen but it's missed any vitals. My main worry is the knock you've taken to the head and the infected cuts." Freda explained. "You're going to need to take it easy for a while – but with the wounds you've got you'll be doing that anyway."
"Okay." Rimfire opened his eyes a crack. "I'm still really thirsty."
"I'll bring a jug of water up." Charley replied as she tripped lightly out of the room again.
"Tell you what – would you like a jelly baby?" Freda asked suddenly.
"A what?" Rimfire's eyes went wide before getting screwed shut against the light.
"A jelly baby is a type of sweet." Freda smiled. "I do re-enactment – me and my friends dress up in period clothing and do these amazing events showing how people lived and fought hundreds of years ago. Anyway the champions of any re-enactment are the water carriers and first aiders – they make sure we have water to drink and medical care if we need it. They always carry sweets with them – usually jelly babies!"
"Oh." Rimfire smiled and tried sitting up. "Owwww!"
"Modo give me a hand?" Freda gently grasped Rimfire under the arm, and with Modo's help got him up into a sitting position. Deftly moving pillows up behind Rimfire's back so he'd be comfortable. Reaching for her bag she rummaged briefly before appearing triumphantly with a bag of small brightly coloured sweets. Rimfire looked sceptically at them; it'd been years since he'd had sweets.
"You might offer them round – you all look like you could use the sugar." Freda suggested. Rimfire reached into the bag and took a yellow coloured sweet before passing the bag to his Uncle. Modo sniffed suspiciously and chose a red sweet before giving the bag to Vinnie. Vinnie stared at the sweets in amazement, he'd seen human kids with packets of sweets, but had never really had many opportunities to try them. He reached in and took a handful.
"Hey Rookie – leave some for the rest of us?" Stoker snatched the bag away and took a black sweet before tossing the bag to Carbine. Charley walked back in with the water jug.
"Sweets huh?" Charley asked. "Are you sure giving Vinnie sugar is a good idea?"
"You could all use it." Freda cocked an eyebrow at the suspicious looking Carbine. The haughty general took a red sweet and popped it in her mouth. An 'oh' of surprise formed on her lips as the sweet fruity flavour burst into her mouth. Freda smiled; everyone loved jelly babies – except the green ones, most people hated the green ones. Throttle trotted in with an armful of books.
"Got everything." he deposited them on a chest and noted Rimfire was awake. "Hey kid – how you doing?"
"Okay I guess." Rimfire glanced down at his wounds.
"Right time to get those wounds dressed young man." Freda spoke in a businesslike manner that brooked no argument. Rimfire looked on in horror as Freda applied dressings coated in honey to the majority of his wounds.
"It'll be sticky, and you'll need to shower to get it off, but it should do the trick on getting the wounds to heal up okay?" Freda explained as she began stitching the wound on Rimfire's stomach. Rimfire nodded watching as Freda deftly stitched him back together. She'd left the wound until last out of cowardice over having to stitch it; in the end it wasn't actually as bad as she'd thought. She carefully dressed it with honey and tied off the bandage. Modo gave a sigh of relief.
"So you didn't need the books?" Throttle asked in disappointment.
"In the end, no, I didn't need them, but I may have done. Besides it gave you something constructive to do didn't it?" Freda cocked an eyebrow at Throttle. She shooed the others out of the room except for Modo.
"Right, you better lay down again Rimfire." Freda ordered. "And what would you like for dinner – apart from hotdogs?"
"Oh." Rimfire looked crestfallen at the banning of hotdogs, but slid down the bed carefully, his face thoughtful. Freda rearranged the pillows for sleeping, and carefully rolled Rimfire first one way and then the other to retrieve the now dirty sheet. She placed the quilt back over the bed, enveloping Rimfire in its delicious warmth. Freda picked up most of the blankets Vinnie had brought in, leaving a couple extra on the side in case they were needed. Rimfire looked like he was still puzzling on food.
"How's about I cook something nice up?" Freda suggested; Rimfire nodded slowly. Freda left the room with the blankets and quietly closed the door. Modo quietly poured his nephew another glass of water and helped him drink it. Rimfire lay awake for a while asking groggy questions before slipping into an uneasy slumber.
Freda placed the blankets back in the airing cupboard, all the while mulling over what to cook for dinner. Something fairly easy would be in order; but something light enough that it wouldn't sit heavy on Rimfire's stomach. Freda frowned; it would need to be relatively nutritious too. She smiled; something like omelettes perhaps. She came downstairs to find Stoker and Throttle both asleep on one of the sofas in the living room and Carbine in the kitchen gazing out of the window.
"Charley and Vinnie said to tell you they were locking up the garage." Carbine said as she turned round to face the human woman.
"Okay, cool beans. I gotta go get some stuff for dinner I think." Freda murmured, as she checked her cupboards.
"Who are you?" Carbine demanded loudly; sounds came from the living room suggesting Carbine had just woken the other two up. Freda stiffened.
"My name is Freda, I met Stoker months ago in England and you can quit barking at me like I'm a wet behind the ears recruit!" Freda's eyes snapped round to glare at Carbine, who shivered at the fiery sparks that seemed to fly out of the angry human's glowering optics.
"Whoa - okay – sorry." Carbine breathed out slowly. "Sorry for being suspicious, but Vinnie kinda marched us in here with no explanations. You did a real good job with Rimfire though. Thank you for that."
"He's not out of the woods yet." Freda shook her head. "Not by a long chalk."
"What?" Carbine breathed in sharply. "How? Why?"
"Those wounds are infected, and I didn't just wave a magic wand. We've bathed them and disinfected them, but the underlying infection will still be there – festering away. We need to treat Rimfire every day, three times a day until the wounds start healing properly. He's regained consciousness which is good, but he's had a head injury – quite a serious one." Freda sighed. "Like I say we're not out of the woods yet."
"You two finished squaring off yet?" Stoker asked sourly from the kitchen door.
"We weren't squaring off." Carbine looked away in embarrassment.
"Yes you were." Stoker stated simply, he looked across at Freda. "Ok kiddo?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Moved to Chicago already." Freda grinned. Stoker strode across and embraced the young human woman warmly. Carbine watched curiously; Freda was so relaxed round Stoker and the bro's. The Martian general's attention suddenly snapped to the large dog that had appeared in the doorway.
"What is that!" Carbine yelled staring at the large shaggy animal.
"Hey! You bought Colonel with you!" Stoker bobbed down and beckoned to the large Old English Sheepdog.
"Colonel?" Carbine hissed.
"That's the dog Carbine." Charley quipped as she and Vinnie came in through the back door. Vinnie chuckled at Carbine's fearful reaction.
"Oh – so her name's Carbine is it?" Freda enquired sarcastically.
"Oh sorry, sorry – Freda this is my niece Carbine; Carbine this is Freda." Stoker performed very belated introductions between the two women. The two eyed Stoker sceptically, before Freda turned to Carbine.
"Well come on then." Freda picked up her purse and headed for the door.
"Huh – what?" Carbine tore her attention from her Uncle and Colonel and looked pointedly at Freda.
"Shopping, you and me, now." Freda walked out; for no reason the female general could fathom, Carbine followed.
Semi-hot off the proverbial press! XD Quick note on the medical stuff in this chapter, the modern stuff is me remembering from when I've had accidents; and my memory - like Freda's! - is a little hazy on the exact details, but I remember thinking how random some of the stuff they asked was! The historic stuff is techniques that do actually work, but have been moved away from in favour of more modern practices. Freda would probably have run across the info in either historic research or re-enactment based research.
Please review and/or give constructive criticism :D Big hugs to everyone who's reviewed so far! :D