Chapter 12

Once A Cheater…

Day 45: Mid-afternoon

The harsh winds were beginning to make the branches bow around him as Jackson plunged into jungle, first aid bag slapping at his side on every stride of his long legs. He leaped over fallen trees and crashed through shrubs unless he came across one so big he had to go around it, not even sparing a glance at them in his furious passing. Finally, he saw the group, all but Mel and Eric, who were in the midst of the cluster.

He panted as he broke inside without a word, dropping the bag beside Melissa Wu as he went to one knee, breathing raggedly as he looked at Eric, the improvised bandages on his neck damp with blood, Mel constantly putting pressure on them to slow the blood loss.

She spoke with fear in her voice, but the kind of determination she'd leaned from years of being around her surgeon parents, " Here, keep pressure on the bandages while I get the blood expanders and the bandages and gauze out." She waved Daley over to help et the supplies from the bag as Jackson gingerly put pressure on. Too gingerly, "Cody, you've got to be firm, even if it hurts him," Mel snapped at him, " if he loses it too fast, he could go into a coma, not just shock. " As she spoke, another thought flickered through her racing mind, " Daley, give Lex your outer shirt,"" meaning the white shirt the fair skinned girl usually wore to keep from constantly blistering in the sunlight, " Lex, " she told the scared boy, " wrap it around Eric sweetie, we've got to keep him warm, "

" Yeah, or the shock could make his blood pressure bottom out with the wound," the gifted young boy said, finishing Mel's sentence for her as he hurried to obey.

" Nathan, Taylor," she ordered as she began to open a packages of gauze while Daley got the bandages ready, " go get the travois we carried here. And grab our raingear; it may be storming by the time you get here and the last thing Eric need right now is to get wet ."

"We're on it! C'mon Taylor, " the brown skinned young man said, pulling Taylor into a jog with him, her honey blonde hair waving wildly as she went.

Jackson fought down waves of nausea as he felt and worse, smelt the coppery blood saturating the makeshift bandages. He turned his head to spit as Lex went up and knelt beside him. The small, tanned young Latino put a hand on Jackson's arm, speaking to him in a low voice:

" I could probably do this for a minute if you need to, uh, you know," he said, looking at Eric, still shaking from the enormous scare he'd already been through.

Even at a time like this, Jackson managed a wan smile at Lexs words. Even as big a jerk as Eric usually is with him, the little guy cares about him. Not many kids his age would offer to hold a compress on a slashed throat so a guy nearly twice their age could go puke.

" I'll manage Lex, thanks," he replied, looking up as the two girls shadows fell over him. Their arms and hands were festooned with gauze, antiseptic and bandages. " You're not gonna be able to close his neck up with that stuff, " he said tersely.

" This is just to get him back to the Hotel Tango Jackson," Mel explained as she and Daley knelt down, " the real fun is going to happen when we get him there."

Jackson stared expectantly at her.

" The first aid kits Lex found were military issue, they had supplies like sutures and even some of the chemical stitch kits.. Of course, there're are two more things to deal with, " she broke off as she tried to find a way to voice her fears without making Jackson worse or scaring Lex more.

" Even if we get him there, he's lot a lot of blood," she stressed, " what I have do do is actually fairly simple; se the cut up. But, I have no way to check his blood pressure and I could kill him trying to save him."

Jackson sucked in a breath harshly then hurried to say: " Mel, he'll die if you don't try."

" I'm going to," she assured him firmly, " It's just that the other problem is he's going to need a transfusion."

Jackson stared at her blankly for a moment. " How the fucking hell are we gonna do that in the middle of the goddamn jungle Mel!" he said explosively. The extreme profanity underscoring just how scared he was.

It was Lex who answered, " There are two transfusion kits, we brought one and there was one in a first aid kit. We can get our blood types from our passports. I'm type A+, if that helps any, " he said, looking at the others.

" You're way to little to donate blood Lex." Daley was quick to say.

" She's right," Mel added, "besides, until we check Eric's passport, we don't know what his blood type is. A wrong match would kill him too, from anaphylactic shock, just like the oyster he was allergic to."

Daley spoke up, " Lex. Go on up to the camp and look over everone's passports so e can see if there's a match for Eric and find out his blood type while you're looking."

The boy jumped up and ran, grateful to be doing something other than sitting while the girls, with Cody's aid, set to bandaging Eric.

***********************************************************

Twenty minutes later, the groups was back together in the section of the ruins where Ian, Jory and the unlamented Russell had stayed, during the daytime at least. Lex had barely gotten out of sight when Taylor and Nathan had arrived with the travois. After hurriedly wrapping Eric, they had left, getting caught by the blast of torrential rain just as they entered the abandoned compound. Lex and Taylor had searched through the backpacks for the others passport and looked at the emergency medical information nn therein. Alexander Marin walked up and gave the news to Melissa, who, with Jackson, was stripping the clothes off of Eric while Daley and Nathan were using old barrels to make a platform for Mel.

" Taylor," Mel said as she wrapped Ian Milbauers sleeping bag around the naked Eric, " I need every lamp we have, as close to the platform as you can get it."

" Ok, I'll get them, " the smaller teen said, reaching out to touch Eric's head for a second before hurriedly turning to the task.

" What did you two find out ?" Jackson asked as he sat by Eric, kneading his hands together in frustration.

" Ok, Eric has Type O+, that's what they call a universal donor, he could donate to anyone, but he can only receive from another O+. Nathan and Taylor are both Type AB+, Daley is Type A, Melissa is Type B." He looked up at Jackson, brown eyes meeting blue across a twenty five inch gap," You're the only other Type O+ person here."

" And that's a problem," Mel interjected, " You could give him a pint of blood. That's not that big of a loss ; you'd feel better in a day of so. But it takes a week, at least, before it's really safe to donate again . Except in a really dire situation."

Jackson cocked his head a hissed sarcastically, " That's daily life here, huh Mel." He shook his head and apologized , " Sorry, it's just that, damn, is there ever gonna be anything simple about just staying alive on the fuckin' island."

" At least you're not bored."

Jackson stared at her for a second in shock, then surprised both of them with a genuine bark of laughter. " Give me the boredom any day. All right, what do we have to do ?"

" Well, I managed to get him to swallow the blood expanders; that'll slow down the blood loss. We need to get you a platform too, so we can make sure the blood flows not out of whack. Balance. Whatever." she said as Nathan and Daley walked over, fresh from putting the platform in place.

" We'll get it . I'll help you two." Jackson said.

"Let's move Eric first," Mel said quickly, " I want him as comfortable as possible. We need to kind of tie him down too. If he thrashes around or grabs at his throat, it'll be really, really bad."

Ten more long minutes passed, seeming like as many hours as they went to their business swiftly. Eric now bore a resemblance to a mummy, they'd tied him down with everything they had, from belts to shoelaces. By now, a matching platform had been built for Jackson, who was alternating between deep concern for Eric, anxiety over Mel's visibly fraying temper and an almost primal fear of the iv needles literally making his skin crawl. Hastily suppressed memories of the last last time a needle had broken his skin echoing in his head. Visions of the insane Robert Russell laughing when he plunged a needle of the designed drug Subversion into his veins, causing him to lose control over his own sex drives dancing behind his eyes.

" I think we're ready." Mel said, as she looked at him from where she and Daley had been washing and preparing Eric. She touched his unshaven cheek and whispered to him, " I know hat's on your mind. I know why you hate needles and I know you're almost as scared of me failing as of Eric dying. Don't be scared. I love the to of you and I'll do my best. She leaned over and kissed his cheek , so lightly it was almost like a dream.

Moments later, Jackson, ho's arm had been swabbed down by Taylor, lay, his life's blood flowing from him into the still, almost dead body of his closest, most loved male friend of his life.

It was almost easy, in retrospect. Mel was nearly finished after a grueling half hour of working on the wound with no training and little help. Almost, until Eric work up with a violent start, a horrifying, incoherent scream of anguish rising from his torn throat.

"AHHH! AHH! OH MY FUCKING GOD IT HURTS!!!" He'd belloed in agony, restraints tested to the limit as he flailed."

" Grab him before he tears the stitches loose thrashing. I'm almost finished, but I need him still!" Mel had commanded Nathan, whom she'd had the foresight to have at the ready, just for something like this.

Nate had forced Eric's head down, but the terrified teen still struggled mightily. " ERIC HOLD STILL!!" the springy haired man had pleaded loudly, " OW!", Nathan cried out in unexpected pain, " the little fucker bit me!". Despite his pain, he held on, grimacing as a pair of hands reached around his and held Eric as well."

His arm dripping blood from here he'd torn the iv loose, Cody Jackson struggled to hold Eric down while Nathan withdrew, moving don to push at the teens chest, to try too stop his bucking. He spoke to the injured youth firmly, but ith his emotions plain in his voice.

" Eric, quit fighting us man! Mel's trying to stop you from bleeding to death but she can't fight you and do it. I know it hurt like hell, but you'll die if you don't quit this bullshit! Don't you understand, you'll die! And I won't fucking lose another person here, dammit ! I fucking can't!"

The words, spoken with such fierce emotion, finally seemed to sink in . The ginger haired man sank back down, but his left hand beckoned. Jackson swapped places with Nathan ( who was making sure he kept his hands away from the possibly carnivorous Eric's mouth) and pressed down lightly with his right while gripping Eric's hand with his free one. He saw Eric flinch, felt it as well as Mel resumed. When the pain forced a groan from Eric, Jackson said:

" Squeeze my hand when it hurts. Don't move, just squeeze. Don't worry you won't hurt me." He barely held down a gasp of his own as Eric did so ith amazing power for such a slightly built man. Seconds later, he went limp as Mel spoke up.

" That's it, we're done." she said , even as he collapsed. She hurriedly

Checked his pulse and breathing before speaking to the shuddering Cody.

" He's ok for now Jackson. I think it's the strain, the pain and blood loss more than anything else. His body needs rest. Yours does too. Quit worrying about Eric; he managed to cheat death again. Once a cheater…"

Jackson lay back don on the improvised platform and the tears of fear began to fall as Mel held him. The others silently left the room, knowing that Mel would call them if they were needed , knowing that at this moment, Jackson needed her as badly in his on way as Eric did.