Saviour - Michael

The next half hour was more or less a blur of pain as I drifted in and out of consciousness. It turned out getting shot really hurt, and the flack jacket had done absolutely nothing to blunt the blow. Actually that was a lie, but as I think it just slowed the bullet enough for it to lodge neatly in my kidney, I might as well have not worn the blasted thing. I don't particularly remember much of the journey, just a blur of half formed shapes, trying and failing to focus on anything. I definitely tried to give some advice on what to do with a gunshot victim, like never pick them up and run though a forest, but didn't quite get beyond the thinking stage before another jolt sent a dagger of pain through my side.

I was kind of half aware when we finally came to a stop, the girl breathing heavily. I had tried to ask her name but that had gone the same way as all the other things I'd tried to say.

"Okay," she muttered to herself and I craned my neck around enough to see she was looking up at a dark disk in the canopy. "I can do this."

A pins and needles feeling rippled across me, which probably is a testament to how I'd become far too used the pain of the bullet wound. There was this sudden jerk as the ground rushed away and I yelled in pain as my wound screamed. We landed heavily and she finally put me face down on some kind of wooden platform where I half expected the pain would die down without me being jostled all the time. No such luck as it happened.

"Sora!" she roared, hammering on wood, probably a door. I wasn't prepared to lift my head to check "Get Hope out here, we've got an emergency!"

I wondered briefly why hope would be needed; surely painkillers would be more useful.

"Dee is this like last time?" A rather annoyed voice asked as the door swung open. "Hope's…" She petered off, probably upon seeing me. "Who…? Never mind get him inside."

I was picked up roughly once more before being deposited gently on a bed inside. I would have appreciated the caution earlier but survivors can't be choosers. A valiant effort actually allowed me to focus for a moment and I saw I was inside some kind of roundhouse. There were an unusual amount of beds though and they looked practically unused so maybe I'd gotten lucky and they actually had hospitals. Asprin would be nice too.

"Where did you find him?" the woman asked, in a hushed voice.

I wondered whether after a major wound if I should try and stay awake or go to sleep. Sleep was looking good just then.

"The forest," the girl responded, Dee I think it was though I may have just missed the rest of her name. "There were lots of Erasers and no, I don't have any idea where he came from."

"I'll get Hope, and tell Dat."

There were more hurried footsteps and Dee crouched down next to me. "Doing okay there Michael?" she asked softly.

"Been better," I muttered. "Hope's a person right? Doctor?"

"In a manner of speaking," he said hesitantly after a suspiciously long pause. "A healer certainly."

I didn't like the sound of that much but before I could muster the energy to say anything else there was a haze flash in my peripheral vision and a little girl appeared next to Dee with an anxious look.

"Hi, I'm Hope," she said, attempting to smile reassuringly, an effect ruined by the dark circles under her eyes.

I groaned softly. I had not been expecting a six year old doctor. Actually I think that's a contradiction in terms.

"Please tell me this is a joke," I said weakly, stifling a cough.

"No joke," Hope said, deadly serious, something disconcerting to hear from a kid. "Now just give me a moment and you'll be better in just a minute."

See this is what happens when people are cut off from modern medicine, they turn to faith healing.

They disappeared from my field of vision and I felt my jacket removed along with the rudimentary bandages, both of which hurt like hell.

"Now this is going to hurt," Hope said grimly and my thought response was.

"You mean it hasn't already?" I didn't quite manage to get the words out though.

A pressure appeared around my wound and I hissed in pain, really wishing that I knew what she was planning. Whatever it was it was not going to be good.

There was a disgusting sucking sound and I roared in pain as it felt like I'd gotten shot again but this time in reverse. The whole world was awash with agony for an instant that felt more like a millennia and then suddenly it was over. Something hit the ground next to me with a bright rattle and I flopped back onto the bed. I hadn't even realised that I'd been flailing.

"You weren't kidding about it hurting then?" I murmured into the mattress and craned my neck slightly to see a blood stained and flattened bullet lying on the floor. It was amazing such a little thing could cause so much pain, though I would very much like to know how it had been extracted without a scalpel and just how many blood vessels it had ruptured on its way out.

"Actually this bit's going to hurt more," Hope admitted. I felt my eyes widen, I'd had more than enough pain for one day. "Now brace yourself."

I had a split second in which I clenched my fists and squeezed my eyes shut, before my side was hit by a wall of pain. It felt like I was on fire. Actually that's not true, it was more like my kidney was being torn up by a lunatic with a lawn mower, the pieces shuffled by earwigs and then replaced like crazy paving by a Picasso fanatic. And if you think that's a vivid picture try doubling it and you'll get roughly what it felt like.

I sat bolt upright screaming in pain and almost instantly the colour began to drain out of the world.

"Is he okay?" Dee asked Hope anxiously as I realised that my scream had petered away and the pain had gone, though I had just lost quite a lot of blood.

"Bullet wounds take a long time to heal," Hope explained with a shrug. "I would catch him though."

I saw Dee leap forwards as the room began to spin and I successfully managed to do what I'd been trying to do for the last half hour as I sank into blessed unconsciousness.