"I didn't kn-know it was broken haa." Jay wheezed breathlessly, holding firmly onto his chest whilst Cole and Kai were helping him back into the bedroom after a day of fresh air. "I remember you t-took it though, instead of your own!" He chastised mockingly, then grimaced with an unknown hidden pain.
"I kinda had to," Cole reasoned with a guilty face, even if he couldn't remember trashing it in the first place, only very vaguely seeing Jay's bike rather than his own the morning after the night when Jay had disappeared. "I felt responsible, for the state it was in and we kinda knew it was your pride and joy."
Nya was following in hot pursuit with anything that she thought would keep the pain at bay, so her hands were loaded up with liquid oral morphine and various other pain meds, anything she could grab without overdosing her boyfriend.
"You'd fixed it up then?"
"Y-yeah, of course." Cole panted, his free hand rubbing the back of his head with a subtle awkwardness about it. He took that moment to cast a worried and extremely concerned glance at both Nya and Kai who were at his eye level. They both looked back at him with the same look of dread as they took in the deteriorating state of their blue eyed auburn haired brother.
Jay's head had flopped forwards in his tired state, though he was still attempting to weight bear so as to avoid the unnecessary but inevitable mollycoddling that Nya and Misako would willingly provide.
Cole had a feeling that whatever this was, it didn't look good for Jay. He had a gut feeling that Jay was going to be admitted at this rate. The whole struggling for breathe didn't fill him with much positivity either, despite what they'd said in the hospital.
"Oh it's perfectly normal. A side effect if you will, from being on the ventilator. Some have delayed reactions to it because of the trauma so Mr Walker might just be one of those. Nothing to worry about though."
"And what about his temperature? Or how fast he's healing?"
"The wounds were not that deep to begin with, the evident and obvious bite marks of unknown origin on his arm and neck though, well they will need redressing for a week at least, that was why he was on IV antibiotics. Please Mr Brookstone, try not to fret, he is healing as quickly as anyone would."
"And his temperature?" Cole repeated, slightly flustered. "Why's he so cold?"
"Again a possible side effect from whatever he subjected his body to. Mr Brookstone, drugs can have a devastating effect on the brain and other organs. It shouldn't be permanent though, maybe keep a eye on it, keep him wrapped up, plenty of sunshine."
Basically the hospital's discharge team had been useless. His fears had not been alleviated nor calmed and he was left none the wiser about what to expect other than Jay being a walking refrigerator, which the doctors didn't seem overly concerned about.
Kai didn't say a word either, he was supporting Jay's legs while Cole took Jay's upper half. Between them they hoisted him onto the bed at an awkward angle. Cole gave one almightly tug and pulled Jay up the bed so his head would rest on the feather filled pillow. And because of the sudden and swift change in position, Kai nearly fell onto Jay in the process of laying him on the bed.
Once Jay was flat out on the bed, Kai grabbed the landline phone and began dialing 911 as a matter of urgency, for clarification and advice.
Waiting for the eventual dialing tone was like waiting for paint to dry. The line eventually answered and a snooty bitch answered the call. Immediately she got Kai's back up as she sensed how flustered he was. "I am calm." He growled under his breath, staring at the phone in annoyance. "Fine..." He bent over Jay's form as Cole removed some of Jay's outer clothes.
"His breathing rate's really fast, err pulse, Nya can you check it?" He ordered, a little too harshly feeling out of his depth for not having all these details to hand before calling, but then really who would have all the required observations to hand when phoning in a 911 call?
Jay smiled half-heartedly at being jostled around with Nya's soft touch, typically Kai wasn't as gentle and he was quick to notice the panic stricken face of his spiky haired brother. "You worry...too much Kai." He didn't try to sit up or move, even get himself comfortable from his odd angle on the bed. He was in too much pain to attempt that. Instead, he was focusing on his breathing as it was the only thing he could do, but even that was failing him, well, it felt like it was.
"Cole, can I get some w-water.? He mumbled mid way through Nya plying him with a hefty 10ml dose of liquid oral morphine. "Please."
How could he refuse that prize winning smile and the puppy dog eyes of his best friend who looked genuinely ill but cheeky with it? "Sure thing bud, be back up in a few." Cole nodded, racing out of the door without being asked twice, running downstairs to the kitchen where the drinking water tap was. The bathroom faucet's only held the water from the cold water tank in the eaves, the kitchen however was direct from source and underground.
"Nya," Jay whispered, tousling her hair between his blueing half moon nail beds. Breathing slowing as the chest pain increased, he squeezed his eyes shut in response. Now, mouth parched with the excessive breathing, he looked solely at Nya. "What's happening?"
"Oh Jay..." She smiled nervously whilst holding his hands in her own. Her face though calm, was tainted with fear and uncertainty. Nya didn't know what was occurring either only because this was nothing like what Cole and Kai had endured during their transformations. Not that she thought that was happening anyway, at least she hoped it wasn't that. No, internally she shook that from her mind, this was nothing like that. Though, to alleviate these newfound fears, she held her breath and discretely checked his teeth as she placed a dissolve-able analgesic tablet on his tongue. This was despite the fact that she had absolutely no reason to believe he was anything but her boyfriend. Her held breath and rise in anxiety relaxed slightly when she saw nothing but normal teeth in his mouth and she gently stroked his cheek in response, mostly to allay her own feelings of dread and uncertainty.
"It hurts..."
She nodded in response to his breathless admission, it was al she could do, being as she couldn't sympathise. She had no idea of the pain he may or may not have been in, even if he was hiding the majority of it. "Kai's phoning the paramedics, they'll be able to help you better than we can." She said, hands gently clasping his face afraid to let go in case his eyes closed for that final time. In reality she was attempting to keep her fears at bay, one hand counting his pulse. "Heart rate is 116."
Shaking his head, Jay was adamant he wasn't that ill, not as ill as some of the patients were and certainly not ill enough to warrant a hospital admission. "I don't want to go to the hospital."
"You might not have a choice bud." Cole replied having reappeared at the doorway, tray laden with a earthenware jug of fresh water and a filled tumbler with aqua vita.
Jay had muttered something incomprehensible under his breath, likely mildly offensive at Cole's remark. He winced as he sat, taking the tumbler of water which Cole had poured and handed to him. A slight look of appreciation on his pained features. "Hmm, thanks."
He didn't sit on the bed as he would have normally done, Nya was there and Kai was too close on the other side, looking over Jay with a level of scepticism that rivalled Zane's. Evidently, he was being given conflicting advice on the phone and Cole could tell by judging Kai's exasperated looks, meant he was getting nowhere and fast.
So, rather than standing there like a spare part and helpless at that; Cole stood to the side and placed the tray on the nightstand. Sure, he had the feeling that Jay was anything but thankful. He really didn't want to back in to hospital, he couldn't blame Jay either. Heck, the last time wasn't exactly pleasant for him, especially when he had the whole addiction talk from the MDT and then offered the chance of going to weekly drugs anonymous meetings.
"Nya?" Kai called from the doorway. Handset hanging low, dialing tone none existent as Kai had ended the call. "We need to up his pain meds but lower the oramorph!" He frowned, being that Nya had just plied him with a large dose. "And uh, keep him warm."
"Great tell me that now..." Nya huffed,placing the bottle out of reach of Jay.
"Sorry, it's just that the Operator spoke to a health professional, they seem to think it could just be a simple fever or withdrawal symptoms, we just gotta keep an eye on it."
She shook her head in annoyance. This was ridiculous, how could they think it was either? Jay wasn't the type to have an addictive personality and a fever...no way, none of them were remotely ill, even Donald had his seasonal flu vaccine. "He doesn't have a fever, he freezing cold?" Her expression incredulous at her own brothers' words. "Doesn't look like a fever, he can hardly breathe. And why would they think it was withdrawal, he's not addicted to anything?"
Kai bit his lip at Nya's remark, of course she wasn't going to believe that lame excuse, neither would Zane, even if the truth had been there for all to see a few days ago. Sadly, when Jay had arrived at hospital, he looked like he had overdosed, even had the pinprick scars running down his arms and legs, tourniquet bruises here and there. Then to solidify their claims, blood results had come back with high levels of classified narcotics in. So, the 911 operator and on call Doctor had a point; this could quite possibly be a delayed withdrawal. The only cure for that was: sleep and rest and keeping on top of his pain.
"Well Nya," Kai argued gently. "It would explain the pain and how ill he looks. Even the hospital said he might experience it at some point."
She slowly shook her head in denial. Maybe it was withdrawal, had she overlooked that in her fears of thinking it was something more sinister? Something she thought as serious as being a vampire despite the fact she had no proof to back up her fears. This was also despite the fact there were no more vampires left in Santa Carla. "Withdrawal, Jay..." She held his face, struggling to believe what he was experiencing was that, but who was she to argue with the medical professionals?
"Nya," Jay whispered swallowing deeply. "It'll be okay, you'll see." His blue eyes looked dull, heavy. "Kai's right, maybe I-I need to sleep it off."
"You think we overdid it today, guys?"
"If we did, I still enjoyed it." Jay smiled, biting his purple lip gently whilst understanding her implicitly.
This day had been arranged because the last time they all went out as a team had been over a week ago and so much had happened in that time. And, of course, it had been planned because Cole felt heavily responsible for being the cause of all of this, in his solely focused mindset of 'getting the girl' and then partaking in initiation after initiation to prove his worthiness in joining David's gang. So, Cole and Kai had spent the previous day planning a relaxing outing for Jay. It had involved a few hours on the pier, no rides just gentle sea breeze as ordered by the doctors. He needed to walk to get some strength back, to get some sunlight. Then they had a light lunch at the diner where Nya had worked before handing her notice in. Sadly, this had originally been the plan before Cole left to pursue Star and Jay vanished after trying to save his brother's life on the bridge. The day had finished with a lazy afternoon on the beach, watching as the sun went down, reflecting beautifully on the Pacific ocean.
Jay and Nya couldn't help themselves despite how weak he had felt, so the moment took them under the boardwalk when Zane, Cole and Kai, were playing beach volley ball. They lay in the sand innocently, cuddling and kissing and talking, in a sense they were catching up on lost time. Both being the best medication for each other until the sun had gone down and Jay's pain returned tenfold.
His bright blue eyes slowly closing. Taking all their words in but lacking the energy anymore to respond as enthusiastically as he wanted. "I'll be fine tomorrow, I'm just tired." The yawn made him feel worse and his eyes remained closed after that. No amount of rousing would wake him as he fell into a deep sleep, almost coma like in nature.
"I'll stay with him." Nya offered, brushing some errant hair from his face as he slept. "I guess this is a good bit of news Kai, he's not cold anymore." She noted, feeling his face. A sigh of relief ensued at his now room temperature skin.
"You want something to eat and drink then, reckon you're hungry?"
She half shrugged. To be fair, Nya had eaten small morsels with everyone her brothers in the diner, however her worry and concern over Jay's most recent hospitalisation had affected her appetite somewhat. She looked at Jay again, nodding her head so Kai could see, either her boyfriend was exceptionally clever at hiding how much pain he had been in all day or maybe this was a part of his lengthy recovery that he was trying to avoid showing.
"Nya, he'll be fine. Like he say's he probably just needs to sleep it off." Kai soothed, pulling Nya from the bed. "Come on, lets leave him to rest, he could probably do with the silence anyway."
She looked mildly apprehensive at Kai's suggestion of leaving him to slumber, because it was all he'd been doing since being back home. But, maybe the doctors were right after all, he really needed to sleep. And, the more she observed him, the more her mind chose for her. Nya nodded her head and very carefully covered him up with a thick quilt, a quick peck on the cheek which would have normally given a smirk in response this time, it gave nothing at all. Jay was sleeping so deeply that even a fire alarm wouldn't have woken him now. "Good night, get some rest, we'll be up later to check on you."
Nya and Kai vacated the room, closing but not locking the door behind them.
"Is Lloyd back yet?" Nya fading voice queried her brother as they traversed the wooden stairs.
"He went out with his mom today, he might be having a meal on the seafront, ya know the whole mom and son bonding thing?"
One by one, the hallway lights were switched off but the bedside lamp remained illuminated. The warm glow it cast upon the walls was enough to remind Jay where he was if he woke. Cole had been trying to minimise Jay having these waking visions of being back at her house again. Leaving the lamp on and decorating the room with things that Jay liked was helping gradually, unlike the first night of being in a pitch black room, that had been a long night, never ending in some aspects.
Unknown to Kai, Nya and Cole was the hidden Lloyd who had held his breath in the adjoining bathroom. He had stood patiently in the dark, extremely grateful that no one had chosen to use it at that moment, otherwise he'd have some lame excuse to make up as to why he was waiting out in the bathroom with the lights off. Not only that, but he also had the Frog brothers waiting with him, in full on camouflage gear and warpaint.
Eddie was holding a crowbar, Alan a metal tube stake. Lloyd, a bottle of inconspicuous water in his hand, finger to his mouth until his brothers had cleared the stairs.
"Come on, coast is clear." He whispered, opening the bathroom door and tiptoeing out towards Jay's bed.
"Don't hurt him, guys," Lloyd warned, getting closer to Jay's bed. Opening the blinds slightly to gauge how dark it was outside and if they would be able to do this easily and without being stopped or questioned.
"You want to see if he's a full vamp doncha?" Alan smirked, revealing a small test tube of congealed blood.
"Where do you even get that?" Lloyd turned his nose up, avoiding the posed question all together. Of course he wanted to know, because then they'd be able to do something about it, he hoped. Sure it would take some getting used to and some serious rehousing adjustments, not to mention ground rules about sucking on human blood. He shuddered slightly and cringing, Lloyd nodded his head.
He watched as the Frog brother's got into place either side of Jay's prone form. The moonlight providing a sinister scene by casting an alabaster white glow on Jay's deathly white face whilst he slept.
"Watch closely greenbean..." Eddie warned, crowbar at the reading in a wide one armed arc. "And have that water ready to mask the smell."
Lloyd knew why they referred to him as such now, it was his favourite colour, plus he'd told them as much. "Mask the smell of what again?" he asked, voice barely heard to avoid rousing suspicion from his brothers in arms, downstairs.
"The smell of his own blood." Alan said as he popped the top off directly under Jay's nose. "Watch closely."
It was near on theatrical in appearance and a few seconds was all it took before Jay's eyes had turned from blue to yellow red. His usually calm smile and friendly demeanour gone in a heartbeat as he turned feral and bared both sets of deadly razor sharp teeth at the one who held the blood. Jay lurched forward grabbing Alan's arm, the one holding the blood in a vice like grip.
Jay had been close to breaking the bones in Alan's forearm until the clang of metal was heard in conjunction with the sound of a dull thud as the bar made contact with someone's skull.
"That's gonna leave a bruise..." Alan half whined, looking at his arm and the appearance of a red hand shaped bruise.
"You just flat out whacked him with that and you're more bothered about your arm?" Lloyd whispered and shook his head as he poured water onto Jay's wound. He was doing as he had been ordered, keeping the head wound wet and free from the scent of blood, because it was now largely apparent that Jay was a vampire, as had been suggested earlier. "Sorry Jay..."
"I reckon we got half an hour before any of them come up here to check on him. You gonna stay here and give them an excuse or what?" Alan asked as he got into position at the business end of Jay's now deadly razor sharp maw.
"No." Lloyd shook his head. "I'm coming with you, I'm not leaving him no matter what."
I made a promise today that I wouldn't leave him and I' damned if I'm gonna break it.
Eddie nodded in response, shrugging his shoulders. "Fine, then it's gonna be your funeral buddy if this don't go to plan. You okay with that?" Eddie had lifted Jay's legs with difficulty, being that Jay was a few years older and somewhat slightly heavier what with his additional height over the two younger brothers, he was heavier than anticipated.
Lloyd nodded. "He won't hurt me." Of that he was never more sure, at least he hoped Jay wouldn't. "You want some help to get him into the van?"
Both brother's sweating nodded quickly and watched Lloyd led the way down the back stair case that Donald had built onto the back veranda.
"So where we going then? This is well off the beaten track?" Lloyd looked outside, the gloomy wet sky did nothing to ease his anxieties as they pulled up to what looked like an abandoned penitentiary.
"Just keep that head wound watered down. We can't be doing with him waking up just yet."
"He wouldn't have had a bleeding head wound if you hadn't hit him with a crowbar." Lloyd snarled out complying belligerently whilst pouring the warmed bottled water over Jay's head to wash the blood away. He had been told of the reason too. The scent of it would be enough to rouse Jay from his slumber. And, considering he could see Jay's sharpened teeth, he didn't want to chance him waking up whilst being in such a close proximity. He had to hope that the fragranced water would mask the smell of iron rich blood enough to calm these newfound vampiric senses.
"Well we were proving a point though and he vamped out on us." Alan countered. "What would you have done?"
"You didn't need to hit him around the head with it though, he's gonna have a monster black eye now."
And a new fricking scar too.
"Well, the other option was a stake..." Eddie offered, fist pumping Alan. "Crowbar seemed the better alternative, seeing as you want him alive."
The back doors of the van were opened from the outside and Jay was quickly dragged legs first out of the van, and onto a makeshift gurney. All the time following the entourage and pouring another bottle of water over the blood trail so Jay couldn't sense it.
God, I really don't like this.
Finally at a standstill, Lloyd took the opportunity and heaved Jay up by the armpits so his legs weren't dragging on the floor. And, for his care, he received a wary glance from Eddie, what with now being in such close proximity to the sharp and deadly end of this bloodsucker, otherwise know as Jay.
Some impossibly large metal doors began to open inwards and a couple of burly men were seen inside, standing guard almost. Although Lloyd wondered what or who they were guarding. It wasn't like there were living prisoners to watch anymore, spirits maybe judging by the eerie nature of the place and the fact so many death row inmates had met their ends here.
As soon the Frog brothers, Lloyd and the unconscious Jay were safely in the abandoned facility, the doors were locked and bolted from the inside. No one was going anywhere tonight, or so it seemed.
Reluctantly, Lloyd followed the Frog brothers and the other men who were carrying Jay. It was only then that he noticed the ever increasing amount of converged men as he walked further into this abandoned prison. Now feeling like a spare part, Lloyd attempted to support more of Jay's weight and remarkably, it was easier than he thought. Maybe the weight loss was more noticeable now because he hadn't eaten for a while and that was all beginning to make sense.
He kept a check of their current direction in case he and Jay needed to make a quick escape. The windows were barred, as expected, at was a prison after all. The doors were reinforced and the air con ducts were so high up it would be impossible to climb. The only way out were the doors.
Reluctantly and with a growing sense of dread, Lloyd carried on walking, holding Jay's hand as he did so. All this time looking around, he found they were walking down a long corridor, it seemed never ending though there was a literal light at the end of it. He figured that out of all the open doors of this eerie penitentiary they'd passed, the lit room ahead was their intended location.
And to make matters worse, it was almost as if he could feel Jay's life slipping away the closer he got to this room, feeling of self doubt nagging at him for not divulging it. Guilt for not allowing his brothers and Nya their chance to say goodbye to Jay.
Lloyd had taken their chance away and he felt wretched for doing it, for being the one who would be there during Jay's last dying breath. Because he had agreed to do it, to be the one to drive the stake in. Looking around himself, he sure as hell wouldn't be letting these guys do it. They didn't look to have a bone of sentimentality in them. Probably didn't have an ounce of empathy either.
Quite soon, too quickly for Lloyd to comprehend, they had arrived in the room that it was to take place. It was stainless steel in areas, some tiles missing here and there with not an ounce of sanitation anywhere, this room definitely wasn't sterile, it was filthy. the floor was covered in grime and what he assumed was unknown bodily fluids. Without thinking or being told, he along with Edgar and Alan Frog hoisted Jay up on to the metal table. metal arm plates were pulled out with thick leather straps attached at two intervals.
The colour fell from his face as dawning realisation fell. This was the room that deathrow prisoners would be given lethal injection. The table was testament to that, and the curtained window to Lloyd's side solidified his worst fears. He looked back at his brother then up at the time, it was fast approaching ten pm. Any later and it would be the fourth day. "How long will this take?"
"Seconds for him to bleed out."
"Why so quick?"
"Exit sites, there'll be more than one."
"Can I stay with him?"
"You might want this on then." The masked man handed over a clear plastic overall, similar to the one he was wearing. The only addition, he was wearing a surgeons mask, hair and face protection.
Lloyd took it and stepped to the side, careful not to touch the tray of assembled tools or the large machine that was plugged into the same generator as the lights were. Obviously the penitentiary didn't have power anymore, these guys had already thought of that, they'd brought their own generators and backups too. All of which were running and vented to prevent a build up of carbon monoxide. His green eyes continued to rove the room both him and his brother was in. The masked man obviously liked to think he was sterile but evidently he was anything but.
Additionally two drip stands laden with an extraordinary amount of clear fluids stood close by, one had enough blood that looked like it had been stolen from a recent blood drive.
Turning back to Jay, Lloyd watched hopelessly as Jay's clothes were cut off so this guy could get access to some good arteries, all the while choosing the best tubing to drain quickly. One leg had been uncovered, an arm too and finally Jay's head had been turned to one side. The man was marking out each artery before looking at Lloyd to see if he was ready. Arms and legs had been tightened onto the table he was going no where, anytime soon. Maybe a one way ticket to hell was all that was on the cards.
Lloyd nodded apprehensively and joined Jay's side. Grasping the top of his hand to avoid having his crushed in response. "I'm ready."
The minute he said it the first wide needle was pushed in to Jay's neck, the second quickly lined up and pushed into his leg and the blood as expected quickly pooled into buckets of acid, destroying it as it came out in a fast pulsing flow. The makeshift surgeon quickly and effortlessly placed a large bore needle carelessly into the other side of Jay's neck. Connecting it with a rapid flow bag of saline. One of the burly men was ordered to squeeze it tightly, whilst he attached another drip to Jay's femoral artery.
"Who is this guy?" Lloyd muttered feeling his hand being squeezed tightly.
"He was a good surgeon back in the day, disbarred for too many illegal surgeries though, too risky, but what choice we got?"
He wished he hadn't asked because he honestly couldn't feel any shittier than he did right now, hearing that had made it exponentially worse. And to make him feel like utter shite, Jay was beginning to struggle. His fading blue eyes had opened startled with the pain. Had he been in a hospital, they would have used some form of local anaesthetic to numb the pain, maybe a general for the excruciating agony too.
"It makes them bleed faster, pain,panic, an acute stress reaction."
Well duh, that's a given. I mean you're kinda bleeding him out...
Lloyd had jumped startled by Jay's now wildly unrestrained dying element. At first the blast had blown out a panel of generator lights with the power surge, the generator had blown too, the whole thing was a smoking mess until it was wheeled out to prevent a fire. The more seconds that passed, Jay's power and strength waned until he could barely sustain a spark of static.
"I'm Scared, Lloyd..." His grip was loosening.
Lloyd figured he was having a full on panic attack, that being the least of his worries, he was bleeding to death on purpose and he had no idea, just that he'd woken up in a room that wasn't the same room he'd fallen asleep in.
"I'm right here Jay." He wasn't sure if Jay could hear him anymore amidst the other noises in the room as the ancient looking defibrilator paddles were being prepped.
"I want..." Weak weary eyes turned with no strength to them as Jay stared shocked, breath stopping intermittently.
It almost seemed that he was holding his breath but Lloyd figured otherwise. Being in a hospital did have some benefits, it had information leaflets in the ICU; one of which was the signs of death. Lloyd looked at his watch nervously, wiping madly at the tears that fell.
Jay hadn't taken a breath for almost fifteen seconds, until he gasped, finding some hidden strength. "I w-want..." He tried to squeeze the hand he assumed was Lloyd's but he couldn't breathe anymore. He couldn't see the blonde hair, just an ever increasing amount of black dots swimming in and out of focus.
Lloyd watched helplessly as the empty bags were replaced with more. They were waiting for the fluid to run clear before pumping fresh O positive in. All the while wondering if this hard work was truly worth it. He was a vampire after all, and there were enough people here who would be happy enough to take him out, Lloyd too if he got in their way.
Finally, the fluid was clear and as a matter of urgency the blood was squeezed through just as quickly.
As much blood as they could get into him to not overload his system, to flush out the excess saline.
They had done it, Jay's body was full of fresh donated blood and hopefully, not infected at all, at least they figured he wasn't. Either way they weren't concerned, he was dead now because his heart had given up. There was no pulse anymore, he wasn't a risk to anyone.
If he was a vampire, well, he would be showing signs of something right now but there was nothing. He was still, a slab of pristine meat on a shiny metal table with arms and legs secured with leather straps. No chest movements at all, in fact, Jay was now as warm as the newly deceased would be.
An odd feeling to Lloyd, Jay was actually warm for once. "You can't leave him like this, you gotta do something," he pleaded, frantically. Wondering to himself why the man in the mask wasn't using the defib paddles as a matter of urgency.
"Y-you can't leave him like this..." He shouted in desperation, "Please, you gotta help him, do something." Lloyd was near enough on his knees until the absent Frog brothers reappeared and attempted to console.
The Frog brother's nodded solemnly at the masked and disgraced surgeon before fully joining Lloyd's side. And, only after Lloyd had shed a few tears of emotionally devastated anger they managed to pry his trembling hand from the metal table. The surgeon wouldn't have cared had Lloyd's hand still been there, he would've still paddled Jay's chest with or without anyone being clear.
The heartless uncaring bastard didn't even utter the safe word clear, he went straight in and applied pressure to Jay's chest after the more burly looking goon had finished with the similarly ancient oxygen mask. The paddles had been set at a moderate setting of 320.
Lloyd watched through teary eyes as Jay's body arced with the increased amps of electricity running rampant through his dead body. The smell of singing skin was just as bad as the acrid smell of acid burned blood. The whole thing was making Lloyd's stomach churn. This had all quite possibly been the worst decision he had ever made, as he watched the surgeon who cared little if Jay beat the odds or not, and the men who were helping because they were being paid to do this.
"You gonna stay with him?" The surgeon grumbled under his breath. Paddles thrown to the floor carelessly as the oldest heart monitor in the world revealed a pinprick heart rate that jumped around rhythmically and somewhat erratically as it began to settle into a regular pace.
Lloyd looked apprehensive as he took in the state of his battered brother. His chest was a patchwork of surface burns, but he was alive.
Alive...Oh my god, he's alive...
Lloyd had rushed to Jay's side, grasping his hand without a moments hesitation. "I'll stay with him," he said, nodding in acceptance. "How long until he wakes up?"
"How long is a piece of string?" The surgeon shrugged, removing his black rubber apron and gloves. Annoyingly, his face mask and hair cap remained in situ, thus hiding his true identity to the only remaining individuals in the room with him. A simple nod of his head was required to notify the men who had convened to take away the buckets of human blood waste. "He might never wake up, it was a risky procedure after all, not guaranteed to work."
"It's up to you." Eddie whispered quietly. he wasn't even looking at Jay's body or the high probability that he was no risk anymore. "You want us to tell em or slip a note into the mail box tomorrow?"
Lloyd had to think hard. Whatever the choice he made was going to result in a heated argument between his brothers and Nya, and he would be the target of their annoyance and downright angered insults. Even if he had done this to protect them all, to help and protect Jay. But then, he couldn't do this completely alone, especially if Jay never woke up. His brother would still need round the clock care, and alone and here, Lloyd wouldn't be able to do that.
"Tell them when you get back, give me a few hours yeah?" Lloyd said, his voice quiet, sombre. "I need to spend some time with him before they get here."
"These guys are gonna be here for a few hours and no more, they'll be clearing the place of evidence." Alan interrupted, watching the men as they went about their work; oblivious to the three younger men who were watching them.
"Why?"
"Maybe to keep it a secret from the government here. It would make sense, I mean this whole place runs off evil, always has and always will." Eddie stated.
"They don't see or hear anything happening because there's always someone high ranking that covers it up so they don't have to do anything about it. Ha, if the rest of em knew what had been going on around here, or at the Widow Johnsons and Hudsons Bluff; this place woulda been nuked by now."
"What is that then, ignorance?"
"Plausible deniability." Eddie shook his head, getting ready to leave with Alan in tow. "We'll be back later, gonna get some supplies, drop off a note and we'll be back in a few hours, okay?"
Lloyd nodded his head. Though he didn't relish the idea of being alone in here with only the heavily unconscious Jay as company. He wasn't overly fond of the idea of being in an abandoned penitentiary either, specifically in the lethal injection room with the feeling of additional presences in here with him. "Don't be too long." he warned, focusing on Jay alone.
I promise the next chapter will be the last...this shortish horror has near enough come to a end. Though there could be an alternate ending, if I was so much inclined to make the team suffer.
An apology too. I've been busy working as a nurse, putting my new degree to use whilst proving a professional level of healthcare to those who need it. And, that as always has taken priority. I do get a few days off over the Christmas break though, I may be able to partake in a brandy Christmas pudding too. mmmm nomnomnom.
As always, thanks to my reviewers. RandomDragon, Master of Cupcakes, Ebony, Mayor of Ninjago city and everybody else who has reviewed..
