A Spontaneous Salvation

Alex had landed away from everybody else. Then he had been immediately dragged back to MI6 for a debriefing. He wasn't quite sure what had driven him to return to the abandoned church.

Alex took a deep breath and began to scale the building. He hefted himself up to the roof. The roof was still warm from the sun. He felt his hand brush against the cement. It came back with ash, blood, and some sort of shredded fabric. Who had been up here?

Alex noticed a dark trail leading towards the fire ladder on the other side of the building. He silently followed the trail right up to the ladder. The ladder had dark brown stains on it.

Alex winced. It looked like dried blood. Was someone…left behind? In for a penny, in for a pound. He slowly descended the ladder. He heard a faint moaning behind the dumpster. The trail continued.

Alex silently crept forward. Nile. It was Nile. Alex had been told he was dead. Then again, maybe Blunt had just assumed. Or maybe he had been left here on purpose? He continued slinking forward. Nile's eyes were glassy.

Alex let out a breath as he saw Nile's chest move. He was still breathing. Alex placed a hand against his chest. The thrumming of his pulse was still going. Nile's head moved slightly. Alex nearly jumped. He gently brushed aside the remains of Nile's charred shirt and armor. The man didn't stir. The burns looked…bad.

Alex felt vaguely nauseous knowing that he was the cause of them. At first, Alex thought the blackened flesh around the man's ribs was more burns. His hand brushed against the older man's rib cage. He felt the bones move under his hand. Broken ribs. No wonder Nile was passed out.

Alex pulled out his phone to call an ambulance and then paused. What would they do if they found him before he was healed? Or even if he was healed? He let out a sigh.

Alex couldn't quite bring himself to fork Nile over to MI6. He sat by Nile for a bit before letting out another sigh. Perhaps bringing his textbooks and backpack for this little expedition hadn't been the smartest move. Wait a minute.

Alex froze as he unzipped the third pouch of his backpack. He felt like either laughing or crying. In the pouch was a change of clothes for himself and Ian. There had been too many things after his uncle's death to bother with the little things like getting rid of Ian's changes of clothes in random places.

Alex picked up Nile's torso and slid the shirt on the man. He looked at Nile's mostly intact pants and decided that those could wait. The first aid kit in the pouch was tiny.

Alex squinted at the bandages. He wrapped Nile's burns in them and continued down the man's arms, covering the distinct markings from the vitiligo. Alex fished around Nile's pockets and found the face prosthetic on the third try. He gently adhered it to the man's face before shoving a beanie on his head.

Alex took a few steps back. Alright, it would probably pass anything but a close inspection. He called a taxi and waited at the front of the alley. The cab arrived in less than ten minutes.

Alex wondered if there wasn't some sort of speed signal on his phone. He'd never had a taxi arrive in over ten minutes since MI6 had his phone while he was unconscious before the SAS training.

The driver spoke. "Blimey, you look a bit rough. Are you alright?"

Alex awkwardly rubbed his head. The man looked at him. "Well, it's a bit embarrassing, really, but a family friend of mine couldn't handle some dodgy beers he drank and he's passed out behind the dumpster. If you could-"

The cabby was already getting out of the car. His expression turned sympathetic as he looked at Alex. "Did he hurt you?"

Alex blinked. At least someone vaguely cared about his welfare. "No. But he did call me. I'd feel bad abandoning him behind a dumpster, you know."

The cabby helped him heave Nile into the car. Nile didn't even stir. "Are you sure you don't want me to drop you at the hospital?"

Alex waved him off. No hospital. "Nah, he does this a lot. Should be able to sleep it off just fine."

The cabby let out a sigh as he closed the doors and began driving. The drive was painfully awkward. "You know if he ever mentions wanting to stop drinking, hand him one of those fliers in the back."

Alex's gaze fell on the Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlets in the backseat. Oh, god. Well, the cover story just needed to hold up until he got him. He still turned faintly pink as he pocketed about five of the fliers. "Erm, thanks. For the fliers."

The driver winked at him as he looked at the back mirror. The rest of the drive was silent. Alex leaned back in the chair and tried to calm his pounding heart. This was utterly nerve-wracking. They arrived at his home in Chelsea just as he was beginning to drift off.

"Kid, we're here."

Alex sighed as the cabby helped him all but drag Nile to the upstairs bathtub. The cabby waved at him as he drove off with his fees and a twenty-pound tip. He slunk back inside. Right. Burns. Broken ribs. Shower.

Alex brought out the much better first aid kit that they had at home. He had never been more grateful for Ian's insistence on hoarding medical items that normally required a prescription. He pulled out the bandages and weird gel burn packs. They were bright blue and stuck to your skin, falling off when you were healed. There were no strong painkillers but hoped that lidocaine gel and menthol spray would help with the ribs.

Mostly satisfied with the haul, Alex slunk back up to the upstairs bathroom. Nile hadn't woken at all. Alex would just have to hope it stayed that way until he was no longer delirious from the pain. They did have antibiotics if he got infected. Time would tell, he supposed. There would be plenty of hours to think of what to say.

Fin

Based on a prompt by Zyzyax (see story summary). This is the 253rd work in the Winds of Change 2022 Alex Rider Prompt event, where a new prompt (plus a short 1-3K work) is posted every day. For more details, see the AO3 collection. We have an index of all the prompts used in this event so far and going forwards - join the discord to get access to the online index (and to take part in our events, chat about everything and anything, and meet a load of awesome people!