"Elle?" Kay whispered as he moved closer to her so that she could see him with her extremely limited vision. "It's going to be alright. Just try to relax for a few minutes." He glanced over at Jay. "Slick, go and get the doctor."
Jay hurried out and came back in a few minutes later with the doctor who after one look at Elle's painstricken expression, quickly got out a drug and injected it into the IV. Within a few moments, Elle had slipped back into unconsciousness again. The doctor then started to check her arm and face, carefully removing the bandages to expose the wounds.
A horrified expression filled Jay and Zed's face when they saw her arm, split open from her shoulder to her fingers with swollen tissue and muscle bulging through. What was even worse was her face, though. She didn't even look human anymore.
"I'm afraid we may have to operate again if the swelling in her face doesn't go down quickly," the doctor said after he finished his examination. "It looks like we didn't make the incision big enough and now the pressure from the swelling is threatening to damage her optic nerve. Also, the swelling is starting to extend into her neck and if it applies too much pressure to the jugular vein it could cause a stroke or worse."
"What can you do?" Zed asked as he stared saddly down at Elle. This entire thing seemed impossible. They dealt with deadlier things on a daily basis without any problems. How could something simple like this be about to kill her?
"Basically, we'll have to widen the incision and extend it up into her forehead and down her neck towards her back. That should divert the pressure away from the jugular and hopefully ease the pressure on her optic nerve as well."
"Do whatever you have to. Just save her," Kay murmered as he took Elle's hand and gently stroked her fingers.
"We'll give it another hour to see if the antivenin starts to work," the doctor said as he turned to leave. "Oh, if she has any family, you might want to try getting in touch with them and have them come now."