CHAPTER 5
After an hour of playing in the stream, Jimmy and Leonard were exhausted and were lying on the banks to dry. Spock had not indulged himself by playing in the water, he had refused the offer several times. They now have plenty of water and will not have to worry about it as long as they stay near the stream. Spock had thought it irrational of the humans to consume their energy playing when they had not secured food yet.
Jimmy and Leonard were dried from the sun. Their skin reddened from the sun and playing in the water. A sunburn was inevitable.
"Ouch! My skin hurts!" complained Leonard as he gingerly put on his clothes.
Jimmy also walked stiffly to the bush to get change into his clothing as well. Although he had some discomfort he had spent a lot of his time outside and so had a slight tan to protect his skin a little better than Leonard who stays inside the hospital with his dad when not in school.
After their initial discomfort, they should be getting more melanin in their skin cells fairly soon, mused Spock. His thoughts were interrupted by a yelp.
"What the HELL is that thing?!" shouted Leonard as he and Jimmy jumped back from the bush.
Spock snapped his head towards the bush that Jimmy and Leonard were backing away from and spotted… an alligator? It wasn't really an alligator of course, at least not a Terran alligator. Like the purple jungle cat, this too was a twisted parody of an Earth animal. Instead of the murky black-green of Earth's alligators this one was almost a sky blue. The sky blue would help in camouflaging itself in the clear water as the murky black-green would for an alligator in the muddy swamp. Although this animal had impressive claws, three on each webbed foot, it's gleaming teeth were what attracted all their attention.
They all were shaped in wicked curves with the shortest tooth being four inches long and the longest being six inches. They were scissored (Author's Note: I picked this word up from different ways dog's teeth are described, scissored look like when you interlace your fingers together. It is not a favorable trait for Saint Bernards :-). It had an eternal grin on its three feet long jaws. It's three cold eyes (AN: I'm using three a lot aren't I?) were very disconcerting since it seemed to stare into your eyes with death and one boring into your forehead. It had a slight dorsal fin on it's elongated back and instead of an alligator's tail it looked like a webbed shark tail. It looked very fleshy and slimy.
As it approached the human boys, Jimmy and Leonard seemed ready to spring to the side as it seemed to be trying to herd them into the water where it can be most fatal as it's six stubby legs can't maneuver it well on land. Suddenly it seemed to focus all three eyes onto Leonard, which made him freeze in a frightened stupor.
"Leonard! RUN!" shouted Jimmy. He was getting frantic and was ready to jump at Leonard to get him moving. Spock sensed this and before Jimmy could do something rash Spock said, "Stay where you are, any sudden movement could put you at more danger."
Jimmy seemed ready to protest, but never got to say anything because the monster of an alligator decided right then to lunge at Leonard. Leonard let out a scream, which was cut short by a splash as the alligator thing had toppled him into the stream. He sputtered shortly after, but the alligator took a grab at his leg and pulled him under with a lot of thrashing.
"We gotta save him!" cried Jimmy. He was horrified and ran to the edge of the stream. They had disappeared under the surface, but then Jimmy thought he had spotted some light red intermingle with the water. His heart stopped. He paled and looked to Spock, "Do something! Like you did with that wildcat!"
Spock looked at the young Kirk and seemed to come to a decision. He stripped off his desert garb, which was a robe-like top and pants, which left him in his underpants. He quickly assessed the surroundings of the stream and spotted a sturdy stick. He grabbed it and broke the end to make it sharp in a splintery way. He would not kill the beast if he could help it, but if necessary he would wound it. As he was jumping into the water he took note of where the shadowy figures were with his sharp eyesight. He then plunged into the cold water.
To humans the water was just cool, but to a Vulcan it was cold. Cold enough to get a cold from if not dried and warmed up soon after.
He spotted Leonard and the monster as precious air escaped Leonard's mouth in bubbles as the monster slowly drowned him. Spock was upon them and wrenched the jaws open from its hold on Leonard's leg. He drifted to the surface face down.
Spock was busy wrestling with the 'gator and so didn't notice Jimmy splashing through the water to pull Leonard to shore. Spock got on the 'gator's back and got his right hand to latch onto the neck. It lashed its tail and caught Spock on the back, drawing green blood. Spock cringed as there was no one to see him and broke it's neck. The body jerked once then was still. He was about to let go, but a thought occurred to him and he brought it to shore instead. He tried not to wince as he moved. The wound on his back caused him pain everytime he moved his arms or back.
Jimmy wasn't paying much attention to Spock, as he was busy calling Leonard's name and making sure that he didn't have water in his lungs. Blood was pooled around Leonard's right leg. The sight of red blood soaked pants and the big puncture marks almost made Spock nauseous. Almost.
Spock hurried over, dropping the alligator like a forgotten toy. He knelt down and looked over Leonard. Leonard had a drawn look on his pasty face, his mop of wet hair flung back and plastered to his head. Jimmy looked up with a silent plea. Spock looked at the immediate problem of blood loss on Leonard. He got up and rushed to his dropped clothing and rummaged through the pockets and produced his knife. He came back and cut away the part of the pant leg that was around the wound making it be cut off at mid thigh. He then cut the pant leg into strips and rinsed them in the stream to take off the dirt and blood, wrung them and came back with water cupped in his hands to try cleaning the leg a little before wrapping them up in the strips. He didn't want to come into contact but had no choice as Jimmy seemed too shook up to do anything useful. He wrapped the lower thigh and upper calf efficiently and knotted the strips together tightly enough so that it stays on, but loose enough so it doesn't cut off circulation.
"Take his shirt off while I start a fire so he could dry off and we won't have to worry about hypothermia," ordered Spock as he went back to his clothing for the flint and steel and gathered up dry sticks. Jimmy nodded and struggled with Leonard's wet shirt while trying not to jostle him too much.
Spock came back beside them with a bunch of sticks and organized them to burn easier. He had also gotten some dry moss-like grass to catch fire with. They soon had a fair fire going. Jimmy then noticed the long gash down Spock's back that went down from Spock's left shoulder to his right hip.
"Spock! What happened to your back?"
Spock lifted an eyebrow as if he had always had the gash on his back and thought it strange that Jimmy didn't.
"While fighting the animal, it struck me with it's tail which seems to be meant to cut, much like a sword fish's nose," answered Spock.
"We should take care of your cut while Leonard's sleeping," suggested a worried Jimmy.
"I have already minimized blood flow to that area," said Spock quickly as Jimmy moved near him.
"Well, however you do that, if it's even possible, we're still going to need to clean that up. You don't know where that nasty animal has been with it's tail. It might get infected and I'm pretty sure you can't think away a mess," said Jimmy pointedly as he continued staring at Spock's back. Spock felt uncomfortable and squirmed mentally as he would try his hardest not to show anything to anyone of what he was feeling. He knew Jimmy was right about getting it cleaned up. Not even Vulcan bio-control could prevent an infection. It can only go so far.
Spock finally said, "I will go rinse my back for the time being, as we have no bowl at the moment to try heating up water which would be the best."
Jimmy seemed unsure as he lifted his eyes from Spock's back up to his face as Spock got up and asked, "Aren't you going to need help? I mean, you can't reach your back easily without someone's help."
"I can do without your help," Spock said a little icily as he strode to his discarded clothes and took them to the stream. He dunked them into the water and scrubbed them to rid his clothes of the grime he picked up from traveling and sleeping in them.
Jimmy returned his gaze to the sleeping Leonard who seemed to have knitted his eyebrows together in pain.
He must be able to feel his leg even in sleep, thought young Kirk. He looked up from Leonard to find Spock with his shirt twisted and grasping both ends with it behind his back from shoulder to hip, lightly bringing it up and down. He was scrubbing his back. That has to be painful!
Spock, meanwhile, was trying his best to put up pain-blocks to his back. He had yet to understand how to do it fully as he had not done this before. He still needed much training for his mental abilities for the pain-blocks and bio-control, not to mention other things. He gritted his teeth as he felt pain lance through his back, going through his weak pain-blocks. He would probably need stitches, but that was impossible at the moment because he didn't carry sewing needles with him. String he could get from yanking on his garb.
He finished and washed his shirt again and climbed up the bank up next to the fire. He would NOT get a cold as well as an infection, if he could help it. Spock placed his clothing on some rocks near the fire to dry, but not too close that a stray spark could make it catch on fire when dry. He noticed Leonard's pained expression and looked up at Jimmy strangely.
"How long has he had that expression?" asked Spock, Jimmy feeling the Vulcan's piercing eyes on him.
"Since a few minutes ago. Why?" asked Jimmy, confusion written across his face.
Spock didn't answer. He studied Leonard for a moment and came to a decision.
"Wake up, Leonard," called Spock. "Wake up."
Leonard didn't even stir. The same pained face not twitching.
Jimmy had a questioning look, but thought it best to try to wake up Leonard, as Spock seemed to know what he was doing, "Hey, Leonard! Time to wake up, buddy!"
No movement.
Jimmy got worried. He got up and went to Leonard's side and started shaking him gently, "I said 'wake up,' Leonard! Can't you hear me? This isn't funny!"
Jimmy was starting to get frantic. Spock stopped Jimmy from shaking Leonard more violently as it could cause more damage to Leonard's leg and would be pointless, "Jimmy, stop."
Jimmy looked up at Spock. His eyes were burning a little as felt tears wanting to come up. This is not the time! Jimmy thought to himself.
Spock was almost jolted from seeing and feeling Jimmy's panic and swirling emotions. He walked to Leonard's other side and studied him. He started to get a slight queasy feeling in his stomach and quickly thought, Vulcans do NOT get sick.
"Jimmy, will you please leave this area?" asked Spock. It was almost a command.
"What for? I need to help him!"
"I need to do something for which I require some privacy," he stated.
"Like what?" asked Jimmy, hotly.
They are so quick to run to emotions, thought Spock with an inward sigh and said calmly, "I must meld with him."
AUTHOR'S Notes: First of all, I LOVE saying, "Author's Notes," it makes me feel sooo important. But anyways… Thanks Tenshi no Kaiou for the review, even if it was two words. I don't mind, because it let me know that there were people out there reading my fanfic. Since this is my last completed chapter it will push me more to write. I hope you all enjoyed what I've put up so far.