Chapter 9 - Tourniquet

I slowly opened my eyes, only to find a blinding white light.

Oh fuck, I'm dead?

Think again. I opened my eyes once more. A hospital. A strangely white hospital.

I was in a bed. A mirror hung on the wall beside me. I looked at myself. Scarred, bruised and bleeding. What the hell happened?

Then, I noticed a sour taste inside my mouth, as if it was being rejected by my body. It tasted awful. I looked to my right. There was a tray with various medicines.

Antidotes.

Was I poisoned? Then, it slowly came back to me: Kaizel had poisoned me, and I remembered, before fainting, that both Nadine and Gustav cast a spell, although what, I had no idea.

Then, to my horror, I saw my arm. Near my shoulders, my arm was opened up a bit, I could see my own bone! Even more gruesome, a needle was inserted into one of my veins…one of my….purple…veins. Was it extracting poison?

A small bandage was tied tightly above the opening. Tourniquet. It stopped the blood—which carried the poison—to flow throughout the body.

Unknowingly, I had woken up Nadine, who sat in one of the corners. It was only then that I noticed Gustav was in the room as well.

"You're awake!" She joyfully said.

"How long have I been asleep?" I said, trying to motion towards her. A surging pain traveled throughout my body, and I immediately lay down once more.

"Don't move…" She said, standing up and motioning towards me, "You're hurt…badly. I tried to heal you myself, but…the poison."

"It's alright. I'm okay." I lied. I then eyed Gustav. He slept beside where Nadine was, at one of the corners of the room. From the looks of it, he looked exhausted. I've never seen anyone look more tired than him right now. "What happened to him?"

"Well, while Kaizel forced you to drink the poison," She began.


It took me quite a while to comprehend before nodding in agreement. "I tried to heal you. When that didn't work, I tried slowing down the poison's effect."

"What does Gustav have to do with that?"

"Wait, I'm not yet done!" She said, with a tone of anger, "Anyway, I tried to save you, in whatever way I could, from the poison, while he took care of Kaizel. He cast a snowstorm spell; Storm Gust."

"It shouldn't tire him up that much!"

"Well, in his fury, he conjured an enormously powerful storm. Here, I'll show you." She motioned towards the window and pulled back the curtains, showing Geffen. Snowing as hard as ever.

"Wait, why was he mad, again?" I asked.

"Gustav…he…" She began. I expected her to say something disgustingly good about him, instead, I was shocked when I heard what she said, "He idolizes you. For your skill. Your determination. He wasn't about to let someone take away his source of inspiration."

I felt the guilt swallow me. All this time I thought he saw me as a rival, and took Nadine for his own, but apparently, I mistook him. That is, if she was telling the truth.

Our conversation had seemingly woken up Gustav. He slowly stood up and dusted his clothes. He then motioned to me, saying, "Ho…you're awake." With a big smile on his face.

"By the way…" He began, "Your…gun…is over there." He pointed to a small table where my shot gun and the various bullets lay.

"How's your arm?" He asked.

"Fine. Why?" I asked, with a tone of suspicion.

"Nothing." He said, looking away from me, "Hey, let's go get him some dinner." He suggested to Nadine.

"Oh su—"

"Wait. Dinner? Did I hear you right?"

"Yes. Dinner. Unless you want breakfast at 7:00pm."

"Exactly how long have I been unconscious!" I demanded.

"Three days." Nadine told me.

THREE DAYS?

I bade them goodbye as they stepped out the door. A nurse then entered to check up on me. I pretended to be asleep.

I heard her pick up one of the bottles and touch the opening they made on my arm. It stung. I peaked, curious of what she was doing. She took some of the antidote and put a few drops of it on the opening. Now, my veins had returned to their normal, red color. At least, that's what the books said its color was.

She removed the needle and grabbed some bandages from the cupboard. She then wrapped the bandage around the small opening, and tied it tightly. The bandage was a dark, gray color, and looked hideously old. Then the nurse left the room.


I never noticed it before, but my clothes had changed. Then a strange thought came over me: Did Nadine dress me up?

Regardless, I had a pagan theme on myself. Strange for a priest if you ask me. I wore a deep, black, sleeveless shirt with an ambigram of the word, "priest", in a purple color. Behind the ambigram, a pentacle surrounded the word. My pants were of a deep blue shade, and at the foot of my bed, I saw a pair of black, stylish, leather shoes.

I slowly got out of bed. The opening stung a bit, but it was tolerable. I wore the leather shoes whoever had set out for me and slowly stood up. No pain. Praise the Lord!

I walked over to the small table and retrieved my weapon. I strapped the shotgun diagonally across my chest, and placed all the bullets inside separate magazines, for easier reloading. I looked inside the cabinet of the hospital room. There, a white trench coat with black linings lay. I took it and donned it on myself. It concealed my gun perfectly. I then put on the hood, covering my face.

Slowly, I reached for the door and turned the knob. Then, I realized something. I couldn't leave until the doctor allowed me to. What's worse was I had to pay a fortune. Although I had a credit card, the process would take days—even weeks!

I opened the door and hid behind it. A nurse walked in stupidly. Slowly, I crept out and closed the door, locking him in. No one noticed me, as this wasn't how I looked when I went in.

And, thankfully, most of the people here wore trench coats similar to mine, though not exactly like a doctor's coat. But who would notice?

I had had other things on my mind. I had to continue what I was doing; See what those two were up to.

Slowly, I pushed the doors of the hospital and head outside.