Chapter Eight
Sam turned around to Al and whispered, "When did it happen?"
"Well," Al said, smacking and shaking the handlink. "Ziggy can't come up with the data on when the shooting occurred, just that without medical care, Billy bled to death as a result of an otherwise non life threatening gunshot wound." He smacked it again, and squeezed it until it squealed.
Sam turned back around to see Billy walking through the woods toward home. Just then, a gunshot rang out, and Billy fell to the ground, screaming in agony. Seeing Billy fall, Sam quickly ran over to him and called out to Al, "Where did that shot come from?"
"I don't know!" Al and Billy answered in unison.
Al looked up and yelled, "Gooshie, center me on - wherever the hell that gunshot came from!" A second later, he disappeared.
Sam ripped Billy's right pants leg open and inspected the wound. "It looks like the bullet missed your femoral artery, but it's still lodged in your medialis." He took off his jacket, rolled it up, and tied it fairly tightly around Billy's leg, putting direct pressure on the wound.
"Ah, Bubba, what're you doin'? Man, that hurts!" Billy cried in pain.
"I'm putting a pressure bandage on the wound. It'll slow the bleeding, but we still need to get you to a hospital."
Just then, Al reappeared. "Sam, the hunter that shot Billy heard him yell and ran that way," he pointed over his shoulder, punched a button on the handlink, and disappeared again.
Sam got up and told Billy, "You just lie here and put your leg up on this log. I'm going to get help."
"Bubba," Billy called. Sam turned around. "Where'd you learn all that stuff, anyway?"
"Health class," Sam responded, and ran off in search of Al. He finally caught up with Al several hundred yards away from where he left Billy. He stopped and leaned on a tree to catch his breath. Breathing heavily, he asked Al, "Which way?"
"Well, he ran off that way," Al pointed his cigar. "But he got too much of a head start. You'll never catch up with him in time to save Billy," Al answered.
Sam smiled and said, "I don't need to."
Al turned around to see what Sam was smiling about, and saw the hunter's four-wheeler parked nearby, with the key still in the switch.