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Cuddy was kneeling on the ground as she carefully examined the shards of metal sticking out of a man who remained motionless for the moment. She looked up at Dave and Mark, who were both holding lit sticks as a means to provide her better lighting.
"This is pretty bad," Cuddy told them. "He probably has twenty hours at the most. Ten to fifteen at the least. He's not bleeding out too much now."
"Is he in pain?" Dave asked.
"Yes," Cuddy answered, giving a slight nod.
"Tell that asshole to give up his meds," Mark glared at where House sat.
"I tried." Cuddy looked to the woman lying a few feet from the man with the metal sticking out of him. "What's wrong with this woman?"
Cuddy scanned the woman up and down, not seeing any external injuries.
"She has a head flap," Mark said.
Cuddy quickly turned to him. "What?"
"Her... um," Dave stopped himself, unsure of how to explain it.
Dave knelt down beside the unconscious woman and Cuddy scooted closer to get a better look. He pulled back the skin on the woman's head as well part of her skull, revealing her brain. Cuddy's mouth fell open as she stared, uncertain as to how this woman was still alive.
"She's never been responsive, but she's still breathing," Dave told her and placed the skin and piece of skull back in place.
"Oh." Cuddy merely said in response, at a loss for any other words.
"There's probably nothin' you can even do for her," Mark added in. "We're just hoping help'll come soon."
"Do you think that will happen?" Cuddy asked as she checked the woman's pulse. "That someone is coming?"
"They have to," Dave answered. "I mean, our plane didn't land."
"But we crashed this morning," Cuddy replied. "It's already dark out. And getting cold."
"We have Bill and the teen kid, Chris, finding more clothes and some blankets if they can," Dave told her in response.
Cuddy scanned the area and saw the two light sources close to each other and moving. She turned back to the woman and checked her eyes for pupil dilation. Dave held his torch closer to Cuddy to give her more light.
"She's in a coma," Cuddy said. "I'm surprised she's still breathing on her own."
"She in pain?" Mark asked.
"Probably not." Cuddy shook her head.
"But, this guy is." Mark pointed to the injured man. "Look at him shaking!"
Sighing angrily, Mark glared over to where House sat. Cuddy followed his gaze there before she looked to Dave.
"Where's the little boy?"
"With Janet." Dave reached out his free hand. "Here."
Dave helped Cuddy to her feet and took her over to a kindly looking woman with a soft face. The woman had a blonde haired boy in her lap. He was carefully clutching onto his arm. They both looked up at Cuddy.
"This is another doctor." Dave indicated Cuddy. "Her name is Lisa."
The little boy whined and pressed himself further against Janet.
"I'm Janet," the woman greeted. "And this is Joshua." She looked to the boy. "Do you want to show her your arm Joshua?"
Joshua shook his head. Cuddy knelt down next to the two. She let her eyes meet Joshua's.
"I can make your arm better," Cuddy told him.
"The other doctor tried, but Joshua wouldn't let him get close," Janet explained.
Cuddy brought her eyes to Janet. "Well, House doesn't really have a way with kids."
"I can pop it back in," Janet said. "Just tell me how and I'll do it."
"No, I should do it." Cuddy looked back at the little boy. "Hey, Joshua. It won't hurt, okay? Just let me take a look. I won't do anything without telling you."
Joshua eyed Cuddy up and then moved toward her a little. Cuddy drew in a breath, preparing herself, and then took the boy's arm quickly as her other hand went to his shoulder. She jerked his arm into its proper place.
For a moment, Joshua was quiet, but then he started wailing as tears began to stream down his face. Cuddy cringed and looked away, feeling awful. Janet tried to soothe the boy as she stared at Cuddy from over his head.
"He trusts you," Cuddy pointed out. "He needs you. You shouldn't be the one to cause him pain."
With Dave's help, Cuddy stood back to her feet and hobbled away, the boy's crying still hurting her ears.
"That was a nice thing you did," Dave commented kindly.
"Kid's been traumatized enough," Cuddy replied. "He doesn't need someone he trusts to become the bad guy who hurt him." Cuddy noticed a young woman sitting by herself against a fallen tree. "What's with that woman?"
"Her name's Annalise," Dave answered. "She was on her honeymoon in London and was flying home. She hasn't said a word since."
"Oh, God," Cuddy breathed out, realizing the weight of her situation.
"Yeah," Dave agreed quietly.
"Hey, Dave!" Mark's voice called out. "They've found a man! He's alive!"
The teen boy came running toward the group, carrying two torches. Behind him, Mark and Bill were carrying a bloodied and severely dirtied man.
"I'm going to get water," the teen, Chris, told them and took off after he handed one of the torches to Cuddy.
Cuddy watched as Bill and Mark set the man down next to the woman with the exposed brain. Dave helped Cuddy over to the man. Carefully, Cuddy knelt beside him, trying to determine what was bleeding. The first thing she noted was that his leg held two sharp angles to them.
"Do you have anything sharp?" Cuddy looked to Dave. "A knife? Or scissors?"
"Here." Mark held out a thin piece of glass.
Cuddy exchanged her torch for the piece of glass. With cautious and skill, Cuddy cut through the tough jean material and exposed the man's broken leg. Part of the man's bone was sticking out of his thigh, while at his shin, the skin was twisted with the bone pushing at the skin, but not breaking through.
Remaining in doctor mode, Cuddy felt the bones in his shin. She made a decision and twisted the lower half of his leg back into its proper place, making sure his thigh remained still. The man let out a scream and tried to sit up.
"Hold him down!" Cuddy called out, worried even more now that the man had come to.
Mark and Dave pressed down on the man's shoulders with one hand while they held their torches in the other. The man continued screaming, gaining the attention of the other survivors. Bill hurried over to Mark and Dave and took their torches from them so they could get a better grip on the man.
"House!" Cuddy looked to where he sat. "Give me your Vicodin."
"No!" House shouted back.
"I need you!" Cuddy replied and looked back down at the man.
House rolled his eyes and picked up his new cane, self made from a branch he found. He hobbled toward the screaming man and looked down at him. His eyes traveled to his leg, where Cuddy was sitting.
"What the hell did you do to him?" House asked.
"I tried to help him," Cuddy snapped back.
House frowned at her. "Help him or kill him, Cuddy? He wasn't screaming when he was brought over."
"House, please," Cuddy said, exasperated.
House extracted his pill bottle from his pocket and dumped a few in his hand. Chris came running in, carrying an open suitcase filled with water. House carefully lowered himself down at the man's chest and shoved the pills into the man's mouth. He used both hands to force the man's mouth shut.
"Swallow them," House commanded and waited a moment. "Swallow the damn pills and I'll let you scream your head off, okay?"
The man swallowed the pills and House released his hands. The man stopped screaming, but when on to heavy breathing and speaking incoherent words. Chris set the suitcase down and used a shirt to begin to clean the man off.
House looked over at Cuddy, who was examining the still protruding bone of the man's thigh. Cuddy lifted her head and her eyes met House's.
"Thank you," she told him.
House shook his head. "You've got your hands full, Cuddy. Keep in mind that you're not Wonder Woman, okay?"
"Give some of your Vicodin to that other man," Cuddy said sternly as she nodded toward the man with the metal protruding from him.
House let his eyes remain locked with hers for a moment, challenging her, but then he used his cane to stand back up and he began to do as she asked.