"We must get him to medical bay," North said urgently, standing in preparation to rally the yetis.
Bunny nodded in agreement but froze almost instantly when he heard a groan from the formerly unresponsive body.
"Jack?" Bunny questioned. North immediately knelt back down to Jack's level.
It seemed Bunny had overcome his irrational fear of touching the boy for suddenly he found himself placing a supportive hand on Jack's shoulder. Bunny ducked his head in an attempt to figure if Jack's eyes were opening or if it was just his hopeful imagination.
Painfully and slowly, Jack lifted his head. His eyes were open, and though hazy and unfocussed, he was conscious. This should have been a huge relief but Bunny could not take much comfort from the fact. Not when Jack looked like death. He was so pale and ashen, it was frightening.
"Bunny, North," Jack looked sluggishly between the two. His voice was a low whisper. "What's happening?" North and Bunny exchanged worried looks.
"You're injured, Jack" Bunny said, "Mate, you've lost a lot of blood," The winter spirit furrowed his eyebrows. He looked confused, obtunded. It just wasn't right and it was scaring Bunny more than he would've liked to admit. He could barely take his eyes off of Jack's uncharacteristic, addled expression. He almost missed North's next words.
"Bunny, I must gather supplies and tell yetis to prepare. You must move him to medical bay while I do this. I will meet you there," North reluctantly stood giving one last fleeting look towards Jack before jumping from the sleigh, surprisingly agile for a man his size. Tooth instantly moved to fill the space he had left. Sandy hovered on the edge, looking truly concerned and rather at a loss of how to react.
"Jack, we're going to help you. Everything's going to be okay" Tooth said. Jack turned towards the voice. His face had gone blank, skin grey as the cloudy sky.
Bunny watched his body language. Jack's hand resting just over the bloody sweatshirt clenched, as if he were just gaining feeling of the wetness dripping down his own stomach. Slowly he lifted it from the spot. His face turned down as he dazedly examined his pant leg and sweat shirt. He finally twisted his arm to see it had soaked in red as well.
"Oh," Jack said, expressionless. It was as if he had no feeling, like it was someone else's body losing blood. Surely a normal reaction would be anything but this calm, passive aura. Jack continued to examine the red liquid that ran down his wrist. It appeared to fascinate him.
"We need to get him to medical. Sandy, mate, could you give us a little help?" Sandy nodded, a frown firmly planted across his features.
"Knock im out. We don't want him struggling and making things worse," Not that that was a huge concern, seeing as Jack was so lethargic he could barely lift his own head. Maybe it was just the comfort that at least Jack could dream of something safe and happy. Anything but reality.
Sandy formed a golden ball of sand in his palm and began to approach the winter spirit, silently apologizing, for he knew Jack would not have chosen to be knocked out.
Indeed, the moment Jack spotted Sandy approaching with the ball of sand, his eyes became fearful, protesting.
"Sandy, no, I...argh," Jack groaned, both hands shifting to encompass his stomach. The movements were abnormally slow. His features finally scrunched in pain. It was short lived, however, as his face slackened along with his body. Bunny had to catch Jack as gravity finally made its attempts to pull him to the floor.
"Jack!" Tooth exclaimed. The winter child's full weight was now in Bunny's arms. Jack groaned again.
"Screw it Sandy, We gotta get him outta here," Bunny said, easily shifting Jack bridle style in his arms. The little guardian barely weighed an ounce.
"Careful with him!" Tooth said, hovering around the two as Bunny stood and began to step out of the sleigh, which creaked and swayed beneath his steps.
Bunny nodded, holding Jack a little closer to his body, hoping not to jostle the spirit further. Bunny absently noted the thick liquid beginning to mat his fur. How did Jack even have that much blood in his body to begin with?
Sandy flashed an hourglass over his head. They had to hurry. Hopefully North would have pulled together enough inventory by the time they got there.
With Jack draped across his arms, the tall rabbit moved as quickly as he could on his two back legs, making his way out of sleigh and through the landing hanger. He gave up with this quickly, however, realizing they were not covering the ground fast enough. Bunny tucked their newest guardian even closer to his body, propping the slight figure with just one of his arms. He stooped and continued on three limbs, a much faster option.
Sandy held out his arms in offering, a question mark forming above his head, his features still twisted in concern. He wondered if maybe he should take the injured spirit.
Bunny shook his head firmly. "I got im, mate," Either Tooth or Sandy could have easily carried the winter guardian, probably much more easily than Bunny. He had no idea why he felt the urge to be in custody of the white haired boy. What had gotten into him?
"Bunny, this way is faster," Tooth zipped ahead of him, turning down a side hall off of the landing room. Bunny followed behind as quickly as he could, trying his hardest too keep Jack, especially his bleeding side, from moving too much.
Sandy hovered worriedly in back Bunny. Droplets of blood marked their trail.
It seemed to take forever to get to the medical bay. It was located on the second floor of the workshop. Not the basement where the sleigh was kept, but still a floor below the infamous globe room. There had certainly been occasions where the guardians were frequents to the bay, mostly during the dark ages. Recently, however, there had been little use for it, excluding a few yeti bumps and bruises from toy building accidents.
As they grew closer to medical, commotion began to pick up. Yetis ran back and forth carrying different odds and ends. Finally, Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy reached a set of double doors. Beautiful golden letters marked the entrance to the wing. The three able bodied guardians burst into the area though the swinging doors.
"We're here Jack, don't worry, we're going to stitch you up. Right as rain," Bunny muttered to Jack, who was still conscious, though barely.
"Bunny, this way," North said, popping into view. He had ditched his large winter jacket and furry hat. The man was pushing along a metal bed which he rolled forward to greet the incoming party. The mattress was covered in a white sheet.
"Put him down on gurney. Gently," North directed. His features were so serious they could have been set in stone. Bunny panted from the hectic trek and carefully shifted the body in his arms.
It didn't matter how gently Bunny placed Jack upon the medical bed, he still groaned in pain. Jack's body was trembling.
"North, why's he shivering like that," Bunny asked. Jack's lips were an unnatural blue.
"It's cold," Jack mumbled through slightly chattering teeth. The boy's eye lids were beginning to droop. Bunny didn't know how much longer they would keep Jack in the state of consciousness.
"He has lost too much blood. It is shock," North said. "Come, we must get him to operating room."
North was already taking control of the rolling bed and pushing it further down the long clean hallway. Yetis moved to get out of the way, grabbing stray elves from hallway as well. Tooth and Sandy both hovered at Jack's sides. Tooth had grabbed one of Jack's icy hands in her own. Bunny found himself pushed the the back of the group. He didn't like that at all.
Though the medical bay was rather grand, as every room was in the large workshop, it was small. There was only one room lit with bright lights and sterile surroundings. It took them no more than 30 seconds to reach it.
Bunny indignantly shoved his way back to one of Jack's sides once the bed was stationary.
"We must cut his shirt away," North said, grabbing a scalpel and beginning to saw through the material. Jack moaned a bit in protest. Bunny suspected he had been in possession of the sweatshirt for quite some time and would be sore without it.
"Sorry, Frost. We gotta," Bunny said. Tooth still had Jack's hand which she rubbed soothingly. Bunny noticed the fingertips were beginning to turn blue, like frostbite.
After slicing through part of the material, North grabbed the separating sides and pulled, ripping the material apart. Jack wore a white undershirt, which was drenched in deep red. The stain radiated angrily from the epicenter of the source. There as barely any white left.
A few exclamation points burst subconsciously above Sandy's head as the damage became more apparent, not that the utter amount of blood loss wasn't clue enough.
"Shit," Bunny said, already grabbing gauze to cover the wound the minute the layer of white cotton was peeled away from the skin. North did not wait. He immediately tore the thin white fabric apart to reveal Jack's bare chest and torso.
Tooth gasped and accidentally squeezed Jack's hand too tightly. The gash wasn't more than 3 inches long but it was deep. More blood spilled from the area as the white fabric was pulled away, the only protection the wound had had. Jack cried out hoarsely as the wound edges were irritated by the removed fabric. Bunny almost immediately moved to blot the blood and hold down gauze upon the wound.
"Tooth, we need an IV site," North ordered. Tooth nodded, setting Jack's hand down gently. She swooped to the far side of the room and grabbed a sterile pack and needle.
"Sandy, grab that heart monitor would ya?" Bunny said to the little golden man. Bunny would have if he weren't trying to keep the wound covered firmly.
Sandy nodded and rolled the clunky heart machine to Jack's side, unraveling the many wires. "That's good mate," Bunny said as Sandy placed the electrodes on Jack's chest and flipping the small power button. It wasn't long before Jack's heart rate could be heard through the beeping machine.
If the situation was not yet stressful enough, the shrill beeping was sure to make it. Jack's heart was flying. It beat so fast and shallowly that surely it could not be pumping blood efficiently. Bunny gulped and looked to North who was fiddling with a bottle of sterile saline solution.
Tooth had taken one of Jack's arms and was rubbing an area with alcohol. Jack's blood volume was greatly decreased and any fluid being put back into his veins would help their prognosis. Tooth had not inserted an IV in years, but perfection was not something she was exactly looking for. The fairy hastily pricked Jack's arm. His skin was so papery she could practically see the little needle flitting beneath the skin before it pierced one of the deep blue veins that ran down Jacks forearm.
Before Tooth could even ask, Sandy was at her side, a bag of fluid in hand. He hung it and quickly grabbed the loose tubing dangling from Jack's arm.
"Good, Tooth. Now we must clean wound," North motioned for Bunny to lift the now crimson gauze from the site. North took the bottle of saline he had twisted open and poured it over the wound, which washed down Jack's side.
Jack's muscles tightened visibly as he must have been riddled in pain.
"Sandy, knock im out now," Bunny said. Sandy nodded in understanding, sprinkling dust over Jack's eyes.