Another long chapter, enjoy! The page break screws with me so I can't keep it constant.
|~| Natalie Washington |~| Brother or Mother? |~| Natalie Washington |~|
The infirmary was already occupied with people and more kept coming. Natalie was across from the doctor, her arms crossed over her chest in defiance as Elisabeth treated a patient; they were- no, Natalie, was arguing with Elisabeth.
"Natalie you should get off your legs, you need to go back to bed and rest."
"You want me to go to sleep?" Natalie stared at her, a look of shock marring her face. "If you think, I'm just going to stand here and do nothing, you clearly don't know me. I cannot sit by and watch while people bleed when I know I can do something."
Natalie was persistent, this wasn't the first time Elisabeth had told her to go back to bed. Elisabeth wanted her to rest, but Natalie just wouldn't have it.
Elisabeth gave her orders about the patient and the course of treatment, then twisted around to finish her conversation with Natalie, "You can help by resting."
It took a moment for Natalie to figure out what she meant, "You don't think I can help." Her assumption had her eyes darkening.
"Natalie, I can help you back to your room or I can sedate you, but you should not be up."
"I should not be up? You know, I spent well over five hundred days out there." Natalie thrust her finger outside. "I never really counted, but it wasn't all paradise. Each day I had to do certain things to survive. Things that are unforgivable, but I had to for my survival and for Lucas'. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. We taught each other how to survive, I had been taught by my mom, but it's different. Actually being out there, with the dinosaurs, it's scary. I didn't have power or electronics. I had to make fire, every night, and when Lucas got injured, I had to help him. I was lucky to know the basics of first-aid, it helped him and Mike. I know how to help. Please, just let me."
While Taylor was prepping for an upcoming battle with the local wildlife, Wash had been sent to the infirmary to see what help she could provide. She received a lot of training with manual skills, and was less dependent on equipment compared to the nurses and doctors on staff.
After bringing in a soldier she found in a crashed rover and handing him over to two nurses, Wash sought out Dr. Shannon.
"I hope you can persist, we aren't as knowledgeable as you are when it comes to manual." Elisabeth said, helping a patient across from Wash.
Alicia counted to one before setting the bone back in place; the women let out a short shout of pain. She nodded at the patient telling her she was done, then looked up at Elisabeth.
"Until I'm needed back at the fence, I'm able." Alicia replied.
"There's plenty for you to do until then."
They walked to another patient. "How's Natalie?" She was probably safe from the sonic wave, but she wanted to be certain.
"She's fine. She insisted on helping out; she's very willful."
"And headstrong." Alicia couldn't help but add. "She loves this colony and its people, but she can be so naive."
A silence fell in between the two as they began work on the patient. They quickly discovered a method that helped each other work on patients effectively. It ended once Wash was called back to the fence by a fellow soldier reporting Taylor needed her to go back there, night was falling.
After being forced into bed, Natalie had done nothing, not a thing. She didn't know what to do, all the activities she typically did require some form of physical activity. Eventually, she got bored, and started fidgeting. She untangled her hair and made four attempts to braid her hair before she gave up.
She sat up in the bed, straighter than ever when she heard the roar of a dinosaur. She was used to the dinosaur noises, she heard them all the time, she lived in the forest surrounded by dinosaurs, with a snoring one curled up by her ear. This was different, this was a growl of anger (don't ask her how she knows this). Natalie got out of the bed, and ran out the door.
She knew what was coming, the way an animal growled could tell you how they felt, but only if you listened closely and knew them. Natalie ran through the infirmary, weaving her way through patients in a dash for the front door. She was out the door before anyone could stop her and she saw the dinosaurs approaching the colony.
Not a moment later a line of fire was shot and she heard the growls of protest from the animal. "No!" Natalie screamed. She ran to the fence where her mother, the commander and Shannon stood with over a dozen soldiers.
Wash turned around at the sound of the scream, she knew that scream. The approaching figure confirmed it, "Natalie?"
"Stop, you're hurting him." Even she knew it sounded childish.
Alicia knew her daughter had strong beliefs, they started developing in the last year of their time together, but she didn't know how much was tied to her and how much was just her opinion, "We'll discuss this later, Natalie, you need to get back to the infirmary, now."
Her tone was non-negotiable, but this was different. When Natalie usually did continue, it had been to push her, but this was not usual, "But-"
"Now."
The hurt shown in her eyes and Natalie glanced over one last time at the dinosaur. Taylor was approaching it, he had spared a glance at her, but that was it.
"What the hell is that?" Taylor asked, before he got a clear visual of the object he spotted. "There's something on its back. Someone's been hurting this thing. It's a diversion. It's a diversion. We're being duped. They're probably already inside."
"Sixers." Shannon said.
"Mira...she's after the box."
A plan had formulated in her head to escape with the Sixers, but without helping this animal and knowing about her accident, she couldn't.
"Wash, stay on the fence, Shannon, with me."
Well, that ruined her plan. Now she had to figure out how to sneak how to the animal without getting caught by her mother, getting killed or getting dizzy. Should be easy.
"I'll, um, just go to the infirmary...now." Natalie needed to get better at lying, she hadn't had to do it in a while, she hadn't had practice.
Natalie walked in the direction of the infirmary, but after several yards, she slipped into the darkness and went to the edge of the fence. After crawling underneath, she went to the gigantic creature. Never before had she tried to calm down an animal of this size, she'd approach several, and even came in contact with a Carno, but she tended to stick with the smaller dinosaurs. She could hide from them if need be easier.
The animal was still stomping around, roaring in complaint when she reached it. The sticks were still embedded in its body. There wasn't a way – at least not one she could think of – to calm the animal down first, then remove the arrows. She'd done similar things, she'd found a couple baby dinosaurs trapped in vines and some were far too injured to find their way back to their family. The difference was, they weren't nearly as vicious.
The fire was hot upon approach. She swore she heard her mother call her name. But she focused on dodging the large clawed foot the animal had. She did not want to become a sawed pancake. Natalie made a jump for the leg and she gripped onto it as it swayed in the wind. It was clear he didn't want her on board, but she didn't have a way to explain she meant no harm. Unless she went to his face, but that would involve more climbing. Her wrist was already killing her. She pulled herself up, using her legs to scoot up the legs until she reached the stick. She pulled it out, eliciting a sharp yelp, accompanied by a growl and he started to move his legs in an erratic manner.
Frantically, Natalie began rubbing the area before scooting down. He wasn't calming down fast enough, he shook his leg in an attempt to get her off. She gave the ground a hard look before risking the jump and tumbling to the ground. The animal moved his foot and Natalie rolled away just in time. She found herself stuck in between the fire and dinosaur, she had very little lean-way.
She army crawled her way away to safety. She started to make her way back to the fence; she ran halfway, stumbling and getting out of breath. She was afraid she wouldn't make it, luckily, her mom was there at the gates to help her, but based on the look Alicia wore, Natalie knew she was in trouble.
So much for the good news.
~|•|~ Page Break ~|•|~
Wash had sent Natalie back to the infirmary, hopefully she'll actually stay there. Elisabeth would treat her, heal the wounds she just added to her list and look at her wrist who's healing was most likely stalled and possibly reversed. Her concern with Natalie wasn't helping her concern about Taylor.
Shannon and he had left to deal with the Sixers a while ago and they still weren't back. With every second that ticked by, her worry increased and she grew more anxious. The Comm.'s were down so she couldn't radio him. While she could be overreacting, with his tendency up get injured, she couldn't help but be anxious. He always expected her to be there to patch him up, but she knew, one of these days, she wouldn't be able. He put too much trust in her medical skills.
When Shannon got in at the gate, alone, she knew something had happened. She began to fear the worst. She didn't expect him to come see her right away if he was injured, but she hoped he wasn't injured, for once.
"Where is he?" She made it clear it was far from a request.
Shannon appeared to struggle with how to respond. He shifted from one foot to the other, glanced at his shoes, then the fire, it was clear he was stalling.
"Shannon." Wash barked. She did not have the patience for this.
He seemed scared to answer the first time, even more now, "Um, you see, he sort of got shot."
"How do you 'sort of' get shot?" Her emotions were as light as day.
"The sixer used a crossbow." Jim explained. "He refused to go to the infirmary, I thought you could...I don't know."
She wasn't suppose to leave her post, "Did he send himself or are you suggesting this?" It was a rather stupid question, she knew the answer, Taylor wouldn't request medical assistance.
Alicia signed, "Where is he?"
"He left, I don't know. He was bleeding, but he seemed fine and said he was." Wash stared at him for a moment and gave him one of her signature looks.
~|•|~ Page Break ~|•|~
Natalie was back in the infirmary, in her room, on the bed facing a not-happy Elisabeth. It was not a good situation for her, luckily she got out of her mother's scolding, but she had a feeling Elisabeth would take care of that. She was naturally motherly.
"Natalie, do you know the severity of your actions?"
She did, she truly did; she knew she would be in serious trouble with her mother once the colony wasn't under attack and she knew she effected her recovery. But an animal's life was at stake, they were one of the most important things in the world to her.
So, she simply replied, "I helped a dinosaur."
"You could've gotten yourself killed." Elisabeth was chastising her like her own, her tone sharp and severe.
She changed her tone back to professional, "You delayed your recovery and we won't know the full extent of the damage till the power is up and running. You just woke up from a coma, you need to take it easy."
"But I don't want to, I'm fine. I just walked fine – I ran – doesn't that mean anything?" Natalie hoped it.
"Yes, but any progress you've made, you may have just lost."
Natalie gaped at her, "What?!" More time in the infirmary, great.
"Get some rest, I'll wake you when we have the ability to run the scans."
"All right, but, I remember." Elisabeth looked confused. "I remember what happened, how I ended up here, I remember the accident."
~|•|~ Page Break ~|•|~
It would've been a great deal easier to find Taylor if the Comm.'s were up and running, not that he would ask for her or tell her where he was. He was a stubborn man and he hated hospitals. Luckily for her, she did have a good idea where he would be.
The house was dark upon her approach, just like expected. The power to the housing units was still out, the doors while automatic were still accessible. The circuits had been fused and with a little jiggle of the door they opened. Taylor's door had already been opened, so it was easy to open.
She shouldn't of been surprised to find him bleeding out; he was seated at the table, his armor had just come off, his shirt stained with blood and his face masking signs of pain. He looked up when he saw her enter and she couldn't help but, rest her hands on her hips. Insubordinate, yes, but she was annoyed and today had been a long day.
"An arrow?"
"Hey, Wash."
"Really, Taylor? You couldn't at least send for me?"
"I figured Shnanon would get you," He explained his reasoning and Wash huffed.
"Shirt off." She didn't wait to see if he would question her on it, she turned and left him where he sat. She went to grab the medical kit and came back with it in hand. She opened it up and started pulling out her supplies in when she heard a hiss in pain. She glanced over at Taylor, he had started to remove his shirt, but it became clear he couldn't completely move his arm.
Alicia brought her hands over to help him. With help, she was able to remove the offending garment, allowing her to get to work on closing the gaping wound.
Nathaniel winced the moment her hands made contact with his skin, "Your hands are cold." He offered as an explanation. She rolled her eyes and started cleaning the wound, it was the same complaint every time.
"This would go a lot quicker if you stopped moving. Would you like me to sedate you?" She knew he wouldn't, but it was worth a shot.
She finished cleaning the wound, numbed the affected area and started to stitch the wound closed.
"You and Natalie are going to keep me busy." She commented.
Taylor quirked his eyebrow, "What happened with her?"
"She snuck outside the fence and tried to remove whatever was on its back. I couldn't get her off of it before she took a tumble to the ground."
"That crazy girl. She all right?"
"She could walk, I sent her back to the infirmary to get looked at. Hopefully she'll stay this time."
Alicia was nearing the end of the stitches when Nathaniel moved, she looked up from them to meet his eyes, "Stay still."
"Easier said than done."
"All done." When he made a move to stand, Wash placed her hand on his chest to stop him, "Sit. You're on bed rest."
"Wash!"
"Sir."
"I have things to do, the colony-"
"Will be fine. I'll do whatever needs to be done, but you need to rest. Either go to the infirmary or stay here, and don't pull your stitches. But you cannot run the colony."
|~|•|~| Natalie Washington |~|•|~|
2766, new record. Thanks for reading. Please review. I'll update soon.