Golden thorns chapter 55

"Coran!" the shout pulled him around. A flash of light down the tunnel. "Coran is that you?" he glanced back to where his father had been standing, seeing a glint of metal in the dirt. He quickly bent down and scooped it up, brushing it off. The necklace was his own, the chain was broken. He must've ripped it off when he fell. He looked up, searching for the voice. He turned once, full circle, looking for the light that he had seen. The beam hit his face and he squinted, trying to pierce the wall of light. A blurred figure emerged from his blindness. His head span and his eyes burned.

"Coran, thank god." The girl's voice was quavering, as if on the verge of tears.

"Marie?" he stumbled and fell to the ground.

"No, it's me. It's Jo. Come on. Dev's hurt. I need your help."

"What? I don't-"

"Come ON Coran." She grabbed him by the wrist and hauled him to his feet, pulling him through the darkness. He fought against the hot, oppressive fug that clogged his brain. Jo was here? What did she say? Dev was hurt?

They stumbled on through the darkness, twisting and turning through the caves by the light of Jo's torch, eventually emerging into a wider area, carved out by pillar and stall. Devlyn's torch was lying on the ground its beam illuminating the prone Faunus. He was lying on his back, scales verging on translucent, eyes closed.

"Oh no…" the whisper escaped his lips before he could stop it.

"I know. You have to help me. I tied them, just like we were taught but I don't know what else to do." Jo was flustered. Her voice shook. Coran turned to her.

"How did this happen?"

"Grimm! I'll tell you later but right now we have to help him."

Coran shook his head, pushing back the delirium that had seized him. He knelt next to his friend and surveyed the damage, grimacing as he took in the details. He slid off his backpack and withdrew his first aid kit.

"You did good, Jo, but the tourniquet will only slow the bleeding. We need to stop it entirely. Can you reach into my bag and get the forceps. They're the tweezer things that look like scissors. Yeah, those. Thanks." Now for the really gross part. "Hold your torch a little closer. Come on Jo, I know it's rough. That's it. Hold it there." he took the forceps and brought them closed on Devlyn's femoral artery, closing it up. The light disappeared and he heard a retching sound behind him, followed by a splat.

The light returned and he then turned his attention to his friend's hand. Or, rather, lack of it. Another tourniquet was tied around his wrist and it had all but stopped bleeding, thanks to the small artery size. Coran briefly scanned Devlyn for any more injuries, but found none, other than the scratches and bruises they all bore.

"Is that it?" Jo asked quietly, her voice sounding as brittle as sugar glass.

"One more thing. He's lost a lot of blood so we need to give him a booster. Pass me the bag." She did. He pulled out a small, clear bag and a tube with a thin needle on one end.

"Saline." He explained. "To keep him hydrated and replace some of that blood." He attached the tube to the bag and watched the liquid flow through until it started leaking out of the needle. At this point he folded a kink in the tube and passed it to Jo. "Hold this and when I say, let it flow." He found a vein and inserted the needle.

"Go." He commanded. She unfolded the tube and passed him the bag. "Well done Jo. Your first triage went about as well as we could have hoped. But we're not out of the woods yet. I need you to go find Marie. I was an idiot and left her alone in these caves. Follow her tracer ball thing. She may well be having a panic attack so try to calm her down and bring her here."

"What about you?"

"I'll turn on my emergency beacon and try to think of a way to get Dev out of here. Screw the mission. We are leaving."