CHAPTER 6: DON'T LET IT BREAK YOUR HEART

"Come on, come on," I mumble. "RO, 2Dads, Bird, do you've got anything like a needle with you?" In the mean time I keep Dylan awake. "Keep your eyes open, open! I know you want to close them, but don't, okay? Keep them open so I know you're okay." He understands, but he's still having a hard time breathing. "Melody, here, we used it for fishing." 2Dads hands a needle to RO, and RO passes is through to me. "Have you used it?" I ask him. "No. There's only some sand on it." "All right. Well, quick, give me the bottle with rum." They look at me with an open mouth. "Melody, this is not the time to…" I interrupt him. "RO, I won't drink it! I'm gonna use the alcohol in the rum to disinfect the needle. It's the only thing I can do at the moment, because when Swain arrives it might be too late." That he even thinks that. Well, I can't blame him, he's a radio operator and not a second medical like me. He hands over the bottle with rum, already opened, and I disinfect the needle. "Okay, now, I need something clean like a shirt." I look at them. All the shirts they wear are dirty. I start thinking, my shirt isn't that clean either, so I'm gonna use my bandana. I quickly stick the needle in his left lung, and quickly put my bandana around it. Dylan immediately takes a deep breath. Oh, thank god. It worked.

Bird sighs of relief. "Thank you", she whispers, to no-one in particularly. I sit down next to Dylan. I won't let that happen again. I went out of sight, and something like this happens. I will stay with him until I make sure he's save. Bird sits down at the other side of Dylan. "We won't let him scare us like that again." "No, we won't."
We sit down like that until we see a RHIB coming. It's Swain. We're save.
Of course, RO notices as first of us. "Look, a RHIB! Come, let's go to them." Bird takes 2Dads, and RO takes the two maniacs. They walk together to the sea, where Swain boards. I stay with Dylan, so I can assist Swain immediately and tell him what happened. I see him talking to RO, and then runs my way. "Swain!" I yell.
"Melody! Never expected you here!" Then he stops talking. His face turns horror. He notices there's something wrong with Dutchy. And then he sees it. All of his injuries. "This… this happened in one night?" He quickly gets over it and kneels down next to me. "Tell me everything what happened." I tell him what caused every wound. His leg from the arrow, the head wound from the big piece of wood, the bullet wound at his side, his punctured lung, his broken and cracked ribs, the wound made by a knife and the bruises and scratches. When I tell it, I realize it's pretty much. "And, last night, maybe an hour or two after we were really 'save', we lost him. We did CPR to get him back. After that he slept a lot, was awake, until 30 minutes ago, when he punctured his long. Since then he's fading in and out of consciousness." I take a deep breath. "Tell me how to help you with him." Swain looks at me. "First, I have to say you did a good job. I mean, in this circumstances, this was the best you could do. But now, we can't do that much. I want to see those wounds, and then I'll decide to give him some painkillers or not. We'll clean him up and wrap his wounds up again at the ship. It's clean there." He looks around. "I haven't brought a stretcher with me, so I'll contact Hammersley for a second RHIB." He takes his radio, while I keep an eye on Dylan. "Swain to Hammersley, over. … I need a second RHIB with a stretcher. 2Dads and Dutchy are injured, and we have two men to put away. Over." Swain looks back at me. "And we have another passenger. … No, sir, I know her. Her name is Melody Holiday, she's with the Navy as well, sir. … Understand boss. Over and out." He walks back to me. "That's all set, then. I'll tell RO they can leave and we will wait for the other RHIB." I nod, and Swain walks away. Wow, I realize we're really save now. We don't have to be afraid anymore. We're not alone anymore. I look at Dylan. He's trying to open his eyes. "Shhh, Dylan, it's okay. Swain's here too." I see Dylan relax. Swain walks back, and the RHIB leaves. "Curly?" I almost didn't notice him talking, so quiet is his voice. "Yes, Dylan?" "I, uh… Afterwards, I think it was a great idea for you to, uh… sail out alone. You saved my life today. And, uh… Yesterday." "Shh, Dylan, save your breath. Take it easy. I know you do. And I'm glad I did. But it's over now. I'm not going to do this again. I'll rejoin navy." Dylan smiles. "I knew… you would." After that, he closes his eyes. I check his breathing, he only sleeps. That's good.

Swain joins me. "How are you holding up?" "He's sleeping, and I'm tired. But we will make it."
He sits down, and takes a look me. "So, how did you ended up here?" "I went sailing after Josh died." I know Swain for a long time, and so did Josh. First that with his leg, and later he died. Swain always came to visit me and my parents when there was something wrong with Josh. "I needed some time and some space to process everything that has happened. Look where it brought me. At the right time, at the right place." "Yeah, you sure can say that!" Suddenly, I hear a noise. It's a RHIB. "Come, we'll catch up later. Let's first take care of Dutchy. You'll stay here, and I'll grab a stretcher." I nod. Swain runs to the RHIB, who just arrived at the beach. He comes back with a stretcher and with Charge. I've seen him a couple times. I see Swain explaining things to Charge, and Charge is nodding. "Dylan? Charge is here too. We're gonna put you on a stretcher and take you to the Hammersley." I don't know if he heard it, but I just tell him.

I think Swain wants to prepare Charge for what he's going to see. Dylan looks vulnerable, not that strong as he always looks. "Hey Curly", he says. "Hi Charge. Come on, let's take care of him." Swain takes charge. "Melody? You take the legs, watch out for that wound, we'll take the rest of him." Swain puts the stretcher down, and he goes down next to Dylan's bullet wound. "Charge, you'll take the head and his shoulders." He waits until Charge has Dylan's head. Than he says, "Okay, lift in, 1… 2… 3!" We pull Dylan up and lay him slowly on the stretcher. "He's having pain, Swain." "I know Melody, come, let's go quick." Swain and Charge carry the stretcher, I walk next to them. Swain and Charge slowly lay him in the RHIB. Charge takes the steering wheel. "Here", he says, "I brought an oxygen-mask as well." "Good job, Charge. Here Dutchy." He puts the mask on. We drive away. Away from the island, away from the place where the night mare happened. I turn around, the sun has just gone up. And then I see it. The big navy ship, the Hammersley. Finally, we're save.

"Okay, Melody, this can be painful and hurtful for Dutchy, so watch out." We board the Hammersley, always uncomforting, especially when you're injured. "Copy that, Swain." We both try to keep him stable, but I can see he's in a lot of pain. "It's gonna be all right, Dylan," I whisper. I see some more people waiting, I don't know them all by name. Ah, there's the CO, Mike Flynn. He visited ET in the hospital once.
They all help with taking care of Dylan. Carefully, they take him to the Medic Room. I walk with them, when someone puts a hand on my shoulder. It's someone I don't know. "Melody is it, right?" "Yes Ma'am", I respond. "My name is Kate, I'm the X. I think you would like a shower and some clean clothes? And perhaps some food, ey?" "Well, thank you ma'am, but Dylan…" "Swain will take care of him. We'll sail back to port immediately at full speed. Don't worry about that. After you've had some food I can bring you to him."
"All right then." Kate smiles, and she walks with me. She brings me some clean clothes.
It's a navy suit. Well, that's familiar. After my shower she takes me to the senior's mess.

I sit down, she brings me some food. "So, what's your full name?" "Oh, my name is Melody Holiday."
"Can I ask you a question?" she asks me. "Sure, ma'am." "How did you ended up at the island? For my interest, no-one lives there." "Ha, well, that's right, I don't live there. I crashed with my canoe, it went down and I made it to the island. How ironic, for me it was my lifesaver." Kate nods, she understands. "Well, it's good that we cleared that out, right?" A knock on the door. It's someone I don't know. "Hey Ryan", says Kate. Apparently he's called Ryan. "What's wrong?" "Swain told me to get you. Dutchy is awake."

A/n: I found it difficult to describe what happened, I hope you guys all understand it in the big picture. So, do you want another chap? Please review :)