So are you folks bored of this fic yet?
LK
Chapter thirty seven : Realisation
The pump action shotgun was strapped around Sabrina's shoulder, but useless as it was impossible for her to fire it one handed. She re-loaded and kept the forty five caliber tucked in the belt of her jeans, safety on. Kelly next to her had the rifle she had found loosely held in her right hand. For now she was the only one who could use both of her hands to use the rifle or the shotgun they found in the back of the trunk and she decided to keep the rifle. She was always better with the accuracy of a rifle than the messy slaughter of a shotgun. A few steps ahead of them, Hope was trying to open a door to a house using her shoulder but it seemed to be stuck.
Sabrina made a low sound in her throat, hearing a car engine approaching. She pushed Hope aside and kicked the door, causing whatever blocked it from the inside to roll away. Kelly half dragged Kris inside and Hope pushed the door shut, just in time to not be seen by the vehicle passing by. It was yet another 4x4, judging by the sound the tires made. It seemed to pass by slowly, as if looking for someone and Kelly could bet anything that it was them they were looking for.
They remained crouched -well in Kris' case slumped- on the floor until the sound faded away. Kelly uttered a deep sigh of relief and got to her feet. One look to her left and she finally saw what was blocking the door.
''Holy-'' She chocked on the next word, as she tried to move as far of the body lying on the floor in a puddle of blood as she could.
''Looks like we need to get some spring cleaning done before we camp here...'' She heard Sabrina say and barely managed not to throw up. It must have shown on her face because she caught a glimpse of Hope glaring at her. Sabrina touched the taller woman's shoulder and the hard look on her face softened.
''Give me a hand and we'll get the poor guy out of here.'' She said, and her voice didn't hold the edge of humour or even sarcasm it did before.
Before Hope could answer Kelly cut in. ''We can't just... do that!'' She protested, her eyes wide from shock. ''We can't just...''
Again Hope tried to say something but once more she was interrupted, this time by Sabrina, who took a step closer to Kelly and placed both of her hands on her shoulders.
''Kelly, Kelly look at me okay?'' She pleaded and her eyes searched for Kelly's. ''Look at me.'' She turned her head towards the body. ''He's dead okay?!'' Her face shifted expressions rapidly, tiredness, pain, repulsion. ''He's dead, and we're alive! And... and we need to stay like this got it?'' She let go and Hope helped her drag out the dead man. Kelly did not answer but did not try to stop them either. The smell overtook her and she dry heaved outside in the small dry garden as Hope covered the body with some bushes, so it wouldn't be seen by anyone passing by and alert them someone was in the house now.
When all three went inside Kris was still half lying on the floor, her back against the wall and her eyes completely empty. Kelly reached for Sabrina, about to push her aside so she could get to Kris but her hand touched the other angel's back, coming away crimson.
Kelly looked down at the blood on her hand and back up. ''Sabrina, what the hell happened to your back?''
Hope knelt next to Kris and looked up at Kelly. ''Go check on her, I got this.''
Despite her protests Sabrina ended up lying flat on her stomach on a bed and her shirt off while Kelly tried to aces the situation. The green-eyed woman was silent for a bit and Sabrina was getting impatient.
''So what is it? A giant fucking octopus stuck on my back?!'' The joke didn't work very well and Kelly winced.
''Wood, wood fragments...'' She took a pair of tweezers from the first aid kit. ''It's like you fell on something wooden and it broke, and some of the pieces punctured your back.''
''That's just great...''
She let out a surprised grunt as Kelly pulled a chunk of wood away and poured alcohol over the wound.
''A small heads-up would be great!'' She groaned and shut her eyes as Kelly repeated the process.
''That's gonna take a while Bri. So be nice and keep down so you won't bleed to death or something.''
''Okay, okay no need to be bitchy about it... OW!''
Kelly squinted, aiming with her tweezers once more. ''Sorry, big one.'' She sighed. ''I don't think any of them went deep enough to cause internal damage, so that's good.'' She said, more to herself than Sabrina. ''But it's pretty nasty so I need to make sure they're all removed.'' She frowned. ''And it's going to hurt...''
''A little I hope?''
''More like a lot.''
''Ugh.''
She used her working hand to grab a good hold of the mattress, preventing herself from crying out in pain. The combined sensation of Kelly pulling out the fragments and alcohol poured over gave more of a burning feeling than puncturing or stabbing. She shut her eyes and focused on her breathing. Kelly on the other side, had her face locked in a constant grimace, knowing now why she never could be a doctor. She attempted to start a conversation, which would prevent her from throwing up or fainting and would distract Sabrina slightly.
''What did you fall onto...'' She said in a low voice.
Sabrina shrugged, but with Kelly trying to patch up her back this wasn't the best thing to do. ''OW!'' She took in a deep breath. ''I don't know really...''
''How can you not know?'' Kelly asked, wondering if she should start wearing reading glasses when all this was over, as she wasn't managing to catch everything with the tweezers. She placed her right palm on Sabrina's shoulder blade, as she saw a piece big enough that she couldn't remove with tweezers.
''Well, there was a wooden table in the room... but I blacked out for a while...so I'm not sure where I landed.''
''Sabrina?''
''Yes?''
''There are some big pieces here and I'm afraid to pull them out, case you bleed more.'' Kelly muttered.
''You need to take them out Kell...I don't know if I'll get a chance to get them removed in a hospital soon enough.'' She sighed. ''Just put pressure with a towel if it bleeds too much okay?'' She suddenly felt more pressure on her shoulder blade and she realised she wanted to scream so very badly. She choked the sound to a sharp grunt, knowing that if she started screaming she would a) not stop any time soon b) alert anyone around c) make Kris or even Kelly panic.
Kelly was suddenly aware of her own injury, throbbing on the side of her head where Hope had hit her. She frowned deeply and asked : '' Do you think you have a concussion? Did the Aryan hit you in the head or something?''
Sabrina went quiet for a few seconds. ''Kris threw me across the room. I hit the wall and blacked out. I ... honestly don't know what happened until I was conscious again or where I landed next.'' Her voice was careful now and it didn't hold the hint of impatience or even pain it held before. It was just empty.
''Jesus Bri...'' was all Kelly could think of saying.
A small sound behind them made both to turn as much as possible from each one's position -Sabrina's lying on the bed and Kelly's kneeling on it- to see what was going on.
The both caught a good look of Kris standing at the opening of the room's door, frozen to her spot in silence, then tears filling her eyes as she turned around to go.
''Shit...'' Sabrina said softly, and before Kelly could react grabbed her shirt, put it back on and chased after Kris.
Sabrina ran past a startled Hope and inside the large bathroom, finding Kris sitting on the floor behind the door. With great effort she sat down next to her, painfully observing the taser burns on her friend's chest. She searched for her eyes but Kris her her face buried in her palms, sobs wrecking through her body. She had been strong for way too long, she had been strong while they were in that basement and she had been strong and never gave Kelly's name but this was all too much to stomach right now and she finally broke.
''Kris...?'' Sabrina asked and the question was wasted, she knew it. After that it became more of a soothing that a question. ''Kris... Kris...'' She tenderly reached her arm around Kris, knowing the blond was probably as sore as she was and peeled her hands off her face so she could look at her.
''Kris...''
''I hurt you!'' Kris screamed at her, her eyes bloodshot and filled with anger, pain and exhaustion as realisation hit her and she started remembering. ''Oh my God, I'm so sorry!'' Sabrina pulled her closer against her and spoke. ''Kris, Kris it's okay, you don't have to be sorry... it wasn't your fault.''
''I don't know what's wrong with me!'' Kris screamed once more and then buried her face in Sabrina's shoulder and sobbed wordlessly.
Lost for words Sabrina kept repeating what she said, words losing their meaning becoming only an endless soothing sound as bowed her head over Kris'.
''It's okay, it's okay...''