At some point we had finished off the canteen and Lucas had passed out next to me, whether from the alcohol or just plain exhaustion I wasn't sure. Not that I could blame him either way, we had only been on Earth for maybe 48 hours now and had already been captured by nuclear warriors who shouldn't be alive, and threatened more times than I cared to count on top of that. Not exactly how any of us thought this would go.
A wheezing cough pulled me from my thoughts. Looking up from my spot on the floor, I looked up at the man laying on the cot in front of me. His temperature had dropped shortly after we force fed him alcohol and his breathing was getting better by the hour, who ever said alcohol wasn't the answer?
Noticing he was still asleep though I stood up, careful not to wake up Lucas - he deserved the rest. The youngest of the three had woken up earlier but after realizing the extent of his injuries decided sleep was a better option. Which only left one other, I sighed to myself before making my way over to him.
Coughing again, I wasn't very surprised to see him trying to push himself up on the cot.
"What did I tell you about that?" I chided softly as I moved to stand at the foot of his makeshift bed. He barely glanced up at me before again focusing on sitting himself up.
"I need water," he said, his voice taking on a strange accent I hadn't noticed earlier. I moved to grab another canteen from the table for him.
"You could have just asked ya know," I replied over my shoulder as I returned one of the backpacks to the floor. He just grunted in response. I rolled my eyes but handed him the canteen. I also snagged a pillow of sorts from the empty cot next to him and put it behind him to support his back while he drank.
"That should be more comfortable, if you're going to insist on sitting up," I told him with a small smile. He leaned back but again said nothing. Taking another look at him I made a mental note that his skin looked less flushed, a good sign that the ointment was working. His tattoo on his face looked more pronounced now and I realized that the thick spiral lines were actually a dark navy color, and not black, and similar to the ones I had seen on the youngest of the three.
I wonder why theirs are blue and the other mans is red? A question for later perhaps. That one and a thousand others.
"It's Nyko right?" At the sound of his name his head snapped in my direction, his eyes narrowed. Again with the glaring. "That's what Indra called you."
His gaze didn't soften but he did nod his head in reply.
"I'm Cole." I offered back, not sure why I felt the sudden need to introduce myself. I was going to blame it on the alcohol.
"I know," he grunted in response before taking another sip from the canteen. "The boy you're with calls your name every five minutes like a lost pup."
I scrunched my nose at his answer. Lucas wasn't that bad, and I definitely wouldn't have been able to stay calm and take care of everyone without him. I glanced back at his still sleeping form before turning back to Niko.
"I'm just more experienced in trauma injuries than he is I guess," I responded almost shyly now. "Plus, your people kind of threatened to kill all of ours if we didn't heal you. So we can't exactly afford to mess up right now."
I paused for a second before remembering something, "Speaking of which.."
"Speaking of killing people?" He interrupted sharply.
"Speaking of healing people," I replied my tone hardening as well. Smart ass. "Your friend on the far cot is doing better, his fever broke a little bit ago and his breathing is getting stronger. Looks like he's going to pull through."
"What makes you think he's a friend?"
I paused at that. Were they not friends? They were in the same camp. And after his comments a few hours ago about him, I had assumed that they were at least acquainted.
"Are you not?" I asked back. Nyko just huffed before again turning back towards me.
"Not particularly."
"Why not?" I immediately countered, curious to what he would say.
"You ask too many questions kid."
I shook my head and groaned inwardly. Not him too. He must have noticed my reaction because he smirked slightly before setting down the canteen on an empty space on the cot.
I wanted to check his burns but man laying in the middle yawned as he tried to push himself up off the cot as well. They were never going to get better if they kept pulling at the wounds I thought to myself. Sighing, I turned to face him and crouched down so I would be closer to his level.
"You need to stay laying down, at least for a little while longer," I told him. He tilted his head to look at me and said something in their language. I scrunched my forehead in confusion, surely he knows that I can't understand him. I was about to tell him as much when I heard Nyko respond back to him, only catching the world "Cole" in his reply. Now I was even more confused, were they talking about me?
Seemingly content with whatever Nyko's response had been, he again moved to push himself up. I placed my hand on the top of his shoulder blade, where I was sure I wouldn't irritate any of his wounds.
"No," I said again, firmer this time. His eyes narrowed as he glared at me. His face lacked the tattoos or face paint the other two sported and he didn't look nearly as intimidating. In fact with his closely shaved hair, he almost looked like a boy being put in a time-out compared to the others. I nearly laughed at the thought.
"Nyko, tell him no. He's pulling at the wounds."
"He understands you," he grunted.
"Obviously not," I said, annoyed now as the man shrugged off my hand and rolled himself off the cot. He had rolled away from me and had attempted to catch himself before he hit the floor, apparently trying a different approach since he still lacked the strength to push himself up directly. I was unsure whether to give points for ingenuity or stupidity.
"He doesn't want to listen to you," Nyko responded, now carefully taking in what was happening.
I moved to the other side of the cot and crossed my arms over my chest expectantly.
"Yeah, well look where that got you," I told the man who was now sitting up on the floor clutching his now even more injured shoulder. He barked something out at me, I couldn't understand it of course but his tone told me it was most likely not a heartfelt apology for disobeying me. Nyko avoiding my gaze confirmed as much.
I took a deep breath and shook my head as I moved over to the grounded man who was again trying to stand up. With his uninjured arm against the cot he hissed as he accidently put pressure on his wounded leg. That's what he gets.
"Here, let me help," I told him as I went to grab his uninjured arm to put around my shoulders. He instantly pulled away from me though. Why must we do everything the most difficult way possible? I could feel my temper rising.
"Listen," I told him, grabbing his arm as firmly as I dared. "You are going to let me help you get back on the damn cot, and you are going to stay there and ask me for whatever you need until I tell you that you can do otherwise. If you don't make a full recovery, me and all of my people die and I'm not going to let that happen just because you couldn't let your stupid male ego go for a day."
I was shocked on how authoritative my voice had sounded, and I felt my anger fade as quickly as it had come one. Apparently I had surprised the man as well because he just stared at me as if I had grown a third head. Well, at least he wasn't glaring at me. Small victories.
I heard what sounded like an amused snort come from behind me. Helping the man sit on the bed I turned my head. Looks like everyone's up now, I mused. The third man was looking over at us, exhaustion and amusement clear in his features.
"You hush." I scolded. These three were going to be the death of me, quite literally.
Once I had repositioned the youngest back on his cot comfortably and made sure his shoulder hadn't opened up again I brought both of the two newly awoken men a canteen of water.
"Well now that everyone's awake" I announced, though a quick glance at Lucas' still slumbering form made me correct myself, "Well almost everyone, I need you three to stay put while I go find whoever's in charge and let them know you're up."
None of them said anything, surprise there.
"No need," a slightly accented voice called from the doorway. Turning I saw Indra standing by the arch with her hands on her hips. Looking to my three patients she called out in her language, all three immediately replied.
Well that's just rude.
"They are better?"
It took me a second to realize that her question was meant for me.
"Yeah, they still need time to fully heal but they are all going to be alright," I replied nodding my head in reassurance.
"Good, come now," she commanded as she moved to turn out the door. "Bring the other healer as well."
"Wait," I called out, my voice a mere shadow of the commanding tone I had used just minutes before. I knelt down and nudged Lucas awake before continuing. "What happens now? You said you would let us go if we helped them. What are you going to do to us and the rest of the people we came here with?"
Turning back around Indra glared at me.
"I only promised not to kill you, not that I would let you go."
I gulped. Thinking back I guess that was technically true.
"Our tribune will decide what happens to you and your people next."
"What is she talking about Cole?" Lucas asked from beside me, still sitting on the floor with a confused expression. It was times like this that it was hard to remember that he was the supposedly older and wiser of us both.
"I don't know," I whispered back honestly.
"Come now," one of the warriors who had entered with Indra commanded. His face, like the other warriors I had seen, was half covered by a mask.
As we made our way out the door I heard Nyko's voice call from behind us. I'm not sure what he said but I noticed that it made Indra stop and look back at him with a slightly surprised expression. Saying nothing she just nodded and continued out the room, and we were pushed out behind her.
A quick thank you to everyone who has taken to the time to read my story so far, especially to those of you who have favorited/followed/reviewed it. It's very touching to see other people enjoy the musings that I come up with as much as I do!