4
Panic was the only thing Kerry felt as he ripped open another drawer in the small office. Finally he found the hypos. Grabbing two he dropped to his knees next to his input. The pool of blood was alarmingly large. V's breathing was shallow and rapid, his eyes closed.
"Stay with me, V. Fuck, please!" He uncapped the first hypo and stabbed the mercenary in the sternum. He did his best to count to 10, letting the medicine flood the system.
V's face was ghostly white but Kerry did notice an immediate reduction in the amount of blood coming out of his side. Grabbing the next one, he injected it just below the first.
Tossing the spent items aside he watched V closely. The bleeding slowed further and his breathing began to even out. Tears of relief burned behind the rockerboy's eyes but he knew they weren't out of the woods yet. V needed a ripper but Kerry wasn't sure of his ability to carry the mercenary. Sure, he was shorter than the rockerboy but he had a fair amount more muscle.
Pushing the doubts out of his head, he bent down and awkwardly hoisted his unconscious body over his shoulder.
It was a struggle, but he eventually got V settled into the passenger seat of his Aerondight. He drove around the car blocking the drive. Enough work was going to have to be done inside, might as well redo the landscaping too. As soon as he was on the road, he dialed up Misty.
"Hello?" She answered cheerfully and Kerry grimaced.
"Misty, it's Kerry. V's input. Is Vik busy?"
"I don't think so. Is everything ok?"
The rockerboy shook his head. "No, not at all. I'll be there soon. Gonna need help getting V in. Gunshots, almost bled out. He's unconscious."
"Ok, I'll let Vik know you're coming. Park out back, I'll meet you there."
Misty was waiting for them when Kerry pulled up to the curb. Rushing around to the passenger side, he helped her get V into the wheelchair.
"I'll get him into Vik's. Head over to my shop and I'll meet you there." She nodded towards a door across the alley.
Kerry did as he was told but paused just outside the door. A cat came wandering up to him and circled between his feet, meowing loudly.
"Hey there, little guy." He bent down and stroked its head. Despite the odd feel of its hairless skin, it was calming. The cat meowed again and Kerry sat down on the step.
He was so focused on the cat that he didn't hear the clinic door open and close or the footsteps approaching.
"I see Nibbles has introduced himself." Misty sat down next to him and the cat jumped onto her lap.
"Nibbles, huh?" He patted the cat's head as it purred.
"V had me look after him when he left Night City. There was another cat out here at the time, Mr. Brightman. But he passed a few months before V came back." Nibbles nudged his head under her chin and she smiled. "When he came back, V said he'd take Nibbles as soon as he found a place but I asked if he could stay with me since we get along so well."
They lapsed into soft silence. Nibbles jumped back and forth between them every few minutes, clearly enjoying the extra attention. After a while, he seemed to grow bored and wandered off down the alley.
"Will he be ok?" Kerry suddenly blurted out.
"Well, Vik said he lost a lot of blood but no major organs were hit. There was a pretty nasty stab wound on his shoulder too. Might have severed a tendon, he couldn't tell at a glance. But, believe it or not, it's not the worst shape Vik has seen him in. So it's safe to say he should be fine."
The rockerboy exhaled deeply and felt some of the weight on his chest fall away.
Misty stood and offered her hand. "Would you like to come in and have some tea?"
"Sure, I'll lose my mind if I just sit here waiting. 'Specially since Nibbles wandered off."
While Misty brewed the tea, Kerry perused the shop. He ran his fingers over the spines of dusty books sitting on a shelf near the door before carefully pulling one down. It was a pocket-sized book with a soft cover. A drawing of a bouquet of flowers adorned the front. He carefully thumbed through the pages, admiring the drawings of different plants and flowers.
"It's a book about what different plants mean in different cultures," Misty set a steaming cup of tea on the table in front of him.
"Didn't think they still published physical books anymore."
With a half-smile Misty replied, "they don't really. That book is pretty old. A century if not more."
Kerry chuckled. "Makes sense, I remember reading real books when I was growing up and I'm pretty old too."
He finished looking through the book and placed it back on the shelf. "Any word from Vik?"
Misty shook her head. "Not yet." She crossed back to the back of the shop and around the counter.
The rockerboy stayed by the bookshelf but was no longer interested in its contents. Nervousness and unease were starting to settle into his gut again.
"V talks about you a lot. When you first started dating, before he left with the Aldecaldos, Vik would sometimes come in after treating him and say, 'Misty, I don't think I've ever met someone as in love with their input as that kid. 'Cept maybe you and Jack.' The day he came back, he had to stop here to get his holo unblocked and Vik gave him a quick checkup. He could hardly sit still; he was so excited to get back to you." She gave him a wistful smile.
Kerry felt his cheeks get warm as his face flushed. "That's really sweet. I missed him a lot when he was gone. When I found out he was alive, I felt… I don't even know."
"You two have a special connection." She reached for her deck of tarot cards and started shuffling. "V would have me do the occasional reading about your future together, but they always turned out so complicated because of Johnny. Would you like me to lay out a spread for you?"
Raising an eyebrow, he crossed to the counter opposite her. "Can't say I really believe in this stuff, but sure. Why not."
She nodded. "Think about the recent past, your present, and your hopes for the future." She continued to shuffle and gave him a moment to think about it.
Flipping over the first card, she winced as a hideous, demonic face stared up at them.
"The Devil." She took a breath, "The Devil symbolizes addiction and craving. Whatever you stood to gain - fame, fortune, stability - came with great risk. The Devil preys on the naive, the unsuspecting with promises beyond their wildest dreams. Pulling them in until they're utterly consumed with no way out. But, it's reversed which indicates a wise choice that helped you to get out before it's too late."
Kerry studied the card for a moment longer. That certainly sounded like his life after V left. Chaos, a never-ending stream of groupies, drugs, and alcohol. All culminating with him trying to put another bullet in his skull. But somehow, against all odds, he made it through.
The next card Misty laid down was, perhaps, a monk of some sort.
"Strength." A small smile touched her lips. "The power to overcome. It represents dedication to a cause or, maybe, a person. In any case, it means a willingness to risk it all for whatever you're after."
"Vincent." Kerry didn't even think about it. The name just fell from his lips.
Misty smiled again and flipped the next card, her face quickly falling. "But uncertainty sits in the pit of your stomach, the back of your mind. Unsure of where things are going. The Wheel of Fortune…"
His breath hitched and stomach churned as his eyes landed on the card. A mangled, bullet ridden man below a circle filled with symbols. "Not a fan of that."
"The Wheel of Fortune isn't always bad. It can mean that not every situation is as hopeless as it seems. Let's see what the last card says before we make any assumptions about this one."
As Kerry nodded, she turned over the fourth and final card. The smile returned to her face. "The Sun. A bright future lies ahead. Freedom and truth will pull back the curtain of darkness. But," for the first time during the reading she looked directly at him. "With the truth can come a new set of challenges - new questions, new answers."
She put the cards back into the deck and set it aside. "Think about that and I'll go check on things. I'll be right back."
"Thanks, Misty. That… made more sense than I expected." He leaned against the counter and did think about the cards. The image on the Wheel of Fortune stuck with him. The gaping bullet holes, the blood dripping down the man's neck. He couldn't help but picture V's face on the card. His stomach twisted at the visage but the rockerboy did his best to push it away, focusing on the Sun that was turned over shortly after. Freedom.
Sure, new challenges and questions will always be coming along. But what about the age old question Kerry couldn't go a day without asking? What happens now? It had become pretty obvious that neither V nor Kerry thought they'd get this far.
The door to the alley slid open and he turned his attention to Misty again as she came in.
"V should be waking up soon. Vik said you can come back. He'd probably like to see you when he wakes up."
As calmly as he could, Kerry went around the counter and followed Misty back across the alley and down into the clinic.
V was laid out in the chair, his Samurai jacket sat on a table nearby. Kerry winced at the amount of blood that stained the lining. The shirt V had been wearing must have been torn off and discarded. Bandages criss-crossed his stomach and over his shoulder.
Some color had returned to the mercenary's face and his breathing was even.
Vik waved him over and pointed to a chair. "You can sit there. He should be waking up soon. He might be a little overwhelmed as he comes to. I had to dose him with betahaliperidol. And that's a hell of a painkiller."
Kerry nodded and sat before carefully reaching for V's hand and entwining their fingers.