His back arched and his head pulled back against the mattress, the muscles in his jaw bunching as he grit his teeth.
Actor pressed his fingers alongside the wound and explored it with the tip of Chief's blade. It took a moment's probing before he felt something solid. Manipulating the object between the knife's tip and his fingers, twisting and turning the blade, he slowly brought the bullet carefully to the surface. Holding the slug up to the light he made sure it was intact before he dropped it into the pan sitting on the stool next to him.
"How do you feel?" he asked quietly.
"You don't really want me to answer that yet. How's the bleeding?"
Actor rolled back the folded cloth he was holding over the wound. "Better, but I believe I will allow it to bleed for a few more minutes before I bind it. It will help clean the wound."
The group's medic rinsed his hands in the basin of water and then folded a clean towel under the bleeding leg. "Try and get some sleep. I'll wake you before I start to bandage it."
He nodded and closed his eyes. Ragged breathing eased and gradually his grip relaxed.
Goniff dabbed at the sweat on the back of the hand he still held. He worked his way up the arm and across the chest and then patted the face dry. Edging carefully off the mattress he stood, shaking his head. "I'd a been yellin' m' Bloody head off."
A quick snap of fingers drew their attention to the window set high in the basement wall. All of them drew further back into the shadows.
They watched a pair of tall, highly polished black boots stroll into the frame of the window. The soldier wearing them stopped and turned back the way he'd come took a step and then stopped again. A moment later another pair of black boots join the first. The men waiting in the basement fingered their weapons as they watched and waited. After several minutes the end of a cigarette dropped and one of the booted feet crushed it into the sidewalk.
The two soldiers tarried a moment longer and then went on their way.
Actor took a deep breath and let it out. He looked at Goniff and smiled. "No. You wouldn't."