Ch.33
Kim was not prepared to see so many bodies. Following Wade's instructions she left the room and took a right. Down the hall she spotted the first three bodies. Decapitated, throat slit open and puncture wounds around the arteries. Kim came to a stop as reality set in. This was not like her regular missions and people were dying. Topping things off, her confidence that she could handle it led to Ron being injured even though he had suggested the mission be dropped due to their lack of experience in such scenarios.
Just as she was going deeper into her line of thought, Wade's voice came through the earbud. "Kim you got to keep moving. Ron's vitals are still dropping and his pace has barely changed."
"Right." Kim said and asked. "Lead on Wade."
"Simple really." Wade replied trying to lighten the mood. "Just follow the red signs."
By the time Kim made it outside her complexion was pale because all the bodies she'd seen and showed no sign of improving in the fresh air. Fearful that Ron would end up another body, Kim pushed herself to her limit to catch up with him.
"He stopped at your landing zone, Kim." Wade informed, letting Kim know the chase was near an end.
"Thanks Wade, I should be there in a few minutes." Kim replied already running.
When Kim made it to where Ron was she was panting and her worry at what she'd find had worsened her already pale complexion.
'If my decision leads to his death I could never forgive myself.' She thought as she looked at a pale and unmoving Ron.
Noticing Rufus atop Ron, Kim approached to look over his injuries. Just as she made to remove the shirt being used to seal the wound and assess the damage Rufus growled and swiped at her hand.
"Rufus I need to look at the wound and make sure everything is okay." Kim began to explain hoping to appease Rufus. "The medical team will need to know how much damage they are dealing with and this will save them valuable time."
"Two bullets." Rufus squeaked and continued to explain while protectively standing over Ron. "By your feet. Already out. Lots of blood. No shirt. More Blood."
"Okay." Kim said bringing out her Kimmunicator, turning on it's flashlight and beginning to look around. In moments she found the pieces of metal and picked them up, wondering if Ron had removed them himself and with what. Further looking around yielded no clue and showed that blood was already pooling around Ron. Pocketing the bullets Kim spoke to Wade. "Wade what's the ETA on that evac?"
"Ten minutes out Kim." Wade informed her and explained. "They were delayed waiting for medical personnel. For now add pressure to the wound. His vitals are still decreasing just much slower than before."
Kim did as instructed after assuring Rufus that she would not remove the make shift bandage. She saw Rufus position himself atop her hands as she applied pressure to the wounds, making her wonder what he was doing but Kim dismissed the thought. Then Kim proceeded to wait what felt like forever as her best friend lay dying in front of her.
When the evacuation team arrived Kim quickly explained that Ron suffered two gunshot wounds to the abdomen and had lost a significant amount of blood. Grabbing a hold of Rufus, Kim proceeded to watch as the medical team work, not noticing that the GJ hover jet she boarded was back in the air.
~~~~~
Ron found himself in what he decided to call his 'mindscape'. A deeper state of meditation that's near his subconscious as far as he could guess. He had no idea what had brought him here again but remembering he'd been shot gave him an inkling that it might be related to his approaching death. Looking around and noticing nothing really seemed different, Ron relaxed thinking that he might be wrong and he wasn't dying, just overreacting.
Seeing the woman that was to be his teacher meditating, Ron guessed he had nothing better to do and went over to join her. When he was three meters from her Ron was about to sit when he noticed her opening her eyes.
"Hi." Said Ron when nothing better to say or do, came to mind.
The woman stood, looked around before her amber eyes glowed briefly and she spoke. "Hello, Ronald Dean Stoppable, I'm Xu Ming Yue, a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Likewise." Ron spoke and took a moment to compose his thoughts. "I must say, I'm surprised we can communicate. You can just call me Ron, also how do I address you?"
"You may address me as Teacher Xu." Xu Ming Yue clarified before she explained. "As for communication it's a simple technique when you're in a state such as I inside someone else's body. A quick peak at your memories and it's simple enough to learn, assuming the one looking is smart enough to learn it."
"Oh." Was all Ron could say to her explanation. "So Teacher Xu, do you know why I'm here in what I began to call my 'mindscape'?"
"An apt name as any." Xu Ming Yue agreed. "As for why, that is simple. As you approached the boundary between life and death I called you here in the hope to help you through this predicament."
"Oh!" Ron said finding his vocabulary severely impacted by the realization that he was dying but not surprised it's happening. 'Wonder if my parents would even notice?' Ron mused already deciding it was a final deal and missing the part where his teacher said she would try and help him through it.
Seeing Ron simply accept the news and not ask what she meant surprised Xu Ming Yue so she elaborated. "As I said, there is a way to help you but it entirely depends on your learning abilities. Here we have extra time but if you don't learn fast enough to apply it, it will serve no use."
Ron had to take a moment to let that sink in before asking. "Teacher Xu, what do I need to do?"
"The first step is the most essential." Xu Ming Yue began to explain. "You have to spread your awareness throughout your body, this will allow you to know it's condition. It's similar to when you're in pain and know the location but with this you will be able to know the problem in greater detail. For now we will focus on the injuries you have and let yourself be drawn there, since spreading your awareness throughout the whole body is no easy feat."
Ron listened to Xu Ming Yue and let his mind focus on the pain he had felt before he was drawn to his mindscape. After what felt like minutes he still felt nothing.
Xu Ming Yue smiled faintly. "A valiant first attempt but I had yet to finish explaining. Right now you're in such an inward focused state that your awareness can't separate to branch out towards the body. I will be teaching you how to guide your Ki so that you're able to heal, share some memories that relate to spreading your awareness and then we hope for the best. I know it's not optimal but if we use the regular teaching method you will likely die since you need to be in a conscious state and as you know we wouldn't have the time. So we are betting on your intellect and learning capabilities."
Ron heard her words and felt like they were blows to his confidence. The only time he was confident in his intellect and learning abilities was when he was evil and he wasn't sure he could pull it off. Still he listened to Xu Ming Yue explain and even bring an astral body into his mindscape that looked like a holographic Ron. She adjusted the transparency on it and showed him how to guide the Ki needed for the healing techinique, which looked like glowing gas. After she taught Ron how to summon an astral body himself so he could practice. It felt like weeks went by before he was able to maintain the Ki flow and focus it on parts of the astral body.
Xu Ming Yue, finally satisfied that Ron could use the technique well enough, decided it was time to share some of her memories of locating injuries and using the technique. To Ron the experience felt like he had gone through it himself. It had started off simple, a stab wound through the right leg muscle below the knee from a fight. Then wounds proceeded to become more life threatening and numerous but Ron noticed a couple of things. One, the technique left no scars which for a woman must have been a blessing. Two, healing happened after the fights for some reason, never in combat making him wonder why. And three, as long as the brain and heart were functioning he seemed to heal from most wounds. Although, in a particular occasion he almost suffocated because severe damage to his lungs, so it didn't always apply that the heart and brain were the only weaknesses.
Still, Ron persevered and endured through the memories. He focused on every detail he could. Memorized the process from every angle and by the time the memories stopped he was as ready as could be.
~~~~~
Kim heard Wade inform the medical team of Ron's blood type and berated herself for not mentioning it herself. It was such an obvious thing yet the thought slipped her mind. To her dismay the medical team informed Wade they didn't have any on hand as they continued to work on Ron. Just as Kim relaxed thinking the this was all going to be okay, she heard one of the people working on Ron curse and begin chest compressions. Tears rolling down her face, Kim wept thinking she might have gotten Ron killed.
~~~~~
Xu Ming Yue looked at Ron's grim expression and knew he was as ready as can be expected.
"Good luck." Xu Ming Yue said.
"Thank you for all your help Teacher Xu." Was all Ron said, hoping there was a next time they would talk.
Just as he was ready to go back Ron's mindscape vibrated and a part of it fractured.
"Ahhhhhh!" Ron screamed as he felt a tear to his core but he didn't have the time to wonder what might have just happened. He knew he was running out of time and had to act now.
Ron felt his conciousness returning and quickly noticed a few things. First, he was still bleeding. Second, his mind was sluggish and he couldn't feel his body properly, only knew that he felt cold. And third, he didn't feel his heartbeat and that nearly scared him silly. Seeing as his mind was still functioning, Ron decided to bet and began trying the healing technique.
To Ron, spreading his awareness to the wound proved difficult even after experiencing Xu Ming Yue's memories, it didn't remove its difficulty and give him a shortcut to its mastery, it was only a guide. Seven tries later proved no different, but Ron was aware he was still bleeding meaning that although his heart hadn't restarted, bloodflow was still in effect giving him some time.
On the eighth try, Ron managed to succeed and started recieving information. From what he could tell a vein was nicked by a bullet. Speaking of bullets they weren't in his system, so someone took them out. There was also some damage to the area that he couldn't understand at the moment but it concerned Ron since both bullets had hit the same area.
Ron also noticed that someone applied a healing technique whose effect was like comparing a puddle to a lake when compared to Xu Ming Yue's technique but laid out the foundation to heal him.
~~~~~
Kim despaired as she saw the medical team do chest compressions. She felt that she was suffocating and from Rufus attempts to go to Ron, she knew he wasn't feeling much better. The minute it took for them to restart Ron's heart felt like it was a lifetime to Kim. She witnessed her friend dead for a minute and the experience would change her in ways that she didn't know yet.
~~~~~
When Ron felt his heart start pumping again his confidence increasesld and he relaxed a bit. 'I can do this. My heart's beating and the bullets are gone that means I'm likely in a medical facility and they are working on me. As long as I repair enough of the wound they should be able to take care of the rest.' Ron thought and started to apply the healing techinique.
As the healing techinique started to work Ron had to admit that its effects were incredible. He first focused on the vein since he knew the continuous bleeding had to be a concern. Ron wasn't sure how long it took but effects were evident as the vein bled less and less. Once satisfied with the current progress on the vein, Ron started branching out towards the rest of the damage.
'Shit I think that may be an organ!' Ron realized as he focused on the damaged area.
Steeling himself for the very real possibility of death that confronted him, Ron gave up on the vein and focused entirely on the organ that both bullets impacted.
Some time later, even though Ron did everything he could to heal himself a little longer, his mind started to fade as everything went to darkness.