Chapter 5
Several hours later, Sam awoke to the feel of a warm wet cloth being moved over her head and neck. She groaned and opened her eyes. Ella was kneeling over her, a bowl in one hand and a cloth in the other, gently wiping away the sweat that had covered Sam so liberally during her surgery.
The nurse saw Sam ‘s eyes open and smiled down at her without ceasing her ministrations. “How do you feel?”
Sam licked her lips, noticing how dry her mouth was and how much her throat hurt from screaming. Ella produced a cup of water and held Sam’s head as she sipped it.
“Like crap.” Sam said, answering the other woman’s question. “How did it go?”
“Your friend is a very skilled healer. She was able to remove the fragment and seal the artery before you lost hardly any blood. She cleaned it out and sowed you up and so far there is no sign of infection. Your movements during the procedure caused the wounds in your arm and back to open again, but I re-bandaged them while you were sleeping and they look to be clean.”
“What about Janet?”
Ella’s eyes softened. “She wept for what she had to do to you. It was very difficult for her. But now she is resting, and I think it will do her good to see that you are awake and doing well.”
Over the next five days, Sam and Janet rested as much as they could, eating as much as possible, and getting up only to use the facilities. Janet firmly put off their departure for two more days after that when the area around Sam’s sutures started to look pink and hot, and for another three days after that when Sam spiked a nasty fever. Ella started smuggling antibiotics out of the hospital where she worked, and got Janet the small equipment items that she needed to get the infection under control.
By the afternoon of the third day, however, Sam’s fever had broken and the wound was clean and healing well, and Janet no longer had any dire reasons to keep them there. Her ribs were mending nicely…or at least she could breath without being in constant pain. Sam’s ribs were also healing, and the wounds in her back and arm were closing. Sam informed her that night that they would be leaving in twenty four hours, and Janet gave no objections.
Some of the reason for this was that she was as worried about Daniel and the Colonel as Sam and wanted to get to them and get home. She wasn’t as used to offworld missions as her more wandering friend, and she found herself daydreaming of Cassie, her bed, her food, and her infirmary. These things were familiar and brought her comfort.
Sam and Janet debated in whispers whether or not to tell Ella about their plans to leave on the eleventh night of their sojourn. But Ella put the discussion to rest by announcing she would be taking them as far as the edge of the city in her vehicle and handing them both knapsacks stuffed with food, lamps, bandages and rough shelter equipment for their five day hike to the compound. The officers were left speechless, which was doubtless Ella’s intention.
The doctor’s ankle was markedly better, owing mostly to the fact that Janet stayed off it as much as was possible, but it was still stiff and sore and between that and Sam’s still healing leg, the journey would be rough on both of them. Thankfully, there was a road of sorts leading to the compound, which would prevent the pair from having to trek over the dense foliage that covered this part of the planet.
When darkness fell the next day, the two air force officers clambered carefully into Ella’s vehicle, and they took off for the northern edge of the city, where the road to some of the other population centers began. The trip took about fifteen minutes, and Sam and Janet traveled in silence. Janet was running over in her head what needed to be done for both of their injuries once they stopped for a rest, and Sam was running scenarios through her mind regarding what she could do if they were ambushed. She had no weapon with her, and, with her leg still in the early stages of healing, she doubted she would be able to defend them for very long.
She was still thinking about this when Ella turned to her from the front seat. Her son Eli was driving.
“You have no means of protecting yourselves if the need should arise.” It was a simple statement, but the obviousness of it irritated Sam, reminding her of her infirmary. As if she needed reminding.
“It wouldn’t be a problem if we weren’t injured.” she retorted.
“And yet you are injured.” was the reply. The nurse tossed a bundle into Sam’s lap and then turned back around to face the road.
Sam stared at the bundle for a second before looking at Janet, who shrugged. She opened the flaps to reveal two of the Kovan style handguns with extra clips, and four throwing knives.
“Where the hell did these come from?” Sam asked in wonder.
Ella turned back to her. “They belong to my family. We keep them as protection against intruders.”
Sam rewrapped the weapons and looked at the nurse. “Thank you.” she said simply, and it was obvious that Ella knew she was not speaking only for the weapons.
“You are welcome. It is small repayment for the help you have given to my people.” then Ella turned once again to the front.
They passed the rest of the trip in silence, and in a very short time, they were stopping at the edge of a park, beyond whose borders was inky blackness. The road itself was lit for perhaps a hundred yards out from the city, and Janet could see it begin to curve to the right as it began its journey.
She and Sam climbed out of the vehicle, both clutching bruised and aching ribs. They raised their hands in farewell, and the vehicle pulled away. They were alone.
Janet was scared. She looked at Sam, who looked merely slightly apprehensive and took some comfort in the fact that her friend knew what she was doing.
They set off along the road, turning on their lamps and moving as fast as they could. They walked for several hours before Sam noticed Janet was turning white with pain, and called a rest. Truth was, her leg was throbbing fit to burst, but she knew that it wasn’t going to get any easier. Janet, however, while being in excellent shape, was still not used to marathon walks and her ribs and ankle were protesting sharply.
Janet sat down and took several long pulls of water while Sam dug in her pack for the ibuprofen-like pain relievers that Ella had given them. She gave a couple to Janet and took a couple for herself. They sat and rested for about twenty minutes until the meds kicked in, then got up to walk until dawn.
They didn’t talk much along the way, mostly concentrating on getting one foot in front of the other without falling down. Sam kept her sidearm handy, and continually checked Janet’s to make sure she knew where it was. The night was quiet and mild, with only a few sounds from the wildlife breaking the stillness. There were no carnivorous species living on this part of the planet, so they didn’t need to worry about being attacked by anything other than people. Which was plenty to worry about in itself.
When the sky began to lighten, Sam called a halt and they moved off the road to find a specific type of tree that had been mentioned to them which would both shelter them and keep them from prying eyes. She found one pretty quickly. It looked like a weeping willow, but with more branches than the average Earth willow. It looked plenty roomy to house both women. Janet took one look and crawled inside, clutching her ribs and dragging her pack behind her. Once within the boughs, she pulled out her pallet and collapsed, falling asleep immediately.
Sam followed more slowly, taking the time to double back on their trail and hide their passage, then she followed Janet inside and was asleep in minutes.
Sam jerked awake to the sounds of harsh breathing and stifled sobs. Sitting up quickly, she turned to find Janet curled on her side, holding her injured ribs and trying very hard not to cry. Sam scooted carefully over to her friend and laid down beside her, stroking her hair and murmuring words of comfort.
Slowly Janet regained control over her emotions and looked at Sam. “I’m sorry. I know I’m acting like an idiot.”
“There’s nothing idiotic about it.” Sam said firmly. “You’ve been through a lot, you’re exhausted, and you know we’ve got a long way to go. There’s nothing to be ashamed about, Janet.”
The doctor nodded, and sat up carefully, holding her side and trying not to wince too badly. She wiped her face and tried to stretch a little, knowing that if she kept favoring those ribs, she would just end up with cramps. Sam broke out their food supply and they both ate quickly and hungrily, anxious to get going again.
Sam poked her head out of their tree while Janet cleared up, and saw that darkness was indeed falling. They had probably slept for at least ten hours, if not more. No wonder she had to pee. She stepped outside to take care of it, then went back in and loaded up their packs while Janet went out. They were back on the road within fifteen minutes, and made good time until midnight, when they took their rest and ate some more rations. They both ached abominably, but kept moving, knowing that stopping would only prolong the discomfort.
They went on this way for a couple of days, sleeping during daylight hours, traveling at night, stopping at midnight and, come dawn, finding a traveler’s tree and collapsing until evening when they would begin again.
This pattern held them in good stead for a while, until the third night. Janet awoke first, which was unusual in itself, and had to shake Sam hard to get her to wake up. Once she did, the major was groggy and disoriented, but brushed off Janet’s worry about her well-being.
“I’m just tired.” Sam said, getting up and starting to move around. “I’ll be okay in a minute.” She went outside to relieve herself, and it wasn’t until she was sure Janet couldn’t see her that she let out a slight moan of pain and rubbed her leg. She knew it was getting bad again, but didn’t want to deal with it right now. She returned to the tent and the two women ate their breakfast and moved out. Sam was hurting, but she walked slightly behind Janet so the doctor wouldn’t see her face or notice the increased limp that was hampering her speed.
In fact, Sam’s leg held out until the fourth night before giving out on her, spilling her to the dirt beside the road where they’d been walking. Janet was on her in a second, rolling her over and putting the lantern beside her.
“Sam, what is it?”
“My leg.” Sam said through gritted teeth. Pain was lancing white hot through her thigh, making her shiver and bite her lip to keep from screaming.
Janet felt the tremor run through the major’s body and went cold inside. She put a hand to Sam’s forehead. “You’re burning up. How long has this been going on?” she demanded, angry at Sam for not telling her sooner.
“Since yesterday.” Sam said.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Janet rolled up the leg of Sam’s pants and examined the long scar in her thigh. It was swollen an angry red, the skin pulled up, making it shiny and sickly looking.
“Damn damn damn!” Janet swore. “It’s infected again. I’m going to have to open it and drain the pus or you could lose the leg before we can get help.”
“Do you have to open it all the way?” Sam asked, panting and sweating as the fever rolled over her. She really didn’t want to have to go through that all over again.
“In another day, yes, I would have, but as of now, no I don’t think so. Probably just a couple of inches will do the trick.”
“We need to get off the road first. It will be light soon.” the major said, struggling to maneuver herself up off the ground.
“Stay put.” Frasier growled. “I’ll look for our tree and come back for you.”
It didn’t take long to locate one of the trees that had been so helpful to them, and Janet was soon helping Sam limp under the protection of its boughs, feeling her ribs protesting brutally at the rough treatment. Then she put both lanterns on either side of Sam’s leg, sterilized one of the throwing knives in the flame of one of the them, and proceeded to cut open the partially healed wound. Sam cried out as blood and pus oozed lethargically out of the small cut, seeping quickly into the ground. Janet let it bleed for a while, watching Sam for signs of undue distress, then cut a little deeper, studying the muscle for areas of white, black or any other color than red. Sam gritted her teeth and stuffed a wad of cloth from her shirt into her mouth to keep from screaming. Janet tried to ignore this as she found a tiny spot of black and cut it out quickly and carefully, then applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. Once the blood had clotted, she liberally smeared the antibiotic cream from their bags into the wound, and applied three butterfly bandages over the cut with several strips of tape over the top to hold them in place.
Satisfied that she had done all she could, Janet gave Sam several of the painkillers, made her drink two cups of water, and ordered her to sleep. As Sam tried to obey, Janet wet a cloth pulled from her bag and placed it over the other woman’s forehead. This done, Janet laid down next to Sam and fell asleep.
She woke up several times that day to check on her patient, but Sam seemed to be resting easy, and the wound looked to be less inflamed.
Relieved, Janet slept for several hours and awoke to find Sam sitting up and preparing their meal. She immediately felt Sam’s forehead and was pleased to find that the fever had lessened considerably. She gratefully accepted the MRE offered her and spooned it into her mouth while she considered how to tell Sam what she needed, but would not want, to hear.
“We’re not staying, Janet. We need to keep moving.” Sam said to her, reading the doctor’s mind.
“Sam, you need to rest at least another day or that infection could come back.” The muscle needs time to heal.” But she knew there was no way the major would acquiesce, and it just wasn’t in Janet to fight her.
“We’ll leave when we’re finished eating. If you like we can take a few more short breaks during the day so you can check it, but we’re not staying here. I’m sorry.”
Janet nodded and finished her meal in silence. She didn’t notice the increased pain in her ribs until she got up to follow Sam out of the shelter of the tree.