Page 4 of Chaos & Carnage
“I can’t find a vein. She’s lost too much blood.” I reached back to the drawers behind me, rifling through with one hand as the other cradled the injection, the end pointed up into the air. The coolness of rubber tickled my fingertips, and the back of my hand brushed over the polyester-cotton fabric. I pulled out both. “When I open her up properly, there is going to be a huge amount of blood and mushed up gut. I can’t have you fainting on me. I need you to go out there and wait. You need to let do my job.” I tossed the green scrubs at him.
For a moment, his eyes darkened. A sea of green consumed by a storm. But it passed quickly. The half-naked man nodded, ran a blood-stained hand through the mass of floppy blond hair and then retreated, casting a last look behind him as I wrapped the rubber round the dog’s leg, and turning the pen I’d pushed through the loop to tighten it. The door hissed shut. I didn’t look again to see if he’d left, my fingers feeling for the little swell of a vein, something just big enough to push the needle into and let the anaesthetic seep into the wretched animal’s body.
Chapter Three
The plastic seats dug into the back of my thighs, my hamstrings aching like I’d run a marathon. But instead, I’d just sat here for hours, in the freezing waiting room of the little vet’s with only the green scrubs she had tossed at me and my leather bike jacket that I’d retrieved from the van. I needed my bed and a joint. My phone had buzzed repeatedly. Numerous texts, numerous brothers. But no one had any news on Demon, and I had none on his dog.
The clock above the aging reception desk ticked by loudly, each second echoing into the emptiness. The only sound. Even behind the door I’d stepped out of hours ago, it was quiet. Not a beep of a machine, or the drone of voices. Nothing. Just silence. Echoing, lasting silence. Eventually my heart kept beat with the clock, steady and rhythmical. I’d drifted off twice, waking with a jolt as my phone buzzed against my thigh, but still no word from Indie or anyone else. For all I knew, Demon was dead already. And maybe his dog wasn’t far behind.
The thought was as heavy as lead, resting in my stomach like I’d swallowed a cannon ball, sinking through my body. A grey light filtered in through the gaps in the bashed horizontal blinds, cascading a scatter of grey shadows on the old lino floor at my feet. And eventually, with each minute that morning trickled into the vet’s office, the room lightened, the yellowing floor showing circles of white; accidents bleached away.
The click startled me. I’d drifted off again, my brain muddled, my eyes struggling to adjust in the gloom, unaware of where I was and jumping to my feet. The mobile hit the floor with a clunk.
“Sorry to disturb you.” Her voice was softer now. Tired. A hint of shyness.
Still, my eyes struggled to focus. The alcohol from the night before clouding my vision more than my lack of sleep, and all I could do was stare as she walked closer.
Her green scrubs were soaked in patches, the dark red still drying. Light brown hair had escaped the ponytail it had been tied back in. Gentle blue eyes, filled with exhaustion. Or maybe they were grey after all. I couldn’t tell properly in this light. There was a dusting of freckles over her nose, and splashes of blood on her face, a dried red streak down one cheek where she’d wiped at it.
“Kinobi?” I asked, my voice cracking through tiredness and the start of a hangover. “Is she…?”
“She’s alive,” she answered quickly, saving me the anxiety of waiting for an answer. “But she’s very poorly. She’s lost a lot of blood. I’ve had to take out a chunk of intestine.”
“And will she stay alive?” I asked, the lead cannon ball trying to force its way from my stomach to my bowel, feeling heavier every second.
“I don’t know that yet. There’s a high risk of complications from these things.”
“What sort of complications?”
“Infection. More internal damage than we could see.”
“You opened her up, didn’t you? You’ve seen what the damage is?”
I winced at the bite in my voice. A mix of fear, tiredness, worry. The young vet stepped forward, the light from the window illuminating her better. She had a round, gentle face. The freckles making her look younger than she possibly was. Her eyelashes framed her eyes, thick and long, but not hiding how tired she was. And here I was, being a knob.
“Mr….?” she asked softly, almost hesitantly, her voice free of the commands I’d heard in it earlier.
“Chaos. Cade,” I added quickly when her brows furrowed in confusion. “My name’s Cade.”
“Cade,” she repeated, my name almost whispered on her lips. Full pink lips. “We can’t always see the full picture when they come in from a trauma such as this. And I’ve never had to deal with a bullet wound injury before. Me and my nurse have done our best. Kinobi now just needs time to rest. I’ll keep her dosed up with painkillers, so she doesn’t feel a thing. I’m also going to keep her sedated, so she doesn’t panic. I need her to stay as still as possible now.”
I nodded, thinking I understood. But all I heard was that it was still touch and go. We could still lose her. And right now, I didn’t know whether we’d already lost Demon.
“Thank you. For everything. I’ll wash these and get them back to you.” I plucked at the same green fabric that she was wearing as a tunic, which only served me as a t-shirt.
*****
There was a static hush in theDogthat night. It was full of the Kings. Every single one of us. Even Beanz, who was sitting uncomfortably in a corner booth, nervously sipping a pint and hugging his side. I hoped the fucker was hurting. Badly. Knobbing our old president’s ol’ lady was a cardinal sin, but when the man was dying? I would have exiled him from the club. And I didn’t know why Indie hadn’t. Or maybe he just hadn’t yet.
“How’s the dog, brother?” A hand slapped down on my shoulder heavily.
“Not good. But still alive for now. How’s Demon?”
“Same. Still alive, I think.” Caleb pushed his arse up onto the stool beside me, looking as tired as I felt.
“You get any sleep?” I asked, looking at him like I was looking in a mirror.
“Slept all day, lad. You?”