Page 21 of Desiderium (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #2)

My adrenaline is just about spent, making my body practically useless with lack of energy, but Hawk helps me with that.

Taking off his pants, he lifts them out of the water and ties a knot in each of the legs.

Then, he stops treading the water, allowing himself to sink.

It’s murky here, but I can see enough to witness Hawk blowing into the waistband, inflating the pantleg with air.

After one is full, he rises, takes another breath, then sinks again, doing the same to the other leg.

This time, when he resurfaces, he swims over to me, placing the inflated pant floatie over my head, the knotted parts lying on my chest.

Oh, this is much easier now.

While remaining on my back, floating on the surface and keeping pace with Hawk, I manage to kick over to where the dock is without having to worry about my own exhaustion taking me out on the way.

He makes sure I have a firm grasp on the metal ladder before climbing to the top, helping Jax heave Cole onto the creaky, wooden planks.

They do so as gently as possible but Cole still lets out agonizing groans as they jostle him into position.

Once Hawk is able to lay him on his stomach, Jax hoists himself and Sadie up out of the water while I climb up the rusty ladder and make my way over to them.

There’s no time wasted once we’re all on the rickety old thing.

We all converge on Cole, eager to assess his condition.

“Alright, Cole. You know the deal. Give us the damage. Don’t make us work for it.

” Jax says as he takes his knife and cuts the remains of Cole’s shirt from his body, allowing us to see the full extent of the trauma that was done.

I gasp but manage to hold my hand over my mouth, muffling the sound, at what I see.

His back is covered in hundreds of scrapes and scratches, gouges and tears. Many of them are bleeding but I’m not sure how deep they are—there’s just too much blood in the way .

I can only hope and pray he’ll be ok but there’s one thing that’s niggling in the back of my head that simply won’t shut the fuck up.

We still don’t know the full extent of the virus’ transmission potential.

We know that if you’re bitten, you will one hundred percent get the virus.

If you breathe it in, you can still get the virus but there’s potential that some might not.

There were a few studies, before the world went to shit, that referenced something about blood type immunity or some other such nonsense.

In other words, some were immune to airborne transmission but specifics were never given as to which blood types.

As such, we don’t know if we are, which is why we still cover our faces if zombies are present.

Cole’s situation is unique, however. I don’t recall seeing any studies regarding cuts or scrapes and their correlation with transmission. I’m not sure if any of the guys have either.

“My back… obviously. And my ankle… I think my ankle is either twisted, sprained or broken.” He sighs roughly, shaking a little, but continues.

“I don’t think I was bitten… but... but I’m not sure,” Cole says breathlessly.

I can tell the pain is taking a toll on him, his adrenaline all but sapped away during the event, but it still doesn’t stop him from being the medic he always will be.

“How does it look? My back? Does it need any stitches? Do you see anything?”

Jax takes a second look at his back, poking and prodding in certain places before turning him on his side, assessing the rest of him.

The blood looks like it’s stopped for the most part but there are still a few places where it continues to pool.

Particularly along two huge gouges running from his shoulder down to his hip.

“Gonna need some stitches in a few places, but… no bites from what I can see, thank fuck.” Jax pats Cole’s hip lightly.

“Lift up, Doc, I need to get to your IFAK.”

What the fuck is an IFAK?

Cole winces but manages to arch his butt into the air a few inches as Jax reaches under him, unbuckles his belt and gently pulls the entire thing from his pants. With Cole’s hips still lifted, Jax reaches back under, retrieving a small pouch that must have been attached to his belt.

It’s strange. I’ve noticed it before—the pouch on his belt loop—but never knew what it was for. Jax opens it up and I realize that it’s a small medical kit, just beefed up. It has all of the usual stuff in it like gauze, burn cream and bandages, but also splints, a tourniquet and a CPR mask.

Jax takes out and opens a large package of gauze, which he then layers over the deeper cuts, pinching the skin together before applying them.

Hawk, leaning over Cole on the other side, places his hands on them and holds them down, pressing them into Cole’s back as Jax cuts a few pieces of tape, situating them around the wounds.

“Just temporary. I know we still have to clean these up and stitch them properly but this’ll have to do for now.

” Cole nods at Jax, giving him a soft, “Good to go,” before grunting to Hawk to help him sit up.

Once upright, Cole pulls out a package of Ibuprofen from his IFAK and swallows the pills dry, groaning a bit before leaning down slightly to pull up his pant leg and push down his sock.

When he sees the damage done to his ankle, he immediately takes another package of pain killers and swallows them.

Swollen is an understatement….

“Let’s get that boot off you, bud,” Hawk says before untying and removing both it and his sock. A chorus of profanity echoes at what we all see.

“Oh shit…,” Jax says under his breath.

“Fuck, now that’s a new color of purple I thought I’d never get to see,” Hawk exclaims just before he dips his head, almost close enough to touch it with his nose, while reaching with his fingers to touch the mottled skin.

“Well, son of a bitch. Would you look at that...,” Cole says wistfully while cocking his head to the side, observing the damage. It’s said so nonchalantly it’s as if he didn’t just get trampled by the living dead. Yeah, not a big deal at all or anything….

He wiggles his toes a few times and then rocks his ankle back and forth, grimacing all the while.

Gesturing to Hawk, Cole instructs him to do a few things involving holding his foot at one angle and then another, but I don’t get to focus too much attention on them and what they’re doing as Jax steps directly in my line of vision, glaring angry laser beams of frustration at me.

“Aly…”

Ah fuck…

“Did Hawk tell you to stay in the lake?”

“…Yes. ”

“And you didn’t stay in the lake, did you?

I hesitate. What am I supposed to say? I know he saw me. I know he knows what I did. But if I didn’t cause a distraction, they could have all died or, at least, all been injured. But I also know how Jax feels about me not listening to orders.

Picking at my torn pants, I look down at my feet where Sadie is sprawled out. She looks up at me with affection and a floppy grin, her tongue sliding out the side as one of her ears bends forward. At least she’s not judging me.

“…No.”

“We’ve talked about this, remember? What’s the rule?”

“No deviating from the plan?”

“NO DEVIATING FROM THE PLAN!” he bellows emphatically. Directly. Sternly. His tone and abrasiveness causing me to almost leap right out of my skin. I suddenly feel like a properly scolded child, reluctant to even look him in the eye.

I sigh in return, defeated. He’s completely, one hundred percent correct.

We have talked about this. That’s how he lost his ex-girlfriend.

She was supposed to just go to the supermarket but ended up getting bit while trying to make a run to another store to get a gift for Jax.

He still struggles with the events pertaining to her death which makes him especially protective when it comes to my safety.

“You could have been hurt… or worse. Any one of those fuckers could have gotten close enough to….” He shak es his head. The memory of his ex-girlfriend, undoubtedly, coming to mind. As well as what he had to do after. “I can’t lose you, baby. I can’t. I wouldn’t survive it. If you die, I die.”

“I know... and I’m sorry, but what do you expect? I couldn’t just leave you guys there surrounded like that. I can’t lose any of you either. I had to do something. ” I gaze up at him, imploring him to understand why I did what I did.

Jax squeezes his eyes shut for a moment and takes a deep breath, nodding.

“I know…and thank you.” He looks back over his shoulder at Cole being prodded over by Hawk who’s currently pinching each of his toes.

“It would have been a pain in the ass to get out of there without your distraction. And I can’t say we would have all made it out in similar conditions.

While planning might be important, adaptability is essential.

I guess what I’m saying is… You did good, baby, but don’t you dare scare the shit out of me like that again!

” He wraps his strong arms around me and kisses the top of my head before laying his cheek on it, sighing contentedly.

“What about you? Are you ok? They were all over you too,” I can’t help but ask.

His eyebrows reach up as he blows out a breath full of uncertainty. “Fuck, I guess we’ll see.”

He pulls away from me, taking a second to look over his arms and hands before turning away, simultaneously pulling up the back of his shirt. “Nothing so far. Do you see anything back there? ”

I lift my hand and gingerly pass my fingers around the skin on his back.

His large muscles bunch and relax as I pass over his spine and shoulders.

The man is a prime specimen of hard work, dedication and determination in all facets of his life, especially with how he treats his body.

“There are a few red marks but nothing that seems to have broken the skin”

“Thank fuck.” He lowers his shirt down and turns back to me. His eyes slowly scan my entire body, my head down to my toes, but his eyebrows pinch together as he looks down at my hand. He reaches for it, concern etching his features. “You’re bit...”

I look down to see what he’s talking about. There are no puncture wounds, but a full set of reddened bite marks along the side of my hand, both top and bottom.

“Oh... that’s not... Sadie was just trying to help me. She didn’t mean to—”

I don’t need to continue with my clarification, however, as he simply nods in understanding before turning to pet Sadie’s head, praising her for doing a good job of protecting me.

“Good... ok.” He looks over to Cole. “Now we just have to figure out a way to get off of this thing and get Cole some actual R the first sign of the virus taking over is the telling whitening of the irises.

We were a little preoccupied with gauging the blood loss from Cole’s attack but now that we have that under control, Jax is right to check, regardless of how much we’re all dreading the results.

Cole groans but opens his eyes wide as Jax turns his head back and forth, searching.

“Eyes are clear.” He releases Cole’s jaw and turns back to me as he continues.

“Hawk, Aly, eyes up. Let’s quick check each other.

” We take turns looking into each other’s eyes, desperately hoping they’re each the same beautiful colors they’re supposed to be.

“Good to go, how about any bites? Anyone see any?” With a round of close examination and a few shakes of our heads, Jax announces, “All clear, thank fuck.”

We’re all going to be ok… I hope.