Page 67 of Marked for Execution
I didn’t even see Reed leave the house, but he came back with two belts. He folded one and shoved it in Eliseo’s mouth while strapping the other to Eliseo’s right thigh tightly near his groin, making him groan in pain.
Gunner came back with two bottles of whiskey, one in each hand. When Eliseo spotted him, he spit out the belt and said, “Give me some of that shit.”
“You got it, old man.” Gunner poured a few gulps down Eliseo’s throat before shoving the belt back where it belonged.
Crazy Otis sneered as he grabbed one of the bottles from Gunner’s hand, opened it, and poured it all over the wound. Eliseo screamed bloody murder behind the leather belt, the veins on his temples and neck popping out.
The doc cackled, shoved the bottle back into Gunner’s chest, and grabbed his scalpel to cut around the skin above his knee. My hands grabbed Eliseo’s fist when he tried to throw a fist at the doctor’s head. I kissed his knuckles to calm him down as he threw his other arm over his face.
The sound of metal clattering on metal made us all look as Crazy Otis grabbed a bigger knife to cut through the muscle that was still intact around the bone.
“Whiskey,” he called out. Gunner handed it to him.
More was poured over, washing away the fresh blood that seeped out. Eliseo turned his upper torso to hide his face against my belly. I caressed his back, hoping it would be over soon. But it was only the beginning as the doc climbed onto the table with a hacksaw, placing the serrated edge against his exposed bone.
“Hold him well, dearie,” he said to me with a wild smile right before he started sawing.
Eliseo spit out the leather and screamed in agony. The townspeople who had accumulated around the open doorway of the doctor’s home all screamed with him, some covering their eyes and walking off.Why were they even here if they couldn’t handle this?The sound of someone hurling outside made me lift my lip in disgust. It infuriated me that they wanted to use Eliseo as part of their simple entertainment. My eyes burned with retribution as I stared at the doctor’s glistening forehead, his arms and entire body putting forth full effort to cut Eliseo’s leg off.
“Get out of here folks, there’s nothing more to see.” Reed tried to corral the crowd away, and I was grateful.
Gunner took a swig of the whiskey and looked paler as he stared at the doctor’s handiwork.
Snap!
Eliseo groaned against my stomach, and I pulled him in tighter against me.
“Ah, there we are,” the doctor exclaimed before hopping off the table with his bloodied saw, tossing it onto his other table full of tools. He wiped his hands over his apron and looked over his shoulder at me. “My dear, are you good with a needle? I do hope so, because Eliseo wouldn’t want my hands on him after this.”
Taking a gulp, I caressed the back of Eliseo’s head and looked at him. His body was starting to go slack. I was conflicted. I didn’t want to cause him more pain than he had already gone through, but if he passes out, he wouldn't feel it, right?
The sound of glass on a counter made my head snap up to see Gunner. “Fitri, do it. I got him.”
I bit my bottom lip and nodded, shakily walking towards the doctor’s table of instruments. He came up behind me, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as he leaned in to whisper, “I have full faith you’ll make it through this. Pain probably arouses you, you seem like the type. If it gets too much, old Otis can take care of non-medical needs, too.”
With that, I frowned and elbowed him away from me, but he dodged, cackling as he walked away with one of the bottles of whiskey.
“What the fuck did he say to you?” Reed asked aloud.
“Nothing.”
Grabbing the needle and spool of thread, I walked back toward Eliseo on the table. Reed walked over to the counter, grabbed the alcohol, and handed it to me to sanitize the needle.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled one of my knives out and cut the thread. Looking to the guys for courage, they both stood on either side of his upper torso at the ready.
Leaning my head down, the first stitch went smoothly, Eliseo barely woke back up. The smell of his blood so close to my nose made my mouth water and I shook my head, trying to stay focused. In and out, in and out the needle went, pulling his flesh together to close the wound around the bone. The doc left enough flesh behind to create a cushion around the bottom. By the end of it, I was drunk on his scent and needed to sit down somewhere. Slicing the end of the tied-off thread, my hands leaned on the table as I tried to catch a breath.
“You alright, Fitri?” Reed asked with worry.
“Hey, we got it, go get some rest,” Gunner added.
Maybe they were right. Maybe I was just tired from our trip. “I-I’ll see you guys later. Let me know if anything changes, or if he wakes up, okay?”
“Yeah, we got it. Get some rest.”
I nodded and walked toward the crowd that still surrounded the doctor’s house.
“Don’t you guys have anything better to do?” I barked out, pissed off they were still here. Some of the crowd dispersed with fear in their eyes, some stayed with curiosity.