Better Off Dead

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Syn’s POV

Zacky was coming to check on Emerlyn today. He was our typical medicine man if you will. He was trained to help us if we needed help healing in any shape way or form. He was the best of the best and I was going to need his help with helping Emerlyn in recovering.

When I woke up this morning she was asleep but she was clammy. Very pale. She seemed content when she slept but I wasn’t too worried. She was making a good recovery or so I hoped. A man can dream right?

Zacky came in his wolf form carrying a bag in his mouth. He dropped the bag at the entrance and changed forms. He pulled on some clothes form the bag and looked like a decent being.

“Morning Brian.”

“Morning Zacky. How are you?”

“Good and you?”

I smiled as I walked up to him, “Good.”

We hugged quickly and he brushed past me, “Is she doing ok?”

“Yeah. Sleeping a lot of the time.”

He kneeled near her, “I’m not surprised. In the shape she’s in? Her body is probably in shock and trying to heal in certain areas first so it reserves most of the energy for certain parts. Making her tired.”

He rolled her onto her back and I came closer. He leaned his ear near her chest and I was going to assume he was listening to her heart. He pressed his lips against her forehead. We used that to check our body temperature.

He turned to me, “She’s running a fever. Fetch me some cool water and a cloth.”

I grabbed my bowl of water that had been sitting in the dark. I knew it was going to be freezing water because the area near that part of the cave was freezing. He took the bowl from me and placed it near her head. He grabbed the cloth from the bowl’s water and rung it out.

He started to rub it gently across her forehead, “I’m a little worried Brian. Fever is the first sign of infection.”

“How worried should I be?”

He shrugged, “Not too worried. I’ll look at the wound in a second.”

He leaned closer to Emerlyn’s face, “Sweetie? Emerlyn?”

Her eyes flutter opened and I was sure her first look was Zacky’s smile. He winked at her and she looked over to me. She groaned and her hand brushed her injured leg’s thigh. She was in pain and Zacky frowned.

I spoke softly, “You ok Emerlyn?”

“No you prick. I’m in pain. Can’t you see that?”

Zacky looked up at me and back down to her, “Well, I’m going to see what I can do.”

She looked at him, “Who are you?”

“I’m Zacky. I’m the medicine man of my pack.”

She looked at me, “You’re Indian?”

Zacky let out a light chuckle and answered for me, “You could say something like that.”

“So that’s why were in a cave. You live near here.”

Zacky continued to make me look bad, “Hey, this is a nice cave. It’s rather.” He paused to look around, “Earthly.”

She smiled slightly and let him look at her leg. He hissed at the site and looked back up to her. He looked shocked that she had been taking an injury like that so well. I was rather surprised myself. I know she was in so much pain.

“Well you did break your leg but there is a couple wounds that need stitches. Nothing too bad.”

I felt a little anger rise in me. She didn’t seem to mind him too much. If it was me she would be screaming on the top of her lungs and telling me to get away from her. I tried not to let it show but I’m sure Zacky could read my every emotion.

I hated his charm with women. They nearly flocked to him. I don’t know what he did. He wasn’t a babe and sure as hell wasn’t in power but yet he was great with women! I sighed and let that bit of jealousy go. I wasn’t going to let that beat me.

Not when Emerlyn needed my support.

I watched as Zacky cleaned most of her wounds on her broken leg. He was rather impressed by the splint I made. That part made me a little prideful. Well, until he removed it.

“You got an empty bowl I can borrow?”

I retrieved a small wooden bowl and he started to work with herbs he brought. He explained that some of them were antibiotics and other that helped heal basic wounds. He mashed them all together with some water and applied them to her wounds.

He then out of no where had some thread and a needle. She looked at him as if she was going to be sick. He put the stuff down and tried to reassure her.

“It will be ok. It’s not going to hurt. Some of those herbs had pain relievers in them.”

Her voice was quiet, “I’m scared. I don’t want to die.”

He smiled and patted her shoulder, “You won’t. You’re in good hands. Brian here is the best man I know.”

He quickly worked on her wounds and tried to finish as fast as he could. He told me to get something cooking and I did what I was told. I felt like a little dead weight anyways. I started food and by the time he was done I had food done.

We moved Emerlyn so she could lean against the wall for support and we handed her some food. She ate slowly and Zacky insisted on her having tons of water. It was to help flush the infection out.

We built her another brace that actually was a lot better that would help out. We even got her standing and walking short distances. This was going to help if she needed to have some privacy to get all that fluids out of her body.

She was recovering. Slowly. And it was going to take a while but she wouldn’t be walking a mile anytime soon. I think she knew that too. We had to try to make the best of it.
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