Hello my dear peeps. First regular chapter of the week. Once again, if you like my stories and would like to support me, please buy me a pizza. The donation link to my paypal is in my profile page. please donate what you'd like.
Chapter 1/4
Donations 27/50
----------------------------------------
“Hey man, where’s the latrine?” Visage asked as he poked his head into the ward.
Harvey did not look back. He kept adjusting the IV drip on Kiria while raising his hand and pointing at the window behind Visage. Not knowing what he meant, Visage took a look outside the window, only to see the rapidly frothing river that the house was built over.
Harvey was not an organic being, and hence did not have needs for anything that might be essential for a human. In his eager to build a small hospital equipped with the latest in medical technology, he had forgotten then most basics of human needs. The house had no plumbing system to support toilets or showers. In the year and half that he had been living here, this was the first time he had treated humans, and as such, the thought never occurred to him.
“Didn’t you just take a whizz a couple minutes ago?!” Nortrem asked, as he walked down the corridor towards the ward.
“Yea, but this is a number 2. Siighh… looks like I’m going to have to go find some leaves in the forest,” Visage muttered as he quickly left the building, headed straight for the forest.
“Sir, how is she?” Nortrem asked worriedly, his gaze resting on Kiria.
“My name is Harvey. You can just call me Doctor. She’s fine now. She just needs some rest and proper nourishment. Why don’t you watch over her? Call me when she wakes up,” Harvey replied in a soothing tone. He had already figured out the relationship between these two, or at least what Nortrem felt for Kiria. Judging by the gentle gaze, the worried tone, the non-stop pacing, and how delicately he held her hand in his, Harvey decided to make himself scarce. Stopping by the doorway to the ward, Harvey tapped on the screen next to the door, causing a soft soothing tune to waft into the ward.
Nortrem was surprised by the sudden music, looking around for any bard or band that might have dropped by. However, the sound seemed to be coming from the walls and ceiling, enveloping the entire ward in a calming, soothing feeling. Figuring that this was something he had no knowledge of, Nortrem decided to just go with the flow, his eyes resting on Kiria once more. Before long, the music removed all tension from his shoulders, and watching Kiria’s peaceful sleeping face, he himself started nodding off.
Harvey proceeded to retrieve a few test tubes of Kiria’s blood and moved to the next room, where he inserted the test tubes into a machine which began processing Kiria’s blood. Within seconds, a data sheet was generated on the screen showing her blood type, specific genetic markers, and blood glucose level amongst other things. Feeling satisfied, he looked up and out the window only to see yet another commotion going on with the Pritor.
Visage was squatting down several metres in front of the Pritor, a large red and yellow fruit in his hand. He was waving it in a tempting manner at the Pritor, while coaxing it to come get the fruit. Meanwhile, Carla and Victor were creeping up behind the animal, their eyes fixed on the 3 daggered tails.
“Come here kitty kitty kitty… that’s right, come get this big juicy fruit…” Visage called out as he kept his distance from the large cat, slowly taking small steps back as the Pritor approached him cautiously.
Step by step, the Pritor got further away from its makeshift bed and new chew-toys. Visage made sure to keep his distance, while Carla crept ever closer to their armour and weapons. Victor held in his hands a thick vine which was wrapped and tied around Carla’s waist and torso like a safety vest. Harvey watched the circus show from his window, wondering just what these idiots were up to. They could have just waited a while more for him to be done with his work, and then he would have gone out and retrieved their items for them.
Then, with a giant pounce, the Pritor leapt at Visage, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws. The loud clinking of the chains could be heard as the Pritor pulled the chain taut, being suddenly jerked back by the restraint of the chain. Right at the moment it had pounced, Carla did the same, leaping forward with her agility and grabbing Victor’s claymore.
“Yes! I got it!” Carla exclaimed in delight, holding the heavy sword in her hands. However, this attracted the Pritor’s attention. With a hateful glance, the Pritor swung its tails at Carla only to miss as Victor yanked on the vine as hard as he could. Missing her skin by a hair’s breadth, Carla was rudely pulled back towards Victor, losing her grip on his claymore and sending it spinning in the air.
Victor watched as the Pritor leapt back, its jaws wide open and catching his claymore between its teeth. Then with a sneer, even before its feet touched the ground from the leap, the Pritor exerted pressure on its jaws, snapping Victor’s beloved sword in 2. Still leering at Victor and Carla, The Pritor swiped it massive paw at the pile of metal armour, sending them into the fast flowing section of the river, only to be washed down the waterfall in an instant. Mouths gaping in shock, Victor’s party watched their gear wash away, never to be retrieved again. The Pritor on the other hand, let off a triumphant huff, making circles around its makeshift bed before lying back down, completely losing interest in the humans or their shenanigans.
It was at this moment that Harvey appeared through the front door, sauntering towards the Pritor. The trio were still affixed on the river where half of their gear had disappeared, completely ignoring Harvey who was now squatting next to the giant black cat. The Pritor’s attitude towards Harvey was a complete 180 degrees from that which it had shown the others. It merely lay there, letting Harvey caress its body softly.
Taking off its bandages, Harvey inspected the wound on its leg, before reapplying another layer of antiseptic cream. Then, he bandaged its leg back up before unlocking the collar around the vest that was on its torso. The cat looked at him with confused eyes, them licked the matted fur on its chest where the vest had been attached. Understanding that it has regained its freedom, it stood up, licked Harvey on his face before making its way back towards the forest with a slight limp.
“Why did you let it go!?” Victor called out after seeing what Harvey did. “That’s a dangerous predator that has been attacking the main trade routes!” He was the only one still on the bridge while Carla and Visage had re-entered the water in an attempt to fish out what of their gear that might not have been washed away yet.
“And what? Were you going to kill it after I took the effort to save it?” Harvey threatened, standing up to his full height and towering over Victor.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“But more people will get injured because of it! Kiria will not be the only victim if it roams free!” Victor argues, avoiding Harvey’s question.
“Then I will save those people,” Harvey retorted confidently. “Or maybe I should have kept it here so you can keep it company as its chew toy?”
“No.. no Sir.” Victor quickly apologised, realising that Harvey was very capable of doing just that. “Thank you Sir for saving my friend.”
“My name is Harvey. You can just call me Doctor.” Harvey replied before looking over at Carla and Visage. They were coming back up to dry land with dejected looks on their faces. “I am going to need you all to come inside when you are all dried up. Leave your belongings at the doorstep. Do not ring them into the building.”
Minutes later, Victor and Carla stepped through the sliding glass doors and headed upstairs where they could hear a gentle music emanating. As they were about to enter the ward, Harvey cut them off in the corridor, leading them into an adjacent room. There, he had prepared 2 leaning chairs for Victor and Carla to sit on.
“Where’s your other friend?” Harvey asked, seeing that Visage was nowhere to be seen.
“He’s doing his business Sir,” Carla answered. “What are we doing here?”
“My name is Harvey. You can just call me doctor,” Harvey repeated for the third time today. “I’m going to draw some of your blood to see if any of it matches with Kiria’s. Now this will only sting a little, but it will be over very quickly, so just relax and pump this ball,” Harvey explained as he placed a tennis ball sized sponge ball in her hand.
Harvey worked quickly, drawing a few test tubes full of blood from both Victor and Carla before hurrying to the lab to run the tests the same way he did with Kiria’s. Victor and Carla waited for him in the chairs in the meantime, their stomachs growling from hunger. However, they could only bear with it for now since the Pritor had pretty much gone through their rations.
“So he is blood type A+ and she is B+ huh… both unable to become donors for Kiria’s O+. I’ll just have to test her boyfriend and the piss man,” Harvey muttered to himself. While Kiria’s situation was stable, the IV drip could only do so much to help her. A bag or two of blood would go a long way in speeding up her recovery.
“Ey! How come you two get to sit in those comfy chairs!?” Visage complained as he finally returned from his pee break, finding Victor and Carla comfortable seated in the reclining chairs. Then, as silently as a Pritor, Harvey appeared behind him, giving him a slight shock.
“Sit there,” Harvey pointed at Carla’s chair. Carla immediately got up, still rubbing her elbow where Harvey had punctured her to draw her blood.
“Wait… What are you going to do to me Sir?” Visage asked warily as he observed both Carla and Victor holding their elbows in the same location.
“My name is Harvey. But you can just call me Doctor,” Harvey repeated once more, silently reminding himself that next time, he will have to introduce himself to everyone in one go. “Just go and sit down, pee man.”
Victor and Carla chuckled at Visage’s new nickname. He on the other hand, just scowled as he sat down where Carla had been, watching Victor prepare a needle and shove the sponge ball into his hand. Within minutes, Harvey was once again back in his lab, running tests on the new blood sample. Finally, he had a positive hit. Visage was also an O+ like Kiria.
“I have bad news and good news,” Harvey announced, returning to the triage room. “The good news is, your friend will most likely recover earlier than scheduled.”
“And the bad news?” Victor asked, swallowing a lump in his throat as he prepared himself mentally.
“I am going to have to take quite a bit of his blood to make that happen,” Harvey said while pointing at Visage and holding up 3 empty blood bags along with their tubing.
“What!?” Visage exclaimed loudly, jumping up from his chair.
“It won’t kill him, and will only take less than an hour, so please restrain him for me,” Harvey continued ignoring Visage. Victor and Carla’s eyes gleamed as they quickly leapt to action, each taking hold of one of Visage’s arms. With a little bit of effort, they forced him down onto the chair as he struggled with all his might.
“Unhand me!! How can you do this to me!? We’ve been friends for 12 years Victor! TWELVE FRIKKIN YEARS!” Visage screamed as if it was the end of the world. Donating blood was a foreign concept to him and he only feared the worst, imagining what losing so much blood would do to him. He had seen plenty of people die from blood lost in the numerous battles he’s had and thought that Harvey was going to kill him. “Aren’t you a healer!? So you will save Kiria and the Pritor but not me!? Didn’t you say Kiria will still recover slowly?! How can you think of killing a perfectly healthy person now!?”
“Kill you? No I’m not going to kill you. I’m just going to draw your blood and transfuse it to Kiria. She’s in need of blood and yours is the only one that matches. I would normally do a direct transfusion but seeing as how unhygienic and dirty you are, I’d rather not risk a secondary infection in my ward. So you will be isolated from her until she gets better. Now just stay still and let me take your blood. You will at most feel sleepy, but you will recover in a few days, no major side effects.” Harvey explained.
Visage calmed down after his explanation, allowing Harvey to draw 3 bags of blood from him, which Harvey quickly proceeded to hook up to Kiria who was still unconscious. About an hour into the transfusion, Kiria finally began to stir. Nortrem was the first to realise, and quickly dashed out to find Harvey. Victor, Carla and Visage dropped their dinner which consisted of fruits foraged from the forest and quickly rushed to Kiria’s side. Harvey however, would not let Visage enter the ward, so he was stuck talking to the group from the doorway.
“Wha…? What happened? Where am I?” Kirira whispered with the best of her ability as her eyes focused on the clean room, her ears melting to the soothing music.
“Kiria!” Nortrem called out softly, his eyes beginning to water. “How are you feeling?”
“Remmy? I’ve been better, but at least im alive.. heh..” she gave a soft chuckle, her slender fingers closing down on Nortrem’s hands. “How did you save me?” She asked.
“We came across a healer. He saved you,” Nortrem replied, moving his body so that he no longer blocked Kiria’s line of sight, revealing Harvey who was standing behind.
“Thank you so much… Sir,” she uttered, clearly feeling the stinging sensation on her back as she winced after trying to sit up.
“My pleasure. My name is Harvey. But –“
“But you can call him Doctor,” the 4 members of the party all said in unity, giggling as they cut Harvey off.