Novels2Search

Chapter 5

Emma immediately ran over, her medical training kicking in as she checked his wrist and then his throat for a pulse. The prognosis was good because she started yelling out orders to us to look around for something to use as a bandage. I was surprised he was still alive, the head wound looked bad, and even if he was fine he was more than likely concussed. Allison found some gauze in another room and brought it over. Emma had his head wrapped, and pressure applied to the wound within seconds. She said head wounds bleed a lot, but aren't necessarily as bad as they might look. Crazy was unconscious, but would likely be okay as long we woke him up and kept him awake.

Lacking any sort of cold water, we used snow to try to shock him awake, but the man remained unconscious. I left the girls to tend to him, while I took a look around the cabin. The first thing I noticed was the lack of the burly man from earlier. Luna was also missing, but that was to be expected. She didn't seem the type to wait around and do nothing, and while I couldn't say she went for a part, I could at least guess she had gone looking for another android to complain to. There was also no sign of the brothers, which meant we had about 12 hours to figure out where three other parts to the radio station were, as well as get both it and the helipad fixed. We couldn't afford any more delays.

I left the flare gun in Allison's hands as by this point I couldn't afford to not trust her, there was another traitor active, and since neither Greg nor Dave had made an appearance it was likely the three of us were all innocent. Making the trek out to the next objective, this time to the west, was a risk alone, but better than sitting around wasting time.

The silence of the forest was deafening as my boots crunched through the icy layer coating the top of the snow. I felt anxious, constantly looking over my shoulder. Anyone could be watching me as I made my way to what looked to be an old steel factory on the map we had all received.

On the way there, I found one of the crates they mentioned. Inside was some food, a few more blankets, water along with hot packs to melt it, and arguably the most important prize, a revolver with 4 bullets. To the side of the straw the items were placed on, there was also a small black box. Picking it up and looking at it didn't help me figure out what it was. The only clue I received was when I placed it in my makeshift backpack and my UI popped up a notification.

1x Medkit acquired

Considering the UI had only updated for important items so far, such as the parts for the objective, I knew this medkit had to be something special. Maybe it could help out Crazy when I got back, but it might be better saved for when one of us needs it. I loaded the ammo into the revolver and feeling more confident now that I had some manner of protection continued on my way. I had gone hunting with one of my buddies way back when, and that was the only time I had ever shot a gun, but everything I'd ever seen on the subject made it look extremely simple, just point and squeeze. The one thing that came to mind from our trip was trigger discipline, and also not pointing the shotgun at your foot, but the first lesson was the most useful to my current situation. I kept my finger off of the trigger to prevent any sort of accidental misfires from occurring, not only would it give away my position, but I needed to conserve my ammo.

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About half an hour later I was nearing my destination when I heard a noise that sent a chill down my spine. That noise was the growling of wolves, and as I turned around I saw three of them, hackles raised with gritted teeth. I had two real options here, run and take my chances that I'd be able to get to the building and lock them out without getting taken down or stand and fight. I would be lying if I said I didn't consider running away, but I knew that my best chance was to try and scare them off, and so I raised my revolver and shot at the biggest one. God damn, I nearly broke my wrist by shooting without bracing, but some manner of luck must have been on my side. I managed to hit the lead wolf right in the head, and it dropped. Now, had these been normal wolves, it's more than likely they would have cut their losses there, but normal wolves also don't typically attack humans in the daylight, so naturally, these wolves instead decided to charge me. This time bracing the pistol, I fired another shot and winged the second one. I had two shots left, and if I missed, I was getting bitten. The wolves cut in opposite directions, forcing me to split my attention. Firing my third shot, it was a direct hit as well. The wolf went down and turning I almost managed to get the gun around in time, but couldn't. A white-hot flash of agony ripped through me as the wolf clamped down on my shoulder. Picking up a fallen branch near me, I swung the best I could only having access to half my body. I knew it was either him or me and frankly, I wasn't really in a giving mood that morning.

As he savaged my shoulder, I continually swung that branch until the pressure of those teeth finally let up. The wolf wasn't dead quite yet, but it was in a bad way. As much of a threat as that wolf had been, I was never one to let an animal needlessly suffer. I ended it quickly, to prevent the animal from feeling more pain. As I stood up, a wave of vertigo washed over me, and I nearly collapsed from blood loss and exhaustion. I wasn't sure if I would be able to continue, and I thought of the medkit I had picked up a ways back. If anything was going to heal me, it was this. I just needed to figure out how to use it. Pulling out the cube, through blurry vision caused by my proximity to blacking out I ran my fingers over the cube, looking for indents, ridges, buttons, anything that would give me a clue. And then I found it, a tiny button at the bottom of the cube, with small ridged markings on it. Well, here goes nothing I thought as I depressed the button.

"Medical Examination Device Kit activated. Determining injuries and prescribing the best course of action. Scan beginning now." The device said as I fell into unconsciousness.