Three hours that’s all he got, three hours of rest before the knocking arrived at his door. Checking his phone it said 10:23. Boe got up from his place by Mark's feet.
Mark had already taken advantage of the new Inventory. Everything was packed away. Only his weapons and Sleeping bag remained out.
He got up to open the door.
George stood there alone with his trusty shotgun.
“Is that offer to heal our injured still on the table?”
Mark simply nodded.
“Then follow me”
At first, Mark was confused as to what caused the sudden decision but decided to just wait and see.
Traveling up the stairs they came to a set of heavy doors. There were even metal security bars on the door. Unlocking it, George went through first leaving Mark to follow.
He cast another [Shape Mana] around himself just in case and was happy to find the Prana moved a bit better than he was used to. He looked down at his new bracers. Pulling his sleeve down to cover it as he entered.
The room smelled of some kind of orange-scented cleaning chemical and too many bodies packed in a small space. Looking around, the room opened up into a living room/hall. It was the biggest space, separating off into multiple passageways leading away into the building. Mark was greeted by the sight of around 20 people. All around people held some form of injury. Most were of superficial nature. Wounds were lightly bandaged and makeshift splints were in place around limbs. Most looked relatively healthy, but Mark spotted four people that were unresponsive to their entrance.
“This is him?” a seated elderly man asked.
“Yes, Jeremiah,” George said with a tired voice.
“Great! Boy, come over here. My leg has been hurting something foul” he said indicating to his bandaged ankle.
Mark's eyes traveled to the four prone forms, his triage training kicking in.
“Wait! That's not fair! I bloody well lost a finger! I should be first!” A middle-aged woman stood cradling a bandaged hand.
That seemed to spark a riot of voices, all claiming they should be the first to be healed.
Mark began to move towards the ones in the corner. As he did so people started approaching him. Voices had begun to raise and an angry crowd rose to block his path.
Mark’s hand dropped to rest on the grip of his Glock. Everyone froze, fear evident.
“Listen closely, I intend to help, but on my terms. Worst cases go first, George will organize you all while I'm busy.”
There was a brief pause and like a pack of hyenas, they began swarming George.
George looked on in horror, as they approached. Mark passed the crowd who had now lost interest in him, Boe following in his footsteps. Arriving near the four, Mark could smell right away they needed his immediate attention. Mark saw the telltale signs of gangrene, affecting a young man's leg. Immediately he went to work, opening with [Prana pulse]. All the tissues up to his knee in his right leg were rotting and dying. If this were a hospital they'd be amputating it asap.
However, things weren't the same as before. With a light flush of Prana, the tissues began to come back to life. It looked like the origin of the gangrene was caused by blunt-force trauma crushing the leg. Mark worked quickly to repair the damaged blood vessels and surrounding bone. Clearing out the infection that had spread to his blood was the last thing to do. Overall, because he had such a clear picture of what was going on it barely cost him anything. He moved to the next and the next. Only stopping for a moment when the last woman blinked up at him with tears streaming down her cheek. Using [Prana pulse] he found a fracture in her spine and large amounts of compression near the spinal cord.
Mark finched, the poor woman probably slowly lost motor function as the area swelled until she couldn't move. A terrifying fate for anyone. Smiling he said.
“Don't worry, you’re going to be up and about in a couple of minutes,” he nodded.
Easing the Prana toward the spinal column repairing and reducing the inflammation. Slowly her body started to twitch and finally, she let out a ragged breath as she regained full control over her body.
She let out a wail as she bolted up and clung to Mark, tears streaming down her face. Mark gently hugged her in return and let her vent.
What he didn't notice was the silence until a voice broke it.
“What going on out here? Abby? Oh my god!”
Joslin had walked into the room wearing a spotted apron and two kids hiding behind her, griping to her pants.
Rushing forward she moved to inspect the woman Abby. Mark disentangled himself from her as Joslin arrived.
“Sweety, how do you feel?” she turned to inspect the other three, who were now standing and moving fine.
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“So much better now Mrs. Dormin” Tears were still streaming down her face
“I thought I was going to be paralyzed forever. Thank you so much, Thank you ” she whispered.
Mark smiled and nodded to her, getting up he turned back to the room. Checking his reserves he saw that all four of them had made him use about 15%
“Okay, George who are we working on first,” Mark asked.
“Right, just a moment.” He looked a little overwhelmed and indecisive.
“You left something like that to him? Oh my,” She turned and kneeled next to the two kids. A boy and a girl, they could not have been any older than seven.
“Alright you two, can you stay here with Abby until I come back, she needs someone to comfort her right now.”
They nodded. The little girl looked less enthusiastic about her leaving.
However, it was at this time that they spotted Boe. Sensing scratches and playtime were near, he leopard-crawled over to them.
Mark didn't mind.
Joslin moved to George's side and said to the horde.
“Alright you lot, stop trying to take advantage of my husband. Candis, you are going first, we already spoke about the swelling around your right arm”
Just like that, a line began to form and one by one Mark sought to each of them. A great number of the wounds required very little on his part, they were really just painful. So by the end of it, after seeing seventeen additional patients it only took him about 35% of his Prana.
“Thank you so much Mark, we really appreciate what you've done here,” Joslin said once everyone had dispersed, but activity had not yet died down for the night. In fact, people looked downright busy.
“It's not a problem but I have to ask, why now? What made you come to such a quick decision?” he asked.
She grimaced
“Ah well you saw everyone here, they were in pain. Just try and tell people to wait when a solution to their problem is right downstairs. But much more worrying is we might need to be ready to move at a moment's notice. Something’s happening outside and we’re not sure what to do about it.” she sighed.
Mark froze.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked while looking right back at her.
“Well they've started showing up in large numbers, we think things are getting worse out there,”
“Could you show me what you mean?” he asked
She scratched her head but nodded in the end.
“But you have to be quiet and no light”
After Mark agreed Joslin took to the front of the building to a passageway. The light was off she closed the door behind them and opened one ahead. The room opened into what would have been a nice-looking sunroom, however, old newspapers were taped up to the glass. Small amounts of moonlight filtered in through the gaps. Moving quietly she went to the windows that looked out over the road. These were the very ones he had seen on the way in. Removing some of the covering she let him peek out.
At first, all he could see was the was a dark street but as his eyes found the only still working street lamp he started to notice the bodies lumbering about. There certainly had not been this many when he got here, in the fact, if he looked carefully they seem to be searching for something.
Perhaps Mark was really lucky that night or very unlucky but at that particular moment, he saw the arrival of the first Ordinator.
It was scenting the air, slowly making its way toward the theater. Leading tens of Corrupted their way.
“Shit!” he whispered as he moved back the way he came.
“Mark, what’s wrong!?” Joslin quietly called after him. She replaced the newspaper and went after him.
“Is there a back way out of here, like a fire escape?” he asked
Caught by the sudden subject change she tried to adjust.
“There is, why do you think we are in danger.” panic had begun to seem into her voice. It didn't sound like the fear was for her safety, more like the two kids that rested in the next room.
“No you guys should be safe as long as I leave” he responded quickly.
“Mark hang on for just a moment what do you mean” Her arm had shot out and gripped his. Causing him to come to stop in the passage just before the main hall. Her gaze had frosted over.
Mark stopped and turned to her, in a hushed tone he said.
“Listen, Joslin, I didn't know they could follow me this far, but right now. We need to act. If you show me the back exit I’ll be gone from here and so will the Corrupted” he said.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Are you saying you brought them-”
“I’m saying I need to leave. You should be safe here tonight, but in the morning you all need to make your way to the safe zone. Everyone is healthy so no excuses”
“Mark just slow down you can’t go out now, it's the dead of night,” she protested.
“Joslin if you don't let me leave we are putting everyone here in danger, don't do that for someone you just met,” he said
Conflicting emotions crossed her face as she stared at Mark.
“Fine, I don't know what you could have done to draw their attention, but you seem like a decent young man. So I’ll believe in you and hope for the best for you. Follow me”
She moved quickly down the passage and through the main hall, as they did so George saw them pass. Something must have shown on her face because he grew grim and he fell in step with her.
“What's going on,” he asked.
“Just follow for now I’ll explain in a bit” she whispered to avoid attention. Not that it helped much quite a few pairs of eyes followed them through the room. Mark clicked his tongue. Boe had been enjoying the belly scratches when he heard the call. Shooting up from his position between the kids he galloped over and fell into step behind Mark.
When they were out of sight Joslin spoke.
“We need to remove the boards on the fire escape”
By now they had arrived in a bedroom. The window was indeed boarded up.
“What! Why?!” he looked at her.
“Mark’s leaving” He looked at Mark like he had a screw loose.
“Now? Are both of you crazy? Darling he-” George started.
“Trust me, babe, just help me get the board down” she spoke tenderly while resting her hand on his chest.
He looked down at her for a second, grunting he went to the window. Prying the board nailed into the wall with his bare hands.
“Listen, thanks for the shelter. Short as it was. Now if I could offer some advice, have someone start to focus on Prana. Then look online. I have a post up that will teach you how to heal or at least the basics. The account is called ‘WoundedHealer’,” he said opening the window. A blast of chilly air entered the room. It looked like it was going to be a stormy night.
“Most of us are Generalists but I’ll see if anyone is willing, Stay safe out there darling,” Joslin said.
Not sure what the new term meant but unwilling to wait to find out he climbed out onto the metal fire escape. Boe jumped through after him.
After one last nod, George shut the window and the board went back into place.
Once more Mark and Boe were on their own.