Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 73

"Oh please, you  make me want to vomit." Caspian ceases to startle me, why wouldn't he show up here. It would seem he had a horrible habit of appearing wherever it pleased him no matter how much I wanted him to stay gone. At least it was Caspian, not the younger Cas, who I struggled to hate. 

"Caspian, I will push you out of this tree, revive you and kill you all over again. Get lost." Gritting my teeth, I protectively position myself in front of the youth as Caspian quickly pulls himself up and over the branch to perch awkwardly across from us. As I dislike him, it is interesting to see how he's adapted to only having one arm. It brings me satisfaction to know that it's still there, surely this must mean we are on the right track? 

"You're taking too much time, when you grow up on the streets, people slash veins all the time. I smelled all the blood but I'm shit at tracking, figured you'd know that by now since I could never find you idiots." He mutters, pulling the medical kit out of a one-armed sling across his back. "You spent time with Adriam, right? Tie off the artery and get it over with."

Taking the kit from him, I sort through it, finding the curved needle and wire-like thread. Was I good enough to tie off an artery? It didn't seem like something an amateur could do. 

Raising an eyebrow, Caspian glances at his halved arm. "I'd do it but... ya know."

Grasping Randy's face, I hadn't even received his answer, he was in and out of consciousness, my lapse in gathering his answers was enough to lose him to the blackness once more. Adriam said to keep them talking, cursing, I was already down one of the most important points of treating a serious wound. 

I was fast, I could carry him back, in this state he probably couldn't fight me. But finding someone to stitch him would take more time, he was so painfully human. Exhaling, I think about how many times Adriam has expertly stitched us both up. 

What I wouldn't give for the little French man right about now. 

"Make your choice." Caspian snaps. "You're a veteran, act like it."

I was. I was experienced in combat, I'd fought in countless battles and the largest war of my time, for my country and for my family. Undoing the shirt from his arm, I nod to Caspian. "Hold pressure here. It's going to bleed, it's getting dark and everything is a mess with how he cut it."

"You trust me?" Caspian scoffs. 

"You love him, too." I can't look at the Spanish man as I consider cauterizing it. But I was unpracticed in how an artery worked, would burning it hold? Would I be sealing up the skin to leave him bleeding internally? Adriam said to suture till the bleeding stopped but the arm surely needed the supply. I glance over at the drifting sun, nodding to Caspian once more, I pull the towel away and stretch the arm out to get a good look at the damage.

Men had died in my arms, disemboweled and begging for their families, I could handle this. 

Shivering at the thought of losing him, I start mapping out the area, locating the bleed. At least he hadn't completely severed it, I take my needle and run my first stitch, smirking to myself like a mad man. 

Verando hated needles. 

Something that shocked me every time it occurred. The man was a patchwork of injuries, I'd seen him break his own hand, yet the thought of a tiny pinprick sent him into suspicion and concern. "That's creepy." Caspian comments. 

"Were you following me?" I demand, "If you smelled the blood why didn't you come to get someone?"

The Spanish man pauses, considering the answer as I run another stitch, cursing at myself at the ineffectiveness of my ability to close the bleed. "You're better at this than I am. I don't think that way, Nicolas, it didn't occur to me to come looking for help. You found him, I couldn't keep his trail straight with the breeze coming off the river. Verando has a bad habit of getting down on himself... this is.. a hard day."