Page 27 of True Valor
“I have to help you.”
Nic just nodded, teeth gritted, his facepale.
She looked from Nic to the doorway, seeingthe cause of his pain.The device was something out of a movie.Allshe could see at this point was a two-by-four, apparently springloaded to go off when the door opened.The nails, maybe a dozen ofthem, were spaced every inch or so and now dripped with blood.
“Hurry up,” Nic croaked between gulps of air.“Help me get inside.”
Julie helped him stand and tried to take someof his weight as they dragged themselves inside.
By the time Julie got him into the chairbeside the kitchen table, both his shirt and hers were soaked red.Remembrance threatened to stop her in her tracks, but she pushed itaway, intent on the present.Nic’s breath came out in short gaspsand he spoke only a word or two at a time.Julie left him for amoment to duck under the nasty-looking board and pull the doorshut.She scurried around opening curtains to let in the limitedlight of approaching dusk.Even so, when she returned, he’d sliddown another inch or two in the chair.
“Let’s get you onto the bed before you passout.”
Again, she supported him, his left arm aroundher, his right hanging useless by his side.Fortunately, it wasn’tfar.The cabin, though it had another bedroom up in the loft, waspretty much one big room.
Nic gulped in raw gasps of air.
“I gotcha.”
She steadied him on the edge of the bed,reaching to pull off what was left of his shirt.Julie had nevershied away from the sight of blood.Heck, she’d helped her dad gutdeer and elk, but what she saw now nearly choked her.Angry, jaggedrips laid his upper arm and chest open.Blood gushed from them.
“Pressure.”The word came out in a groan asNic reached for something with his one good arm.He grabbed histattered shirt and pressed it hard against his right arm, suckingin his breath.Then, he sank back on the bed.
“Nic!”
He didn’t answer.
“Nic!”Julie climbed on the bed beside him,shaking his shoulders.Still no answer but the rise and fall of hischest assured her he wasn’t dead.But, if she didn’t get thebleeding stopped soon, he would be.The fear of the moment crasheddown on her, opening up the floodgates to let all the emotions fromthe last week crash down on her.She wept as she ran for thefirst-aid kit kept in the kitchen cabinet above the sink.
Between her rush to get back to him and thetears clouding her vision, she managed to knock over a kitchenchair on her way back to the bed.It was getting dark and, beforetoo long, she’d have to take a few minutes to get the lamps lit.Dad had always insisted that the lamps be filled before they leftthe cabin, so all they’d need was pumping and lighting.A firewould warm the place up quickly, once she had time to startone.
Nic moaned when she sat beside him on the bedbut he didn’t open his eyes.One hand holding his shirt on thewounds, Julie used her other to rummage through the first-aid kit.She knew what she was looking for.
Goldenseal and myrrh powder.
As long as she could remember, that was theremedy for anything that bled or was infected.She could almost seeher father and Uncle Jess look at each other, a twinkle in theireyes, as friends and neighbors talked excitedly about stitches anddoctors.This “secret” was one of the many things they’d broughtback with them from Nam.
Julie pulled the precious powder, enclosed ina zipper bag, from the assortment of home remedies in the boxbeside her.If ever this stuff was going to do its magic, stop thebleeding and prevent infection, now was the time.
Gingerly, she pulled the shirt away from hisarm and chest, grabbing the flashlight to get a better look.Thebleeding had slowed a bit, but still came at a fast seep.Shereached into the bag, scooped out a handful of the greenish powder,and began sprinkling it into the open wounds.
Nic moaned.
Julie had never known the stuff to sting, butshe supposed that anything that she’d have done would hurt him.He’d begun to shiver violently.She hurried.Between loss of bloodand the frigid temperature in the cabin, she needed to get hiswounds dressed, him undressed and under the blankets and a firestarted.The herbs worked, slowing the bleeding to an ooze andmixing with the blood to soak in.Bandages and tape finished thejob for now.
Getting him out of his wet jeans would be abit harder unless she could wake him enough to help.And she’d haveto be gentle moving him up into the bed so as not to reopen hischest and arm.She wasn’t sure she could do that at all.Nic was nosmall man.He was a good six inches taller than Julie andoutweighed her by maybe eighty pounds.His dead weight might bemore than she could handle.She tried to rouse him again, to noavail.
Working as quickly as possible, she unbuckledhis belt and unzipped his jeans.The jeans were only soaked fromabout his mid-thigh on down so she didn’t have to battle quite ashard as if they were completely wet to get them down over his hips.Releasing the damp denim’s hold on his legs was another fight.Sliding her hands between the fabric and his skin, though, assuredher that she needed to hurry.His legs were cold to the touch.
Once she had him down to his boxers—thankGod, they weren’t wet—she was able to wake him enough that he couldmove into the bed.His dazed eyes met hers as she reassured himthat he’d soon be warm.He smiled weakly, then closed his eyes andslept.She covered him with blankets and proceeded to get to workon light and heat.
Lamps lit and the fire blazing in the woodstove, Julie realized the food they’d brought with them, still inthe car, would freeze if left there overnight.The cabin, as she’dsuspected, was well stocked with dried foods, but they’d broughtmeat and canned goods just in case it wasn’t.It was getting darkwhen she headed out the door.She ducked beneath the spiked woodand trudged to the car.It was full dark by the time she gotback.
She checked the thermometer that hung in thekitchen.Sixty-two degrees.It felt like an oven after beingoutside for almost an hour.She threw another log into the stoveand closed the door.She’d have to bring in more wood in themorning, but, for now, there was enough.Nic would need nourishmentand plenty to drink, so that was the next job.Fleetingly, shecounted it a blessing that she needed to keep busy but acknowledgedthat keeping the feelings at bay would only be temporary.
A hushed gasp caught Julie’s attention andshe walked over to the bed.Nic still slept but his breathing wasragged and tears escaped the corners of his eyes.He mumbledunintelligible words.Julie’s heart ached for him, even as shewondered what demons he faced as he slept.She perched on the bedand touched his cheek, pausing to wipe away the tears, shushinghim.His face was hot with fever.Good, his body was fighting.Hequieted at her touch.
Finally, when he was peaceful again, Julieescaped to the loft to check her secret place.There was nothingthere.
