Part 15 (1/2)

Needles unwrapped the blood-soaked bandages, unzipped Aaron's jumpsuit, and tore open his sweats.h.i.+rt and s.h.i.+rt. It was an upper-chest wound, the bullet having pa.s.sed through Aaron's body just under his left collar bone. Fresh blood pooled on the wooden tabletop and dripped onto the white porcelain floor tiles.

Needles carefully rolled Aaron up onto his side then grabbed some clean paper towels and applied pressure to the wounds.

He saw Beeks's stomach lurch. ”What's the matter, Beeks?” he goaded. ”You've seen blood before.”

”I seen plenty of blood,” Beeks said. ”More than you, I'll wager.” He paused. ”Well ... maybe not more than you ... but I seen a lot.”

”So, what's your problem?”

”What's your problem?”

”I'm not the one with the problem.”

”f.u.c.k you.”

Needles got Aaron's bleeding under control and was encouraged to see that the bullet had entered and exited his body relatively cleanly, with little apparent damage to the underlying tissue. He splashed antibiotic solution over the wounds and covered them with sterile gauze.

He checked his watch. 11:30 a.m. Then he looked at Beeks impatiently. ”Well?”

Beeks looked back at him ... puzzled.

”My water ... ?”

”Oh ...” Beeks said. He checked the pot. There were small bubbles forming in the bottom. ”It's comin'.”

”Well, hurry it up.”

”How the f.u.c.k do you hurry water?”

”How should I know,” Needles said. ”Figure it out.” He scrubbed up in the sink. ”Wash up. I'm gonna need your help.”

”No way, bro,” Beeks said, raising his big hands in the air in protest. ”You know I don't know nothin' about no medical s.h.i.+t.”

”Do you see anyone else in this room that hasn't been shot?”

”Kiss my a.s.s.”

Beeks washed up, then checked his pot of boiling water. ”I think we're good here,” he said, and Needles came over and plunged his tools into the bubbling liquid.

He spread some clean towels out on the table next to Aaron then selected two surgical masks from the s...o...b..x pile.

”Put this on,” he said, handing one to Beeks, ”and if Aaron wakes up ... hold him. You got that? You hold him good!”

Beeks pulled on his mask and adjusted the undersized nose piece. It made him sound like he had a cold. ”If he does wake up I hope he don't see you first.”

”And why is that?”

”'Cause you're so d.a.m.n ugly ... you'd probably scare the poor son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h to death.”

Needles had to laugh. ”Good one, friend,” he said.

He found some surgical gloves in a Ziploc bag and looked doubtfully at his a.s.sistant's enormous hands; still Beeks somehow managed to pull on a pair without ripping them to pieces.

The big black man walked over and stood next to the mutilated boy; the kid seemed so small lying there on that big table. ”I gotta bad feelin', bro,” he said.

”Let's just get on with it,” Needles said. He prepared a shot of morphine and set it aside.

”You got morphine? s.h.i.+t, man ... boot him up!”

”Thanks for the expert advice,” Needles said, ”but I want him to be as awake as possible a too much morphine at this stage could kill him.” He reached for a pair of forceps. ”Now, shut your yap and give me a sponge.”

He infiltrated the area with an anesthetic solution, then clamped the sponge into the forceps and began to clean the wounds.

Aaron was beginning to regain consciousness and he jerked violently after a particularly deep probe.

”Hold him ...” Needles said.

Beeks leaned in and put his weight into it. ”Bang the son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h, man ...”

”Not yet,” Needles said, redoubling his efforts. ”Just another minute ...”

Another deep probe and Aaron screamed. Beeks looked at Needles like he was some sort of s.a.d.i.s.tic n.a.z.i.

”I know, okay?” Needles said, reaching for the prepared syringe. He injected the morphine directly into a vein on the inside of Aaron's arm and monitored the boy's pulse as he drifted back into semi-consciousness.

Needles finished with antibiotic ointment and clean, dry-gauze bandages. Then he stepped back and pulled off his gloves, exhausted by the effort.

”Is he gonna live?” Beeks asked doubtfully.

”It's hard to say,” Needles replied. ”The bullet pa.s.sed through cleanly and missed his lung a and no bones or large vessels were hit ... but he lost a lot of blood. We'll have to see.”

Beeks gathered Aaron up in his arms and carried him to the sofa and laid him down. Needles wiped down the operating table with soapy rags and dropped them into a trash bag along with the blood soaked towels. He walked over to where Beeks was sitting on the sofa with the boy. Beeks had covered Aaron with a blanket. Needles tucked it up under the boy's chin.

”Why do you care so much 'bout this boy, anyways?” Beeks asked, genuinely curious.

Needless looked at Beeks, then at Aaron, and thought for a moment. ”I'm not quite sure ...”

”I knows the feelin',” Beeks said.

”Maybe it's because that's what doctors do,” Needles said. ”Or maybe it's because in today's world, good people are in short supply.”