“Stars above,” the doctor said softly a few moments later. “He’s really been slashed up. Some of those claws went deep. Internal organs might’ve been perforated. I don’t think there’s any bone damage, but….”
He activated his uni-link and spoke without pausing. “Irina? I’m going to need a small stretcher.”
“Coming.”
Feeling as if he was going to jump out of his skin if he didn’t do something, Anders turned and ran back toward the house, meeting Irina as she emerged. He took the compact stretcher and sprinted back to the car.
Scott was pulling himself out of the enclosed space. His worried expression momentarily brightened when he saw Anders and Jessica holding the stretcher ready.
“Okay. Slide it over here. Now I’ll lift a little…Good…”
Within a few minutes, they had the injured treecat in the room already prepared as a surgery. Scott frowned.
“I hate to do this,” he said, “but I’m going to insist you two stay out unless you have some surgical experience. Irina, scrub up.”
“What about the ’cats?” Irina said, for Valiant and Fisher had resumed their posts next to the patient.
“I’m going to let them stay,” Scott said. “Jessica? Do you think Valiant would wear a surgical mask? And put up with a sterile spray-down?”
“Sure,” she said promptly, “if he sees Fisher doing it. He’s used a respirator, and he’s seen Dr. Richard—and me—spraying wounds to disinfect them. He may not understand why we do it, but he knows it’s part of making them better.
“Good.” The doctor paused. “We’ve emptied a cooling unit. Put the bodies in there. I’ll look at them after I’ve done what I can for this guy.”
“Right.”
As Jessica and Anders left the surgery, Irina called after them, “Make yourselves free of the house and grounds. Patients don’t normally call here at the house. If anyone shows up, tell them the doctor’s unavailable because of an emergency.”
“Right.”
When the door closed firmly after Irina, Anders was aware of a tremendous sense of relief. He’d been terrified that the treecat would die during the long flight to Thunder River. If he had, he knew he and Jessica would never have forgiven themselves for not taking the shorter route to Dr. Saleem, even if Scott did have far more experience with treecat injuries.
“I think,” Jessica said, sinking down on a cushioned bench in the entryway that was the closest available seat, “I’m going to start either blubbering or screaming.”
“Delayed shock,” Anders reassured her. “This has been a blackhole of a day. You really kept it together. I won’t think the worse of you if you start crying.” He gave a crooked grin. “I might even join in.”
With a funny little choked noise, Jessica bent forward slightly, her long hair curtaining her face. For a moment, Anders thought she was laughing. Then he realized that Jessica’s shoulders were shaking with an effort to contain her sobs. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to reach over and hold her, to let her press her face against his chest while he stroked her back.
“There, there,” he said inanely. “You did great, really great. It’s going to be all right.”
After a while, she pulled away. “I’m sorry. I just…I just…I’ve always been really good at keeping my head when something’s wrong, but afterwards…Mom says I always pay twice what I would if I just admitted how I felt, but I can’t help it.”
Anders nodded. “What’s wrong with crying? You know, it would’ve been okay even if you’d broken down when we found that hurt ’cat. I mean, it was scary.”
Jessica grinned ruefully. “I bet Stephanie never cracks up. I love her like a sister, but she’s always so, so…intellectual. Weighing the odds, figuring out the angles.”
“I think,” Anders said, feeling a bit awkward, “that Stephanie does crack up. She just does it differently. She loses her temper instead of crying. Anyhow, she told me she cried her eyes out when Lionheart got hurt saving her. I bet she’d understand. I really do.”
“You’re right.” Jessica scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Stephanie’s one of the best friends I’ve ever had. I don’t know why, but I’m always measuring myself against her and feeling like I come up short.”
“You’re several centimeters taller,” Anders said, trying to make a joke out of it, then stopping when he saw that Jessica looked hurt. “No, seriously. I know what you mean. Stephanie’s pretty extraordinary, but what makes her that way is that she has lots of heart to go with the brains and the talent.”
“Yeah…” Jessica’s expression turned wistful. “Anyhow, thanks for letting me sob all over your shirt. I’d offer to return the favor, but maybe we should raid the fridge instead. I think I read somewhere that food is a good antidote to shock, and we’re not done today. Not by a long shot.”
* * *
While Darkness Foe worked on the unconscious Keen Eyes, Swift Striker and Dirt Grubber did what they could to help the other Person remain comforted.
<What do you think happened to him?> Swift Striker asked.
<I am afraid he was injured by another Person,> Valiant replied. Somewhat reluctantly, he shared with Swift Striker what else they had found that day.
<Three other People dead? And one of them a female? This is not good….>
<And the odor of blood on the ground for many others,> Dirt Grubber added. <And fur. Bleached Fur is not the tracker that Death Fang’s Bane or Shadowed Sunlight have shown themselves to be, but he may have guessed that many more People than those four were present—and that many more died or were injured. Yet Windswept and Bleached Fur might have suspected how Keen Eyes came to be injured in any case, even if there had been no other bodies.>
<What reason would they have for that?>
<This is not the first dead Person they have found near that place.> Dirt Grubber showed Swift Striker his memories of that other day. <I am certain the mind I touched that day was Keen Eyes, although he fled quickly, before I could do more than get the faintest glimpse of his mind-glow. Still, I tasted enough to tell he was upset…and to feel he was not personally responsible for that death.>
<Now though…> Swift Striker’s sorrow was acute. <Now I think Keen Eyes is personally involved in the fighting. His confusion and pain are bright in his mind-glow, complicating his ability to lead his body heal. Some part of him believes he should die because he was doing harm.>
<Yes. I think you are right. I have been doing what I can to bring comfort, but it is difficult. He slides away as soon as he remembers how he got his wounds.> Dirt Grubber shifted uncomfortably, as if he could move away from these unpleasant thoughts. <Do you think Darkness Foe will guess? The younglings carried the bodies of the dead ones with them here. I did not stop them because I did not like the idea that other two-legs might find them. There have been too many in that area since the fires.>
“Yes, I think he will,> Swift Striker replied with certainty. <He was quick to realize the truth of what had happened to True Stalker’s two-leg and his clan. I do not believe he will be slower in this case.>
<What do you think he will do?>
<I am not sure. I wish I knew, but I really am not sure.>
<What should we do?>