Night Hunters

Chapter Five: Meeting the Panther

"I don't like the term 'good person' or 'bad person' because it's impossible to be entirely good to everyone or entirely bad to everyone. To some, you are a good person, while to others, you are a bad person." - Kuroko Tamaki

XXXXXX

Kagami Taiga was awakened by the hustle and bustle occurring around the base at 8AM that morning.

The moment that he'd stepped out of his sleeping quarters, he was momentarily bewildered to see everyone hurrying around—with some of them heading in and out of the infirmary carrying tubs of water, and even sheets. Even the usual mild mannered and soft-spoken Sakurai was screaming orders from within the infirmary.

"What happened?" Kagami asked a stressed Miyaji who was disposing of several blood stained cloths in a corner, looking rather harried.

"One of the scouts stepped onto a landmine by mistake." Miyaji told him grimly. "He got his limbs blown off. He isn't anyone whom we knew, but is from one of the other bases. The leader from that base sent him to ours for treatment, as their medic over there isn't equipped to handle injuries of this calibre. Their medic even told us that he's black level, and to prep for euthanasia if necessary."

Kagami winced. Having been this long with Seirin and then with Phantom, he knew the various terminologies that they use by now. Black level. It meant that the patient is too far gone to be saved, and that the least that they could do is to help ease his pain as he went from one world to the next.

"Kagami!" Hyuuga popped his head out of the infirmary, and Kagami almost flinched as he saw that Hyuuga's hands are slick red with blood, with several blood splotches on his clothes and even on his glasses. "Get in here now! We need your help!"

Kagami blanched. He is no doctor; he doesn't even know the basics of emergency first aid even though Sakurai is trying to teach him. So what do they need his help for?

Despite the hundred and one questions currently running through his head however, he is quick to follow Hyuuga into the infirmary. Whenever Hyuuga uses that tone of voice, it is never a good idea to disobey him.

Sakurai, Tamaki, Shigehiro and even Riko were surrounded around the bed where a bloodied body is lying on. Shigehiro was holding the body down by his shoulders with some extreme difficulty due to all the thrashing around that he was doing. Kagami took a closer look at the body as the head tilted back, and he nearly flinched at the sight of the body, resisting the urge to throw up everything that he had consumed last night.

The right leg was totally gone, and blood covered every inch of the body. There wasn't a single inch of the body that wasn't drenched by blood, and Kagami can't even tell if the person is a male or a female, or even how old that they are, as the face is also extremely disfigured; almost like someone had just tried to feed him or her grenades. There was also a stump where the left arm used to be, with blood flowing like a steady river from it. A pool of blood is already starting to pool around the edges of the bed, with the once pristine and white sheets slowly turning crimson red.

"Dear Lord...!" Kagami nearly whispered, feeling his dinner from last night bubbling up to his throat. He wondered just how the other four in the infirmary were able to keep their wits and cool about them.

"Kagami, get over here!" Shigehiro shouted to the redhead. "Hold him down and stop him moving!"

Unsure of where to place his hands at first, Kagami then placed his hands onto whatever is left of the bottom half, trying hard not to feel squeamish even as the blood seeped through his fingers. Oh God... He is going to need a long bath after this.

"What happened to him?" Kagami asked as he watched Riko and Tamaki trying to stop the worst of the bleeding by tying spare bed sheets around the worst of the injuries, with Hyuuga trying to keep the head still. Sakurai meanwhile was rummaging through his medical cabinets for some medication and spare bandages as well as his surgical tools.