Feeding Frenzy

Chapter 28

 "Are you fucking nuts?" Gomez asked.

Evey scowled before looking down at Harrington. His face had gone pale and his forehead was shining with sweat. The twins were giggling as they chased each other around a car. The innocent sound made Evey's stomach clench. How could something sound so sweet during such an awful moment? Fiona and Roger were supervising the kids but kept taking glances behind at the horrendous scene.

"How far away is Toronto?" Anjo asked. "They could do something there."

"We're a couple of days away," Johnson said.

"He's not going to make it," Evey said.

"This isn't how I'm dying," Harrington said. His voice was soft and barely above a whisper. "Cut it off."

Evey was chewing on her lip. She had seen many horrific things in the emergency room, but nothing could prepare her for what she was about to witness. She closed her eyes for a moment before looking up at Anjo.

"Are you ready?" Evey asked.

Anjo's eyes went wide. He pointed his finger at himself.

"Me?" he asked. "What am I doing?"

"You're the doctor," Evey said. "You're the one who is going to amputate it."

"I'm not that kind of doctor."

"What kind of doctor are you?"

Anjo broke eye contact and scratched the back of his neck.

"I'm a veterinarian," he said.

"What!?" Evey shouted. "You left out the part that you only work with animals."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just wanted to help out, and then I did not know how to tell the truth."

Evey rolled her eyes. Harrington fell back, and Evey struggled to keep her sweater pressed against his wound. She kneeled on the road. Harrington closed his eyes. Ford nudged Harrington's leg with the toe of his boot.

"Don't," Ford said. "Stay awake."

Harrington groaned as he opened his eyes. Evey pulled her hands off of the wound. Her skin was coated in a thick layer of his blood. She wiped them on her bare legs before grabbing the medical supplies. Her hands were shaking as she sorted through the items. Everyone was silent as they watched.

"Have you done this before?" Johnson asked.

"Truthfully, no," Evey said. "I witnessed a couple one day when I was a nursing student. It was part of my Operating Room experience."

"This is going to fucking hurt," Harrington said.

Evey thought that she was going to throw up at any moment. She hated when people screamed when she gave them needles. Was she really prepared to cut a limb off someone?

She laid her supplies beside her and Harrington. Her mind was racing, but she tried to force herself to remember the steps to an amputation. Thankfully, the nurse Evey was shadowing explained each step. That was almost five years ago. How much did she remember?

Evey tied a tourniquet around the top of Harrington's arm. She grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol. She could not find a scalpel, so she washed the blade of her knife. Evey poured it over Harrington's arm. His back arched and he screamed when the alcohol ran into the wound. Evey flinched at the sound.

"Make it quick," Harrington said.

"I'm so sorry," Evey said before she pushed the blade down into his flesh.

Harrington screamed an ear-piercing scream. He instinctively tried to pull his arm away from Evey. She tightened her grip on him as she sawed through his muscle. Johnson got on his knees behind Harrington and put his hands on his shoulders. He tried his best to hold him in place as Harrington struggled not to thrash. Evey could not hear him trying to comfort Harrington. She hoped the sound would not scar the children. She prayed that Fiona was keeping them far away from this scene.

Evey struggled to get through Harrington's bone. She was dragging the knife back and forth, but the bone was too thick. Evey forced her weight down onto the knife until the bone snapped. Harrington was struggling to stay still. He was flailing and kicking his legs.

Anjo had walked away from the scene and was throwing up behind a car. Connar was watching with wide eyes in terror. The visual was much more graphic than anything he had ever seen in a horror movie. Ford had his arms over his chest and was struggling not to gag.

Evey sawed her way through the remaining muscle, tendons, and skin. His arm, below the elbow and above the wound, was off and Evey threw it to the side. With blood-soaked hands, she grabbed the sutures and sewed together the two flaps of skin that she left behind. Once she was finished, she wrapped the stump of his arm in a thick layer of gauze.

Harrington stopped screaming, and Evey stood. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her arm. She did not want to smear Harrington's blood over her face.

"It's done," Evey said.

"He'll live?" Ford asked.

Evey let out a shaky breath. That was the big question. Was he going to survive? Did she just put him through horrific pain in the last moments of his life?

"I hope so," she said.

Gomez was shaking his head. He threw his hands up in the air before reaching for his gun.

"We need to kill Harrington," he said. "He's going to turn into one of those things!"

He pulled the gun out of the holster. Ford lunged forward and fought him for the weapon. Evey squeezed her eyes shut as all the muscles tightened in her body. She prepared for the gun to fire and for one of them to be shot. Hopefully, it was not Ford.

There was no gunshot, only the sound of swearing and shouting. Ford ripped the gun out of Gomez's hand.

"We have to kill him!" Gomez shouted. "He's going to kill us."

Johnson helped Harrington off the road and onto his feet. Harrington's shirt was soaked in his blood. Johnson threw Harrington's arm over his shoulders and Harrington slumped against his body. Harrington cradled what was left of his bandaged arm to his chest. He looked down at the blood already shadowing through the gauze and closed his eyes before rolling his head back.

"You know that Thyestean doesn't work like that," Johnson said.

"We know almost nothing about Thyestean," Gomez said.

"We know enough."

Harrington's knees gave out, and Johnson struggled to keep him on his feet. Ford rushed over and grabbed Harrington's shoulder. Ford pulled him up so that he was standing. Sweat broke out across Harrington's pale face.

"We need to stop," Johnson said. "At least for the night."

Gomez glared at the other soldiers before storming away from the group. Evey looked down at her bloody hands. She saw a bottle of saline lying on the ground. Her backpack full of medical supplies was spread across the road. She grabbed the bottle and poured the saline on her hands to wash the blood off her hands. She was thankful she was wearing a dark-coloured T-shirt as she wiped her hands on the fabric.

Harrington was struggling to stay conscious as Ford and Johnson dragged him. Fiona grabbed the twins' hands and followed behind. Roger walked close beside them. Connar's face was still pale. Anjo trailed behind the group as they walked down the road and tried to find the closest Cleansed town.