Argent Glass

Chapter 27 - Stow - Andrew

"Is that duct tape?"

"Don't mock me. Duct tape can fix anything." He grabbed his shirt from her fingers and pulled it down.

Jinho pushed past them. "We're almost there."

When they reached the drop to the pool of water, Jordan and Evan climbed down first and waited for Andrew. He went slowly and paused several times. By the time he made it to the bottom, he was ghostly pale and beads of sweat covered his nose and forehead.

"Is that water safe?" he asked Jinho when he appeared beside him a moment later.

"My analysis of the contents show there are enough microorganisms to make you severely indisposed for at least a week."

Andrew squinted his eyes at Jinho.

"I wouldn't drink it."

Andrew laid on the ledge and put his hands into the warm water. He splashed his face and rinsed his hands, then pulled his water bottle from his pack and filled it. "The iodine in my water tablets will kill everything in a half hour."

Evan knelt down and filled his bottle while Jordan moved behind a boulder and peeked her head back out. She waved them over to the opening of the cave. "This is where you are going to stay."

"We should have everything we need in our packs." He took his pack from her shoulders and dug out a packet from a side pocket. "Water tablets. Second most important thing I keep in my pack after-"

"Duct tape," Jordan finished.

"Ding! Ding! We have a winner!" Andrew handed two tablets to Evan. They dropped them into their water bottles and shook them up. He peeled off his shirt and poked his fingers through the two holes. "Guess that's trashed. Might be able to get the blood out, but probably not the bullet holes."

He tossed it aside and picked at the bandage around his waist while the rest of them stood back and stared. A thread of blood leaked down his side. "How safe is this place?"

"Specs and I come out here all the time. We've never seen anyone. Nobody leaves the dome. Well, technically, nobody is supposed to leave the dome. I had to convince him to sneak out with me the first couple times, but once we found the pool, he wanted to come out every day to get his protozoans."

"It's Jinho. And they're microorganisms," Jinho corrected.

Andrew pulled his medical kit from his pack and pushed the bag toward Jordan. "Can you find the tape?"

While Andrew tore open fresh packages of gauze from his kit, Jordan fished around in his bag. When she didn't hand the tape over right away, he looked at her puzzled.

"Find it?"

Jordan had frozen. Her face had the heat of a blush on it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" She snatched her hand from the bag and handed it to Andrew. "I can't find it."

Evan eyed her and took the bag. She smiled and put her hands into her back pockets with a shrug.

"Here it is."

Jordan took the tape from Evan and walked behind Andrew. She gently peeled at the tape where it adhered to his back while Andrew pulled at the front. He sucked in his breath when it ripped the hair from his stomach, but once he had a strip started, he pulled it under his arm and passed it to Jordan. She continued to pull it from his back, wadding it up as she passed it to him. They continued going back and forth until he got to the final bit covering the bullet holes.

Slowly he peeled it back. The saturated gauze and teabags fell away with it, and Evan gagged. Blood welled up immediately and ran down Andrew's waist to the band of his pants. He quickly caught it with the gauze and put pressure on it while Jinho grabbed the gauze from his other hand and stepped around to the back with Jordan.

Jordan stared at the small gaping hole and felt herself reel with sudden dizziness. Jinho swept the gauze up Andrew's side and pressed it on the hole. He snapped his fingers at Jordan to get her attention. It broke the spell, and she tossed the wad of bloody tape on the discarded tee shirt. She peeled a fresh length of tape from the spool and pressed it over the gauze, then continued to bind the wound tightly until Andrew and Jinho could remove their hands.

Evan's hands covered his eyes. "Tell me when it's over."

"Sissy," Jordan said.

He peeked between his fingers and mouthed at her, "So?"

She shrugged.

Jinho helped Andrew sit back down, and Jordan dragged his bag to him. He unclasped the straps holding the sleeping bag and put it behind his back to lay against it.

Evan sat down next to him, and Jordan took a seat on the other side. She rubbed the rocky ground with her fingertip.

"How long have you lived in the dome?" Andrew asked her quietly. He had picked up his water bottle and swirled the water.

"Not long. A couple months. Jinho has been here longer...since he was eleven. He loves it here." She glanced at Jinho. He didn't seem to mind that she was talking about him though he wouldn't look at them. "He hated public school. He was smarter than all the other kids, and they teased him. He got beat up. There aren't any other kids in the dome, and the adults love him because he speaks their language, so he hangs out at the labs most of the time. I'm lucky he's here, even if he is a geek."

Jinho was smiling when he held out his hand to her. "We have to get back inside. We'll be missed if we don't show up for chores."

Jordan stood up, then knelt back down beside Andrew and touched his arm. "I'll bring back water and antiseptic if I can get back tonight. What else do you need?"

"I have Tylenol in my medical kit, but if you can get something stronger, I might need it."

"I'll see what I can find. I'll be back."

"We'll be back." Jinho corrected.

"We'll be here," Evan replied. He took Andrew's shirt between two fingers and cast it over the bloody gauze lying on the floor.

Jordan gave one last look around the cave and gave a little wave, then followed Jinho outside.

Evan stuck the duct tape back into Andrew's bag. "Let's hope we're done with that," he said with his English accent.

"Quite," Andrew replied.

"We didn't really get any information out of them, did we? Do you think they were trained how to interact without spilling the beans? What if they're going to get someone right now to finish us off?"

"They would have just taken me into the dome," Andrew said quietly. He closed his eyes.

"Or maybe they couldn't take you into the dome because they are aliens and their little baby aliens are in giant egg sacs everywhere."

"They're not aliens."

"How can you be so sure? What kind of name is Jinho? Sounds alien to me. And no kid is that smart."

"He is smart," Andrew agreed.

"You should rest. It's not every day you get shot and live to tell the tale. Our parents are going to kill us. I'll never get my car back. Oh, shit. Your mom. I don't even want to think about what your mom is going to do to me."

Andrew tuned him out. The pain in his side became a dull throb once he laid still for a few minutes. He thought he could sleep if he didn't move, and he closed his eyes, but then sat back up and unrolled his sleeping bag. He unzipped it, crawled inside, and pulled it over the lower half of his waist. The sleeping bag felt like a cocoon and the air dried the sweat on his forehead. Evan's voice became a hum and when he closed his eyes again, the light from the entrance of the cave glowed behind his eyelids.