"It's starting to look good in here." Denise walked into the small house Aaron gave to Austin. It was suppose to be turned into a school, but they ended up using garages for that. Now, it was just a large bottom room with just a large room upstarts. A loft, he concluded. Spencer surprisingly was on board with Austin's plan, getting him some wood.
So far, with the help of Carl, Enid, Tara, and Rosita, they had build a bar that was high enough to have chairs at it, the shelves under it filled with glasses, while the book shelves behind him were staked with all the drinks. The tables weren't completely put together yet, but it was getting there. Austin looked up from the medical book he was studying, giving a half grin to Denise. "Want to be my first buyer?"
"I don't know, what do you have?" she hummed as he shut his book and stood up. "Any Pop?"
"Any who?" he frowned his eyebrows.
"Pop." she repeated, taking a second to identify the faint accent his words possessed. "Coke. Sorry, I meant coke."
"You are in lucky." he pulled a hot coke from under the counter. "Still in the process of trying to find a freezer so you're gonna get a hot coke and....rum?"
"Sounds good." she nodded, taking a seat. "When are you opening?"
"Gotta get the tables set up, find that freezer, get a name picked out, grab a few employees, and something for some music." he nodded, grabbing the mixing drink as he poured the coke in first. "But, Enid is willing to work with me good where I can work days with you, then nights here."
"I really appreciate you helping me. I have no clue what i'm doing and I know you have some experience." she explained, trying to not gap at the way he tossed around the cocktail shaker, behind his back and almost in a juggling motion. She had to laugh. "Look at you."
"Catch." he scared her by almost throwing the shaker at her, but keeping it in his hand with a grin when she winced. "Got you."
Denise watched him again as Austin grabbed a cup, pouring the drink as he held it over his head, but had a very steady and perfect stream into the cup. It was impressive, she could see the place doing well as long as he had been behind the counter. Austin exhaled as he ended the act off with a wipe to the edge. "First drink of the day, a rum and coke, for my fellow doctor in training."
"Thanks." Denise smiled as she took the drink. "Need me to sign anywhere?"
"Nah, we aren't even opened yet." he shrugged, flashing her a wink. "Go back to studying now, don't make me do all the work."
"Got it." she called, standing up. "I'll bring this back!"
"Yup!" he called, hoping up on the bar, the recently laid table tops strong enough as he laid back, flipping through the surgery book again.
Nearly an hour had gone by and Austin was soaking up the smell of the scented candle him and Enid had found on their run. It was by his head as he studied the different forms of birth, knowing it was likely someone would get pregnant again along the way. The door opening caught his attention, staring face to face with someone he hadn't known.
A knife rose in his direction, a loud alarm sounded from outside. It didn't take long to notice the many others just like this man running around Alexandria, killing people as screams echoed the streets. Austin rose his hands. "You wanna kill me?"
"Beg." the man demanded, holding his gun even closer as he walked over.
"Look, if you're gonna kill a man, at least let him go down with a drink, right?" Austin nodded to the bottle of vodka. "One sip and i'm all yours."
The man seemed to agree as Austin grabbed the bottle and took a large gulp of the liquid. It burnt his tongue as he held the entire mouthful, wanting to fall into a fit of coughing when a few drops fell down the back of his throat. The man waited for him, but he didn't know the first thing that was coming.
Austin grabbed the candle, the flame still lit as he blew the vodka from his mouth and into the man, holding the flame up in the process, mixing it with alcohol, as a large flame flooded all over the man's body. It was one of the first things he'd learned in physics. Alcohol makes a fire grow, and he had been lucky enough to think fast. Austin pulled the screaming man on fire out of the bar, shoving him onto the ground as he took off in a sprint back home.
Half way back to the house, a man was chasing him. The alarm switched off, Austin continued to run as he looked over his shoulder. He gasped in fear as the man swung his axe at him, Austin fell to the ground as it flew over his head. He flipped around on his back just as the man nearly got on top of him, his feet coming up and kicking him in the face.
The Grimes boy stood up when the man stumbled back, hand on his nose. He tackled the man onto the concrete with a yell, punching him in the face as he grasped his head and slammed it against the concrete. He did it again in the process of taking his knife from his waist band and giving a quick stab to his head. Make it quick, kill him immediately without suffering.
The boy breathed heavy as he lingered for a moment, regaining sanity and humanity before standing up and deciding it was safer to run through backyards in order to get home. The sound of crying made him stop, looking back as he saw Marisa, one of the woman that worked with the food, had been stabbed in the abdomen and was bleeding out.
"Marisa." Austin ran to her side quickly as she cried out. "Hang on, it's gonna be okay."
He took his belt off and tied it around her waist, she cried out at the pain. "I'm sorry, it's gonna stop the bleeding. Come with me, I have a kit back at my house."
"Charlie." she whimpered as she gripped his arm. "He- his room."
"Charlie." he repeated, trying to understand. "Who's Charlie?"
"My son." she spoke, yelling in pain as she sat up. "Please."
Austin ran into the house quickly, sprinting up the stairs. "Charlie!"
He pushed a door open, but Charlie was just a little one. Judith's age at most, in his crib. Austin was expecting an older child, Sam's age likely. He was quick, lifting the boy. "Okay, buddy. Let's go help your momma, okay? Let's go."
Austin held the boy as he ran down the stairs quickly, back out the back door as he saw Marisa had managed to get onto her feet. "Okay, hang onto my neck, we're just two houses down."
Marisa cried out each time they walked, but Austin had taken as much pain off her as possible with helping carrying her. He called out Carls name when they made it closer, having him open the back door. "Run and grab the red box from my room, it's on the left side of the bed. Hurry!"
Austin let Marisa go as she leaned on the wall. He hurried to Judith's play pin, setting Charlie inside before running back to Marisa. "Okay, come on."
She was a small woman, easy to lift up and lay on the empty table. Carl ran back down. "This?"
He was smart, he got the right thing. Austin yanked the gloves on quickly, grabbing the IV as he cleaned the area on her arm as fast as he could. Carl watched. "Austin, what do I do?"
"I don't know which book it is." his heart raced as he thought. "One of them talks me through the surgery!"
"Surgery?" Marisa panicked.
"Hey, look at me." he took her face in his hands with a nod of his head. "You're gonna be okay. I'm not gonna let you die. Is this your only wound?"
"Stabbed me just once." she spoke in pain.
"Okay, okay." Austin recalled all his thoughts. "Abdomen trauma. Stab-stab would be...penetration. A-trauma- Carl! Grab the book that's labeled Exploratory laparotomy and find the page with Penetration Abdomen Trauma!"
Carl took off upstairs as Austin stuck Marisa with the needle, hanging the IV up as he made sure it had been flowing. He replaced his tied belt with gauze, holding his hand to the wound as Carl hurried back down the stairs. "I found it."
"Marisa, I don't have an anesthetic but this is gonna hurt like a bitch." Austin warned her as his bloody gloved held her wound. "Tell me what you want me to do."
"What's gonna happen?" she cried out.
"Austin, I can go." Carl spoke fast. "I know the infirmary has it."
"Are you crazy? Why do you think we didn't go there? Those people will kill you." Austin packed Marisa wounds with as many gauze as he could.
"You can't do this with her awake." Carl looked at the page, he couldn't imagine that sort of pain. "I'll go through the back doors, i'll be fast."
"Carl, no." Austin looked to him, standing up. "I'll go."
"No." he stated.
"I'll know exactly what to get." he nodded, yanking his gloves off. "Put those gauze on and keep pressure on her wound. I've got it stuffed with gauze right now, if she starts to bleed through, apply more."
He hovered over Marisa as she started to doze off. "Hang in there for me, okay? Do you know your blood type?"
She hummed, blinking to stay away. "B negative."
•
kylie speaks
i remember writing this,
and the next, chapter and it taking sooo long bc i kept having to google medical surgery and all kinds of proper terms and how to do it lmao