Story centered around my OC Noah. I’ll admit. This scene has been done for a long time, as in it was one of the first scenes I ever wrote with Noah.
TW: Interrogation, gun shot wound, field medicine, death mention
He looked down at his notepad where he’d been keeping track of everything Viktor had been telling him. Ruby had gotten sloppy in what she let him see or hear over time and, while he did have a sense of loyalty, he was afraid of Noah more.
Noah asked Viktor to recall another detail from the beginning of their session, something small that could easily have been a lie if Viktor was lying. He recalled it perfectly. Either he was a better liar than Noah or he was telling the truth.
The problem with the truth is that Viktor just exposed a spy in the ranks of the officers and that was another looming issue. That would be two spies in a matter of days and the poison of distrust was spreading through Noah’s veins.
He needed to talk to Isa. He couldn’t risk leaving these two alone knowing how high the threat went. The spy was none other than number six on the most wanted list Uniformity had posted, Olivia.
He felt antsy as he waited for Kylan or even Isa to return his message but he didn’t show it around Viktor or Rachel, especially her. He was sure that if he gave her any indication or urgency or impatience on his part she would never talk. She had more convictions than Viktor, he was weak.
He moved out into the hallway, away from the others that were tied up so he could pace. That was until he received the message he had been waiting for, Kylan would be on his way to this building to watch the two of them while Noah relayed the information back to Isa. Normally he would be comfortable leaving them, especially now since he had double checked the ropes, but with the knowledge of the spy he was worried that they would come and finish those two off before he had even had a chance to talk to Rachel.
He walked through the front door and several things happened at once.
Zaryn wasn’t prepared for Noah to leave even though he had kept his gun drawn.
Noah wasn’t expecting Zaryn to even be anywhere near that building sending off his own alarm bells.
Zaryn had raised their gun at Noah and pulled the trigger.
Noah had just enough reflexes to dodge the majority of the bullet, though it still grazed his right arm as he moved back into the building for safety.
He hissed as he instinctually brought his left hand up to the graze before shoving down his instincts and reaching for his own gun. Zaryn was inside leveling the gun again, no words were spoken as he prepared to pull the trigger again.
No time for his own gun, Noah lunged forward and grabbed onto Zaryn’s gun, the barrel pointing haphazardly in a direction away from the two of them before going off once more.
Two shots, Noah tried to guess how many bullets were in the cartridge. He hoped it only held six as they continued to wrestle, the barrel pointed towards the floor this time.
The gun went off again and white hot pain exploded in Noah’s left thigh. His leg gave out and he landed on his back. Zaryn stepped forward and grinded his boot into the bleeding wound.
“Aahhh!” Noah sat up enough to try to shove Zaryn off of his leg but knew that he had no leverage at this angle. He looked up at Zaryn who didn’t even notice Noah reaching for his own gun on his hip holster.
Zaryn thought he had won. “Goodbye Noah. It’s been a pleasure to work alongside you.” He watched Noah’s face as he rubbed his boot once more for good measure, relishing in the scream.
Noah shot his own weapon, Zaryn fell down backwards and his blood and brain matter spattered across the entryway. Noah was sure that he was dead but now had to focus on his own survival.
He let his hand venture to his leg and while the top was just a small hole, the exit wound is what scared him. He felt the loose meat of his thigh and let out a string of curse words. He placed pressure on it but knew that that would only do so much. His backpack was in the other room and in it, hopefully, he still had a small first aid kit Kylan insisted he carry. He just hoped he had actually listened to him and didn’t toss it aside in their room.
He ungracefully rolled onto his good leg while trying to maintain some semblance of pressure on his leg. He awkwardly crawled towards the other room, leaving a trail of tacky red handprints and a trail of large blood drops and smears throughout the abandoned house.
He cursed the entire way but knew how lucky he actually was. Zaryn hadn’t hit any important arteries or he would be dead by now. Noah could piece together that much through the ever growing haze of pain.
He reached the room with his backpack and pulled it off the table with an unceremonious PLUNK as it hit the ground. He tugged the zipper open and wiggled the contents out of the bag. He moved onto the next pocket until he found the dirty small red pouch with another infernal zipper he needed to tug open.
The contents were spread across the floor, “Who needs this many damn bandaids?” He asked no one in particular as he threw them to the side. When he found the roll of gauze he nearly sobbed after he thought his fate was coming down to two three inch squares of gauze pads and self-adhesive bandage wrap.
Now came the part he was afraid of, he needed both of his hands to even get some of this open or to even get it on him. He tried to be quick but he was clumsy. His left hand was covered in fresh slick blood and the right was just trying to be steady enough to locate the pull tabs on the packages. Then he realized another barrier between him and his leg was the blood soaked pants leg.
He grabbed his knife and tore at the edge of the pants leg, ripping a portion off that had already decided to adhere to his skin. When he had enough room to bandage his leg he stopped, his pants leg was still attached by a small sliver on the inner thigh but a gaping hole so he could actually wrap his leg.
He decided that the two small gauze pads would actually be useful after all and placed them over the small entry wound before trying to wrap his leg up in the rolled gauze. It was hard work, particularly when the blood on his hands began to dry and cause the gauze to get stuck together, but he managed at least a crude wrap of gauze before moving onto the dreaded self-adhesive bandage. He knew he would have to pull it tight and he knew that it would hurt.
He held his breath as he pulled the wrap around the first time over the worst of the wound, as he passed the start of the wrap he squeezed his eyes shut and pulled.
“Aaghh-!” He hissed loudly through his teeth, not even caring if Viktor or Rachel heard him in the next room.
So, he repeated the process slower than he would like. It unnerved him how much blood he’d lost but when he finished the wrap he knew how much that was a bandaid fix. He needed to see one of the medics back at the camp, which was a good 10 minute walk away. For him, who knows how long.
He looked over at Zaryn’s body and started to awkwardly crawl towards it. He didn’t give his head a second look but he needed to find his comms device. He haphazardly looked through his pockets until he found the device he was looking for and his heart sunk.
Eight minutes ago a message was received from PJ:
Don’t be an idiot. We’ll be there soon to take care of them together.
He looked down at his leg, there was no way he was going to be useful in any sort of fight. Then he started to do his own math on when Kylan said that he would be here. He wasn’t sure would get here first because it depended on where they were in the camp. It depended on if PJ ran into Kylan on the way over here. Kylan didn’t even know that PJ was a spy.
Noah chastised himself for not warning him ahead of time and letting his paranoia get ahead of him.
Another message came through on Zaryn’s device:
Kylan is heading your way.
Noah fished out his own device and messaged Kylan.
You’re being followed by PJ. He is going to try to kill you. Don’t alert him that you know.
He didn’t feel like that explained nearly enough but the short message was all his mind could focus on as another wave of pain radiated from his leg. He leaned back against the wall and hissed through his teeth until it passed.
He looked down at his leg and he was bleeding through the bandage but at least it was slowed. Either that or he’d bled more than he thought. It was all fuzzy, he wasn’t sure.
The next few minutes dragged on as Noah waited to see who would arrive first. It should be Kylan but still Noah kept his own gun on his lap. He was ready for whoever walked through the door.
The crunch of gravel alerted him to someone approaching the house and Noah leveled the gun at the entrance of the doorway as he was still leaned up against the wall in the entryway with no quick way to escape. He held his breath as he watched the door and when Kylan walked in he could breath a sigh of relief.
“What the fuck happened?” Kylan took in the scene as quickly as he could. His eyes traveled from Zaryn’s body over to Noah and his leg wrapped up in a purple wrap that had blood seeping through.
Kylan ran to Noah’s side and looked at his leg. “You need a medic.”
“He should’ve been right behind you.” There was a small noise outside and Noah brought a finger up to his lips and Kylan drew his own weapon before crossing the room. The switch from concerned boyfriend to hardened soldier was immediate. Noah kept his own weapon raised at the doorway.
After a few tense moments of no one entering the door Kylan and Noah shared a look. “Any other entrances into this place?” He quietly asked Noah.
“There’s a back door but it’s boarded up.” Zaryn’s communication device lit up and Noah risked looking at the screen.
Noah motioned towards Kylan before tossing Zaryn’s device to him. Kylan read through the messages and connected the dots. He let out a breath before shouting outside. “PJ, I know you’re there. I think we need to talk.”
