THERE WERE A LOT OF THINGS GOING ON AND STERNāS 50 PERCENT SURE THAT HEāS THISĀ CLOSE TO HAVING A PANIC ATTACK ;Ā especially since his mind is already instinctively attempting to block out the attack for his own mental safety . But he canāt , he needs to KNOWĀ and understand and to keep people safeĀ . Stop the creature , capture it , banishĀ it , WHATEVERĀ . Before it hurts or KILLSĀ any more people .Ā
Stern has his own suspicions about what it could be , but in his panic ( how absolutely foolish of him ) , Stern had DROPPEDĀ the CryptonomiconĀ in the woods , where the creature had first ambushed him while he was writing down notes . But the greater concern was the gash on his shoulder . bleeding profusely and causing his shirt to stick to the wound .
ā Yes , I am not your average camper . ā He hisses out quiet assent , slowly shedding his jacket and turning his body to hide the twin semi-circle scars underneath his chest . There were some things that people were not meant to see . Stern peels off the shirt at the shoulder , slipping down , the fabric tugging at congealing wound , the car swamped with the scent of metal .Ā ā I would t-take your offer , but I think it would be smart . To wait until the creature has left us alone . I can still hear it snuffling around . ā
Itās not his expertise , but he manages to poke the thread through the needle and grits his teeth - - - -Ā ā Look away . ā Breathing heavy as he pokes the needle through his skin and begins the painful process of stitching himself , biting back the whimpers that threatened to grow into screams .
By the time he finishes , heās a shaking trembling mess , hands slick with blood and body wracked with tremours of agony . Stern manages to place a patch of gauze over it , sweating profusely and grips his shirt closed .Ā
ā Could you - - - Drive us to the lodge ? I donāt think I can . ā Stern asks , weakness evident in the tremble of his voice .
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā now, barry had seen enough panic attacks in his day to know what was going on. a part of him wanted to reach out to comfort because at the end of the day, well---....his family, his staff and his campers were his main priority. even if mr. stern wasnāt a normal camper by any means, he was still technically placed in barryās care and now he had a huge gash on his person. one that he was in the process of sewing up himself.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā barry takes the moment to look away, respecting the manās space. the smell of metal hits his nose, something he was all too familiar with. heās seen a lot worse and dealt with a lot worse. after awhile, you just donāt get fazed by many things.Ā āi gathered that, mr. stern. we donāt get many campers that decide to wear a suit,ā his words are calm, even a tinge of humor in there in order to lighten the mood slightly. heāll sniffle once, his body tense as he manages to keep his composure. if this was the same creature that he ran into in the forest not to long ago after a woman followed the faerie lights? well, this could be troublesome.Ā
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā whatever it is was a very powerful being. had half buried a woman up to her upper torso in the ground. then, whenever she looked at itās face? screamed in terror and eventually disappeared all together. he had never gotten a look at it because rule number one was to not make eye contact. he remembered he begged. he remembered the pressure on his neck and back. whatever the creature was knew it was powerful and certainly did not enjoy being looked upon. he had been spared but the woman had still been missing. it was unknown if she was alive in the faerielands or if she was dead elsewhere.Ā
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā heāll swallow thickly whenever he was finally finished with the botched sewing job, nodding his head whenever the other asked him to drive.Ā āi can do that.ā words still calm, but his hand shakes slightly as he went searching for the keys in the car.Ā ākeys. where are the keys? then iāll drive to the lodge and iāll have some pain meds for you and you can brief me more on what youāve seen. sound cool?,āĀ