Page 77 of Unrest
Ijumped off him and snatched up my clothes, pulling them on with shaking hands while Rylen did the same.
“One sec!” Ry called. One minute later Rylen flung open the door. Tater’s look of shock, then revulsion, then righteous anger would have had me laughing any other time, but right now I just shoved past him and sprinted to the stairs.
“The fuck, Fite?” Tater said.
“Not now,” Ry told him.
We sprinted all the way to the med room, where Captain Ward had wrapped a very pale redheaded man in a warming blanket. Two soldiers stood against the wall, weapons out. The dentist’s eyes were freaked when he looked at me.
“Hypothermia. Possible frostbite in his fingers and toes.”
I forced back a cringe. Burns I could handle. Frozen extremities were not something I’d ever had to deal with. I grabbed his largest medical book and thumbed through until I found information and treatment options, which I quickly skimmed.
“I’ll run him a warm bath.” I ran two doors down where a medical tub was kept, but never used. Its primary purpose was for hot or ice baths for physical therapy. I cranked the water on until it was around 105 degrees, and let it fill, water restrictions be damned. Then I ran back to the room.
“We need to undress him and carry him to the bath. Once his body is pinkish red he’ll need to be dried in warm cloth and immediately kept warm with blankets.” Tater, Rylen, and Captain Ward undressed him. I noted absently that he was definitely human. The guys carried him while I went back to the tub to double check the water and turn it off.
They brought him in and carefully lowered him up to his neck. Several of his toes and fingers were whitish with black along the edges.
The man’s teeth chattered and he panted. “Hurtsss.”
“I know,” I said. “It’ll feel better soon.” I hoped.
“He’s talking now,” one of the soldiers called into the hall. I looked up to see First Sergeant come in. All of their guns were drawn.
“Do you guys have to have weapons out in here?” I asked.
“He hasn’t been cleared yet,” First Sergeant explained.
“Well,” I said, “I think it’s safe to say he’s an unarmed human who’s not going to fight right now.”
First Sergeant gave a curt nod to the soldiers, Rylen, and Tater. “Wait in the hall.” But he remained, watching us work, his sidearm at the ready.
I dunked a washcloth into the warm water and ran it over the man’s cheeks and ears. He shivered so hard some of the water vibrated out in small splashes. When the water began to feel tepid, I drained some as I added more warm. After ten or fifteen minutes his violent shuddering slowed. I raised his limbs one by one, nearly to the surface without taking them out. My heart began to settle at the sight of most of his fingers and toes turning pink again. But one pinky and the tips of two toes on both feet remained discolored.
Frostbite was like a cold burn. His extremities would likely blister and be discolored, possibly losing sensitivity to cold and heat.
The man struggled to speak. “Will you . . . have to . . . amputate?”
“Not likely,” I said. “Unless there’s gangrene. For now, we’ll just keep an eye on them.”
First Sergeant moved his chair next to the tub. I knew he was about to question him, and there was nothing I could do about it. What I wasn’t expecting was his method.
“Sit back, Tate,” he said. I scooted back.
Top pressed his gun to the man’s head, making me suck in a breath. The dentist went completely still.
“How long until the others arrive?” First Sergeant asked. My heart galloped.The others?
“Just me.” The man’s teeth had stopped chattering, but he looked ready to pass out, and his voice was weak.
“Your ID says you’re from Nellis, which has been taken over.” He cocked the gun, and my insides began to shake with nausea.
“I escaped . . . no one . . . followed.”
“What exactly did you escape?”
The man struggled to talk, his voice scratchy. I wanted to give him a drink of water, but didn’t dare interfere.
