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As a doctor, Zayne was prepared to receive a lot of things, at almost any time of the day. Sickly patients, urgent surgeries, documents that had to be filed yesterday and, of course, late night calls. The calls briefly became less frequent when Zayne finished his training but picked right up once he got some patients of his own.
Even with all of that, Zayne did expect to have some well-deserved rest when he was out of the hospital. He could never be sure, but he had some hope. In the end of the day, he was not surprised to receive a call around midnight. There were plenty of people who could call Zayne this late at night, but only one whom he wanted to hear from. Luckily, he saw familiar name on the screen. He picked up with no hesitation.
“Oh, thank god you’re still up,” Michelle’s voice was filled with worry. Her urgent tone immediately put Zayne on edge, and grunting in the background didn’t help to calm him. “Zayne, I need your help.” Michelle jumped straight to the point.
“Help?” Million possibilities rushed through Zayne’s head. He knew that hunter’s job wasn’t exactly the safest, he saw the history of her injuries from training and missions, so all sleepiness immediately left his body, replaced with worry. “Are you alright, did something happen?”
“No-no, it’s not me. I’m alright.”
Zayne couldn’t help but let out a breath he didn’t know he held. Meanwhile, Michelle continued, “It’s Sylus.”
Zayne cursed under his breath. Of course, at this time she was disturbed by this mutt. Despite his qualms with this man, Zayne has already put the phone on speaker and started picking out more field-appropriate clothes and tools.
“What did he do this time, got you two in some trouble? If I have to pull you out of some godforgotten hole, I swear to heavens, I’ll be dragging him by his-“
“Zayne, please, listen. it’s nothing like that. We are not in danger now, but-“
“But?” He couldn’t hide the annoyance in his voice.
“He refused to go to any hospital.”
Zayne sighed. “How is his stupidity my problem?”
“Please, Zayne.” Michelle switched to pleading, fully aware of the buttons she had to press to get this doctor to act a certain way. “You’re the only one I know, who can help with this. I stopped the bleeding for now, but I can’t do much more.”
Zayne scoffed, but he was already packing his field medkit. He has already switched to professional mindset. The mention of bleeding was not surprising, after Michelle mentioned she was with Sylus. He definitely got them into some dangerous predicament and got hurt. In doctor’s opinion, deservedly. Zayne reached for the change of clothes, trying to remember anything he knew about that man. One thing didn’t line up in this story, so Zayne clarified: “Didn’t you mention that he could heal almost anything?”
“Apparently, not when evol-blocking bullets are involved.”
“What?” Zayne jumped in shock. “How did you encounter those? And you said you were alright?”
The evol-blocking metals were one of those things that did exactly what they said on the tin: it blocked powers of evolvers who came in contact with them. Obviously, there were people who made bullets out of those. Zayne remembered his colleagues ranting about the effects of those after some emergency surgery. He could already predict that this work was going to be a pain in the ass.
“I’ve already treated mine, just some scratches and bruises, and Sylus only got one left. I stopped bleeding, but I won’t risk trying to pull the bullet out.” Michelle clarified, understanding that the doctor won’t get off her back if she hid something from him now. Despite worry, Zayne trusted the hunter of her level to be able to provide first aid for the kind of wound she mentioned and assess the situation. “Zayne, please, I don’t know who else could help.”
Zayne sighed. He was defenseless against her pleas. “Send me the location.”
Immediately, his phone rang with message notification. It seems Michelle was ready. Zayne took a look at the information. It was surprisingly close to the Linkon city. With low nightly traffic, the road should take him at most fifteen minutes.
“I’ll be there in thirty.”
Zayne knew he couldn’t give false hope.
He still had to go through his supplies without anyone on the phone distracting him, change out of his pajama and get to his car. Not to mention that the road itself could be unpredictable.
“It should be alright. His state is not critical, and-”
“Don’t jinx.” Zayne immediately interrupted her. He wasn’t superstitious, but some beliefs were impossible to avoid after a bit of time in the hospital. “Just call me if anything changes.”
Michelle gave Zayne some details on how to find them, too vague to be actually useful, and ended the call. She probably returned her undivided attention to the “unfortunate patient”. Zayne was certain she’s going to call Sylus unfortunate, even if his recklessness was one and only cause of his injury.
Once fully prepared, Zayne put his medical handband on and adjusted his field bag for the last time. Even if he didn’t like the patient, he couldn’t refuse help.
***
As Zayne expected, the road took him longer than 15 minutes. The Linkon city traffic was not an issue, and neither was the highway. Zayne didn’t miss the turn to side road and even stopped at the right place. He safely parked his car at the side of the road and quickly entered the forest. That’s where his problem started. Navigating forest wasn’t his forte to begin with, and the late hour didn’t help. The connection in the forest wasn’t best, so he couldn’t rely on his phone to lead the way as much. Still, he checked in with the map app every few minutes.
After a good 5 minutes Zayne found a motorcycle, hastily covered with some branches. Or maybe they just fell atop of it over the time. Zayne knew that he was in the right spot, at least according to his navigation app, but this gave him needed reassurance that he was not lost completely. It took him a few more minutes to find a small ravine with even smaller house hidden in it.
A liar.
A well-hidden one at that. It was close enough to the road to be easily accessible but hidden from prying eyes by trees and landscape. Even in the darkness of the night Zayne could see the bushes planted on the roof of small building, to hide it from overhead detection. Zayne was sure that it was not listed on any documentation, probably even inside Sylus’s organization. Everything was done “by the books” to keep this hut hidden away, unseen and unknown.
Altogether, Zayne arrived in about 24 minutes. With the location and information about the patient, he found it reasonable. After all, Zayne didn’t receive any other calls, so he could only hope that it didn’t get so bad that Michelle didn’t have time to dial him.
With that, Zayne decided to be a good guest and knock on the door, but he heard an uncharacteristic sound among forest noises.
Somebody reloaded a gun.
Knowing the crowd, he was dealing with, Zayne didn’t even think it was a mistake or an accident. Someone deliberately did it loud enough for the “guest” to hear.
Zayne sighed and turned in direction of the sound.
“You called for a doctor. If you are going to get in my way, I might as well go home.”
At this time of day, he had no patience for these people.
Zayne didn’t see anything, but he felt some movement nearby.
“The door is not locked. They are waiting for you.”
Zayne couldn’t help but scoff as the goon stepped back. Now that he was moving, he was making enough noise to make sure the “guest” knew he walked away. Zayne couldn’t understand the theatrics of this person, but he also didn’t have time to ponder. There is a patient in need of his attention and that’s what matters. Doctor pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The hideout was as small as it looked on the outside. It was basically a single room, separated into kitchen and living room parts with a small table. A thick layer of dust covered everything, revealing that nobody used this place for a while.
“Zayne!”
Michelle darted from the corner where she sat to greet him. There, under the far wall, was a sofa and a few chairs around coffee table — a makeshift lounge area. It wasn’t a long shot for Zayne to assume that all soft furniture could be unfolded and turned into beds for whoever needed to crash at this place. There also laid Sylus.
The man was scrolling on his phone, trying to appear nonchalant. Despite his attitude, his look gave away everything Zayne needed to know: dim lights illuminated him, with his sickly pale skin; his breathing was shallow and seemed labored, despite relaxed position; his skin glistened with sweat. Zayne was sure it was cold and sticky. Sylus displayed all symptoms of bloodloss. His shirt was torn in a few places, but nothing unrepairable; more concerning was the fact that it was unbuttoned, falling around him, leaving his abdomen open. Zayne saw a few small bruises, but the Ian course was lower. On his left side was patch of trauma dressing. Sylus was holding a bottle of water to it, dutifully applying pressure to the wound, but Zayne was sure it had bloody patch in the middle. From the looks of it, the shot went directly into his left lumbar region. Unless it was at some unfortunate angle or Sylus had an unlucky anatomy, the worst that could happen here internally is damage to the left kidney.
Good thing humans can survive without one.
Zayne looked Michelle up and down, quickly examining her state. She had a few bandages on but looked generally well and lively. At least her state was not much worse than when she fought wanderers for her job. Only when Zayne made sure that his girlfriend was fine did he turn to the actual “patient”. Doctor walked over to the coffee table and put his bag on it. Once he was close enough, Sylus locked his eyes on the doctor but curiously stayed silent. This close, Zayne could see slight shaking of his hands. Another symptom to his list of observations. Fortunately, all within expectations.
A first aid kit was already open and scattered on the table. Zayne saw open packages of haemostatic agent, and trauma dressing, alongside surgical spirit and a handful of bloodied cotton balls and bandages. Just from that he could deduct what was already done and what was left to do. Zayne pulled out a few sealed packages and started preparing.
“What did you do? I see you’ve stabilized the wound.” Despite his assumptions, Zayne had to know the details before operating.
“I found haemostatic dressing and a patch big enough to cover the spot.” Michelle quickly jumped in to explain, “and then applied pressure, until bleeding stopped.”
“How deep is it?”
“Enough to fit some dressing, before I couldn’t push further.”
Zayne nodded. It all made sense for first aid in this situation. “Probably reached the bullet.”
“Definitely reached the bullet,” Sylus added, effectively hissing at them. Immediately he was short of breath, so he couldn’t argue further.
“Good, you’re not delirious from bloodloss yet.” Zayne was trying to stay professional, but he couldn’t hold back stingy comment. “Remember to thank Michelle later for saving your head. Maybe, you’ll be lucky enough to keep a few things in there once you’re recovered.”
Sylus gritted his teeth, managing a weak chuckle. “You’re enjoying this too much, dear doctor.”
Zayne flicked a glance at him. “Enjoying? No. But I do find it fascinating that a man who gets shot this often still hasn’t learned how to duck.”
Sylus exhaled through his nose, voice tight. “Ducking is for cowards.”
Michelle crossed her arms. “And getting patched up every other week is for geniuses, I suppose?”
Zayne scoffed and adjusted his glasses. “Let him have this, Michelle. His dignity is already bleeding out.”
Sylus opened his mouth for a comeback, but another sharp breath cut him short. Instead, he settled for an unimpressed glare, though the effect was somewhat diminished by the way his body tensed against the pain.
Zayne sighed and turned to his preparations. Sylus did not display any symptoms that’d warrant rushing to help — at least not without proper safety measures first. He wasn’t actively dying, there was no reason to risk infecting him. Zayne had everything prepared, separated into sets, sealed, and ready for use.
First point in order was to prepare the area. Zayne pushed all the dirty bandages and cotton balls off the table. Without many options, he sprayed surface with surgical spirit, as well as surfaces of his bag and the first aid kit. Doctor wanted his equipment to have the least chances of coming in contact with any contaminants once he unsealed it.
While his hands were busy, Zayne decided to get more useful information. “What is your weight?”
Sylus scoffed and put his phone away. “You’re not putting me under anything.”
Zayne frowned, trying to keep professional approach. He had a feeling that Sylus was going to be one of those patients who think they know better. Zayne thought for a second. Maybe, if Sylus has already guessed that doctor planned to sedate him and refused, he was up to feel the consequences of this decision. Still, Zayne gave him a chance to reconsider. “I still need to give you some pain management.”
“I gave him painkillers,” Michelle interrupted.
“I have a few things stronger than Ibuprofen and Paramol with me,” Zayne glanced at the open boxes near first aid kit and pulled out an unlabelled bottle from his bag. With proper dosage, this pills mixed with the ones Michelle used must be enough to make a tiger docile — more than enough to calm down even someone as feisty as Sylus. “The less he can feel, the less he will be moving while I work.”
“Oh, well-”
“Forget it,” Sylus interrupted her and gestured for them to stop. “I can handle some pain. Just get the bullet out of me.”
“Alright,” doctor nodded. If Sylus insisted on skipping some steps, who was Zayne to refuse? It only made his job easier, and he wasn’t restricted by the proper protocol today. He turned to his bag and pulled out another sealed pack. He opened it and brought its content up to Sylus’s mouth. “Bite.”
“What I am some sort of trick dog to you?” Sylus frowned and grabbed the thing from Zayne.
“You sure act like one sometimes.” Doctor has already turned back to his preparations. He carefully put his hair back and tied a headscarf around it — however short it was, it was better kept away for now.
At a closer inspection, the thing Sylus took turned out to be a mouth guard. It looked to have thicker base, probably making it more suitable for strong bites.
“Why would you give me this?”
Zayne was tying disposable mask atop headscarf. “Won’t want you to break your teeth while I’m fixing the bullet wound.” He didn’t even look up at is patient as he replied. Zayne unsealed another piece of ppe and put it on. Disposable coat. It looked more like an apron with sleeves, but it did its job well.
Reluctantly, Sylus nodded and put the mouth guard in. The thing was annoying, but less annoying than growing new teeth.
“Good boy,” Zayne nodded. “Keep being so obedient, and we will be done in no time.”
Instead of answering, Sylus looked away. Zayne was only happy to have some silence.
Before putting on the last piece of ppe, Zayne turned to Michelle and gave her spray bottle with surgical spirit. “Spray my hands once I put the gloves on.”
“Dear doctor is being so diligent,” Sylus chuckled. His voice was distorted by mouthguard, but nothing hid his confidence.
“There are high chances of infecting the wound, if I don’t do all that,” Zayne explained, as he put on the gloves. He was eerily calm for the situation — years of experience have kicked in, freezing his emotions. “There are no reasons to rush, so I don’t want to make the aftercare harder.”
Zayne let Michelle spray his gloved hands — a crude way to make environment sterile, but they didn’t have a better one. Finally, doctor moved his attention to the wound. He moved away Sylus’s hand. As expected, trauma dressing had small red patch where it covered the wound. Zayne patted it and area around lightly, examining the severity of the situation. Increased temperature, noticeable pulsation and small inflammation — all were quickly discovered by experienced surgeon, all expected.
Ice evol had certain advantages for a surgeon. Zayne applied a little force — just enough to slow down blood flow in small area and reduce inflammation. Only then he removed the dressing. Doctor was unmoved by the sight of blood and the open wound, continuing with his job. He unsealed a pair of pliers and started removing the remaining dressing and stuffing. With the blood flow in the area slowed down, Zayne didn’t have to worry about it getting in the way. Not in any significant way, as long as he worked fast enough. Sylus groaned. Zayne knew that the feeing wasn’t pleasant, but the patient refused sedation of his own volition, so doctor didn’t have a lot of sympathy for him. He was actually impressed with how good Sylus was holding up — while any other person would’ve already been flinching, this man only made some noise and was slightly shaking. Zayne still felt that his refusal of medicine was needless bravado, but as long as it wasn’t getting in the way of operation, it was all Sylus’s own problem.
Once all materials were removed, doctor finally properly examined the wound. The hole was too small to use his available cleaning tools and too deep to use cotton balls safely and effectively. At least it didn’t curve. Zayne had a decision to make. He sighed and redirected his evol. It’ll have to be a quick job. Zayne caught the bullet with his pillars and tried wiggling it around. Luckily, it moved with little resistance.
“It will sting,” Zayne warned. Sylus rolled his eyes and nodded.
As Zayne pulled the bullet out, he also applied his evol to freeze thin layer of flesh behind the trail. It was unfortunate that he had to damage healthy tissues, but it was the best way he could figure out to catch the contaminants in the wound fully. Water, bonded within living cells, expanded, trapping what little was left of the metal. Sylus silently hissed but didn’t complain. The moment bullet was out of the wound, Zayne closed off the remaining space with ice. Now, the main concern of evol-blocking metal was removed, but there was a risk of frostbite.
Zayne looked up at his patient. Sylus was carefully observing his actions. His jaw was clenched tightly, and his brows were furrowed. For a second, doctor wondered if he was regretting refusing pain medications.
“Now I’m going to pull out the ice. The wound will be clean but open.”
Sylus nodded. “I can heal that.” He sounded confident, but his voice was shaky.
“Good.”
With reassurance from the patient, Zayne engaged his evol again. He pulled on the mix of ice and flesh, forcing it to cut the remaining bonds and leave Sylus’s body in one smooth motion. Man groaned, but black-and-red mist was already sipping from the wound instead of blood. With quiet sizzling, Sylus’s evol was healing him. Zayne sighed in relief. Doctor couldn’t see any significant amount of blood leaking out or in. This was another good sign. Zayne took off his dirty glove and put his hand on Sylus’s neck. To doctor’s surprise, he easily found the pulse. It wasn’t the strongest, but obvious to experienced seeker. Zayne looked at a simple clock on the wall and counted Sylus’s heartbeat over 30 seconds. By the time he was done, his patient had a sly grin on his face.
“So?” Sylus tilted his head, inquisitively. “What’s the verdict? Will I live, dear doctor?”
Zayne sighed and looked down, at the spot where the wound had been mere seconds ago. Now only a faint white spot was left there. Despite his better judgement, Zayne moved his bare hand away from patient’s neck and down to the recent woundsite. He pressed down on the fresh skin. Zayne was close enough to hear silenced gasp that Sylus let out.
“I will have to investigate further to say definitively.” Zayne narrowed his eyes, while keeping his hand on Sylus’s abdomen. “You might be bleeding internally.”
“Oh, drop it.” Sylus groaned and pushed doctor’s hand away. He frowned. “I can tell you now that everything that there was to heal was healed.”
Zayne didn’t argue. “Remember, the treatment I can give you is fully based on whatever you report.”
He turned to the table, gathering his tools and sealing them. Everything will have to be cleaned later. Zayne considered if he should call in a favor from one of the nurses to take care of it or if throwing them alongside all of his tools from tomorrow’s official surgery was a simpler way.
Finally, doctor turned to worried Michelle. “Is this all?”
She jumped up, excited. “Ah, you’re already done?” Michelle’s relief was almost palpable, a smile spreading across her face. “Zayne, you’re a savior!”
“Mhm. You two in the hospital, tomorrow at…” Zayne paused trying to remember his schedule for tomorrow. It was packed. He’ll have to cut some time for them during his lunch. “At noon. I’ll run some tests on you.”
Sylus chuckled. “What are we now, some lab rats for you? Is this how you take payments, doctor?”
“Not at all. You’re both stable, but I must confirm that you are healthy after your... misadventures.” Zayne adjusted his glasses, his expression calm yet firm. “I don’t carry equipment for most tests on me.”
Zayne didn’t grace the comment about payments with any attention. Instead, once he had all the tools sealed and separated for storage or cleaning, doctor started taking off personal protection equipment. The gloves and apron had some blood on them, and mask and headscarf were contaminated, but they were single-use to begin with. Now these had to be disposed of as the hazardous waste it was, as well as all the dirty bandages, cotton balls and dressing.
While Zayne was busy, Sylus got up and started stretching. Michelle, who was trying not to get in the way of surgeon’s work, immediately rushed to check on him.
Sylus chuckled, enjoying the attention. “Kitten, you never mentioned you have such useful friends.”
“Oh,” Michelle’s cheeks burned as she glanced between them, suddenly unsure how to phrase it. “Zayne is not just my friend…”
“Mhm, so that’s how you decided to introduce your suitors to each other?”
“Sylus, it’s not-“
“Then what is this, kitten?”
“I won’t have to wake Zayne up, if you didn’t refuse to go to the hospital!”
“I wasn’t asleep when you called me.”
With everything gathered and packed back into his bag or prepared for disposal, Zayne stood up and actually listened in on their conversation. He was ready to leave at any moment, but their bickering was amusing.
Michelle turned to the doctor. “Still, you had a long shift, didn’t you?” She recalled their earlier discussion of his availability. Zayne nodded; her memory was right. Hunter smiled guiltily. “I am sorry, I won’t have called you at such time, if the situation wasn’t so bad.”
“Don’t worry, I understand. When patients are being stubborn, it is best to do what’s necessary to get them the help they need.”
“How selfless of you, dear doctor,” Sylus shook his head, his attitude turning more serious. “But I believe in fair compensation of fair work. Call your price.”
Zayne looked away. “Consider it a favour.”
“Your generosity is needless here.”
“It is not a question of generosity,” Zayne shook his head. “Performing surgery in off time without being a registered emergency responder and going through appropriate ways of contact is mutilation, punishable by law. Accepting payment for this makes it even more illegal. Or any gifts of equal value. It might even add some charges from tax office.”
“So many trouble for single helpful act.”
“Still, I’d rather waste my time and resources here for nothing but kindness of my heart, than go through the trouble of dealing with legalities of it. Even the briefest suspicion of me practicing «off the book» can have my license questioned.”
“Well, if it is such a pain for you, then I’d agree to consider it a favour.” Sylus chuckled. “The favours from me are never given lightly, nor are they forgotten.”
“I’ll be sure to call it in at the most appropriate time.”
“Zayne…”
“What is it, Michelle?”
“Sylus is trying to be nice.” She pouted, trying her best to look serious.
“Maybe I’d appreciate it more, if I didn’t have to worry about his survivability.”
“Dear doctor is more worried than this patient of yours,” Sylus smirked, stretching lazily as if to prove his point.
“You’d be surprised how often it happens in any medicinal practice. Some call it professional deformation.”
“What a curious effect one’s path may have on their attitude.”
“You are also not void of the influence of your previous choices on your current decisions.”
“Alright, you two, there is no need to argue now,” Michelle stepped between them, her voice firm. “Especially now.”
Michelle stood up on tip-toes and tugged on Zayne’s collar to get him to lean down to the comfortable height. She pressed quick kiss on a corner of his lips.
“Thank you, Zayne,” she smiled at him, her expression the most sincere.
Before Zayne could react, he felt big hand on the back of his head. Doctor could assume Sylus wasn’t the most pleased to see his girlfriend kissing another man, and, apparently, he didn’t have any patience for it. Michelle released Zayne’s collar as the other man pulled him back up. Zayne only noticed his smirk, before Sylus brushed his lips by his cheek — the touch was too short to be called a kiss, but definitely not an innocent action — and leaned to his ear. “Thank you, dear doctor.”
Zayne was stunned, now by both of these people, and just stood there. It took him a moment to collect himself and step back. These two fit together perfectly, with matching level of shamelessness. Zayne looked away, unaware that the tips of his ears were red, giving away his embarrassment. “I’ll see you two at Asko hospital tomorrow at noon. Don’t be late.”
“See you tomorrow,” Sylus nodded. He looked quite satisfied with the results of this night.