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Grace looked down at his arm. He really should not have done that.
He couldn’t really see anything, his eyes were on fire and he was freely crying. He knew it was his body’s response to the ammonia he had just exposed himself to, but it was still annoying as all heck.
His arm was completely covered in burns. They ran from the back of his hand, covering the outside of his forearm entirely, up his bicep to his shoulder with a little up his neck too. He could see the skin still sizzling from the ammonia that had got under his skin and the sheer temperature of it. The smell crept up his nose and made vomit crawl up the back of his throat. He tried to breathe through his mouth instead but with the tears flooding his cheeks, he ended up with salty tears in his mouth instead. It was better than the smell of his own burning flesh he guessed.
His eyes were burning again, and his first instinct was to wipe them with his hands. His hands were also probably covered with ammonia.
Thankfully he managed to stop himself before he completely blinded himself. His legs gave out from under him. He slid down the door of the dormitory. His body still ached from the g-forces that had been exerted on it just a few minutes prior.
His eyes were still welling up and leaking all down his face uncontrollably. He really did not want to, but he had to leave Rocky to get help from Armando or neither of them would make it.
Grace pushed himself off the door of the dormitory in the general direction of Armando. He awkwardly tried to stand up. The burn on his arm made contact for a brief moment against the cool metal of the ship. It somehow both felt nice and worsened the pain Grace was feeling. He could feel his skin fuse to the metal as it made contact.
He pulled his arm away from the metal. Another stupid mistake that he should have known better than to make.
A large chunk of his skin was ripped from his arm as he pulled away. Blood poured from his arm where the melted skin once was. He screamed at the pain. His knees wobbled under him, but he managed to stay standing just about.
He could feel his pulse under his skin as it burned. The hot blood running down his arm didn’t help the pain either. He steadied himself for a moment before continuing to Armando.
He wobbled his way down the halls of the ship, keeping his burnt arm to his chest this time to try to prevent more skin from being torn off. His stomach jumped with every step he took. He continued to breathe through his mouth only, if he caught more than the smallest whiff of his burning flesh again, he would lose his stomach contents.
He could see the robot just up ahead as it frantically waved around at him. Grace thought about how stupid of an idea it was to have the medical bot confined to one singular room only. Then again, he thought, there were meant to be three crew members who could all help each other out. Yet again, Grace was alone in his pain.
He had been for his whole life really. Ever since his parents-
Grace shook the thought from his head. He had to focus. Armando was just a couple of feet from him now.
“Third degree chemical burn detected.”
The sound of the Hail Mary’s computer voice made Grace jump, not literally thankfully but enough to make him lose his footing.
Luckily, Grace was close enough that Armando was able to reach out to him and pull him toward the medical bed. Grace knew that the robot didn’t understand that he was in pain all over right now, but it did not stop him from cursing as the robot put pressure on the skin around his burns. He knew how bad burns are and how bad they could become. Especially chemical burns.
Armando laid Grace onto his back as the arm with the camera zipped around him, taking in his injuries.
“Doctor Grace, Ryland. Third degree chemical burn to the left hand, forearm, upper arm, shoulder, and neck. Bruised ribs. Facial lacerations. Stitches needed. Treatment: skin graft across left arm from thighs.”
Grace groaned. He knew it was probably going to happen, but he had really hoped it would’t be necessary.
He watched as Armando’s arms whirred around him. It made him more dizzy. He groaned in response to the sickening imagery whizzing above him. In response to his pain, the computer stabbed him with a needle in his neck.
The whizzing and whirring slowly became almost like a calming light and sound scape for Grace to fall asleep too. He forgot about the pain across his arm, shoulder and neck. He didn’t really notice when he was flipped from his back to his side. Or as he slowly lost clothing before he completely passed out from the drugs in his system.
~~~
By the time Grace became conscious again, he was still as high as a kite on painkillers. Everything was sort of off. His entire being was numb, he was moving his body, he knew he was. He just could not feel any of it at all.
His thoughts drifted to Rocky. He awkwardly shuffled his way to the dormitory. At least now with his arm bandaged, he could use the wall for support without worrying about taking chunks of his skin off.
He assumed given he couldn’t hear anything that Rocky hadn’t woken up yet. He really hoped he had done the right thing by shutting him in there. Mary had yet to kicked up a fuss yet about the ammonia and extra pressure in there. He just hoped she would hold together until Rocky would wake up and figure something better out.