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Blood in the Waterway (Ze)

"Ze?! Ze!!"

A sharp ringing sounded in my ear as I tried to move my head. The pain. Dear god the pain.

"Ze?" the voice called out again.

I wanted to move. I tried. I immediately felt nauseous. I couldn't do it. Not yet. I needed to rest for a few seconds. Regain my bearings. Valck! The ringing.

"Ze. It's me, Evelyn. You have to get up. Your vitals are low. You're low on blood."

"Valck," I thought.

I tried to open my eyes; however, my eyelids were too heavy. I couldn't move them. They were basically glued shut.

"Hold on. Administering backup Adrenaline Pack One," said Evelyn.

Instantly, a small amount of energy flowed through me. My eyes open slowly. I was still in the water. I had landed in some sort of slow river. A slow river that was now filled with large amounts of my blood. I was bleeding out. I was bleeding out a lot.

"Sheesta," I cried.

I tried to sit up. That wasn't happening. I looked around trying to feel for my bow. That was gone somewhere. I feel my body for any foreign objects lodged into person. Nothing was lodged in me. Something was definitely sticking out though. My femur in my left leg was broken and now protruding out of my leg. Blood, flesh, and bone. That's what I felt. Thats what I saw. Thats what I didn't want to see.

I let out a whimper of pain as the adrenaline began to lose its potency.

"Ze, your first aid," said Evelyn.

"Yeah, hold on," I responded back.

Reaching for my stimpak, I groan silently as an agonizing pain in my chest burned a crimson pain. Broken ribs. How many? I don't know. Probably four. It's hard to tell. I was able to grab the satchel with what I need. I open it and my heart dropped. The stimpaks had been crushed. I watched as a slow rise depression flowed into my chest as I watched the liquid from the syringes from into the bottom of pouch. I felt for my ration pouch. That was gone as well probably from the fall. That could be God knows where out there.

The pain was getting unbearable again. I let out deep sigh.

"Breath in. Breath out," I thought.

I looked at my injured leg. Valck. It was bad. I needed blood. Real blood. Not a substitute. Not something from a creature that long since been passed away. Not old. I need real, hot bleeding blood. I needed a lot of it. Or else I was going to die.

"But where?" I asked.

As far as I've seen since I've been here. I haven't seen one animal. Not a singular one. I mean I think I heard one while I was traveling with the others. However, I don't really know for sure. Besides, I have no idea of where I am. I sniffed the air for the smell of smoke. It was there. Yet, it had dissipated. It must have been put out or I'm farther away than I think.

I perform another deep sigh and I look at my leg injured. The bone had been snapped dirty. If I do get out of here, there is a chance that it won't heal right. Especially, if I don't get the correct healing that I needed. My stomach growled.

"Yeah, I know," I thought.

My body craved blood. The thing is I haven't had actual blood in years. My body risked relapsing. Unlike other vampires in this line of business, I don't actually like ingesting blood while on the job. Puts my mind at risk of fucking up the mission. Plus, usually blood is radiated now a days. A lot of mutants roam the cosmos. A product of humans' portal hopping to planets and crossbreeding with other humans that lived on different planets with different environments. Some not so different. So drastically different. Most of the residents of Luna are, in fact, mutants. Spradlin being a prime example. Though where he comes from is beyond me. Why he shows so much interest in me is also a mystery.

There is also the problem that some blood is used for drug use. Blood has always given vampires a sort of high depending on how pure it is and what gender you're getting it from. However, since a lot of blood is mutated, they started to experiment with it. Like weed, these blezengas* will just come up with new strains damn near every week. Some of it out here actually killing people. I've had to ship some of it on some of my older missions. I watched as one of my employers consume a bag of it. Died instantly.... I made sure they gave me my money before they did anything else.

However, I don't have much of a chose in the situation. My vision was blurring again, and I needed something fast. I sit up slowly and put my hands upon my injured thigh.

"Numbing Agent?" Evelyn asked.

" No," I responded, "I need to feel the pain. Have Adrenaline Pack Two and Three ready for when I place it back and start looking for life in nearby surroundings. "

"Say no more. Scanning now. Pack two and three set. Ready when you are."

I straighten my leg. This is not going to be set correctly. I don't know how many smaller broken bones that are in between the break. However, all I need is for it to be within the skin so I can heal it somewhat properly. I press my thumbs upon the bone. I wince at the pain as blood squirts out like puss the more I press down. I needed something to wrap this and stop the bleeding when I'm done. I take one of my long sleeves and rip it off. Ripping it flat, I place it around my neck. Then, I place my thumbs back around my protruding femur bone. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out.... pop.

Tears of blood stream down my cold cheeks as the pain left my mind nearly numb and my teeth tingling. An immediate beat of adrenaline surged through me as my mind began to black out. I instantly threw up in the blood-filled waters surrounding me. Not good. I'm losing too many fluids.

"Heads up," Evelyn announced, "We got nearby wildlife. One click out from here. Bad news. We got incoming hostiles four clicks out heading directly in your direction coming up the river. They probably caught traces of your blood in the water. You need to move, Ze."

Valck.

I take the cloth from around my neck and torniquet the limb. I wince hard in pain as the pressure temporarily caused more blood to spew out.

"Projected estimated time of arrival?" I asked.

"Five minutes," she said.

I took in a deep breath and forced myself to stand up. Using my good leg, I balance my weight upon it and elevate pressure off the other.

"Are you ok?" Evelyn asked.

"Yes," I responded, "I've been through worse. Now, point me in the direction of food."