The Self-Proclaimed Medical Expert (Part 2)

Anthony Evans

Just as panic assailed me at the thought of being stranded with only a self-proclaimed ringleader for this circus, I heard someone calling for help. I tried to pinpoint the location but I couldn't seem to focus completely yet. Something about retching everything but your stomach lining tended to make your mind a little fuzzy. It took a few moments but I managed to point myself in a presumably correct direction. My feet felt heavy and everything was still moving in slow motion, as if my brain was not the only thing in a fog. As the resident medical expert, I should have guessed what was happening sooner but I couldn't think clearly enough to get my own symptoms in check, much less anyone else's.

"He's not breathing!" It was Maria's panicked voice on the edge of tears. I finally rounded a group of shrubs like the one I had soiled and found the girl on the ground, half kneeling and half sitting, next to the silent giant. He was completely rigid, lying on his back, and pale as a man that dark could get. As Maria said, he wasn't breathing and looked as if he had no reason or ability to start back up again. I couldn't exactly just tell the poor girl that, of course, so I bent down to see if I could give her something to help her cope. I could at least take a look, right?

I could have jumped straight to CPR but that was a dangerous road. I needed to know what I was dealing with first. Besides, I couldn't just throw caution to the wind and risk my life to save this guy. What if it was an airborne contagion or could be passed by bodily fluids? Lucky for all of us, there was an odor that I noticed almost as soon as I got close to the ground. It was a familiar smell, one that gave me everything I needed.

"Roll him over on his side," I said. The others all helped me push him over while Maria just watched, looking anxious and pathetic in her frazzled state. I almost wished it had been her that had succumbed to the present issue but I couldn't dwell on that for long. With the flat of my hand, I gave the giant's back a heavy smack as hard as I could muster from the angle. It was crude but it worked. The giant coughed and gasped, his eyes snapping open wide. He was alive but we weren't going to be for long. "We need to move out. Now."

"We can't just pack up and leave right now." There was Nathan, trying to pretend he actually knew what he was doing. In four years, you would think he would actually take the advice of an expert for once. "Darian is in no condition to travel and it's barely light enough to see the camp, much less gather all the supplies without leaving something important."

"No, he's right." We all turned our attention to the giant as he spoke up, shock rather evident on all our faces. It slowly began to dawn on me that I'd been thinking of him as the 'silent giant' for so long that I'd completely forgotten he had a name. Perhaps I would need to make a note of it since the man was agreeing with me. "We should get going sooner than later. I'll manage."

"Right. Let's go." I wasn't going to wait for further confirmation of what I already knew. Explanations could wait until we were all safely away from danger, not that anyone had ever listened to my explanations in the first place. Of course, I glanced over my shoulder to find them all hovering over...Darian. Yes, Darian was his name. Well, they had enough hands to help and I had more supplies than the rest of them anyway. I didn't have the time to dawdle like the rest of them.

I had gathered most of my things by the time the rest got Darian back to camp. He still looked quite pale and it was obvious that breathing was difficult but he was standing on his own. It was moderately impressive. Considering his reaction a few minutes ago, he probably needed to be on a stretcher and resting for at least a day. Recovery from gas inhalation wasn't a quick fix in the best situations. Of course, we didn't have time for that. If I had my own way, we'd just leave him behind to catch up as he could rather than continue to put us all in danger for the sake of staying together. But I would never be able to make that suggestion work in this group of bleeding hearts. Harsh as the world was, they all still seemed to maintain some odd sense of moral piety. I get it but there comes a time when you really have to give up the act and be realistic.

It took roughly thirty minutes to break camp and collect all our supplies. By that time, we were all starting to feel the effects. Shortness of breath, chest pain, disorientation, and nausea were getting stronger by the minute for all of us and it showed in the sluggish movements all around me. We needed to get as far away from this area as we could, the faster the better.

"Come on, Tony," Carley called from the other side of camp. Somehow, I was the last one standing there and the confusion was evident. I think I stared at her a touch too long in that moment because she started to walk back toward me. It was strange but I almost thought she looked pretty with her brows knit together like that. "You were the one that was in such a hurry to get out of here. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." It was an automatic response. Strange. I've never been the sort to give an automatic response, not even when I was younger. I've always been a thinker, someone who considers every word carefully before spitting them out at unsuspecting bystanders. It must have been the gas doing more damage than I really realized. Still, I shook it off and plowed ahead. There was no sense in letting my mind wander now. I pushed my feet to move faster, passing Carley and closing the gap between myself and the others that were further ahead. There was a strange tingling at the base of my neck and it was aggravating my senses terribly.

"Don't drink any water until we're a safer distance away." It was Darian again. I'd never heard him talk so much in a single day but I also couldn't disagree with him. I had to wonder why he was so knowledgeable about something so obscure. As far as I knew, he didn't have a medical background and I was decently sure a man like that wasn't a soldier. My overly lacking curiosity about the man was suddenly piqued, though I would certainly never admit such a thing aloud.

"But I'm so thirsty," Maria whined loudly in response.

"Well, you can't drink anything right now," I snapped back suddenly. "It's not safe."

"Why not? What are we moving off all of the sudden for? What do you know?" Did I mention that I hate kids? It was like a never-ending verbal vomiting of questions spewing out of her mouth with no regard for the difference in age or intellect. She was really getting on my nerves. Worse yet, I was starting to feel like I was showing it. Thankfully, Carley caught up with us and redirected the girl.

"I'm sure we'll get an explanation sooner or later. Right now, we just need to focus on getting away from that place." I suppose I could have given the same response to the girl but the exceptional agitation I was feeling had me at a bit of a loss. I had managed to keep myself in check all this time and it bothered me that a single incident could rattle the cage so to speak. I was always irritated at one of them for some reason or another, I just always managed to grit my teeth and bear it. There was only so much you could do about people being a waste of space and brain matter.