Shadows And Bandages

With great caution, I slowly approached the bushes. My flashlight was fixed on the bushes and, a tight grip on my dagger.

"Oh my goodness!", it was not only a hand but an entire person was lying there and his body gravely injured.

After putting my dagger back, I checked his breath to see if he was alive or not. I felt a slight warmth of his breath on my fingers and a sigh of relief escaped me, "Oh man! You are lucky enough to be still alive after this many injuries."

Even though he is alive if his wounds are not treated immediately he may die. I don't even know his identity, "What should I do? Should I leave you here to die or save your life?"

I turned around to leave and a sense of guilt crossed me, "Come on, you are Maya, not Matilda."

I turned back towards him and started examining his wounds, "Man, you are indeed lucky. I am in a good mood and, can't let you die. If I were on some mission I might not help you."

After doing some fast first aid to avoid more blood loss then, I carried him on my back or should I say, dragged him because he was quite tall and heavy. Even though I meant to carry him, only half of his body was supported by my back, and the rest was dragged behind.

I found a nearby cave and took him there. After carefully laying him down, I soon started treating his wounds, "There are too many injuries I am getting confused, where should I start?"

There is no problem with his lungs or air passageway. I checked his breath again and, this time it was a bit better than the time I found him. His breath was weak due to blood loss and, lucky enough I stopped the blood loss in time.

I took out scissors from the backpack and, cut his shirt slowly so, I could treat his wounds more properly. Once I was done with removing his shirt, I continued the treatment.

Next, his heart was safe as well, then his head had some minor scratches but, there were no serious injuries. Then his arms and, legs were the ones that needed the most attention.

His left arm was severely injured and has bled a lot though the bleeding has been stopped. I took out my surgical gloves from the backpack and, wore them. When I started observing the injuries I noticed something big, "Oh dear, his elbow joints are fractured and, I didn't notice it earlier because of too many bruises and cuts."

The left arm above the elbow joint was teared up by some sharp pieces of glass and tree branches. The rest of the arm was pierced by some small pieces of sharp metal, glass, and, branches.

With care, I checked for more fractures in his arm and found another fracture in his middle finger. Both his finger and, elbow were swollen. I positioned the arm in such a way so the fracture wouldn't get worse and, slowly started removing the material that had pierced the arm with care so as not to cause further and, after cleaning the wounds, the large ones were stitched up.

Then the next hand did not have any kind of fractures visibly but some huge cuts were all around. After dealing with it I dealt with some other injuries over his chest and abdomen.

His left leg has some fractures as well. It seems the left side of his body hit badly compared to the other sides. I lifted the pants carefully to expose the knee and the injuries around. But it was getting stuck, I had to cut a little of it to make it lift without causing more complications.

The left leg was dealt with and, then the right leg as well. The right leg, similar to the right arm didn't have fractures but, there was a slightly big branch that had penetrated the leg beneath the knee. Though it was at enough distance from the knee to not cause any fracture. It got me sweating because it should be dealt with very carefully, once the branch is pulled out a lot of blood is gonna flow out. I have to act swiftly. I kept the bandages very close to me. I slowly started pulling out the branch and alongside I started putting the bandages around. The moment the entire thing was out I swiftly took as many bandages as my hand could hold and applied enough force to stop the bleeding. Once the bleeding was controlled I dealt with the wound.

Though the fractures don't look good they will be fine after some casts are done it will be fine. There won't be a need for surgery.

After applying the final bandage to a wound on his forehead I took off the surgical gloves and took a deep breath, "Finally, the last wound is done as well. I have lost the count of stitches I did on his body. Almost all the bandages are used up but finally, I have successfully saved this man."

His shirt was torn into pieces mostly due to the sharp objects and secondly, because of me as I needed to remove it to treat the wounds. I searched my bag and, found the shawl I always keep with myself in case I need it. I took out the shawl and, wrapped it around him as it was getting colder at night. His body also needed to be covered so, the wounds would not be contaminated by dust or dirt. Even though I had spread a sheet beneath him.

Earlier, when I entered the cave I brought some branches and, leaves from around and started a fire to avoid the cold. The fire and, my flashlight helped me to see clearly while treating the wounds.

The fire will go out in a while so I went to bring some more branches and, leaves. After collecting them I used them to increase the fire.

"Growl!"

Hearing the growls, I rubbed my stomach slowly, "Buddy, calm down a patient is lying nearby. We can't disturb him."

I wish I had brought some fruits with me. Now I have to wait till morning. My gaze fell upon the man covered in bandages lying beside me, "Who are you? How can you be this much injured?"

A sigh escaped me, "The way the gunshot sounds and then the blast happens, it seems that you also belong to some gang or organization."

After a brief moment of silence, a question came out of my mouth, "Were you also forced to be in this field or was it your choice?"

While thinking about his whereabouts and, looking at him my eyes closed. I fell into a deep sleep.

Slowly opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was the unknown man lying beside me, "Good morning, unknown fellow."

After yawning and stretching, I moved closer to him and checked his condition, "Both the breath and heartbeat are more stable compared to yesterday."

I gazed at my bag which was now empty except for some tools. The bag which was full of bandages and, cotton is empty now. All of it was used on him. A few rolls of bandages and cotton were left which I used to support his head and fractures.

Some rustling sounds of leaves were audible and, I saw a few leaves falling even though there was no wind, "Either it is some animal or maybe some human."

Slowly I looked outside and noticed some men hiding in the trees. Either they are his enemy or his fellows. They have surrounded the cave.

I went back in and saw the man moving a little bit, "Don't move! It will worsen your fractures."

I moved to his side swiftly and held his arm so that he wouldn't move it further.

"Ah!"