“That’s a lot of blood.” Kieran winced as she woke up to the sight of the large pool of blood surrounding her.She lay on her back, her eyes tracing the streams of blood that pulsed out from where her most of her left leg should have been. Despite the shock and pain, her experiences in the One Week War gave her an uncommon sense of calm in the face of critical moments. She quickly assessed the situation, her head throbbing in time with the beat of her racing heart. The last thing she remembered was being ejected from the airship as it crashed into the ground.
There was a pressure and bulge beneath her hips. She reached down and was relived to find her medical kit, which felt intact. She sat up and calmly and quickly retrieved a tourniquet and bandages from one of its many pouches. During the One Week War she had treated many traumatic injuries, but never on herself. Instinctively, she reached for pain medication, as she would have provided for others. Due to her genetic spinal condition, Kieran had limited mobility in her legs and was thankful for the lack of feeling today. She applied the tourniquet and began bandgaing her stump as soon as the blood slowed. She smeared a think layer of Eve’s Concentrated Grounding Nectar of Vibrant Health on the bandage and then applied a second bandage over it.
She had learned about Nectar during the war. A medic from the tiny sea side town of Haven’s End swore by it’s restorative and healing properties. Kieran’s medical training had been mostly science-based, but she was fascinated by natural and herbal remedies, recognizing truth in traditions. Eve’s Concentrated Grounding Nectar of Vibrant Health, or Nectar, as most referred to it, had proved to be nothing short of miraculous.
Even though her legs were numb, she could feel the Nectar entering her blood stream, and her hip began to tingle. Kieran checked her bandage, tightened the tourniquet a bit more, and reached into her bag again. This time, she retrieved a shiny flask and took a long pull, breathing deeply.This would definitely be the last time she flew, she tought, as she turned her gaze to the crash site and looked for any signs of survivors.
The large impact crater was only a few meters away and was strewn with debris, several trenches had been cut into the ground by various parts tearing from the ship. The whole crash scene resembled a spider. Kieran hated spiders. The deepest of these trenches terminated in a plume of bluish-black smoke about 200 meters in the distance. Kieran looked around in vein for any signs of her wheelchair or cane, but there was nothing but unidentifiable pieces of the ship and the the puddle of her blood slowly merging with the dirt, turning a reddish brown. She was going to have to crawl. Taking another pull from her flash, she set off toward the smoke.
Even for Kieran, who was used to relying on her upper body, the journey was strenuous. Her mind slipped back to the War, the smells had stayed with her the most, even more than the screams. Most of the ships in the War used some sort of Spectrocite-based system to stay in the air, and Spectrocite has a distinct smell, especially when mixed with blood and fire. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, but that only reminded her that her missing leg was not the only injury this most rececent crash had left her with. The smell of burnt metal and Spectrocite lingered heavily in the air, reminding her of the horrors she faced during the conflict. The smoky plumes from the crash site rose high into the sky, drawing her attention to the scattered debris that surrounded her. She saw twisted and bent metal pieces, torn fabric from the airship, and shattered glass scattered amongst the dirt. Despite the chaos of the crash site, Kieran’s trained eye was drawn to a single piece of metal, a twisted and jagged shard that stood out amongst the rest. It seemed to glint in the sun, and she couldn’t help but think that it was a symbol of the violence and destruction that had plagued the world for far too long. With a deep breath and a sense of determination, Kieran continued her journey towards the smoke, determined to find any survivors and do what she could to help.
As she gazed upon the smoldering remains of the airship, Kieran was filled with a sense of déjà vu. The sight of wreckage and debris was all too familiar to her, having been involved in several crashes before. In fact, she had lost count of how many times she had faced such trauma, as she crawled towards the wreckage, her mind worked to recall whether this was her sixth, seventh or perhaps even her eighth crash, she was hit with a profound realization. This was the line in the sand, she resolved, beyond which she would never fly again.
