Frostbite & bruises

Hey guys.

This will be the last chapter of Book one, I hope you’re going to enjoy it.

The next two weeks or so I’m going to focus on finishing Breaking rules, once I’m done with that I’m going to start with Frostbite & bruises book 2.

Love, Wendy

♥♥♥

Although the stuff Amber had given him had made him very sleepy, it hadn’t been enough to knock him out completely.

Amber and Steve had first applied a tourniquet to his lower leg and then placed it in an ice bath before starting the amputation.

Looking for the supplies he needed for the amputation, he had happily come across a bottle of rose oil, and the oil combined with alcohol or turpentine was a great way to clean and care for the stump later, much better even than the cauterisation he had originally planned. The only thing missing were eggs, Amber had no chickens, but the woman was no slouch and had looked for a substitute in a small thumbed-over book. And miraculously, she had conjured up an unopened bag of linseed. Together, the woman and Steve had divided up the work and when Viggo had finally returned, they were about to begin the operation.

Amber had taken the baby out of his cot to change and feed him, adding some of the sedative to his milk. She knew the big man was going to scream no matter what and she didn’t need a screaming baby, it was going to be a hell of a job to contain the man without her mother’s heart, well in this case grandmother’s heart, wanting to run straight to the little one to comfort him. Amber had also placed a knitted cap on the little man, with some extra fabric to muffle the sounds, just in case.

For Viggo, she had stuffed an old pair of headphones with some cloth so that the noise would be muffled for him as well. She had seen from the boy’s face how much he was looking forward to helping with the operation.

With the baby and the boy taken care of, it was time to get to work on the badly injured man.

Using a mixture of boiled water and alcohol, she had cleaned Nox’s leg and marked where he would have to start cutting. If the stump was to heal properly, he needed to save a flap of skin to fold over the wound to close it, but that was easier said than done as the bear had chewed off half of the lower leg. In the end, Steve managed to get three flaps of skin to close the wound. It would not be a pretty scar, but at least the flaps would close the wound. Functionality over beauty and he was almost certain that Morgan would have no problem with that as long as he kept the frog alive for her.

Sweat ran down the faces of Steve and Amber as they finally removed the last strip of bandages after two hours.

Despite being strapped to the metal bed, the big man had lasted a long time. Despite several screams of pain, he had kept his body and legs as still as possible. Finally, after half an hour of extreme pain, Nox’s light had gone out and he had only just regained consciousness.

Steve and Amber had both been checking his vital signs regularly, and although Nox’s heart rate was sky-high, it was nothing unexpected.

After freshening up and putting on a clean shirt, Amber boiled some water on the small fire to wipe the unconscious man’s sweaty body as best she could.

Behind her, she heard a low, soft creak and turned her head slightly to look at Steve. The old man was a tough guy, Amber could not deny that, and she had a feeling he could be trusted. To her great surprise, their cooperation had been perfect, not only because they both wanted to help the badly injured man, but somehow they had just sensed each other well. They had needed very few words to know what the other wanted or what needed to be done.

“Are you OK?” Amber had stood up and looked at the tired Steve with a worried look on her face.

“Yeah, thanks for your help, girl. I wouldn’t have done it without you and Nox probably wouldn’t have survived...”

With a painfully stiff back, the woman walked over to a cupboard containing a few glasses, plates and tins of food. Carefully, she pushed a few glasses aside, conjured up a bottle and turned back to Steve with a wry grin. “I think we’re both ready for this, don’t you?”

A broad grin appeared around the old man’s mouth. “I’m not going to turn down a glass of whisky, that’s like swearing in church!” he chuckled softly at his own joke.

“But all joking aside, why are you sitting here all alone, Amber, with only the baby for company?”

Silently, Amber looked at the golden yellow goodness in her glass. She doubted if she wanted to and could confide in Steve, but the loneliness hit her so hard sometimes....

She sighed deeply. “Until a year ago, my daughter and I lived in a small community and had it good, but... “Amber swallowed. The memories still hurt her, both mentally and physically. “We were attacked and our group was taken over by a group of assholes who had no respect for us. Men and women were separated and the women and girls were divided among themselves. The little children and men... The children and men were used as slaves and if they didn’t do what was expected of them they were shot without mercy...“.

Steve saw the woman’s eyes become moist, but he remained silent and let her speak.

“My daughter was singled out by an asshole of a man who abused and raped her almost every day. I myself was one of the old wives, as those bastards called us, and we had to provide food and were used as whores whenever the gentlemen felt like it, just to keep us under their thumb. ....

One day Ellie, my daughter, found out she was pregnant and I knew that if we didn’t escape now, we would never be able to. You know it’s hard enough for an adult to survive outside.... a baby would never survive with just the two of us. So one evening, when I saw the chance... without telling Ellie, I had gathered all the things we would need on our flight days in advance and stored them in a secret hiding place..... Silently, I made my way towards my daughter’s departure and her asshole of a boyfriend. Luckily he was so terribly drunk that he didn’t notice me and before he could scream I had slit his throat...“.

Although tears were now streaming down her cheeks, she looked at Steve defiantly, but he just nodded politely.

“Getting away without anyone noticing was harder, but I had placed candles in various places with some gunpowder....and kerosene soaked cloths, and luckily my plan worked and we were able to escape as all the guards ran in the direction of the fires, leaving the exits unmanned. I know we weren’t the only ones trying to escape, but as far as I know nobody else had anything ready except me.

I know they chased us for a while, but eventually we managed to lose them and ended up here by accident...”

Steve shook his head and looked at her. “Girl, how hard you had it...” His voice was soft.

“I understand that you didn’t trust us, but why did you decide to help Nox anyway?”

Amber shrugged. “I heard him yelling at a girl to get out of here if she saw the chance, and the simple fact that he was willing to give his own life and not sacrifice her to save his own skin was reason enough for me. That you were looking for him, like you said, didn’t mean much to me.... I have heard enough lies this past year...”

A soft gurgling from the baby made them look up and they saw Viggo standing with the baby.

After they had closed Nox’s wound, Amber had taken a quick look to see how the boy and the baby had fared, but to her relief they had both fallen asleep, although there were clear traces of tears on the boy’s face.

Amber took the baby from an apparently still sleeping Viggo and offered the boy her chair. She enjoyed stretching her legs and rocking the baby. Although the boy was still very young, Amber estimated him to be around fourteen, fifteen, Steve poured him a small glass of whisky.

“Here boy, take a sip, it’ll calm down your nerves a bit.” Before turning his attention back to Amber.

“Listen girl, why don’t you come with us? I know you don’t trust us, but alone is alone and we’re outnumbered!” The old man looked at her sheepishly. “My wife, once she has healed from her injuries, will be wearing the trousers again, and with the children, of which there are two girls and a boy, Mama Morgan is the boss... “He winked at a sleepy Viggo, who responded with a silly grin.

“So there are five women and four men in our little group.”

To his shock, he saw Amber’s eyes instantly widen when she heard there was a fourth man. “Yes... there’s one man left with the women... and that’s Shane, Nox’s brother.”

Amber narrowed her eyes to slits. “Why didn’t he go looking for his own brother?”

This time it was Viggo who answered with a double tongue. “Because Shane is blind.” With a triumphant look he raised an uncoordinated waving finger.

Amber’s eyes slid to the glass in his hand and she was surprised to see that the boy had already finished the whisky. No wonder he looked so groggy...

“You won’t have to worry about the baby not making it if something happens to you... And you won’t be alone anymore, Amber...”

Amber turned to the baby’s cot. Steve had hit the nail on the head with his comment. She was indeed constantly afraid that if something happened to her, the baby would perish... ....

After tucking the baby in comfortably, she walked over to the wall where the barometer hung and, after a few moments, turned back to Steve. “I was planning on leaving soon anyway.” Seeing Steve’s questioning look, she pointed with her thumb towards the sliding door where the thick black film hung.

“The bear that grazed your friend was not the only one... In the last few weeks, there has been an increase in the number of animals around here, including predators.... I have seen paw prints from bears, but also from wolves.”

When the man looked at her in surprise, she began to chuckle softly. “You don’t think that Mother Nature would let the animals that have always treated her with respect become extinct and let us humans, who have driven the world to damnation, live? You didn’t believe that, did you?”

Steve scratched behind his ear in surprise. Well, he hadn’t really thought about it, but what the woman said could be true, he had suspected for a while himself, even in their old commune, that there seemed to be more animals.

“But if we want to leave, we have to leave tomorrow morning at the latest.” She pointed backwards at the barometer with her thumb.

“There’s a storm coming...”

After they had slept for a few hours and Amber had fed and changed the baby. The three of them lifted a leaden Nox outside. This time they went through the garage, because there was more room to manoeuvre a cobbled together stretcher.

Although Nox was in pain, he resisted, and once they had him on the sled, he turned to Amber. “Maybe it would be handy if I kept the little one with me? My body will keep him warm and you will have your hands free to hold the rifle if we run into any trouble.”

Amber nodded. Although she was reluctant to hand over little Duncan, the big man was right and she carefully placed the sleeping bundle in his arms.

With Steve handling the sled dogs and Viggo and Amber walking beside the sled as she did, the foursome made their way to the factory where the others were waiting for them.