Alpha Squad - Vecto: Voyage

Part 2.9

(Previously: Cutlass saves Trip from a pirate, but Trip is injured in the process.)

Erich looked over to see Trip with blood running from his arm. "Am-am ... I OK?" Trip asked, panting, taking the pain.

"No!" Erich yelled and rushed to his aid. "I mean, you're just fine! We'll get you a doctor, OK?"

He didn't mean for his words to ring true. He was just warning Cutlass. Nobody was supposed to get shot, he thought.

Ferrous laughed while restrained.

"Good riddance!" he said.

His laugh was cut short by a knife in his throat.

"Sir Erich, I be truly sorry for my buccaneers fall," Cutlass said, snatching his knife from Ferrous' throat, his one arm shaking. Tears began to flow down his cheeks as he ran to Trip's side. "If there be anything I may do to save me hearty's life, I be willing!"

Trip grunted as Erich clinched his teeth. What was important was Trip at this moment, Erich thought. He reeled a wire from the top of his wrist and tied it around Trip's arm to block the flow of blood.

"It's a poisonous shell," Erich said, noticing the veins of his arm changing colors. "Greg, you need to find a doctor fast! I'll do what I can to hold the poison off. Just find someone who can help--a doctor or something!"

Erich laid Trip on the floor as Trip clutched his arm, in pain. He gasped out numbers as he counted to ease the pain. He tried not to think of the unsanitariness of the bullet wedged in his arm.

"Don't ye be going to Davy Jones' Locker, now!" Cutlass said to Trip, not wanting him to die.

"The-the-then find a d-d-doctor!" Trip yelled.

"Aye-sir!" Cutlass nodded, stumbling up and yelling for a medic.

Cutlass screamed for help as Feit and the Coronan guards finished securing the floor, eliminating all the pirates. The guards split up to identify the dead and injured citizens caught in line of fire as Feit rushed to meet with Cutlass.

"What's the matter?" Feit said, wondering how weird Cutlass looked with one arm, and ragged, smelly clothes, and an unwashed beard.

"Me buccaneer be hurt--shot in the arm!" Cutlass said in panic.

"You must calm yourself, sir. Now where is he?"

"He be over there!" he said, pointing behind him toward the Central Park.

"Where are the medics when you need them?" Feit said to himself as he glanced around him. "Don't fret; I'll get some help," he assured the crazed looking man. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small device. He clicked it, and a Nexas-screen image of an old man's face appeared. "Dr. Azmeck, are you in the area?" Feit asked, having gone on this trip at Azmeck's and Leroy Johnson's request.

"Ah, Feit, how's the travel for you?" the doctor asked.

"Someone got shot and is still alive. Are you near the shopping plaza?"

"Hm, why, yes, of course," Azmeck replied. "Couldn't stay stuck in the residential area for long, my boy. The populous seemed really frightened in there."

"Good, then meet us at the Central Park," he said and disconnected the link.

(Will Azmeck be the help Trip needs? Find out more in the next installment of Vecto: Voyage!)