This Would Be Paradise (Book 3)

Chapter 24

Sure enough, it was Lucas. I had abandoned my dolly to investigate, but brought the lantern with me. Lucas was on the ground surrounded by a bunch of fallen boxes, some leaking fluid onto the floor. I sniffed as I got closer. Beer.

"Really? Alcohol is a necessity?" I said.

He looked at me from the floor. His face was scrunched up in pain and I spotted a fresh stain of blood on his previously new shirt.

"My damn arm gave out," he growled.

He started prodding at the area where the blood was coming from.

"Wait here," I said running back toward the side entrance.

I had spotted a first aid kit fastened to the wall by the door when Rose and I were waiting around for the guys to return with a battery. It was just a simple metal box on the wall with a red cross on it. I pulled at it but it wouldn't come off. I lifted it upwards and strained. The box came off with a yank, almost throwing me off balance. I ran back to find that Lucas had propped himself up against the shelf, a bottle of beer already at his mouth.

I wanted to run my hands down my face, but the box in my hands was preventing me from it. This had to be the worst group to go on a run with. Pain in the asses the lot of them.

"I still can't get over the fact that they sell alcohol at grocery stores in America," I said as I approached Lucas.

His stopped sucking down the bottle's contents. "They don't do that in Canada?"

"Not in any province that I've been to."

"Province?"

"Yes, they're on the map and everything," I said sarcastically.

He glared at me, then winced. I kneeled beside him and put down the box, flipping open the lid. I scanned through the contents and pulled out the basics-antiseptic spray, gauze, and large compress pads.

"You need to take off your shirt."

"Thought you'd never ask," he said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. Worst. Group. Ever. Rose was a pain in the ass. Leo was nice, but a little doe-eyed. And Lucas was a douchebag.

I heard Lucas take in a sharp breath as he pulled of his shirt. I moved the lantern closer so I could get a good look-at his wound. His shoulder was an angry mess of red, fresh blood dripping down his torso.

"How bad is it?"

"Uh ..." I trailed off.

"That bad, huh?"

I leaned in so close that I could feel his breath. There was something in the wound.

"Gross."

"What?" he said, panicked.

I hadn't meant to say that out loud. "I'm not sure."

I went back to the first aid box and dug around for some tweezers. There was a plastic pair in a mini Ziploc bag. I ripped it open and returned to Lucas's nasty shoulder. It looked like the infected had really chomped down hard. The skin was shredded. He was going to have a hell of scar to add to the ones already smattered on his neck and arms. There was even some scar tissue where his lower abdomen met his pant line. The hospital had really done a number on him. If it was just from the hospital.

I decided to focus on the nasty task at hand instead of speculating about his many scars. I bit my lip as I prepared to dig into the wound to remove whatever the yellow thing sticking out was. Please don't be a part of Lucas. The wound didn't look deep enough to have hit bone or anything like that, so I had no idea what the tiny object was.