The Will To Live✔️

Chapter 09: The Observatory

"Don't know..."

She passed out. He sighed and cracked open the kit, then grabbed his last remaining dose of anti-poison, went through the process, and injected her with it. He gave her the entire dose, then tossed the hypodermic in the trash and stood up. He watched her for close to five minutes, frowning intensely, worry pounding through his skull. She was still breathing, but nothing had changed about her. Finally, he decided either it was going to work or it wasn't, and he should go forward like it was, which meant taking care of her.

With a sigh, he grabbed a chair, dragged it over, and then carefully picked up her limbs and repositioned her so that she was laying fully on the bed. He then sat down and set the medkit next to her, then set to work fixing her wounds. The wolf bite was bad, worse than his had been, as apparently she was missing her armor on that part of her body. He pulled away the shredded, bloody remains of the sleeve there, then cleaned and bandaged the wound. Once that was done, he injected her with a universal antiviral/antibiotic.

For a moment, he waffled about whether or not to check her over for more wounds, and finally decided to do a cursory search to see if she was bleeding from anywhere else that was obvious. He checked her over quickly and found nothing, then took a moment to check her temperature, sticking the thermometer in her ear and waiting for it to beep. He winced when he saw that it read 104F. Not great but not technically lethal, provided it didn't rise. He sat in his chair, watching her anxiously, and considered what to do for a moment.

Finally, he packed up the medical kit, replaced it in his pack, stood, and shrugged into the backpack once again. There were things that needed doing. Before he left, Greg checked in the freezer. It didn't work, but it was still cold inside. There was some ice. He grabbed it, then hunted down a plastic bag, bagged the ice, then smashed it up, wrapped a small towel around it, and moved back over to Serrano. After laying it across her forehead, he took a look around the squalid bedroom, confirmed that it was secure, then left it and closed the door firmly behind him. And then he set off to make sure the observatory was secure.

* * *

It was slow work that was equal parts satisfying and irritating.

It was satisfying because there was something oddly satisfying about clearing a building, room by room, checking out each and every space, and making sure that there was no one and nothing hiding. It was irritating because he couldn't stop thinking about Serrano, terrified that he was too late, and she was going to die. He kept going back to her roughly every ten minutes, making sure she hadn't stopped breathing, and he ended up checking her temperature each time, so he just left the thermometer there. After half an hour, it dropped a degree.

Within another half an hour, it dropped a second degree, and still she breathed.

Bit by bit, he relaxed, and he kept searching. On the first floor he found the lobby, the small elevator lobby, a janitor's closet, and a tiny bathroom. Nothing in them, though he took the opportunity to take another bathroom break, and lock the front door. On the second floor he found a little area that acted as both an observation deck, with a floor-to-ceiling glass front, a collection of chairs and tables, and a little concession stand that was almost empty. But not totally empty. He noted that and made sure to come back when he was done.

The third floor was just the apartment, which he cleared once more, just to be safe, and checked on Serrano again. The fourth floor was the actual observatory. Besides the main room, there was just another supply closet, and a few small rooms meant to house the technical guts of the telescope. Still nothing at all. Once he was sure they were secure, he went and scavenged whatever food he could from the concession stand. There wasn't anything worthwhile in the bathroom or closets he found, so he retreated to the apartment and locked the door behind him.