AGAINST HOPE
by: PEBBLES
Part 5
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
Doug stood on the
bank of the stream trying to decide the best place to cross.
There were large rocks scattered across its bed that he could use
as stepping-stones. He might even manage to get across
without getting wet. On the other hand, it was more than
likely that he would.
Thinking that
they were very low on dry clothes, Doug took off his pants,
jacket, vest and shoes and socks and left them on the bank.
One patient with hypothermia was enough. Gingerly, Doug set
out across the stream. He managed to get three parts of the
way across before running out of stepping stones.
There was nothing
for it but to get in the water. It was only thigh deep but
freezing cold. Doug felt the muscles in his calves go into
spasm. Two strides and he was out the other side, rubbing
himself to get warm.
The rails on the
fence he had spotted were about four feet long and six inches
wide. One tug and he freed the first rail. The second was
more firmly attached. Several snatches at it freed one end
but the other would not budge. Doug tried kicking at it,
wishing that he had not left his shoes over the other side.
Finally, a well-aimed kick dislodged the nails and it fell free.
Loosing his balance, Doug landed heavily and twisted his ankle.
“Fuck it!”
Doug was more angry than in pain. He couldn’t afford
to complicate their situation. It was bad enough as it was.
He tried standing on it. It was painful but he would just
have to bear it. Balancing the two rails under his arm, he
set out back across the stream. Having got wet already,
there didn’t seem much point in trying to balance on the
rocks so Doug just plunged straight into the water.
The cold killed
the pain in his ankle – it almost killed all sensation in
his legs. Luckily, it didn’t reach up as far as his
Calvin Klein’s. He got out as fast as he could. He
dropped the planks on the ground and went to recover his clothes.
Luka was awake
and turned his head to see Doug approaching. “Very
fetching outfit,” he mumbled dryly. Doug gave him a
twirl, wincing as his ankle complained at the sudden movement.
“The very
latest in designer underwear! And, for an encore, we are
going to swap clothes.” Luka raised an eyebrow. Doug
continued. “But don’t worry – you get to
keep your shorts. Or whatever you’re wearing under
those pants”
Luka kept his
face dead pan. “You are assuming that I am wearing
anything”.
Doug hesitated
for a moment. “Yeah! You got me there!” He
laughed. Getting Luka’s pants off was pretty
difficult. Luka managed to raise his hips off the ground
for a moment and Doug pulled them down as far as his thighs.
Doug could see
that Luka had gone deathly pale even in the poor light of the
moon and beads of sweat had broken out on his brow. “You
want to take a breather?” He suggested.
“No, lets
get it over with. I’m getting so cold.” Luka
swallowed hard. Doug carefully peeled back the fabric.
Luckily the pants were not tight fitting. The left thigh
was very swollen indicating an expanding hematoma. Doug
quickly checked the pulse in the leg again. It was
weakening. Doug forced himself to concentrate on one thing
at a time.
Having got the
wet pants off, Doug put the belt to one side as he was going to
need it later. “Now you get to wear my pants. But I
want them returned fully laundered and pressed as soon as we get
back home, okay?” Doug was aware that his attempts at
humour were wearing a bit thin. Luka didn’t bother to
answer.
“Hey, I need
you to stay awake.” Doug checked Luka’s vitals
again. Resps were increasing and his pulse was soaring to
120. He would be going into shock soon and there wasn’t
a damn thing he could do about it.
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
Kerry shut her
eyes. She wasn’t tired. Although it was past
midnight here, to her body clock, it was still only five in the
afternoon. She just wanted to shut out the world for a
moment and concentrate on her inner thoughts. Why did she
have such a bad feeling about this?
She tried to calm
herself and chase all images of potential disasters to the
corners of her mind - better to concentrate on what was real and
concrete. Ever the practical person, Kerry decided to get
changed. She could not be of much use to the emergency
services when they arrived dressed in a tight fitting silk dress
and high-heeled shoes.
Kerry slipped out
to the car and retrieved her overnight bag. She noticed
that the temperature had dropped but the fog was a little less
dense. Returning to the warmth of the hotel she made her
way directly to the ladies powder room.
Slipping out of
the lilac dress, Kerry remembered the day two weeks ago when she
had chosen it from a very exclusive little boutique on Lakeshore
Drive. She had never worn anything like it before and had
taken some persuading by the assistant to even try it on. But,
standing in front of the mirror in the changing room, pulling it
on over her head and seeing the way it slipped down over her
body, accentuating every curve she saw herself with new eyes.
She felt pretty
and sexy and it gave her new confidence. “You’re
going to knock them dead, Kerry.” She had said to her
image in the mirror and grinned. She had not even looked at
the price tag or checked the laundry instructions. So what
if it self-destructs after one wearing. For one day she was
going to look great! Handing it to the sales assistant to
wrap she went to check out a pair of impossibly high shoes that
had caught her eye. They were in a slightly darker shade of
lilac than the dress.
“Oh, yes,
Madam, they would set off the dress to perfection.” The
assistant purred. Moments later, Kerry was trying them on. Kerry
smiled ruefully now, examining the blister on her left toe.
It had been worth it - to glide across the room in the arms of
Luka Kovac. If she shut her eyes she could feel the
pressure of his arm around her waist his fingers entwined with
hers. She opened her eyes. “Get a grip, Kerry,”
she told herself, reaching into her bag for a pair of sweats and
some sensible shoes.
When she returned
to the lobby, Carol and Carter both turned to look at her
expectantly as if she could somehow pull the rabbit out of the
hat and summon Doug and Luka to walk back through the doors.
She sat down opposite them, noticing Carol’s red rimmed
eyes.
“I’m
sure they’re going to turn up just fine.” Kerry
tried to smile. “You know, I don’t think Doug was
as drunk as he was making out to be. He always held his
liquor better than that.”
Carol nodded.
“Yes, I think your right. He may have been putting it
on a bit – to cope with the situation. But Luka was
really mad with him!” She shot Kerry a frightened
look.
“Surely you
don’t think he would have hurt Doug in any way?” Kerry
raised her eyebrows. “Luka’s not a violent man. Surely
you know that?”
“I don’t
know. I’m not sure I really knew him at all.”
Carol hung her head.
Kerry got up and
walked outside to wait for the emergency services and get some
fresh air.
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
Luka tried to
help as Doug removed his wet pants and replaced them with his own
dry ones but every movement was agony and waves of nausea kept
threatening to overtake him. He resisted looking at his
injury when it was exposed but he didn’t miss Doug’s
reaction. Just lifting his head off the ground made him
feel giddy. The doctor in him knew that this was shock
setting in.
Doug’s next
move was to remove Luka’s jacket, vest and dress shirt.
This was not too difficult as each could be unbuttoned and
slipped off Luka’s good shoulder before being carefully
peeled down over the left side. These Doug replaced with
his own dry vest and jacket. Luka co-operated as best he
could but he couldn’t seem to get his fingers to undo the
buttons and his arms and legs were beginning to shiver
uncontrollably.
“There you
go. Should have you feeling warmer in no time.” Doug
gave Luka one of his trademark lopsided smiles. He stood
up, still dressed in just his shirt and underpants. “Right,
I have here the makings of a very superior long-leg posterior
splint.” Doug held up the two planks. Luka tried
hard to concentrate on what Doug was saying. “All I
need now are our two belts and neck-ties and I should be able to
make you more comfortable.”
Whilst Doug
arranged the wood and belts into a makeshift splint he tried to
distract Luka with conversation. “You said you broke
your leg before. How did that happen? MVA? Skiing accident?”
Luka almost
glowered at him before speaking through clenched teeth. “No,
a well aimed riffle butt.”
“What?”
Doug did a double take. “Where was this then?”
“You have
heard of the Bosnian war and the siege of Sarajevo, I suppose?”
Luka voice was weary.
“You were
there?” Doug’s tone of voice betrayed that he knew what
this meant.
“No. I
was at Vukovar with my family. It was also besieged – this
was before Sarejevo.” Luka paused, biting hard on his lip
before continuing. “After the city fell, I was
interred in a prison camp. I was there for six months.
During this time the guards beat me five or six times. On
the last occasion they broke my leg.” Luka relayed
this account without any emotion in his voice as if just making a
report.
All the time he
was speaking Luka watched Doug’s expression, which changed
from disbelief to comprehension. “But I was lucky.”
He added.
“What d’you
mean? Lucky!” Doug was dumfounded.
“Later that
day an aid organisation arrived to arrange for transfer of the
prisoners. We were going to be exchanged. If they had
not come, I expect I would have been left to die.” Luka
shrugged as if this were nothing to be amazed at.
“But, what
about your family?” As he asked the question Doug had
a premonition of what the answer might be and hastily added.
“You… er…you don’t have to tell me if you don’t
want to.”
“They died
earlier.” Luka turned away from Doug’s concerned
gaze. He shut his eyes and summoned up their images in his
mind. Sometimes these days he found it hard to picture
their faces but tonight it was as if they were there with him.
Their arms reached out to him their faces full of trust. But
then, their expressions turned to fear. They were being
taken from him. He could not move to help them.
“Ko ste? Sta
zelite ? Ne razumem.
Ne, varate se.
Ne!
Cekajte jedan
minut. Cekajte!
Ne! Stoj, molim,
stoj!”
Doug was startled
by the raw emotion in Luka’s voice. He couldn’t
understand a word but it sounded as if the man was terrified.
Although Luka’s eyes were open, he was obviously ‘not
here’. It had been a mistake to quiz Luka on his past
when it obviously held so much pain – but he hadn’t
known - Doug consoled himself.
“Luka, come
on, Luka you’ve got to stay awake.” Doug tried to
keep the desperation out of his voice. Not for the first
time, Doug wondered if he were doing the right thing. His
instincts as a doctor were to do everything possible to treat his
patient but it was becoming a hopeless cause. He could not
adequately warm him up nor could he replace the fluids, the loss
of which was sending Luka inevitably into shock. They
needed help from outside and the longer he put off going for help
the more dire their situation became.
Luka suddenly
grabbed Doug’s arm and as if he had read his mind pleaded.
“Don’t leave me alone, Doug.” Luka’s
voice was weak but determined. “I don’t want to
die alone.”
“You’re
not going to die, Luka.” He hastily reassured him.
“Just don’t
leave me!” Luka gripped Doug’s arm with
surprising strength.
End of Part 5
A translation of
Luka’s words:
“Who are
you? What do you want? I do not understand.
No! You are
wrong. No!
Wait a minute.
Wait!
No! Stop, please,
stop!”
These were
entirely researched from a phrase book so no guarantees that it’s
Kosher Croatian!
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