"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," I said, carefully digging into the bullet wound that formed itself on Clyde's right thigh.
"Ow!" he flinches in pain and squirms away, "You know what, it's not that bad. I think I can wait until I get back to H.Q."
I grab his ankle and pin it back in place on the floor, "Nonsense, you act as I've never been trained in first aid before."
He looks at me quizzically, "Have you?"
"Oh don't be silly, it was the first course they made me take when I got hired." I plunge the forceps back into the hole, feeling around for that pesky piece of copper.
"Crap, Troy! Take it easy in there!" he whines. So much for being the tough guy. He snatches my wrist, "You can stop now, I'm just gonna leave it in until I can get a real medic."
"What? You don't trust me anymore? Gee thanks; stuck by your side for years and this is how you treat me?"
"Quit being such a baby."
"You're one to talk! Can't even handle a simple bullet removal."
He points at the wound, "This used to be a size 9mm hole, now it looks like I got hit by a damn canister shell!"
Well, he wasn't wrong, the hole definitely looks bigger than when I started. Maybe I'm a bit rusty when it comes to first aid. "Okay fine," I said, "if it makes you feel better we'll wait until we get back to H.Q. But don't expect me to carry you out of here, ya big pile of muscle."
"I'd rather run a marathon with both legs shot than to continue with your torture." I let him go and he struggles to get on his feet. Using the wall that he was leaning on for support, he managed to prop himself up enough to stand weakly. "Okay, let's go."
*** *** ***
McAllen, Texas: Ispio Head Quarters
Amelia sat on the stool, expertly patching up Clyde as if it was routine. Well with Clyde, it basically is routine. She pulled the bullet out without trouble, and Clyde barely felt any pain at all. She applied the right type of chemicals and knew how to wrap it up correctly too. I'll admit, I felt my ego take a hit.
"Thanks, Amelia," Clyde said.
She sighs as she slumps into a lazy style, "No need to thank me, it comes with the job. I had to look at your medical records to learn your blood type, and your file is jam-packed with reports. Something tells me you're gonna make me earn my money."
Clyde rubs the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, it comes with the job."
She spins around to face me, "What happened anyway?"
My eyes look upward as I tried to articulate correctly, "There was a hostile situation in the area we happened to be investigating. A small gang scene that went sideways is all, not too much damage to the neighborhood."
"Didja kill 'em?" she asks with a serious face.
Clyde speaks up again, "It was either them or us."
"Don't tell her that!" I said. "We incapacitated most of them with a shot to the leg, but a few did get an early grave, unfortunately. One of them just managed to get a lucky shot on Clyde."
"Why is it always me that gets shot?" he asks.
"Hush, pup. Now is not the time to question the universe."
"You mean the script..."
"Whatcha' say?"
"Nothing."
Amelia stands up and collects her equipment, "I just don't know why you needed me for such a minor injury. Why didn't you just suture the wound yourself, Troy?"
I felt my cheeks grow hot, "I...um...there was this preference that Clyde wanted."
"Because he was doing more harm than healing," Clyde says. "He couldn't dig the bullet out."
She looks at me seriously, "How could that be possible? All Ispio field agents are trained for medical treatment as soon as they pass the qualifications."
Is it getting hot in here?
"I did get trained for that. It's just that I really haven't had to use it since I've been here. All of Clyde's injuries have either been too severe for a field medic or not enough to give attention to."
"Well if you need a refresher, Ispio just had a bunch of new recruits registered for the field medic course. I'm sure they'll make an exception for a late entry if it's the 'Legendary Troy Hearth'."
I throw my arms behind my head, "No that's fine, I'm sure that I just need to practice a bit more. Clyde, get hurt again."
He proceeds to present me his middle finger.
"Okay then. Go ahead and break that finger, and I'll fix it for ya."
"I'm signing you up for that class," Amelia continues.
"No! Please don't, they'll all laugh at me for taking a beginner's course!"
"Oh please," Clyde said, "nobody's gonna laugh at you. They're all well-trained cadets of Ispio, they're too disciplined to ridicule anybody. Besides, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I knew my partner could save my life during a mission."
I let out a whine, "Ugh, fine! But that course takes three days, can you handle me being gone for that long?"
He looks at his bandaged leg, "I think I can get along just fine."
"Great, I'll get you the application for entry," Amelia said as she darted for Marston's office.
I look at Clyde, "I think she did that because she hates me."
"Or because she actually cares about the efficiency of the field agents."
I think about it for a moment, "Na, she hates me."
*** *** ***
McAllen, Texas: Ispio Training Resort
(1 day later)
The hot sun scorched mercilessly on my orange fur. God, why is Texas so hot!? The new cadets and I stood in a perfect line on the dead grass, waiting for our instructor to show up. I don't know why they have us waiting for so long, the course in Connecticut was nothing like this.
The taller, male human on my side looks down at me, "How'd you get in this gig with a small body like that?"
Wow. Okay. Rude. "Because I'm in the Special Units division. A body like mine is exactly what they're looking for in that department."
"Special Units? You? What is it that you'll be doing exactly?"
"Espionage and investigations," I return his stare, "not that it's any of your business."
"Whoa. Easy there, pipsqueak. Just trying to make a little conversation is all."
"Well, you can't converse correctly."
"Shush!" the cadet on my other side said, "here comes the instructor."
A man in the same type of scrubs we were in, only covered in blood, appeared over the horizon in front of us. He took his time getting over here, and his face looked like it carried a lot of emotional pain. Must have had a hard time in his career as a medic.
"Alright," he said, his tired eyes scanning each of us, "y'all are here for the beginner's crash course of being a field medic. I promise, it ain't all that hard. Ya just gotta have a sharp mind and a steady hand." His voice was so melancholic, I couldn't help but feel down at the sound of it. "Oh, and a strong stomach."
He begins pacing back and forth in front of us, "As you're aware, this is a three-day course. You'll be stationed right here on the resort for night training, so don't worry about traveling from here to home. Please don't ask too many questions about the routine, you'll know what we're learning when we start learning."
"Does this day count as one day?" I asked.
He stops pacing and looks at me, "Yes."
"Oh." His sad eyes made it difficult to keep eye contact with him. Something is really wrong with this guy. "Might I ask about the blood, sir?"
"You're not the first squad I've met today. I've already ran through a training course with other cadets. That was their last test."
"Is that... real blood?" Another cadet asked. The instructor didn't give a comment on that one. Guess I know the answer. He counts silently to himself, mouthing the numbers and pointing his finger at each of us.
"There are six of you? Maybe we can pair you off and save some time on these training exercises."
"Pair us off?" I asked. "How are we supposed to get our one-hundred percent hands-on training if there's two of us working on the same project?"
He pinches the bridge of his nose, "Remember what I said about questions?." He peers behind us, staring at something in the distance. "Here come the other supervisors, I hope they'll follow a new routine."
I glance behind my shoulder and see two more blood-soaked medics; a female, dark-skinned, bald-headed human, and an anthro horse with a short mane. Both of them carried the same dreaded aura in their image. What's the deal with these sad attitudes?
They walk past us without even a quick peek and make a circle with the first instructor. He talks to them about his pair-off plan in a low voice, to which they both passively agree to the new idea. The horse turns to face us, looking at us with judging eyes.
He points to the man next to me, and another cadet standing on the end. "You two," he says, "follow me." They fall out of the line and walk behind him, leaving just four of us left.
The woman points at the other cadet next to me, and another on my right, "I'll take these two, Aiden." They step out of line and scurry along with her in a different direction.
Down to the last two: me and another anthro bird.
Aiden watches as the medics slowly disappear with their students before looking at the two of us. "I guess I've got you two," he says. I've got a bad feeling about this course. "Okay, follow me."
At least we finally get to leave this hot spot. He trudges through the dead grass with us trailing behind him. As we followed though, there weren't any landmarks or even checkpoints to assure us that we're not walking towards the middle of nowhere. The heat became intense after fifteen minutes of stomping on dirt, and I really felt the need to ask Aiden where were we going, or at least where we were. But he stuck by his "No questions" policy whenever I tried. I looked behind me at the bird, and he looked back at me with the same uncertainty that I was feeling.
He whispers to me, "You feelin' safe with this guy?"
I shake my head, "Not exactly, he kinda creeps me out."
He stifles a laugh, "Haha, no kiddin'. You know that the coordinates drop off any GPS when you reach this place? It's like there's some sort of jammer knockin' out the signals or somethin'."
"I kind of figured that after Clyde mentioned it when he dropped me off here."
His happy smile quickly transformed into a look of curiosity, "Clyde? As in Clyde Barker? How the hell did ya get a superstar like that to drop you off?"
"Well it's easy: he's my partner."
"Partner? I thought Clyde's partner was a woman."
Oh gosh, am I really that convincing? "Nope, just a very professional cross-dresser." I put my hand out to greet him properly, "Troy Hearth from the Hartford district. Nice to meet you."
He hesitantly grips my hand and moves it up and down, "Wow, Troy Hearth and Clyde Barker. I had heard that you two were runnin' around down here in the south, just didn't know you were so close. My name's Thomas, but folks just call me Tom or Tommy. What the hell are you taking this beginner's course for?"
I felt more embarrassment wash over me, "Well that's confidential knowledge you're looking for there. No reason to be concerned."
"All right, this is it," Aiden said. "Let's get this first lesson over with."
In the midst of our conversation, I was completely oblivious to the building that we finally reached. It was small and looked unkempt; as if nobody knew it even existed.
"Here's the rundown," he began, "I'm going to take one of you into that house for the training course, then when we finish, the student will come back out and send in the next student without sharing his experience with the other. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" we both said.
"Good. Come on in, Foxy."
Oh, me first? I wish humans would stop calling me Foxy. It's not like I go up to one of them and call them Hooman or fleshy. I took a look at Tom and went ahead to follow Aiden into the house. It was dark at first, but then he turned the lights on to show me it was just as ugly on the inside as it was on the outside. It was definitely built to be a house, but there was no furniture at all. Not even a table for supplies or a chair to sit in.
"Um, so what exactly would we be doing in here?" I asked, ignoring his rule of no questions once again.
"Here we're going to learn how to fix and realign bones without any equipment. Just in case your partner falls from a great length and needs help with a dislocated joint."
"Oh. Great. So... what are we gonna practice on?" I look around the room again to make sure I didn't miss a training dummy or something. Nope, it was still barren. This situation is making my stomach nauseated.
Without a single hint of what he was doing, Aiden promptly put his own arm between his legs and pulled hard. His arm stretched in a sickening way, and his pained face combined with his horrid screaming made for one traumatic scene. My ears went down in fear, and I covered my eyes with my hands like some scared toddler.
"Oh my God, what are you doing to yourself!?" my high-pitched bark screeched. I peek through my fingers to see him looking at me with wide eyes.
"Get over here and pop my arm back in its socket!"
I had a sense of objective when he told me that, and I hurried over chanting "Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh!" The first thing that came to mind was to put him in a stable formation, so I brought him down to a laying position that put him flat on his back.
"That's good," he said while out of breath, "you found the proper formation for relocating a shoulder. Now grab my wrist and put it at a ninety-degree angle with my torso." I did as he instructed, gently moving his arm in a slow and tender motion. "Great, now all you gotta do is slowly pull my arm out. That'll allow the head of the humerus to slide under the bone of the shoulder blade and back into its socket."
"Sounds complicated when you put it that way."
I had a firm grip on his wrist, and I began pulling away from his torso. It felt like I was going so slow, but I knew that any faster or any sudden jerky movements would damage his shoulder even more than it is now. I kept at a steady pace, watching his arm stretch out like some funny taffy toy the kids play with until I finally heard a snapping noise. Aiden's face was still red from the excruciating pain, but I could tell that the pain at least lessened itself significantly.
He coughs a bit, "Great job, Foxy. You did good. Looks like you already know what you're doing. Help me up." I get up and pick him up from his good arm. He coughs more, "Go ahead and send the bird in. Remember, not a word about what just happened, not even after this course is over."
"Wait, why on Earth are you a live test dummy for these things!? Doesn't Ispio have a better alternative than to have the instructors hurt themselves for the sake of learning?"
"Listen, we figured that there's no better method of teaching than hands-on experience. Test dummies and artificial airflow, blood flow, and heart rates just don't cut it when it comes to the real deal. Sure they could be accurate, but not as accurate as the actual injury itself."
I wanted to say more, to ask more, but he gestured his hand to shoo me away and bring in the next student. Was he really going to dislocate his shoulder again on the same day on purpose? No wonder all the medics are so moody, their job is literally killing them!
I make my way outside into the hot sun once more. I did my best to shake the shocked expression off my face before interacting with Tom again. I guess I didn't do a great job about it because he immediately knew that something was wrong.
"Damn, Troy, what did he do to you in there?"
"Um, nothing too bad. I think I did a really great job in there, and I'm sure you'll be just fine too. Good luck, it's your turn now."
He nods his head and hesitantly makes his way to the front door, never taking his eyes off me the entire way. Once he stepped foot into the house, he closed the door behind him. I stood there for a second before sitting down in the dirt to catch my breath. I didn't understand why I was so shaken up about this, I've seen much worse happen to Clyde. I guess it's different when someone expects me to actually give them medical assistance.
Three minutes pass before I heard the screams of Aiden once more. A chill ran up my spine as I heard Tom curse out a few words...
*** *** ***
McAllen, Texas: Ispio Training Resort
(21:30 hours) Lounge Grounds
The first day was finally at a closing. After our training lesson, we walked all the way back to a different, much larger building that was our relaxation perimeter. All the cadets met up with us again, and it appeared that they were definitely given different tests than what we did, considering that Tom and I weren't covered in blood like them. When dinner came though, it was really hard to stomach my food while thinking about Aiden's dangling arm. Spaghetti wasn't the best dish to serve tonight.
Turns out that all the cadets have to sleep in the same room too. I wasn't expecting the setup to look like Summer camp. Just a big room with no furniture; besides six beds for us. I did feel a little cozy bunking next to Tom though, he's less of a stranger than the rest.
I turn to look at Tom, "Why are we getting put to bed so early? It's not even ten yet."
Tom rested his head on a bent arm while facing me, "Beats me. I'm guessin' that we've gotta get an early start tomorrow mornin'."
Another cadet joins our conversation from his bed across from us, "So what did y'all guys do for your first test?"
"I don't wanna spoil the surprise for you when it's your turn. But nobody's stopping you from guessing," I said. He didn't seem satisfied with that answer and threw the blankets over his head to fall asleep.
"I reckon we should follow his lead, Troy," Tom said while switching to lay flat on his back, "G'night."
I glance around the room to see that everyone else had already laid their heads down, "Goodnight."
*** *** ***
My eyes blinked slowly in the dark room. My ears kept twitching over the random sounds that the room was letting out. I wasn't really the type to be unreasonably frightened, but something about this place made me feel unsafe. Like somebody here couldn't be trusted to be left with a room full of Ispio agents. Maybe it was just today's events, maybe I've got a sixth sense that detects hidden dangers in people around me. Tom seemed like a reasonable person with a sound mind, but then again isn't that discovered in all psychopaths?
"I can't sleep," I mumbled to myself. I moved to switch my body into a sitting position, but for some reason... I couldn't move. "What the hell!" I tried flexing my toes; nothing moved. My legs were out of order too, same went for anything below my neck. What was going on? Am I having Sleep Paralysis?
I nearly had a heart attack when I noticed an object rising right next to my face from the side of my bed. The room had the type of darkness that lets you see silhouettes, but absolutely no details. The figure eventually spread out more, and I could tell that it was a person, not a monster. Then again, people ARE monsters.
Its arm raised itself and held a pointy-looking object in its hand. It took me a moment to realize that it was a syringe it was holding.
"How are you feeling, Troy? Did I give you too much medicine?" it asked in a terrifyingly familiar voice.
"Ah-Archer?" I asked with a lump in my throat. "How are you able to walk already? Clyde broke your legs real good last time we met."
"What, you think Doctor Nivans is the only one that carries that miracle medicine of his? Up and running in only two days."
It was hard to turn my head, but I managed somehow to face Tom's bunk and yell out for help. "Tom, wake up! Someone's here! Get up, dammit!"
Archer grabs my jaw and pulls it back to face him, "Shush, Troy, people are trying to sleep!" I stretch my jaw more to try and bite his hand, but he took that opportunity to stuff a pre-made gag ball into my mouth. "Hey, I've always fantasized about a gagged Troy laying helpless in a bed. Too bad I don't have time to play out that dream."
I shook my head "No," to the greatest of my abilities and spoke muffled words through the gag, but he wasn't having any of it. I think I'd rather partake in his fantasy than what I think he's going to do right now.
"I won't lie, it's been fun hanging around with you and Clyde. I'm thinking that our horseplay has run its course though, and we should really close this book and start a new chapter. Well, I mean that 'I' will start a new chapter. Your story is all done, and it was a great read."
No, no, no, no! Please somebody wake up and save my ass! Clyde, go ahead and bust through the window already like you always do! Where are the medics!? I thought this place was safe from intruders!
The familiar noise of a gun cocking caught my attention. "I know you can't tell since it's dark, but this is your gun. I thought it'd be poetic to kill you with the very thing that's protected you for your entire career. Or was that Clyde that always protected you? Haha, imagine me killing you with Clyde somehow! How would that even look? Anyway, this is what I came up with whether you like it or not."
"Nmph! Nmph!" I begged again with wide eyes.
"Aw, you really wanna live, huh? I'll tell you what, if you can shake your head 'No' fast enough, I'll leave right now. Go on, shake, shake, shake." The bastard knew the poison wouldn't let me go very fast, but that didn't stop me from trying. "Ooh sorry, Troy, but that's just not fast enough. 'Kay you tried, goodnight."
He brings the gun up to my head, and I protested as loud as I could. But it didn't matter, it never mattered from the start.
Bang!
I wake up soaked in sweat. It was still dark, but I could move and sit up. My fur was damp and felt uncomfortable; why do anthros even sweat like this? I rub my face and thank the Divines that it was just a dream; a dream that reminds me of the dreaded loose ends that hover above my head. I've got to find him soon, or I'm going to lose good fur over all this stress.
I heard ruffling next to me and prayed silently that it was just Tom.
"What's a'matter, Troy," Tom asked worriedly.
I swallow hard, "I just remembered I forgot to do something before coming here."
He scratches his head, "I hope it wasn't too important." He sniffs the air, "Why does it smell like wet fur?"
I frown, "Goodnight, Tom."