He placed his hands on the wrist of Gary's hand. He felt a slight throb from the veins. He was not sure of his judgement because he left his stethoscope at home. He brought his old ears close to the boy's heart. He was to perform a manual method of checking heartbeats.
T-thrum! T-t..hrum!!
A faint beating of the heart. It can easily be ignored in crowded places.
"He is alive! His heart still beats. What a tenacious child!"
"Since you have the will to live, I will nurse you back to perfect health. Don't you dare die on me." Dr. Zachary Roy slowly carried the dying boy until he got to the position where he parked his car.
He was racing against time. He could feel the vitality of the child getting weaker. He noticed the oversized T-shirt of the boy being consistently soaked in blood. He has to stop the bleeding. Or he might lose the boy to death again. No! Never... not a chance, death!
He raced to the boot of his car and took the medical first aid box. His first aid box was not like our everyday first aid. As an old-timer in this medical field, he has had so many bad experiences. The disappointment-called first aid box got few medical reliefs. These reliefs are great at treating minor injuries, but when it comes to something threatening, it becomes a waste of everyone's time.
Having had a lot of such disappointment, he literally requested a mobile mini hospital and shamelessly called it a first aid box. This shameless first aid of his will be put to a great test.
He dragged the travelling luggage—I mean, the first aid box—to the position where he carefully placed his patient.
He undressed the oversized, or rather baggy, T-shirt of the boy and noticed the wound.
"O.M.G! It's a bullet wound. Am I dealing with a criminal here?" The first thought that crossed his mind.
The treatment of a criminal goes beyond the laid-down ethics of a medical practitioner. All bullet injuries must be reported to the authorities.
But does Dr. Zachary Roy give a sh*t about medical ethics in his old age? He had achieved all the achievements. They don't interest him anymore. The only joy he gets from his profession is wrestling away a soul from the jaws of death.
The satisfaction is like adding more years to his old body.
He opened the mobile first aid kit and retrieved the surgical knife tool. Since there was a bullet stuck in between the lungs and the poor lad's heart. Rushing him to the hospital for better equipment will be far too late. A slight bump, and the boy crosses over to the death realm. The sheer will to survive that kept the lad among the living will be defeated because of a silly mistake.
The boy wished to live. He won't mind bracing through the manual, difficult surgery he was about to perform. He must carefully remove the bullet stuck in a dangerous region. Since then, he has clung to life. Then he should continue. Or stop wasting everyone's time.
Time waits for no one. The medical gloves were worn. The face mask was worn too. The blue surgical gown was worn together with the head protector surgical cap, which looks like a bread chef head warmer.
Tzzzt... Tikik!!
Dr. Zachary Roy was blindly operating on the boy. There was no surgical electric equipment to direct his vision of the interior of the body where the bullet got stuck. But who was he again? He is the decorated surgical general who specialized in tackling difficult surgery.
Now, his lost love has been found in a boy. A young person with a gunshot wound in a vulnerable area of his body. Fate seems to enjoy toying with this child because his body was found in a less frequently visited place.
No sane human will visit the infamous river and have their precious lives stolen. Therefore, the place was largely avoided.
Slowly, the surgical scapula got hold of the stuck bullet. Dr. Zachary Roy steadily retrieved the bullet from the dangerous region of the boy's body and carefully placed the bullet in the close-by kidney dish.
Ah~
The critical parts have been handled. It is the turn of the stitches. Any doctor who cannot stitch a wound should retire ahead of time. No living person will lend them his or her body for practice.
A few minutes.
Dr. Zachary Roy was done with his stitches. He gently placed the boy at the back of his car. He quietly went to the driver's seat and drove off.
....
A few minutes later, Dr. Zachary Roy left with the kid. Zero and the rest of Mr. Grayson assassin team arrived. They carefully checked the surroundings and noticed the freshly screeched marks of a mobile car. Together with shoe prints.
They couldn't make head or tail of this lead. Was their target alive or not? They searched till dusk. The young boy could not be found. This means he is dead or has escaped from their hands. They refused to believe he got away.
...
Hattie Mansion.
Elaine Hattie finally got a lonely time. The spy maid was busy. The hitman is on the hunt for her lover's life. This window of opportunity will not come again.
Once Dr. Rancid arrived, there was no going back. She will have to kill the unborn child in her womb. This child was the bridge that kept her sane. The child was the proof of their love. A love she believed would never die.
There are two things to do. Write a letter to her lover. Tell him to escape for his life till destiny brings them together. Drop such a letter at their secret hideout.
The secret hideout was also her chance of escape. She remembered how she met Gary Ian. A young boy mistakenly found his way to her family lake.
It was a bright sunny day. She was out canoeing when he popped out his head. She received the shock of her life. She should have reported the stranger but curiosity got a better hold of her. One question led to another and finally she decided to explore the secret water passage with him.
One thing led to another, and the seed of love was planted. They couldn't stop anymore. Everything was fine until that stupid ball she attended. The perverted son of Senator Aflac laid eyes on her. He wanted a new toy. Her stupid father wanted to climb up the social ladder. She became the sacrificial lamb for their interest.
She vehemently refused, but her dad's brain was filled with the prospect of climbing higher in the social class. She had to do something. Some drastic. That... She did. Her first time was cleanly plucked by Gary under the shade of the beautiful night. In their little secret water cave passage.
The cave was hidden from her side. No matter how one looked at it. They will conclude their was nothing hidden there. But at Gary's entrance, something was really there.
She knows; Gary knows, but they want others to know.
Gary decided to bury his path in the bleeding river. He dug a substantial water channel and allowed the bleeding river to forever seal the opening. He laid some rocks around and planted some seaweed.