Maggie saves the day – A piece from Bradford: Badlands

Maggie saves the day – A piece from Bradford: Badlands

Maggie was happy that their mission had been a success. Roll the devices towards the town fence and then get in the hastily dug hide. She’d known the fire from the first explosion would enable her and Chip to be seen, there was no avoiding that. Chip being hit by blaster fire shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did. Chip had seemed to lead a bit of a charmed life during their trip into the Badlands, avoiding injury while everyone else was cut or burnt.

“They must have all gone by now. My leg hurts Mags, it hurts really bad.”

A modern Ion blaster shot, it must have been. They didn’t cauterise the wounds they inflicted, they were designed to leave torn veins and arteries to bleed. It was dark in the hide, completely dark, the darkest place Maggie could remember ever being in. Things were in there with them, the bugs that called the topsoil home. The things squirmed under her hand, every time she touched the floor.

“I’ll look, we might have left it long enough….. Be brave Chip.”

“I’ll try.”

She’d cut up her jacket in the dark, using it to tightly bandage his wound by feel. Her hands still felt sticky and smelt of his blood. The bleeding hadn’t stopped though, her makeshift bandage was saturated. Maggie opened the top of their hide, the side of a wooden crate hidden under a few layers of green canvass. The fire was still burning in some places, her plan for Chip required fire.

“We’ll go now, get ready to walk….. I know it will be painful.”

“I’m not sure if I can Mags.”

Her filthy hands found his face in the darkness, followed by her lips. She kissed him, a long hard passionate kiss.

“I can’t carry you Chip. You must walk, or you’ll die here….Do you understand ?”

“Yes, are we going far ?”

“Just into what’s left of the camp, your leg wound needs treating.”

“You’re not a medic Mags, can we find Yasmine ?”

He seemed to be drifting with the blood loss, he knew as well as she did that Yasmine had gone with Cruz in the group sent to cause a diversion. There wasn’t time to explain, or be gentle.

“Shut up Chip….. Follow me or you’ll die in this fucking hole.”

Maggie threw open the door to the dark damp hide, her eyes blinking at the light from a fire in what had been their camp. She shook a few wriggling things off her assault rifle, the damn wriggling things seemed to have claimed her and her equipment. She helped Chip, pulling him up and onto his feet. His trousers were saturated in blood.

“Oh Christ Mags, that hurts !”

Of course he’d yelled, but hopefully the enemy were too far away to hear him. She lacked the strength to carry him, though she could take the weight off his wounded leg. Maggie led him towards the closest fire, before realising it was a burning body.

“This way Chip, towards the truck tyres.”

“Why ? That’s further.”

“Don’t look Chip, this isn’t a good place.”

Someone had pulled a few bodies into a pile, but they’d obviously done it in a rush. Some fires had been put out, but a few still burned. The burning tyres had a hot yellow flame above them, perfect for her needs. She tried to lower Chip to the ground, but dropped him. Again he filled the night with a scream.

“Oh, just let me die Mags. I’m going to die anyway.”

She ignored him and wedged her knife so that the blade rested in the hottest part of the flame. Ignoring his yells, she undid the bandage to get her first look at the hole in his thigh. He was struggling, of course he was and still yelling.

“Stop fighting me, I’m going to close the wound by cauterising it.”

“But……….. You’re not a medic….”

“I’m not, but I’m all you’ve got. I might cripple you for life, or kill you. There’s also a good chance that I’ll save your life….. Now keep still.”

“I love you Mags.”

“Oh…… Just shut up.”

She sat on him, it seemed the easiest way to stop him squirming about. Maggie rested her bottom against his hips, before pulling the red hot knife out of the flames. The wound was dreadful, she could see a torn blood vessel pumping out his precious blood. Maggie pushed the blade hard against the bloodiest part of the wound. Luckily Chip only screamed twice before passing out.

“I love you too….. You idiot.” She muttered.

She put the knife back in the flames to heat up again. The bleeding was stopping, but there was still a lot of work to be done.

                                                ~                             ~

                                                       ~ End ~