She could try to cauterize it but dismissed that idea. She asked for his knife again and cut off more of her shirt until the material was just under her breasts. She locked her teeth together, hating how she would have to hurt him.
“I’m packing the wound and afterward, I’m going to tie it off. The pressure from the filler will stop or greatly slow the bleeding but it’s going to hurt.”
“Do it but just hurry, Trisha. I need to be on my feet. They will open fire on us again at any time. They aren’t just going to go away as much as we wish they would.”
Trisha balled up a small piece of her shirt and packed it into the hole. It was extreme but she didn’t have a choice. She studied it, saw a decrease in the bleeding, and wrapped a strip tightly around his arm to hold it in place, before tying it off. Long seconds ticked past while she watched the bandage but the bleeding seemed to have stopped.
“Try to keep that arm as immobile as you can. This isn’t exactly a fix but more of an emergency temporary patch.”
He nodded, stood, and shoved the side table back in front of her to shield her from stray bullets. “Thanks.”
Harley retook his position by the front door while Brass stood by the back wall. Suddenly Brass and Harley chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Trisha glanced between them, wondering if the stress of the situation had finally gotten to them.
Brass looked relieved when he glanced her way. “We have company. The neighbors are on their way to welcome our guests. I can pick up their scents.”
“At least four.” Harley inhaled. “And Valiant is one of them.”
“Poor bastards,” Moon chimed in from above. “This is going to be interesting.”
Trisha just wanted it to be over. She wished she could see what was going on outside but bullets suddenly tore through the cabin again.“Full frontal assault,” Moon yelled. “They are going for one of the trucks.”
“Trisha,” Harley yelled, running for her. “Get out of there!”
Trisha shoved at the table and knocked it aside. Bullets struck the wall near Brass as he loudly cursed. Harley suddenly gripped Trisha’s arm as she struggled to get to her feet and yanked her toward the stairs. He kept his body between hers and the front of the cabin. Bullets tore through the room from the front of the cabin, embedding in walls and glass shattered.
“Get up there,” Harley snarled.
He released Trisha at the bottom of the stairs. She ran and reached the top before she realized Harley hadn’t followed her. She turned and saw him lying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Brass rushed the fallen man, grabbed him with both hands, lifted and dumped him over his shoulder to pound up the stairs.
“Trisha, get on the bed,” Brass snarled at her, tossing Harley’s limp form on it first. “Get behind him and stay flat.”
Trisha heard the distinct sound of an engine seconds before an explosion of noise boomed through the cabin so loudly it hurt her ears. She threw herself onto the bed next to Harley. The cabin shook as though an earthquake had hit—one sharp jolt of movement. She screamed, terrified, as wood snapped and groaned. More glass shattered and crunched from somewhere below them on the first floor. The sound of an engine seemed super noisy, as if it were next to Trisha.
“They breached the front wall,” Moon roared.
“Breached it hell,” Brass snarled back. “That truck is parked inside the living room now.”
Trisha saw that Brass took position at the top of the stairs where he’d thrown his body flat onto his stomach. He started firing at something below and gunfire became deafening to the point that Trisha covered her ears. She couldn’t look away from her friend though, too worried for him.
“Keep your head down, Trisha,” Moon yelled at her.
The engine died and someone screamed from below as Brass kept firing. He dropped a clip, snapped another one in and continued shooting after a pause of only seconds. Moon fired his weapon from the window.
Trisha’s heart pounded. Those men had driven a truck through the front of the cabin. Bullets tore up the floor by the bed where Trisha watched holes appear in the wood and continued on through the roof. Debris rained down. Trisha turned in to Harley’s still form and she grabbed him, clinging, until she realized her hand felt wet and warm on Harley.
Blood. He’s bleeding. She opened her eyes to stare in horrified shock at Harley, sprawled on his back. Her hand over his heart on his chest lifted and it was covered in blood. All hell broke loose around her as men yelled, guns were fired and the cabin continued to be riddled with bullets. Trisha hated feeling helpless as she stared at her bloodied hand, knowing if she sat up she’d be of no use to him with bullets slamming into her as well.
A loud roar sounded over the shouting, the gunfire, and the cabin being sliced apart by bullets. Trisha had heard that ear-splitting roar before. It sounded as if Valiant had entered the cabin.
Chapter Eighteen
Trisha felt hot tears running down her face when the gunfire ceased. She heard another roar, closely followed by something similar to a wolf’s howl. She lifted her head and watched Brass shove up from the floor. Moon hovered by the window grinning.
“You should see this. There’s about ten of ours out there now and they have the assholes. One son of a bitch is trying to run from Valiant. Oops. He thought he could flee from Valiant. Now he’s a flying…ouch. He was doing a bird impression but now he’s part of a tree. Well, he was until his body hit the ground. Now he’s dead.” Moon chuckled. “That had to hurt. It seems the last thing on his mind was bark.”
Trisha fought her way to her knees to stare down at Harley, realizing he wasn’t moving at all and instantly reached for his neck. A sob tore from her throat when she didn’t find a pulse. She frantically gripped his shirt and tore it open to examine a gaping wound on the left side of his chest.
“Oh no,” Brass gasped.
Trisha moved. It was hard to do on the soft mattress but she got beside Harley and she tilted his head to open up his airway. Trisha leaned over him, gripping his nose with one hand, supported him with the hand behind his neck, and covered his mouth to start breathing for him. She blew in air, shifted her gaze to watch his chest rise, and sat up. She released him to press her hands together over his chest above the wound. She counted in her head as she did compressions.
“Trisha?” It was Slade’s voice and he was close.
“Get help,” she gasped in air and blew into Harley’s mouth. She forced air into his lungs again. She did more chest compressions. “Life flight. Nearest trauma center. Hurry.”
“Trisha?” Slade was very near, almost as if he were on the bed behind her. “He’s gone.”
Trisha forced air into Harley’s lungs again. “No!” She refused to give up. He’d used his body to shield her to reach the stairs. He’d taken bullets protecting her and the baby. No way would she give up on him. She’d saved patients with worse wounds before.
She kept going until she stopped, checked his pulse, and nearly collapsed with relief. “I’ve got a heartbeat.” She stared at his face to make sure he continued breathing. Relief swept through her as he took a breath on his own and then another. His pulse was weak but there.
Trisha studied his chest to discover it was a sucking wound, telling her that his lung had been compromised. “Someone get me something plastic, now. A Baggie, anything. Hurry. His lung will collapse.”
Someone handed her a new, folded trash bag and she went to work while Harley kept breathing on his own. She put pressure on the bleeding wound over his chest. She just had to be careful not to put too much weight down for fear of collapsing the injured lung. Forever seemed to pass as Trisha knelt over him until she finally heard a helicopter.
Arms gripped Trisha around her waist. “Help is here. They can’t see you, Doc. No one can. Let him go. Moon will hold that in place for you.” Slade held her, speaking softly against her ear. “Come on, sweet thing. You’ve done all you can do. They aren’t our people inside that helicopter, they are yours, and if you stay there will be too many questions.”“Take her out the back window,” Brass ordered softly.
Trisha twisted her head to stare at Slade. “I’m the New Species doctor and he needs me.”
Slade hugged her harder against his body. “Think of the baby, Trisha. They can do for him what you could.” He lifted her completely away from the bed and hurried toward a back window.
Brass kicked out what was left of the window. Bullets had broken it mostly out but sharp, jagged corners had remained. Brass stepped through the window first and onto the porch roof, only to disappear over the edge. Slade gripped Trisha, turned her inside the cradle of his arms and bent. They barely fit through the opening but then they stood on the roof. Slade walked to the edge to peer down.
“Harley needs me. Put me down, Slade.” She frantically wiggled, trying to get a look at the bed, and caught a glimpse of her friend lying still with Moon huddled over him. “Please? I’m a doctor!”
Slade seemed to be ignoring her as he spoke to someone else. “Can you catch her?”
“I can,” Valiant growled. “Drop her.”
Drop me? Trisha’s eyes widened as she stared at Slade, pulled from her frantic need to monitor Harley’s condition. Slade’s grim expression didn’t reassure her.