Part Five
By Pebbles
Pebbles@ukgateway.net
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, OK?" 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!