Part 9 : In The Meantime

“Son of a bitch,” Tony muttered at the pain.

Marita gently removed the blindfold bandage. Blood was streaming down the doctor’s face and the piece of cloth in his eye socket was soaked with blood. The doctor picked it out and felt of it. Blood dripped from the soaked cloth. Kristy felt like puking. The doctor then tossed the cloth into the fire, flicking in the flames. “I need another one.” He mentioned.

Eddie ran over to the pile of clothing they had scavenged and began making another bandage. He then brought it over to his new friend. Tony thanked him and then held out the cloth. “Pour some of the vodka onto it.” He said.

Marita did pour a little on it. Tony then placed it into his eye, wincing from the pain. The stewardess quickly wrapped his eyes back up. “How did you get such a wound, doctor?” asked Martin.

“Bad luck, Martin, “he gritted his teeth, “I was looking out my window when the ship broke off. The glass exploded in my face.”

“Goodness,” whispered Kristy.

“Yeah, can’t do much about it now. Just have to hope I can stabilize the wound until the rescue part gets here.”

“When do you think they are coming, sir?” asked Martin.

“Well, I don’t really know. First they have to know we are missing. Then they have to find us. Then they got to assemble the party. Such a thing is not done over night. I estimate four days. Maybe five.”

“Oh, my God, a week in this place.” Kristy exasperated.

“We’ll be fine, Kristy. As long as we don’t have any more incidents like this morning.”

“I’ll say, “Marita commented, “You can’t stabilize that wound if it doesn’t stop bleeding.”

“Thanks for your concern, Marita. In the mean time, can you hand me some more Advil?”

As she was helping the doctor with the medicine, John and McKay had arrived back. They were shirtless, sweating and gulping for air. Martin and Kristy introduced themselves, and the tired men responded with a simple wave. Tony responded after he swallowed three Advil. “John, why are you breathing so hard?” he asked.

“We found my friend Ramon,” he coughed, “We buried him.”

“Give them some water,” Tony said to anyone, “That was foolish, John.”

“Huh?” he said, gulping the water, “Why?”

“Water supply is low. You do that much work in this heat; you’ll need to consume more water. The rescue party may not get here for another four days, and any one us could die in dehydration in those days.”

John didn’t say anything. He didn’t like being lectured but Tony made a valid point. McKay didn’t say anything either. “You are right, Tony, “John huffed, “But given the circumstances, what could I have done? He’s my best friend. I couldn’t leave him to rot in the sun. What was I supposed to do?”

Tony massaged his hand and lowered his head. “Now that I am thinking about, you should have burned him.”

“Burned him?” Marita asked.

“The others too. We waste energy trying to bury them, plus if we leave them out like that, they’ll spread flies and maggots. In the end, it’s more sanitary.”

“That’s not a bad idea, “McKay said, “But what can we burn them with? My Zippo might not be able to get the fire going enough to take them all.”

“Marita, that Vodka, “the doctor pointed, “Is it flavored?”

She examined the bottle. After looking at it for a few seconds, “Not that I can tell.”

“Use that, McKay. When Vodka is not flavored, its pure ethanol and water. It’s flammable enough.”

Marita handed McKay the bottle. The Australian looked it over, reading the label. “Everclear Vodka, “ he sighed, “Shame to waste such a fine drink. Where did you get?”

“Got into a fight with that bald man over it,” Eddie pointed.

“What?” gasped John, “REALLY?”

“Fraid so,” Tony moaned, “The guy was fighting for it, like he had a habit.”

“He might just be that, doc, “ McKay said, looking at the giant man, “That’s Henry Poteet.”

“How do you know him, McKay?”

“I sat next to the bloody psycho on the plane. When one of the stewardess brought us drinks, he had de damn nerve to ask for mine.”

Tony massaged his chin, thinking. If what McKay said is correct, then Poteet might actually be a full blown alcoholic. That might make relations with the other survivors pretty strange. Before Tony could say anything else, he heard an explosion in the distance. Then it repeated. It took his senses a few second to realize it wasn’t bombs going off, it was thunder.

There was a storm coming.