Shelter (Alaska 4)
#4 of Alaska (Thriller)
Shelter (Alaska 4)
*
"MISTER NEIL! MISTER NEIL!"
"Oh what's up with her again?" Ivan snorted, the bear scowling quite a lot while his ears dropped.
"Should we go and check?" David asked from the bear's side, the Rottweiler looking more concerned than announced. "Maybe something's wrong with the fire?"
"Well she is shouting for me," said Neil. The fox dropped the torn pillow he'd been looking at and headed out of the wreck of the tail of the plane. He waded through the freezing water and stepped onto some dry rocks as soon as it was feasible.
"MISTER NEIL!"
"WHAT IS IT?" he cupped his paws over his muzzle to amplify his voice .
"HE'S SICK! YOUR MAN'S SICK!"
The fox began to run, just as the bear's head poked out of the wreck to see the red-furred male hurrying along the smooth rocks and towards their makeshift camp site, tail flying behind him.
He almost stumbled several times, but he did not stop, and seemed to not care for the near-misses that happened before he reached their encampment on the shade of the trees. The fire was still burning, so that was certainly not of concern - Diane had not joked about her Scouting experience, and much to their astonishment, she had actually managed to get the fire going and it seemed like it would also keep doing so, without even putting out an atrocious puff of smoke that'd threaten to choke them all.
No, the worry wasn' t the fire, the fur-wearing cougar or her photographer Ramon, who laid down near the fire for warmth. Diane herself was crouching next to the kneeling form of Glenn, Neil's partner, whom was once again about to double over and retch onto the grounds.
"Oh thank God..." Diane rumbled.
"He looks pretty sick!" Ramon added, through the mask of the fire.
Neil was down by the wolf in an instant, then, not caring of the somewhat sharp rock that pressed against his knee. The wolf was retching, ears flat and his tail tense, paws pressing onto the mossy ground. The fox put his paws onto his arm and held him.
"Just keep breathing," he spoke firmly, his own tail and ears as downcast as those of the wolf, let alone the cougar who supported the wolf from the other side, "just keep breathing, let it all come when it does, if it does."
"He just made this funny sound and started to puke," Diane said, "though he was going to faint or something but he just threw up all over the ground."
"It's probably the concussion," Neil said tensely.
The wolf heaved, coughed, spat to the ground and blinked a couple of times with watery eyes. He snorted, and slime came copiously out of his nostrils as well.
"Just let it come out," Neil said while rubbing the wolf's back, "you'll feel better once it's all out."
"YOU GUYS NEED HELP?" his ears picked up David's voice, coming from the wreck.
"WE'RE FINE!" he called back. He didn't want the wolf become crowded by curious, if worried onlookers. That might make him feel even worse by making him self-conscious. He seemed to be not too well off already.
"Do you think something's wrong?" Diane asked.
"It's probably because he hit his head," the fox replied, "vomiting is a common symptom of a concussion. We know he's hit his head."
"Can you do anything?"
"He needs water, as soon as he's stopped vomiting," the fox said. "He needs to rest."
"I don't feel so good..." Glenn mumbled.
"Just keep breathing slowly through your nose," Neil told to the wolf in a gentle voice, "you'll feel better soon."
"Throwing up sucks" Diane said.
Neil glanced at the yellowish mess down on the ground and felt his own stomach churn. There hadn't been anything there since the breakfast at the hotel and some coffee on the plane. It'd been hours since he had eaten a proper meal. How long had they been there anyway, on the shore of the nameless river? The sun couldn't really be seen from the overcast grey sky. He could only guess.
It seemed to abate now, though, the wolf breathing more steadily, and only spitting down to the ground now.
"Ugh...terrible" he said.
"Let's try sitting down, okay?" Neil suggested to the wolf. "Can you help me move him, Diane?"
"Sure," she said.
Together, they hauled the sizeable wolf down to sit by the fire again. He shook his head and rubbed his neck once he was back there, and made a face.
"Damn my head feels funny," he said.
"What does it feel like?" Neil asked. "do you feel faint? Like you are about to fall asleep, or can't stay upright, or something like that?"
"Just funny...and hurts."
"Look me in the eye," Neil told the wolf. Glenn turned his head rather slowly, wincing as he did so, before he met the fox's eyes.
"Hey," he said.
"Try not to blink..." the fox peered carefully into his partner's eyes, "your pupils are equal...good."
"Always the doctor, eh?" the wolf said.
Neil's ears flicked curiously.
"Do you remember that I'm a doctor?" he asked as he took the wolf's paws into his own. "Squeeze my paws, please."
The wolf did, without hesitation.
"Of course I do," he snorted noisily, "you're always on call."
"I know I am," Neil said, "I'm not too happy about that most of the time, though."
"It's okay," the wolf said. "I know you're busy."
"Talk about a romantic getaway," Neil muttered.
"I'm starting to feel a bit cold again," Glenn said.
"Just keep close to the fire," Neil said, "Diane will look after you while I'm going to search the plane, alright?"
"Yes," the wolf nodded. "I'll stay here."
The fox squeezed his shoulder once more before he got up.
"Good. You just sit and relax."
"Okay."
He made his way back to the wrecked plane more slowly than before, thoughtful of the wolf's condition. It didn't bear much thinking lest it's overtake him and get through the careful control the fox had managed to keep up for the moment. If he'd let himself go...there was no knowing how everything would turn out.
"Think it is...it's gotta be..."
_ _
"Should I point the light further up?"
_ _
"Yeah...past my shoulder if you can?"
_ _
"Sure!"
_ _
He heard their voices before he saw them, somewhere on the very back, with the bear pressed very close to the rear while the Rottweiler was giving him light with the Maglite retrieved from one of the dead pilots still strapped to their seats on the crushed nose of the plane.
"What's going on?" Neil asked.
"Ivan thinks he's found something," David replied.
"And not just thinking, but I'm seeing something...just difficult to reach...fuck it...there's something in front of it...damn...I think I cut myself..."
"Be careful!" Neil called out.
"Maybe one of us with smaller paws should try to reach it?" David suggested.
"I'm still close to it..." the bear grumbled. "Just a little closer...yeah...yes...yes...there's the handle...is that a strap I feel...hmmm....shit..."
There was a scraping noise, some more cursing from the bear, a clank, and snap, a pop, some more cursing, and then a victorious growl.
"There's that sonofabitch.."
He yanked his big paw backwards and upon it he held an orange plastic box, about one feet long, not quite so big across, stamped with lettering and carefully closed with plastic straps.
"Fucking found it!" he said. "Gotten smashed back in there but it seems to be okay."
"What is it?" David asked.
"The emergency kit," the bear said, "damn it's heavy..."
He shook the plastic box and it made a rattle. It had a small crack going down one side, a very thin one, but otherwise it seemed undamaged.
"Fuck yes," Ivan said, "it might not be much, but there just might be something good we can use."
David pointed his light eagerly at the box, which the bear held with reverence.
"Shall we get back to the camp to open it?" David asked.
"We better look around a bit more before that," Neil said, "we need something to boil water with. We all need something warm to drink if we want to keep ourselves from getting hypothermia. We obviously have all the water we need, it's fresh water, but it needs to be boiled to be safe, and the warmth will help us too."
"That makes sense," David said.
"Well we need something to use as a kettle, obviously," Ivan mused, the box held carefully in his big paws, "the plane doesn't really have a kitchen, though...not sure if we could use any parts of the engines or the like."
"We better think of something," Neil said. "The water is essential. We can survive days without food but only hours without water, at least comfortably."
"We need food too," Ivan said, "the body needs it to keep warm."
"Haven't really found much to eat except a couple of chocolate bars," David said, "and I think there was one full Coke can and one Sprite, but that was broken on the rocks. A few empty cans too in a trashbag I found."
"That's it," Neil said. "Where's the trash?"
"The bag's by the plane where I dropped it," David said.
"We can use the cans to boil water," Neil said, "just have to maybe cut them open a bit, or maybe...uh...figure out some way how to handle them when they are hot."
"With the Leatherman," Ivan said, "just use the pliers."
"Great," Neil replied. "Let's grab everything and get there. We have to get out of here and dry ourselves. We've been standing around in the water for too long already."
"Agreed," Ivan made a face. "We're freezing our toes off here."
"Let's get back to the camp, then!" David yelped.
*
"How is he?" Neil asked as soon as they reached the camp and he could speak to Diane, still sitting by the dazed wolf.
"He's been fine, I think," the cougar replied. "He hasn't thrown up or anything?"
"How're you holding up?" Neil asked from the wolf directly once he could crouch down next to him.
"I'm okay," the wolf smiled a little to the fox, "my head hurts a bit though."
"I know it does," he touched the wolf's arm gently, "and we found the emergency supplies, there might be some pain killers there."
"We better open this and see what's inside," Ivan said as he put down the box onto the ground over a suitably flat rock.
The latches were snapped open easily, to reveal the contents. It was a tangled mess of plastic-wrapped items, packed as compactly as possible so that there was no empty space within the box. Ivan let out a whistle at the sight.
"Looks like my grandma's jewelry box," he mused. "Wonder if there's any brooches in here."
"Does it have a tent in it?" Diane asked. "We need some kind of a housing."
"I don't think it's that well equipped," the bear replied. "But there's a knife and a compass here...and what looks like a space blanket...matches..."
"Better make sure we don't lose anything," David said, "don't drop any of it to the ground."
"I know we're depending on this," the bear harrumphed, "I'm not exactly going to be throwing it around."
Neil left the wolf's side and took the few steps needed to get to the other side of their makeshift firepit so that he too could take place in the unwrapping of the emergency survival kit.
"That must be medical supplies," he pointed out a plastic bag, "there's bandages in it."
The bear plucked the packet out of the box and handed it to the fox.
"You heard the man, don't drop anything," he said.
"I don't intend to," Neil replied.
He popped the Ziploc bag open and began to explore the contents, careful not to get anything misplaced.
"Flares... some food...rope...tape..." Ivan listed out while poking around the box, "matches...phew...chapstick..."
Diane let out a surprised trill.
"Are you serious?" she sounded excited.
Ivan held up the tube between his two big fingers.
"I ain't kidding."
"Oh thank God," Diane said.
"Any morphine in there doc?" Ramon called out to Neil, who was still browsing the contents of the medical section of the kit. "Could really use some I think."
"It seems a bit more basic than that I'm afraid," the fox replied to the injured jaguar, one paw inside the plastic bag, "there's bandages, disinfectants, band-aids, alcohol pads, tape...hmm...tablets.."
He pinched one of the little plastic bags between his pads and pulled it out for more careful study.
"...aspirin..."
"Well that'll do little good," the jaguar snorted.
"Anything there for headache?" Glenn asked.
"I can't give either of you the aspirin," Neil stuffed the little pouch back into the plastic bag, "it might cause internal bleeding, since you've been pretty banged up."
"Is that a medical term, doc?" Ramon asked.
"Yes," the fox said, "hmm...cold relief...probably not the kind of cold we're having to cope with...ah...Tylenol. Now we're talking."
"It's not dope but I'll take that," Ramon said.
*