The Day After Never (Book 2): Purgatory Road by Blake Russell

Author:Blake, Russell [Blake, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | Dystopian
Publisher: Reprobatio, Ltd.
Published: 2016-05-29T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 26

A day after being found half dead in the dry wash, the Crew boss lay on the steel top of a conference table as a gray-haired man with a neatly trimmed Lincolnic beard and heavy black-rimmed spectacles dug pieces of shrapnel from his wounds.

The man had been working steadily for several hours and occasionally paused to wipe sweat from his brow with a grimy hand towel. The atmosphere in the room was oppressively hot even with the windows open and a fan consuming some of the precious electric power from the rooftop solar array. Other than the low hum of the fan, the only sound was the occasional clank of another piece of metal dropping into an aluminum trash can by the side of the table.

Luis entered and stood with arms folded across his chest, his face somber as he watched. When the man finished with the thigh he’d been working on, he wiped away the blood from Cano’s leg with a rag, this one soaked with moonshine, and then stepped back from the table and took a deep swig from a bottle near the window.

“Steady the nerves,” he said to Luis, whose face could have been carved from granite.

“What do you think?”

“That if he comes out of this coma, he’ll wish he hadn’t.”

Luis’s eyebrows rose. “You think he’ll live?”

“He’s tough as nails, so nothing would surprise me.” The man took another swig. “That’s both legs. I’ll get to the arms next, and then his head. Don’t think I can do anything about his left eye – you can see it’s filled with blood. That’s above my pay grade.”

“Not going to be winning any beauty contests, is he?”

“He can always join the circus.”

The man dropped the pair of bloody forceps he’d been using into a tray filled halfway with alcohol, and made a face. A veterinarian who patched up cartel members when they were wounded, his knowledge of basic surgical procedures was better than anyone’s in the area, but that wasn’t saying much. He’d transitioned from cats and dogs before the collapse to being a human physician, catering to a crowd that wasn’t particular about where it got its care.

“How much longer?” Luis asked.

“At least another couple, three hours. Don’t want to rush it.”

“Can you control the bleeding?”

“You’re welcome to apply pressure wherever you want, but it’s like playing whack-a-mole. He’s clotting okay, though, so I don’t see anything worse than the blood he’s already lost.”

Luis shook his head. “How the hell is he still alive?”

“The short answer is none of his vital organs were damaged, and other than the eye, the wounds on his face and head are flesh wounds. Doesn’t look like anything penetrated all the way through his skull, and his body armor saved his lungs and heart. He probably won’t be in a romantic mood for the next forever, but that’s the least of his concerns.”

“What about after you’re done?”

“I’ll pour another bottle of this fine elixir all over him, salve him with antibacterial ointment, and dose him with fish antibiotics for a week.

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