Copperback (5 page)

Chase
threw the remains of the pant leg on the floor with the rest of the shredded
clothes. He reached up for the other pant leg, and I could see Job’s chest
start to tighten from anxiety.

“You
need to relax. He’s not trying to hurt you.” I was sitting next to him, but
still keeping my distance. Any closer and he might grab for me again.

My words didn’t bring any comfort, but he focused
back on me. I had to keep talking to him to keep his mind elsewhere. “I’m sorry
for how I reacted to you earlier today. I was scared, and I had never seen anyone
like you in my life. I knew you wouldn’t hurt me. I was just supris–”

Before
I could finish, his whole body convulsed. He was gripping the bed, straining
every muscle in his arms and neck. His head rolled back with his eyes shut
tight. I could hear him grunting – breathing rapidly between clenched teeth.
There was nothing I could do to stop it.

I
could see that Chase had just slid the last of the jeans from under his
shattered leg, unintentionally moving it. It was more of a mess than I had
first thought. The swelling around the fracture was much greater than I
expected. Everything looked normal till it reached mid-shin.

His
leg had been contorted at such a grotesque angle that it was causing the bone
to slide up, forming an almost-x shape. The edges of the displaced bone pressed
against the skin, looking as though it would poke out at any moment. The lower
half was twisted outward at ninety degrees, causing the sole of his foot to
face the right leg parallel to his ankle. It looked unrealistic that anything
could bend like that.

The
pain had been a chain reaction. His body, spasming like it did, had caused a
fresh trickle of blood to flow from his side. His left hand moved to cradle his
ribs just above the wound. I hadn’t seen the purple inflamed skin across his
side when he had his shirt on. His breathing was not as even as before, as he
took in short gasping breaths.

Sally
needed to be here now. He was sounding worse, and I didn’t even know where to
start. I couldn’t sit there and watch him die in front of me.

“Chase,
can you go upstairs and see if Sally is here yet? She should have been here by
now.”

He
had been standing away from the bed, afraid to come any closer. After watching Job
wracked with pain, I knew Chase was worried about the same thing I was. He left
the room in a hurry, and I turned back to Job, who was still having trouble
steadying his breath.

“Listen
to me, please. I don’t know you that well, and I’m not sure if I want to. I was
just trying to get my brother out of a scrape. He’s a good kid, and he asked me
to do this. I have someone coming that might be able to help, but if you die
before she gets here, it’s not going to do anyone any good. You have to promise
me you’ll be okay.”

I
had started strong when I spoke, but by the end I was on the verge of tears. It
was crazy for me to think he was going to respond, even crazier that I was
getting emotional over a slave. I almost stood up to walk away. I could hear him
slow his gasps. He made an attempt to clear his throat and swallow. Staring at
the ceiling, he licked his dry, swollen lips, getting enough saliva to talk.

“I
promise,” he whispered in a weak voice.

The
sound of his voice was shocking. I had no connection to this slave – this man
in my basement – but in his two words of hope, I felt like this would all blow
over and everything would return to normal. I didn’t know if he even knew what
a promise was, but I willing to take anything I could get at this point.

I
could hear the two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs: the first set,
light and slow; the other, heavy from the excess of weight. The
cavalry
had arrived, and it was a relief to see her. Sally had with her the largest
first-aid kit I have ever seen. Carrying it in one hand, she nearly toppled
over as the items inside shifted. Trying to balance, she used the other hand to
hold the hand rail.

Seeing
him as disfigured as he was didn’t seem to faze her in the slightest. I assumed
she had seen worse before, after years working in an emergency room. I had made
sure not to leave out any details on the phone. She needed to be prepared for
what we were dealing with.

Sally
briefly surveyed him from a distance. She set the giant case gently down on the
bed next to him and opened it to examine what tools she would need. Reaching
in, she found a pair of latex gloves and put them on, then proceeded to pull
out a large wad of gauze, still wrapped up in its sterile packaging.

“Can
you tell me what happened?” she asked Job. She wore her warm friendly smile as
usual, but her tone was still as serious as it had been on the phone. Her
question sounded like the first one a doctor would ask when you went for a
visit. It was obvious he was beaten and hit by a truck, but she still asked, as
though he would shed light on the accident a different way.

“He
doesn’t talk. Or at least, I never have heard him talk before,” Chase said. He lingered
against the far wall, trying to give her room to work.

Chase
was barely holding his composure together. He was trying to watch everything going
on, but his concentration was failing. When he had left the bar, he may have
only had a buzz going, but now at an hour later, that feeling had multiplied. Without
the constant adrenalin running in his veins, the alcohol was taking over, and I
could see he was ready to stumble to the floor.

I
wasn’t about to tell either one of them that Job had said anything to me. Saying
aloud that I had practically begged him to live for the sake of my brother, and
had him answer back, would have put me back on edge again. I didn’t want to
explain the crazy conversation I had just a few minutes earlier. I wasn’t
willing to share with anyone that I had broken down over someone as meaningless
as him. It felt wrong to grow attached to someone that might not even make it
through the night, and would be gone either way by morning.

“I
think he’s in a lot of pain. Is there anything you can do for that, before you
start?” I requested for him. It was the least I could do.

“I
don’t think I can help with that,” she said doubtfully. “Even if I could, I
wouldn’t know what to use. I don’t know much about Sayners or their chemistry,
and I only brought standard supplies. I’m not sure even aspirin would work for
him. Unless he can tell us what he can have, I have to do this without.”

She
had been looking at him when she spoke, hoping to get him to speak up. He just
laid there staring at me again, like he hadn’t even heard her, his scared eyes
still questioning where he was and what was happening. He either didn’t know,
or he was being stubborn. I knew he was going to feel worse before he felt
better. The whole situation wasn’t sitting right with me.

Sally
made it around to the side of the bed to get a closer look at the wound. She
used the corner of the gauze to wipe away the blood that had accumulated again.
With her fingers, she pressed against the outside edges of the puncture, forcing
the skin away from the metal embedded into his abdomen, causing him to quicken
his breath again, gritting his teeth to keep silent.

“It’s
copper. It doesn’t look too deep, but I won’t be able to take it out until
everything else is done. Once it is out, he’s going to shift when we touch him,
and it will make stitching and setting his leg impossible. I’ll have to start
somewhere else first.” She looked him over, deciding where to start. “Were you
able to find anything we can use as a splint?”

I
showed her the yard stick and elastic bandage I had found. She nodded in
approval and asked Chase to find her a sheet and some pillows. He jumped at the
opportunity to leave again and wobbled up the stairs.

She
continued moving her hands across the rest of his body, pressing down in
different places on his abdomen, watching for his reactions and checking for
spots that were tender. She even slid her hands around to his back and neck. It
looked like a game of hot or cold, the way he responded. As she moved near a
sensitive area, his hand grabbed the sheet tight, holding on and waiting for
the agony to start again. Some areas brought on the spasms again, while others
he remained calm for. Aside from the obvious places – in which she checked
thoroughly as well – most of the tenderness was in his abdomen, even though I
couldn’t see it.

 “Is
he going to be alright?” I asked, still concerned.

“I
don’t know,” she responded, as though Job wasn’t in the room. “I’ve never done
anything like this before, and without X-rays or a doctor, it’s hard to tell
for sure how extensive everything is.” There was a sigh. “From what I can see, he
more than likely has some broken ribs, and that is making it hard for him to
breathe. There could also be a collapsed lung. He may have fractures in his
face, but there is no sure way of knowing right now till the swelling comes
down. His leg is definitely broken in two places – maybe more. From the angle
it’s in, all I can do is hope I can get it lined up right and keep it stable.
Usually something like that would require surgery.” There was another long
sigh. “The part I’m worried about is there is a good chance he is bleeding
internally. I can’t see how badly, but without the right tools – I don’t expect
him to make it through the night. I will do everything I can, but the rest is
going to be up to him.”

Hearing
the news was a devastating blow. I had pulled her from bed in the middle of the
night to have her tell me it was pretty much hopeless. Chase wouldn’t handle
the news well, and I was equally concerned with where to put the body when it
was over as I was with how Job was going to handle a slow and painful death.
Suffering in the last moments of life would not be the way I would choose to go.
I would beg someone to kill me first. He needed to overcome his fear of
speaking up if he had a final request. He remained silent.

Chase
returned, carrying a yellow floral print sheet and matching pillows from my
bed. How wrong of me it was to think about not giving them up for this cause,
but I didn’t have many nice types of linen to choose from. He could have at
least taken something from the closet, or used a blanket instead of my only
pillows. I was just going to have to steal from the couch until he left.

Sally
made quick work of the sheet – pulling it from opposite corners and rolling it
up into a rope to get the most length out of it. She looped the middle around
the back of his left ankle, bringing the sheet together over the top of his
foot and tying it around. I wanted to question her on the technique she was
using, but I dismissed it as she had been a nurse, and knew more than I would
about the matter.

Job
watched what she was doing and began to take in deeper gulps of air, each one
rasping against the splintered bones in his chest. He was trying to slide away
with his hands, but the agony that shot through his body again forced him to
stop. He was trapped, and didn’t have any choice but to lie there and let her
help. I had to reassure him that it was in his best interest to stay.

“You
need to calm down,” I said. “It will feel better when she’s done.”

My
comment got him to stop moving around, but his hand was still gripping the bed,
making his knuckles go white. All the color seemed to run out of his face. Job knew
what was coming next. His apprehension was getting the best of me, and I got up
to leave before I could be roped into helping. Chase was on the same page, as
he was closer to the stairs and scooting along the wall, hoping to go
unnoticed.

“I
need you both to stay and help,” Sally firmly interrupted our quick exit.” One
of you is going to have to hold him down so he doesn’t slide off the bed, while
the other needs to hold the sheet to help me pull his leg into place.”

“You
plan on knocking him out first – right?” I couldn’t fathom anything else.

“With
what? I’m not going to beat him in the head till he’s unconscious. I don’t
really have much of a choice here. It shouldn’t take too long,” Sally replied,
sounding uncertain.

Neither
Chase nor I wanted to be there. We had already seen him suffer enough, and I
could feel my stomach lurching at the thought of him being awake through the
impending torture. Chase hesitantly reached for the sheet and wrapped the ends
around his hand to get a good grip. I knew he was stronger and more equipped
for pulling than I would have been. I stayed where I was, steadying my hands on
his upper chest and shoulder, leaning into him. I could feel the warmth of his
skin and quick pace of his heart under my hands. He turned his head to look at
me again. I could see from his face he was terrified. His one wide eye stared at
me. His look was begging me to stop. I needed him to tell her. I wanted to tell
Sally that we could wait, but I knew that there were other injuries to attend
to after this that couldn’t.

“On
the count of three, we need to pull,” she said, mounting her large, beefy hands
below his knee.

I
pressed firmly against his chest, putting all my weight into it. I wanted to
say something comforting to him. The best I could do was mouth to him I was
sorry. I wasn’t sure if he would understand.

“One.”

He
kept staring at me, his eye growing wider. It caught the reflection of light
for a split second, reflecting the gold glimmer in it. I knew in my heart he
had the choice to speak up. He knew what we were about to do and wouldn’t stop
it. He could have asked me for anything in that moment and I would have done it
to make it easier. It wasn’t fair. I may have disliked his species, but I was
not inhumane.

“Two.”

My
stomach knotted, and I could feel my dinner coming up the back of my throat. I
swallowed hard, keeping it where it belonged, making an attempt to keep anyone from
noticing. His one good eye burned through me with terror; I shut my eyes so I
at least didn’t have to watch him. His face was going to contort and the
expression would be too much for me. I would let go and he would end up on the
floor in worse shape than currently. I already felt guilty enough.

“Three.”

I
expected to hear a sickening snap from his leg as it was ripped back into
place. If there was, I couldn’t hear it over his instant screams of agony.
There was no stifling them. It was a long, pitiful sound I had never heard from
anything before and seemed to continue in one breath. He became rigid, and as
hard as I pressed into him, he pushed back – arching his body, trying to make
me let go. Every pull I could feel from his lower half brought another
crescendo of excruciating cries.

At
last, he breathed in deeply and then stopped for a moment, catching his breath.
The tugging had stopped. It was over before he could start back up. I had
opened my eyes in time for another sudden yank and a cracking sound from below.
His next howl started up. It was even worse than before.

The
look on his face couldn’t be described. His mouth had become so wide I could
see down to the back of his throat, his perfect white teeth absent of fillings.
Every blue vein in his face and neck bulged against his skin like it was tissue
paper, and his tan skin had become red from the pressure. I leaned into him
again, but this time there was no holding him down. He was far stronger than me,
and his arching back nearly threw me off like a bucking bronco.

I
thought it would only last a few seconds and then be over, but his spasms were
not letting up. The movies always showed one pull, one scream, and one snap and
it was done, but this felt like an eternity. Even though it had only been a
couple of minutes, the wretched cry continued on. I turned my head away from
him to see why the process was taking so long. Sally was giving Chase orders on
how hard to pull, while still trying to manipulate the splintered bones back
into alignment. His leg was much straighter than before, but his foot was still
severely turned outward. I could hear Job draw in another lungful of air,
preparing for another guttural scream, but it never came.

Everything
in the room had stopped. His body fell limp under my weight and I drew my hands
back in alarm. The pulling from below ceased as everyone held their breath,
waiting for me to confirm whether he had survived the torture or not.

“Is
he breathing, Emily?” Sally asked. Her voice was hard to hear, since my ears still
rang with the sound of his screams.

Hesitantly,
I placed a hand on his chest. It continued to rise and fall, slowly and erratically,
with each labored breath. I could still feel his heart pounding and knew he had
just passed out. I wasn’t surprised; the body can only endure so much before it
shuts down. Even one that wasn’t human.          I was just relieved he was
still alive.

“I
think he’s out of it,” I said, trying to get control of my shaking hands. I was
still pressing into him, but I didn’t have to hold him down as hard as when he
had been thrashing about.