Hatchetfield Stories

Mister 'I-Tip-Five-Bucks-Every-Day-Because-I-Want-The Barista-To-Notice-Me'

Here I am once again posting a helicopter crash fic because that's how I cope with stress for absolutely no logical reason :)

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
-Injury
-Blood
-Amputation
-Panic attack
-Talk about death (but no actual character death)

-------

Ted had run off, so it was just the three of them in the back of the helicopter, a gun pointed at their faces. Emma stared at her coworker, her blue eyes glowing from behind her goggles.

Professor Hidgens twisted Zoey's arm, the gunshot loud in the silence of the night.

The blinding pain that followed the crash was absolutely agonizing, but she choked on her screams, nothing more than a whimper coming from her lips.

Before she even realized what was going on, her professor and Paul were by her side. 'Okay's tumbled from Paul's lips as professor Hidgens inspected the damage the rebar had done.

One look at the gory mess, Emma knew she was fucked. Paul hushed her when she let out a pained moan as the professor carefully moved her leg.

"We have to stop the bleeding before we can move you to safety," he told her, before turning to Paul. "Youngman, could you give me your tie?"

Paul rushed to take his tie off, which probably only made it take longer as he accidentally tightened the knot, but after a few seconds of struggling, he handed the black tie to professor Hidgens.

"Alright. Emma, this will hurt, but it will most likely save your life." Emma nodded slowly. Everything was happening too fast, and the movements of Paul pulling her onto his lap made her head spin and her vision blur. "Paul. Cover her mouth."

"Why?" Paul asked, but doing what he was told.

"She's going to scream, and we can't afford to be found. Can you do that?"

A short silence, followed by a hesitant 'okay'.

The professor's words only frightened her more, and she tensed, leaning against Paul as his hand that wasn't covering her mouth gently stroked her head, trying to bring some comfort to cancel out just a fraction of the pain she was about to experience thanks to Zoey's actions.

Emma closed her eyes when he lifted her leg slightly to wrap the tie around her thigh. The pained screech that came from her throat when he tied the ends together was muffled by Paul's hand. Her back arched as she desperately tried to keep her uninjured leg from kicking out and colliding with her professor's nose.

She was pretty sure that the wet substance making its way up her throat, filling her mouth with an awful metallic taste wasn't a good sign either.

Barely aware of anything but the excruciating pain that came with tightening the tourniquet, she gripped Paul's arm with both hands, not even processing his soft hiss of pain when she dug her nails into his skin as she tried to make it through the blinding pain that took over every inch of her body.

Gasping for air when the professor sat back and Paul pulled his hand away, Emma closed her eyes, trying her best to breathe through the unbearable pain. Choking on her own sobs, her eyes darted around the beach, not being able to focus on anything, but still looking for him in her panicked state.

It took longer than it should've before his blue eyes finally broke through the blur that was her vision. She flinched when she felt the gentle hand cupping her cheek, but leaned into the comforting touch as she slowly became more aware of her surroundings, able to focus on anything other than the pain that radiated from her thigh, though it was still very much present.

Her ragged breathing quickly turned into hyperventilating as her brain finally caught up with the situation. Paul's hands were on her shoulders, and he begged for her to look at him, but his words never reached her panicked mind. More hands were touching her, but she smacked them away, just wanting to lie down and close her eyes and wait for the pain to stop or death to claim her, whichever came first.

Blood dribbled down her chin, staining Paul's clothes when he pulled her closer to both comfort her and muffle her cries. She felt professor Hidgens take her shaking body from Paul's lap, lifting her into his arms, and she cried louder at the movements. Everything was happening too fast. The world was spinning, and she clenched her professor's turtleneck in her fists as her leg screamed in agony with every step they took.

By the time she could finally take in a deep but shaky breath, she could already see the tall gates of the professor's property in the distance.

The gates slid open when professor Hidgens put in the code, and closed behind them with a thump. He led them to the lab and put Emma down on the metal table in the center of the room. The surface was uncomfortable, but Emma laid her head down, forcing herself to relax and focus on the cold table underneath her.

"Alright. This is going to be a tough decision to make, but I'm giving you a choice," professor Hidgens told her. "Paul's tie might be keeping you from bleeding out right now, but if we leave it for too long, it will cause permanent damage to your leg. I do not have the resources to fix your leg properly, so I'm afraid amputation will be our only option."

Emma tensed, sitting up. "Or?"

The professor sighed, looking at his watch. "We don't know how long we'll be stuck here. It could be a couple of minutes, but it could very well be a few weeks. We have approximately two hours before your leg starts dying from the lack of blood. We can, of course, wait until then in case help arrives before that, or we can get it over with. What do you want?"

Paul grabbed her hand, squeezing it softly. "Is there really no other way?"

"Considering we don't know how long this apocalypse will last, no, there isn't."

"Okay..." Emma mumbled. "I want to wait."

Not because I'm scared, she told herself, but help might arrive.

The professor nodded, looking at his watch again. "It is eleven-thirty. Let's say we wait until one. Does that sound alright?"

Emma nodded slowly, and Hidgens shot her a reassuring smile.

"Alright. I'll get everything ready."