When the Clock strikes 12

Chapter 8 [Xavier's Path] - Day 8 - The Cursed Man

Devan awoke to the bitter winter cold and a nose so runny it made a cheetah look like molasses, "Ugh, I hate these allergies.". He disgruntledly put on his jacket and stepped outside to cook breakfast. As Devan was preparing breakfast, he started to think about Xavier, "I wonder how Xavier's doing?" He paused, "Probably not very well." Devan absent mindedly started to scramble the eggs, "Yeah, I think that I should head back for him, it's the right thing to do." .Devan got out his notepad and pencil and wrote a note for Kathryn, [I'll be gone for a bit, if I'm not back in 30 go to Xavier   -Devan]

When Devan and Kathryn drove away from Jake they took many detours to get their destination. This turned out to be a brilliant plan, as Jake would be forced to follow these detour to confirm he was going in the right direction. This also meant that the actual time needed to drive to Xavier's location was much less than time than was originally taken. Devan, of course, realized this, and estimated that it would take 15 minutes to get to Xavier's location. It took a total of 15 minutes to arrive at Xavier's locations, just as he had suspected. 

However, when Devan arrived, he also discovered something he didn't suspect. Laying on the floor, covered in a pool of his own blood was Xavier. "OH GOD!" Xavier was covered head to toe with deep stab wounds, no doubt the work of a maniac, "D-De... van..." Xavier barely managed to open his eyes, "Wh... y... ca... n't... I... shu... t... up...". Thinking quickly, Devan ran back to the van and grabbed the first aid kit left in the glove box and started wrapping Xavier's wounds. The injured man went in and out of consciousness, only ever managing to utter the words, "Tha... nks..." and "So... rry..." as he was bandaged. There were about 10 stab wounds in total, and it took a grueling 5 minutes and all the bandage in the kit to treat Xavier's wounds, "What the hell happened?" Devan had a look of concern far beyond he had ever experienced, "Foo.. d..." Xavier said in small fragments. Devan immediately complied and got some food and water out of his van.

"So what happened to you?" Devan asked as he pour water into Xavier's mouth, "I... was attacked..." Devan cocked his head to one side in a dog-like fashion, "By who?" Xavier took a deep breath, "My..." just as he was about to finish talking, he fell asleep, "Xavier!" Devan shook him awake, then fed the starving man a piece of cheese, "Now chew." Devan watched as Xavier made a weak attempt at chewing the cheese. After Xavier finished eating the cheese, he fell asleep once again, "Might as well bring him to the car." the infected was then carried into the passenger seat of the van.

When Devan pulled into the parking building, Kathryn was scarfing down the egg he had cooked for her, the egg had already gotten cold by the time Kathryn woke up, but she was enjoying it nonetheless. "Hey, Devan!" Kathryn said between bites, "I saw your note, is Xavier alright?" Devan hopped out of the van, revealing Xavier who lay asleep in the passenger seat, "When I found him he had deep cuts all across his body, and he seemed very hungry as well" Kathryn's face filled with concern, Devan continued, "I wrapped bandages and gauze around the cuts and fed him some food and water, so he needs to rest. I'll need to monitor him during the starvation point to make sure he doesn't hurt himself further." Kathryn nodded her head, unsure of what to say. "We'd better sleep the night again, I don't think gunshots would be a very good way for Xavier to wake up" retaining her stunned expression, Kathryn retrieved the razor wire from the car and handed some to Devan.

END