More Than Human

Chapter 57: Medical Jargon

Price got the team transported to a nearby hospital and made sure they had some doctors with monster experience on standby. They had a variety of issues that needed to be dealt with and treated. Price's main focus was on his boys, so he left the rest of the men to aid the other released monsters from the facility.

They got everyone covered up in emergency blankets on the ride to the hospital as all of their clothes and equipment had been confiscated. Roach had done his best to explain to Ghost the extent of Soap's damages. How they had been feeding him silver and then treating him with Rudy's tears to keep him alive. Apparently Soap had experienced multiple seizures in this time. As soon as Roach saw that the power had been cut he had run out of his cell and into Soap's to get him out. He could have gotten himself out, but he didn't. He kept Soap safe.

Just when Ghost thought he couldn't possibly owe Gary anymore.

The doctors had gotten a trough set up that they filled with warm water for Rudy. They tried to take him from Alejandro, but the man clung to his siren tighter, eyes flashing, and teeth snarling. Price quickly let the doctors know that they needed to all be close by, and Alejandro needed to stay with Rodolfo.

They treated Alejandro's wounds just five feet from the edge of the tub they had Rudy in. That was as far as they were willing to separate. Alejandro didn't have it too bad all things considered, cuts and bruises. He did have serious muscle strain from keeping himself crouched by Rudy's tank most of the time. Rudy was riddled with wounds that were red and angry. He had sores in his mouth from the amount of time spent with the gag on. Other than that, he was weary from lack of nutrition. The doctors offered to get him some nutrients with through IV. They would help, but he really just needed some more time in the warm water, and some proper kisses from Alejandro.

Price had Gaz in an adjoining room. He had gotten a better pot for him and worked on changing his soil and transferring him. He placed him next to a window, and moved him along with the sun to keep him in it. He did what he could, extra water, kept the humidifier running, and made sure the room was warm. He had mixed up some sort of potions that he poured into the dirt to try and improve the state of Gaz's leaves.

They had Roach set up on the second bed in the room. They had gotten him fed with a large portion of overripe fruit. It was a strange meal request, but all he seemed to want. When he had eaten and had his wounds tended to, Price let him come over and fiddle with Gaz. Something about pollination that the rest of the team didn't really understand.

Treating Soap was a little more complex. His wounds were mostly internal and neurological. Multiple untreated seizures and the effects of repeated silver poisonings in werewolves weren't particularly researched. They started with the biggest problem first, making sure the silver was flushed from his system as best as possible. Ghost knew that they were helping him, but their treatment plan was making it difficult to keep his protective instincts in check.

They set him up with a blood transfusion to help overpower some of the toxins. But the real trouble was the stomach pumping. They needed to make sure all of the silver was out of there, as it wasn't something Soap's body would digest properly. Soap tried his best to sit still, but after two weeks of captivity, self preservation instincts were kicking in, and he was making it very difficult to get the tube down his throat. They could have put him under local anesthesia, but they would need more than the normal dose to get him knocked out, and they didn't want to risk it in his present condition. Ghost ended up having to hold him down, he was the only one strong enough to. They tried to give him laughing gas, but in his current state it only made him panic more.

"C'mon, Puppy. They're tryin to help you, Lovely. Try and relax for me please." Ghost tried to encourage in his ear as they wiggled the tube down his throat. "Give us a few big swallows, Johnny. There you are, that's a good boy."

Soap was doing his best to fight through the brain fog and comply. His body's natural reaction was making it difficult. After a painstakingly long process they got the tube down, he struggled not to gag around it. He tried to relax like Ghost asked, but it felt close to impossible.

Rudy had given them permission to use some of his leftover tears recovered from the lab for the saline solution in the pump. The process helped to cool some of the constant pain in his gut as soon as it made contact. He squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to see what the contents of his stomach looked like.

Ghost watched it though. Everything they drew out was black and gray. He could smell that there was blood in it as well. He kept muttering encouragement until the procedure was done. Before they pulled the tube out, they snaked a small endoscopy camera down it so they could get a look at his stomach lining. They determined that he had a couple of stomach ulcers. They were likely worse before Rudy's diluted tears, but they were still there.

By the time they pulled everything out of Johnny's throat it had been twenty minutes. Soap gagged and sputtered when they were removed and gripped onto Ghost's arm.

"You did so good, Johnny. You can relax now." Ghost pressed a masked kiss to the side of his head.

After letting Soap rest for a while, they brought him back for a brain scan. He had suffered a small stroke from his seizures. He was going to be on a lot of medications after all of this. But the doctors didn't think he had experienced anything that he couldn't recover from fortunately.

König was overseeing Makarov's transport. They were sending him back to the base in London. Price gave König the choice of traveling back with them when they left or remaining in Austria, but the kraken was inclined to stick with the team. So he would be waiting for them in London whenever they were allowed out of the hospital.

For now, they all had a bit of recovering to do.