The Everlark Family: Book 3

Chapter 6 Bree

Ryes POV
I had left their house the day after the wedding for the train. That took around three days to reach the military base. Everything was so much different at the capital. There were skyscrapers, restaurants everywhere, and actual streets to walk on. I lived in the military barracks with my buddies. It was easy here. I learned how to aim with riffles and shoot them. It was like what mom said: Aim, breathe, and shoot. I was in the air force. The pressure took a long time to get used to, and the pain afterwards was awful, but it'll pay off in the future once I learn to fly on my own.
Today we were doing more practices. Everyone was three knives. The instructions were to throw them into the dummies heart. We all were gathered into a single file line. One at a time we would throw them. It was a graded task, to see how we do in circumstances like that. Dash, one of my good friends got a score of 7 out of 10.
Rebel, another of my friends, got a 8.
Byron only got a 5. You couldn't get something less than five, if you did you failed the test. Cade got 9. He was one of the best in the whole test so far.
"Mellark, your up!" the commander calls. Focusing on the dummies heart, taking a deep breath, and exhaling, taking twenty steps back, I shoot. Watching as it soars--perfect hit. Everyone cheers me on. I take another breath and grasp my other knife. I balance myself steadily and throw it with force and precision--another perfect hit. The cheering gets louder. I smirk to myself, "You got this" I mumble.
"One more Rye come on you got this!" Rebel shouts. I crack my neck to relive some pressure, then I throw it again. Anxious to see where it'll fly, it flies into the dummies heart. Fake blood gushes out of the dummie.
"10 outa 10!" the commander shouts, "Good job Mellark!"
"Thanks Commander" I pat him on the back. My buddies run up to me and hi five me, "That was sick!" Byron laughs.
"Thanks!"
"How did you make that?" Dash asks. "Years of practice" I Rely.
"I thought I was good" Cade laughs. I shrug, "Your okay" I joke. The commander silences us, "Now for the one on one test"
"One on wha?" I ask.
"You heard me.. Okay soldiers! Byron you scored  5 so you and Dwayne will challenge each other, and so on and so forth.. Got it? You all are going against your same level. So Rye, since you scored 10, and Cade scored 9, you will challenge each other. Questions?"
"Wait so we are pretending that are opponents are dummies?" Dash asks. The commander nods, "You will take your turn either throwing it, or dodging it. Now find a place and take thirty steps back. You may begin!"
Cade and I find a place. We take thirty steps back, "You can throw them Cade, I'll dodge"
Cade nods, "Ready?"
"Yea just go"
Cade throws one, but not enough force, "Come on Cade you scored 9"
"I know, I know" he says throwing it. This time with force. I dodge it easily, "Thats your best?" I laugh. Cade rolls his eyes and throws it again. I still dodge it easily, "Come on thats all you got?"
"Now your making me mad" Cade laughs.
"Good"
Cade throws it again. This time its harder to dodge. It almost would've stabbed my eye. "That good enough?"
"Nope" I smirk. Cade struggles to find concentration. "Cade just aim, breathe, and shoot" I roll my eyes, "Come on you can do it"
Cade balences himself trying to concentrate. "Cade c'mon throw it!" I start to loose my patience, "We are timed!"
Cades eyes widen, "Really?!"
"Duh whats the point of a test if we had all day to complete this?" I roll my eyes.
"Okay I got this" he mumbles to himself. "Finally" I say under my breath. Cade puts all his power into the throw. I back out of the way to dodge it, but my arm gets in the way. The knife lodges onto my wrist. Staying firmly positioned in my skin. I look at it in shock, "Shit!"
Cade runs over to me, "Damn" he gasps, "I'll get the commander!"
I pull the knife out of my wrist and let it fall on the ground. The pain throbs intensely. A pool of blood covers the ground. I regret pulling it out in the first place. All my friends come to look at it along with the commander.
"I just cut my arm.. I think its an artery" I look at the huge gash. Blood escapes quicker now from wound, adding to the pool beneath me.
"An artery!"
I shiver at all the blood, "Yeah. Looks like it. It's bleeding enough to be a damn artery."
The commander grabs my other arm, "Wait here, you can't just walk with blood trailing after you!"
"Alright just hurry-"
"I'll call for a nurse!" the commander interrupts. "
Cade stays with me, "Dude I'm sorry"
I push his comment aside. My vision starts to blur in and out. If I could measure the amount of blood that I'd lost it'd be a cup or more.
"Its fine.. I just need to get this stitched up."
Cade starts laughing, "I think you've permanently stained the floor"
"If I die from loss of blood, you can remember me by that" I joke, even though my laugh seems faint. Cades smile fades, "Don't say that"
"Cade calm down, its not gonna happen. Well lets hope not."
The commander rushes to get me a towel, "The nurse will be here in ten minutes. That's the fastest time we have, unless you're willing to walk to the BT unit, there might be a free nurse-"
"Well if I stay and wait I'll bleed to death. I'm gonna walk. It'll take quicker if I walk."
"Alright, just wrap this around."
He secured the towel tightly to my wrist. The guys wished me luck.
I leave for the office. Stumbling. Starting to hear buzzing. Its at least five minutes away. By the time I reach it, my towel is completely red. Soaking, dripping, and slightly sticky. I reach the office and walk into the office, with a slight stumble. When I do, I find an angel. No, I'm not hallucinating. My heart jumps. Shes beautiful! Once I see her I almost loose balance.
Her eyes focussed on me, for a moment her pupils dilated, then she peered at my arm and gasped. Oh my god! What happened?! Sit down."
"Knife" I reply, leaning my head against the wall. I can't keep my eyes off her, though. No matter how much blood I'm losing, no matter how much my head is spinning from loss of blood.
Her hair is auburn, her amber eyes are breathtaking. She unwraps my blood-filled towel, and rushes to get some medical rubber band. I was too drowsy to remember. But she cuts off my circulation with it. Almost immediately the bleeding stops., "I better hurry and stitch that up. Gosh I've never seen so much blood," she squats down to get the supplies. I stare as she squats down. Again, no matter how drowsy I am, doesn't stop me from staring.
When she gets back up, she catches my gaze, her eyes light up, but she bashfully looks away.
She slips her gloves on, somewhat quickly and delicately takes my arm, observing my wound.
"Is it bad?"
"You cut into your artery," she panics.
"Are going to amputate?" I laugh. She huffs, "Thats not funny Rye"
"How do you know my name?"
She clears her throat, "Your name tag"
I blush, "Right.. Uh whats your name?"
"Bree" she replies. Thats beautiful.. Bree. She gets out her disinfectant, "This might sting" she warns. She fills the gash with it and it hurts like hell. Then she gets a cotton swob and dabs the gash. Bree takes her needle and stitches up my skin. So focussed in the procedure, it's as if she pushes away anything and everything out of her mind. Her touch is so gentle, so soothing. I don't feel the pain. Well, barely. I just keep focussed on her wonderful face.
"You're all done, Rye. Do you still feel drowsy?"
I can't help but nodding, "A lot."
"You're gonna need a blood transfusion. You're lucky you didn't die or pass out. I've heard of soldiers dying from a cut artery. Anyway I have to get you a transfusion now. You're hemoglobin levels are extremely low."
Bree grabs the bandages and unwraps layer, after layer on my stitches. Then pricks my finger to get a drop of fresh blood. She runs the droplet of blood under a scanner on a desk beside me. "B positive."
"What?"
"It's your blood type," she gives me a look. As if I'm stupid for not knowing that, but still shows a small smile.
She squats down, which again I stare, and grabs a blood bag from a medical refrigerator thing. Then sticks a long, clear tube in the bag. Attaches it to a IV stand and turns on some machine.
My head is full of vertigo by now.
She takes  the thick tube and shoots it into my skin, gently of course.
"You're not going to like this Rye, but you cannot go back to training for a couple days.. You need to recover from the tremendous loss of blood"
My mouth drops open, "What? But we are having bow and arrow training tomorrow. I can't miss that!"
Bree shrugs, "Sorry, but you had to jack around with a knife"
"Hey, that was my friend not me smart mouth"
Bree backs up offensively, "Okay then smart mouth, how did that happen?"
"Long story"
"Yeah I thought so" she snaps.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Bree, can I go now?"
"No, you have to wait till you've got enough blood back into your system," she replies.
I sigh, "Where are you from, Bree?"
Bree turns to face me, "The capital, everyone is usually from here. Your not?"
I shake my head, "No I'm from 12"
"Rye M," she reads my name tag, "Rye Mellark? You're a Mellark?" Her voice changes into a happier tone.
I nod slowly, "Yeah.."
"So Peeta and Katniss are your parents?" she asks, astonished. I nod, "Yeah"
"Wow! Your parents are the most known people in Panem."
"Yeah I mean I don't think of them like that. To me they're just my parents."
"Thats so cool!" she smiles. I got her attention yes!
"What's your last name?" I ask. Bree laughs, "What is this kindergarten?"
"No just tell me your name. We're getting to know each other Bree, its called bonding"
She rolls her eyes playfully, "Hamington"
"Are you single?"
"Rye please"
"No are you?"
"Yes Rye, if it makes you happy, I'm single."
"If your single why not go on a date with me?"
Bree puts her hand on her hip, "Fine. How about.. tomorrow at seven?"
"Where?"
"That steakhouse a couple blocks down" she replies.
"I've never had steak"
Bree's mouth drops when I tell her that.
"I lived in twelve, we don't exactly have high quality, best of the best, mansion food."
Bree lets out a laugh, which makes me laugh myself. She has such a pretty smile.
Bree looks down at the ground, shyly. I find her shyness sexy.
The beep of the machine signals the end of my transfusion.
Bree takes the tube out, which disgusts me, but it's fast, and cleans off the little scratch let from the tube.
"I'll pack you with a pain reliever, just in case."
She got an empty pill bottle and filled it with a few big, white, capsules.
"And I'm going to sedate you, so when you get back to the barracks you'll fall asleep. It should kick in within a few minutes, here."
She gave it to me, and I took it with a cup of water she also handed me.
"Think you can walk? Or are you still too drowsy?"
"I'm fine. I'll try to walk," I say, pushing myself off the bed.  I stumble, and catch my balance. She grabs a hold of my arm to brace me. "Got it?"
Electricity runs through me, just from her soft touch. Her cheeks reddened.
"Yeah--Yea I'm good, thanks."
"Sure?"
Something tells me she wants to hold onto my arm just to be with me.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks Bree," I smile.
"Remember no action with your wound, okay Rye? Go to the barracks and rest," she says.
"Okay mom, bye."
Bree can't help but smile. She gives a small wave as I walk out.