Saving Grace

Chapter 8

Levi quickly outdistanced him in his haste to see if the woman was his sister. Joe almost had to run to keep up.

"Grace! Oh dear God!" The boy rounded on him. "What did you do to her?"

Joe's eyes widened in surprise. His jaw worked up and down as the boy approached. He shook his head. "Hey now. I told you. There was a bear."

"We didn't hear no disturbance. Where's the bear? What'd you do to her?"

"It was a bear. I swear it. Listen, several of those wounds need to be stitched. I cleaned what I could but I could use some help. Do you have a sewing kit?"

Levi glared at him. "Where's the bear?"

"My friends took him away."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "It'd take days and several horses to haul that beast away."

Joe threw his hands in the air. "Are you gonna help or not?"

Levi relented. "How do we get her to the wagon?"

Joe spit on the ground. "Do you think you can help me carry a litter?"

"I could be asking you the same question. You're the one with a limp."

Joe scoffed. "Don't worry about me, kid. You got a saw at the wagon so we can cut some limbs?"

Levi nodded and took off running.

"Bring a blanket, too," Joe shouted after him.

Grace stirred. Her eyes opened, but refused to focus.

"It'll be all right. We'll get you taken care of."

Joe looked up as Levi approached carrying an axe. Sarah wasn't far behind him, her arms wrapped around a blanket.

"Where's the saw?"

"It' mounted under the wagon. It'll only take a few minutes to cut the trees we need with this." He set to work, the rhythmic thwacks reverberating around them.

Joe shook his head before kneeling in front of Sarah, taking the blanket from her. "Can you boil water?"

She nodded, looking over his shoulder at Grace's still form.

"Good. I need boiling water and something for bandages. And a needle and thread. And an antibiotic of some sort. Can you get that for me?"

Sarah's gaze remained riveted on her sister. Her jaw worked, but no sound came out.

Joe put a hand on her shoulder and moved to break the spell. "I need your help. She needs your help." He swallowed hard. "Can you get what I asked for?"

Sarah seemed to snap to attention. "Yes, sir. What's an antibiotic?"

"Penicillin?"

"What's that?"

"Do you have anything to clean a wound? Stave off infection?"

Sarah pursed her lips before nodding vigorously. "Yes, sir. Papa had a bottle of whiskey hidden in the wagon."

Joe sighed. "Who are these people?" he muttered as he watched the girl run toward the wagon.

Joe and Levi struggled over the rough terrain as the carried the Grace in the litter. She groaned occasionally as her weight shifted. Both men breathed a sigh of relief as they arrived to the campsite.

Sarah had the fire blazing. Several different pots had steam rising from them.

"I didn't know what to do for a meal. Grace was going to get something while she was out. She said something about a bird."

Joe nodded. "I'll get us something as soon as we have her cleaned and stitched." He pulled out his hunting knife and started cutting Grace's tattered shirt off.

"Wait! You can't do that!"

Joe looked over at Levi. "Somebody's gotta."

"It's not proper."

"Are you gonna do it?"

Levi hung his head. "No."

"Is Sarah?"

A look of horror passed over Levi's face as he met Joe's gaze. "No."

"It's gotta be done. I didn't clean them very well. They need to be cleaned, stitched and dressed. Her clothes are ruined. They're a bloody mess. If we keep them on, she'll get an infection and it'll be worse."

Levi nodded.

"I'll need your help. Sarah, where's that needle and thread?"

She held up a sewing basket. "Most of the fabric and sewing things were in the other wagon."

Joe winced as he saw the measly amount of thread. He looked around until he spotted the horse. "Levi, go cut me a dozen or so long pieces from that horse's tail."

Levi grimaced. "The tail?"

"Yeah. It's long and sturdy. We'll boil it to clean it. Go!"

Joe turned his attention back to Grace. The bandage around her upper arm was saturated with blood. He knew the leg was worse. The bear had raked its claws down her leg leaving long, deep farrows in its wake.

He felt Sarah watching, her attention focused on the grotesque sight. "Are you ready Sarah? We're gonna hafta work fast when I get this unwrapped. First the hot water and cloth. Then I'll need that whiskey. Then the needle and thread. Got it?"

"Yeah," she breathed.

His hands started shaking as he unwrapped the make-shift bandage. Grace cried out when the wrapping pulled at the tender flesh. He gritted his teeth as he cleaned the gaping wounds. Sarah gagged behind him.

"Just don't throw up on the bandages. Turn away if you hafta," he said over his shoulder.

Grace screamed as the needle punctured the tattered flesh. Joe felt a moment of panic as she tensed and almost instantly relaxed. His eyes went wide as he felt for a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief as her steady heartbeat met his fingers.

"She's out. We gotta move fast."

He cleaned and stitched then cleaned again and bandaged the wounds. He pulled a blanket over Grace after he laid her in the wagon.

"Shouldn't we put a nightshirt on her?" Levi asked.

Joe shook his head. "I don't wanna hafta keep taking it off when I check the wrappings. Any additional movement will hurt her even worse. We'll keep her covered."

Levi nodded his head.

"Go wash up. I'll take care of this mess and find something for us to eat." He gestured to the pans of bloody water. After the pair disappeared, he dug a pill from his hunting pack and swallowed it with a shot of whiskey.

Trying not to slosh the crimson liquid over himself, he lumbered well into the woods and dug a hole with a stick. He dumped the contents of the pans and covered it with dirt and rocks. He stomped on the pile.

Hearing a small noise to his left, he broke off a sturdy stick and turned, inching his way through the underbrush. His gaze sharpened as he saw the small bird. Stay put. That's it. He moved around a final tree and flung the stick, stunning the bird.

He jumped forward and retrieved the sage hen before she could recover. "Looks like chicken soup tonight." Maybe the broth would help Grace - if they could get her to eat anything.

He smiled as he returned to the camp, the effects of the pill finally taking effect.