The Descent

Chapter 32 - Landing

Denton felt a chill run down his spine. Something was wrong, very wrong. He unbuckled his belt and knelt down between Buck and Leah.

"Leah, are you alright?" he yelled over the engine noise as he gently shook her shoulder.

Buck, who until now had focused on getting them off of the ground, noticed that Denton was next to him and gave him a quick glance. "What's going on, bud?"

"I don't know," Denton said as he shook Leah's shoulder again, harder this time. Her eyes were closed, mouth slightly open. Her head was tilted forward, her chin on her chest and it rocked back and forth with the movement of the ship. Her body was held upright only by her seatbelt and her arms dangled motionless next to her. "I think she passed out."

"Is she alright?"

"I don't know," Denton said and gently tapped her on the face a couple of times. There was no response. Then he saw something dark on the seat to the right of her. He reached across her lap and touched it with his fingertips. It was wet and a little sticky. He held his fingers up to his nose. There was a hint of a metallic odor from the liquid. He pulled out his flashlight and shone it on his fingers, revealing a dark red colored substance. Denton's heart skipped a beat. He knew what it was and it wasn't good. He turned and grabbed Buck's arm and shoved his fingers in front of his face.

"What's that?" Buck said as he looked at Denton's finger.

"It's blood. Leah's hurt."

"She's what? How?"

"I don't know how but there's blood on her seat. You'll need to punch it. We need to get back to orbit ASAP."

"Roger that. There's a first aid kit back in the cargo area, to your immediate right."

Denton nodded and scrambled back to the cargo bay. The first aid kit was mounted to the wall, and he quickly retrieved it and hurried back to Leah. He had to find the source of the bleeding and at least try to stop it or at least slow it. Sidney, who had been doubled over during most of the ascent, noticed the commotion in front of him and leaned forward. "What's going on?"

"Leah's hurt. I need to try to figure out what's bleeding. Can you try to hold her head steady, so it doesn't flop around all over the place?"

Sidney nodded and did as he was told. Denton put the first aid kit on Sidney's seat and slid his fingers along Leah's lower right side. It didn't take long before his fingers felt the wet and warm blood, seeping out through a tear in her uniform, right above her hip. He debated whether he should try to move her to the cargo area but quickly dismissed it. Moving an injured person in the middle of a high-speed flight through the atmosphere of a planet wasn't a good idea, that much he was sure of. He would have to try to stop the bleeding in flight, without moving her.

"Hold her steady," he said to Sidney and reached for the scissors. He carefully cut open the fabric of the uniform around the wound. Even in the dark, the injury was clearly visible, but Denton had a hard time telling whether it was just a surface scratch or something more serious. One thing was clear. She had been hit by something during the fight or during their ascent. Maybe even earlier. There was no way to tell just from looking at the wound. He quickly cleaned off the blood smeared around the wound before he applied a bandage to it that he secured with tape from the first aid kit.

"How far out are we?" he asked Buck as he checked her pulse. He could feel it but just barely.

"Fifteen minutes."

"Can you make it ten?"

"I don't know, man. This rust bucket is barely holding together as it is."