“Jesse!” The dark voice hissed in stunned surprise. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Jesse’s hand dropped and she rolled to her feet in one fluid motion. Not stopping, she rushed the figure and threw her arms around the stunned male’s neck. Thick arms wound around her shaking body and held her close for several long seconds.
“Where is he?” Jesse asked in a low husky voice. “Saber, where’s Hunter?”
..*
Saber pulled Jesse’s body back into the shadows. He winced as he put weight on his injured leg. He had cursed under his breath thinking he had been discovered when he saw the figure coming over the side. One of the locals had been hiding him for the past two weeks after he had been pulled from under a pile of debris following the explosion that had cut them off from the rest of their team.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Saber asked gruffly as he lowered her to her feet so he could shake her. A look of horror crossed his face. “Where are Taylor and Jordan?” He asked hoarsely. “Where are your sisters?”
Jesse’s teeth rattled as he shook her again, this time harder. She spread her palms on his chest to get him to stop. She was exhausted and barely hanging on to her sanity with worry over Hunter.
“They are safe,” she whispered. “At least, I’m pretty sure they are.”
Saber jerked back and slowly lowered himself onto a makeshift bed. “What the hell does that mean? You think they are alright.”
“They were captured as we snuck off the supply transport. Well, Jordan was and Taylor was leading the others away so I could escape,” Jesse replied with a worried frown when she noticed how difficult it was for him to sit down. “Saber, you’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” he growled.
“Yeah, nothing causes sweat to bead up on your brow and turn you pale enough to make the moon look like a black hole,” Jesse said, rolling her eyes. “Let me take a look.”
“I said…” Saber bit off as another shaft of pain ran through his leg. “I think the cut is infected. The residents don’t have any medicine to spare.”
“Then it’s a good thing I came along, isn’t it?” Jesse responded softly.
She knelt beside him and gently pulled back the edge of the his pants that were torn. A deep cut almost twelve inches long ran down his leg. The area was hot and swollen and a dark yellowish-green puss oozed from it. Jesse looked up at Saber’s glazed eyes and knew he was running a high fever. She had thought the heat of his skin had been because of the outside temperatures that were near ninety degrees if she had to guess.
“Do you have an emergency kit on you?” Saber asked, lying back on the thin pallet. “I won’t chew your ass out quite so bad if you do.”
An amused smile curled the corner of Jesse’s lips as she brushed her fingers over his heated forehead. He had closed his eyes and was breathing shallow breaths. Jesse reached into the bag Taylor had packed. She swore her sister had emptied the medical bay of all their meds. She pulled an injector out and inserted a sedative. Pressing it against his neck, she depressed the button watching as his eyes blinked rapidly before slowly closing.
“You can chew my ass anytime you like, Saber,” Jesse whispered as she set to work on cleaning the deep wound. “Just as long as you take me to Hunter. You do that and you and the captain can stand in line. I have a feeling Hunter is going to want first dibs on the ass chewing.”
Jesse pulled her father’s knife out from the sheath she had it in and quickly disinfected it. Using the tip, she sliced open the infected wound. Using some of the cleansing solution, she quickly cleaned all the infection out. She briefly raised her eyes in thanks that each item had been marked in English. She easily recognized Taylor’s messy handwriting. Her little sister must have looked up each word and translated it before printing it on the outside of the vials.
Once the wound was clean, she used a small laser to cauterize the wound and seal it. A thin layer of spray antibiotic and a clean bandage finished the task. Jesse quickly cleaned all of Saber’s other cuts before spraying them as well. She cleaned up and packed everything back into the black bag once she was finished.
Taking a small flask of water from her bag, she tore a section of her shirt and used it to clean Saber’s face and neck. Already the antibiotic was working its magic. His fever had broken and his skin was much cooler. She touched his leg and found the skin was also cool to the touch. Now, she just needed to let him rest.
Picking up the small pistol Taylor had packed once again, Jesse moved over to sit near the edge of the roof. She could see fires burning in different parts of the city. Raising her face to the light breeze that blew, she stared up at the stars that glittered above her. She picked one and made a wish.
“Hunter, if you can feel this, I want you to know I love you,” Jesse whispered softly into the night. “I’m coming for you. I’ll always come for you, my Amate.”
Chapter 16