Chapter 12-Bullets

"Is there any change?" Parker asked her, when they walked back into the room.

"No, there hasn't been any change." Roe dropped her gaze to the ground. Time to play stupid human. "I'm afraid this one," she gestured to Adrian's room "has died. He doesn't have a heartbeat, and isn't breathing. The other one just seems to be unconscious."

Parker practically ran for the doorway of Adrian's room. Once he saw who it was she was referring to he said "Oh, it's okay. He's a vampire, they don't have heartbeats and don't breathe when they're unconscious."

Roe gave him her best skeptical look, like she still didn't believe in vampires and said "Oh, okay."

Parker gave her a look like he couldn't believe what he was hearing from her. "You still don't believe that they are what we say they are, do you?"

"I have no reason to." She said, shaking her head.

"What do you mean?" Savage asked.

"She thinks we're all crazy, and that werewolves and vampires don't really exist." Parker replied.

"If that's what she thinks, then how does she know how to treat them, huh? I think she knows more than she's letting on."

Parker opened and closed his mouth, surprised.

"You didn't think about that, did you?" Savage asked smugly.

Parker quickly turned to Roe. "How do you know how to treat them? What aren't you telling us?"

"Before I answer that," Roe started, holding up a hand, "let me ask you a question. What's the first thing you do when someone's been shot? And I do mean a human, just to clarify."

The three men were looking at her suspiciously, then looked at one another. Boudreau finally answered, "Ya stop the bleedin' and put on bandages."

"Okay, then what? What if the bullet's still in them?"

Boudreau sighed. "Ya cut it out. No one heals right with a bullet left in 'em."

"Exactly. What I'm suggesting to do for them, is what I'd suggest for anybody, or anybody human anyway."

"She has a point." Parker reluctantly stated.

"That doesn't mean that she doesn't know more than she's letting on." Savage argued.

"But it doesn't mean that she does, either." Parker rationalized.

Savage growled at him. "I still think she knows something," he grumbled.

As much as Savage growls and snarls at people, I'm surprised he's not a werewolf. He sure acts like it. Roe smiled to herself at her thoughts.

Apparently she didn't smile to herself as much as she thought because Savage snapped "What're you smiling about?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?" He snarled again. "About how you think you're pulling one over on us?"

"No, about what I'd like to be doing instead of being here." Roe said, defensively. "I'd much rather be somewhere else doing something with my friends. Being here with y'all, and constantly having to defend myself isn't something I enjoy doing." She scowled at him. Well, that was partially the truth. I can't tell him what I was really thinking. He'd try to kill me.

Parker interrupted the staring contest Roe and Savage had going on. "Savage, we have no reason to believe that she's anything other than human. Even the PBI thinks she's human."

PBI? How would they know what PBI thought about me?

"He's an idiot." Savage said, disgustedly. "He wouldn't even know if his own grandmother was a vampire."

"Whether he's an idiot or not, he said that his boss said she was a human. So, we're not just taking Jack's word for it." Parker said, sounding tired. "Let's get down to business so we can get back to what we need to be doing."

Oh, crap. There's a mole in PBI that's feeding these idiots information. If they have a mole in PBI, they may also have a mole in Joe's pack. That's going to kill Joe.

"I still don't trust her." Savage insisted.

Parker exasperatedly snapped, "Well, trust her or not we have to do something, or Major Marsden's going to have our heads. I'd rather not get on his bad side."

"I don't want to have anything to do with her. I still think she knows more than she's letting on, and is going to turn on us."

"Even if she does turn on us, as you say, what could she do? She's human."

"If you don' wanna be here, tha's fine. I don' mind supervisin 'er. 'Tween me and Parker, we'll make sure she does'n do anythin' she's not sa'pose ta. Tha' way ya canna get in trouble no matter wha' 'appens." Boudreau interrupted them.

"That sounds like a good idea." Parker agreed, turning to Savage. "You'll be in the clear whether you're right about her or not."

"Well..." For the first time, Roe thought Savage sounded unsure about something.

"It'll be okay." Parker sounded insistent. "We can go ahead and get this stuff done, and meet you back in the office in a little bit."

"Fine. I'll wait on you in the office. If you're not back soon, I'm coming to get you." He turned to Roe and said, "I'm warning you, if anything happens, I'm going to blame you."

"Of course you will. You've made it perfectly clear that you have it in for me, though I still don't know why." Roe replied.

"When your usefulness ends, you and I will have a talk about your attitude." Savage snarled at Roe then turned and stomped out of the room.

Roe turned to the other two men and asked "Now that he's gone, can I see what supplies y'all brought?"

"Sure." Parker said. "Which one do you want to start with?"

"Let's do this one first." Roe said, leading the way to Shane's room.

"Why this one?" Parker asked curiously.

"I know he's alive." Roe replied with a shrug. I also know that Adrian will be okay until we get the bullets out, but Shane could possibly die from the combination of silver and whatever else they shot him with.

"They're both alive!" Parker sounded like he was getting aggravated with Roe.

"Okay." Roe held her hands up in surrender. "If they really are what you say they are, this one still needs help first. Assuming all the books I've read were at least partially accurate, the 'Vampire' is in a sort of stasis until the bullets are removed. The werewolf on the other hand, could die from silver poisoning, if that's what they shot him with. What did Savage shoot them with?"

"The werewolf was shot with wolfsbane coated silver bullets, and the vampire was shot with wooden bullets. What makes you think the bullets are still in them?"

"I pulled their shirts up enough to think that the number of entrance wounds and exit wounds probably don't match up. How long have we been here?"

"You've been here since night before last. Why?"

"What!? It's only been a day?" Let's play stupid human again. "Are you sure? Their wounds are too well healed for just a day."

Parker smirked at Roe. "Yes, that's because they're not human."

Roe pretended to gape at him for a couple of seconds. "Huh, okay then."

"Wha' do ya need us to do?" Boudreau asked. By this time they were all standing in Shane's room looking at him.

"To begin with, I need to get his shirt off and get him down from there so I can see if I'm right about the bullet holes not adding up. Then, if I can find a bullet or bullets, we need to cut them out. After that, we can bandage him up."

"There's one problem with that." Parker said. "We can't release them."

"I'm not asking you to un-cuff them. Just let them down from the wall and cut off their shirts. Mr. Marsden told me I could let them walk around, but they can't right now. That's why I need your help."

Parker and Boudreau looked at each other. "Yeah, we can do that."

"Okay, thanks. Let's get him face down on the bed, plz. If there are bullets still in them, I'm assuming they should be nearer the back side than the front."

"Do ya wan' the shirt off first?" Boudreau spoke up.

"Yes, it would probably be easier to do that before we get him on the bed. Thanks."

"No problem, missy."

"My name's Roe, by the way." She said, smiling at him.

"Awright, Miss Roe." Boudreau smiled back at her, then turned and cut Shane's shirt up the sides and across the shoulders. He tossed the now ruined shirt over toward the corner behind the bed. "We ready ta get 'im down now?"

Roe nodded, as she looked at Shane's chest, counting the almost invisible bullet wounds.

"Okay." Parker said. He walked over to Shane and got a grip of him under the arms. "Boudreau, release the lock on the chain."

Boudreau walked over to the wall where there was a large round wheel with the chain wrapped around it hanging above the cabinet next to the little refrigerator. He unclipped a section of the wheel housing and the wheel started turning, releasing the chain as it went.

Huh, Roe thought, the only time I've ever seen anything like that was at a hardware store where you could buy chain by the foot. But those didn't have the locking mechanism on them that this one has.

Shane slumped into Parker's arms as the chain unwound. Boudreau walked back over to Parker, and helped him drag Shane and his chains over to the bed. They laid him facedown, then turned to Roe. "Now what?" Parker asked.

"Now I see if I can find a bullet." Roe replied. Boudreau doesn't speak a lot, but when he does it's usually to intervene between Savage and somebody. Is he always quiet, or is it just around them...or me?

"How do you expect to find one?" Parker asked her.

"I counted 4 wounds on the front. I'm going to count the back." Roe replied as she climbed on the bed next to Shane. "Then, if the numbers don't add up, I'm going to hope I can figure out where they are. I may be able to feel them if they went far enough through him."

"And if that doesn't work?" Parker asked.

"I don't know. Maybe an x-ray, ultrasound?" Roe shrugged. "I don't really know. First aid is about all I know. Beyond this" she sighed, "you may have to get a real doctor."

"We don't have that kind of equipment."

"Let's jus' see if Miss Roe's way works a'fore we worry 'bout that." Boudreau broke in.

"That sounds good to me." Roe agreed. Thank you, Boudreau. We've wasted enough time arguing about stuff. I'm ready to get this done. She moved her hands over Shane's back, counting the bullet wounds. "There are three wounds here." She looked at Parker. "I'm assuming that he was only shot in the front? Not from the back."

"I'm not sure. I wasn't there." He looked at Boudreau, who shrugged.

"Since he was chained to the inside of the truck at the time, I think it's a safe bet that all the shots came from the front. Does that make sense?"

When they both nodded, she ran her hands a little harder over Shane's back. She found the lump from the bullet exactly where she thought it would be.

"I found one."

"Where?" Boudreau asked, finally looking interested in what was going on.

"Right here." She answered, rubbing her fingers over the spot.

Boudreau ran his fingers over the spot she indicated. He nodded at her. "I feel it too."

"Okay, do you want me to cut it out, or do you want to do it?" Roe asked him.

Boudreau looked at Parker. "I hate to say it," Parker said, "but I'm not really comfortable with the idea of you having a knife."

"That's fine. I really don't care about the knife, we just need to get this bullet out of him." Roe replied, shrugging.

"I'm sorry." Parker apologized to her.

"I really do understand. You don't want to get in trouble with your boss if I happened to escape, or hurt him." She said, gesturing to Shane.

"Yeah, he'd be really mad, and I don't want to see him that way again."

Again?  Now's not the time to get into a discussion about that. "So, since I can't do it, which one of y'all is going to cut it out?"

"Umm.  How long do you think he'll be unconscious after we get the bullet out of him?" Parker hesitantly asked.

"I have no idea." Roe paused, then shrugged. "If he was human, I'd say he'd be unconscious for a while, but if he's what you say, I have no clue. I have no frame of reference to be able to even guess. Remember, this is new to me." Really, I'd guess he's still going to be out for a few minutes, maybe thirty at the most depending on how much wolfsbane was on those bullets.

"I'll do it." Boudreau said. "I've done it b'fore."

"Okay." Parker said, failing to hide the relief in his voice, as he moved slightly closer to the doorway.

Hmm, it looks like Parker's afraid of what Shane's going to do when he wakes up, but Boudreau isn't. Is Parker going to be afraid of Adrian waking up too?

Boudreau put the bag of first aid supplies down on the bed, and pulled a knife from his pocket. Then he moved into position so he could cut the bullet out.

A pocket knife. Not exactly what I was expecting, but it'll work just fine.

Roe pinched the bullet, and a lot of skin, up between her fingers so he could cut it out.