"I'll certainly try," Brennan stated weakly as Eloise took off, going god knows where. He felt the rubber tubing start to slip, so he tried pulling it tighter, but the blood that had gotten on it made it difficult to pull it taut. He managed to get a good enough grip on it with his numbing fingers to bite down on it, using his teeth to help tighten the tube.
He wasn't sure if the slight numbness was due to the blood loss or the loss of circulation, but at least the bleeding was finally stopping. He didn't want to put anything on the wound this time, especially if someone was coming to stitch him up or something, because he didn't want to repeat the mistake of ripping open the bite by removing the dressings and ripping the forming scab off. He was still annoyed that he didn't think that through, it was all in his training. He should have known better.
But he was not going to die this way. That was what he kept thinking. Dying from blood loss on the floor of a library was probably the last way he'd want to die, and by far the least worthy. Brennan didn't really want to die, but if he was going to, and he knew he would someday soon if he carried on the way he has been, he wanted it to be in defense of a safehouse or serving his duty, as cliche as that might seem.
"Fuck," he ground out between his teeth, knocking his head against the wall. It hurt, but it was keeping him awake, thinking, reminding him to keep his eyes open. He didn't have a clue what could happen to him, but he'd seen a few people come back in worse shape, and they'd survived. One woman had her arm amputated though. He remembered that, because she screamed the entire time. She had enough local anesthetic that she couldn't feel a thing, but she just didn't want to lose the arm. It was shreds though, too close to an exploder. She had been lucky that her arm was the only thing she lost.
Brennan didn't want to lose his arm. He glanced down at it, watching it. It was pale, as to be expected, numb, but he wasn't sure how long it took for necrosis.
He listened intently for footsteps. He could only wait.