i'm driving Who: Eily and Nic Where: the hospital When: after this
Eily had a very hard time letting Patrick be pulled into an ER room to get looked at, stitched up, all that. At least she was given the news that they thought the prognosis was good, even if they couldn’t flat out tell her he would live. But she was going to cling to any tiny positive that she possibly could. Looking back at Nic, who had been among those brave enough to try and drag an Irish woman anywhere, she swallowed and stood straight. “What’s happening?” she asked.
Nic ran his fingers through his hair, far more stressed out than he usually was on Tuesday night. There hadn’t been anything this bad since he’d arrived in the dome, even with the riot that had been down at the gates. He couldn’t imagine what would’ve prompted the wolves to attack, and he was still spooked at how the one he’d shot at three times had been able to run away. He was supposed to remain calm under pressure, but Nic wasn’t entirely there. “They’ll stitch him up, give him fluids, possibly a transfusion, then possibly monitor him for twenty-four hours,” Nic said, taking a guess at all that, but figuring it was probably right. “How are you doing? Were you hurt?” He hadn’t even asked before. His focus had been on Patrick. She took in what they were going to do for Patrick, and nodded. "I'm fine, this blood isn't mine." she said. "Why are there wolves, Nic?" she asked. "Because that looked like a damn wolf! I've dealt with them before, out there, and I know one when I see one, and why do we have wolves? That wasn't on the brochure!"
“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “That was like no wolf I’ve ever dealt with. I shot it three times, Eily. I’m not that bad a shot and it ran away. There shouldn’t have been a wolf left to run.” That bothered him more than the attack did, except for the fact that they were going on all over town. Shit. Nic looked up at her and put one hand on her arm. “You should know that Lochlan got attacked, too. He’s okay, but I’d just finished bringing him in when I got your call.” Yes, it was a breach of patient confidentiality. They could fire him if they liked.
She blinked at that. She'd heard the shots, but didn't know that he'd hit it three times. Blinking, she stilled for a moment. "That's...not right." she said. She scrubbed her hand over her face, and was about to go into more ranting about wolves, but then he added more information there. "What?" she asked, voice small. "Lochlan...you said he's going to be okay too? You promise, both my boys here are going to be okay?!" It was possible she felt like her world was shattering entirely. This was not okay. None of this was fucking okay.
“He’s gonna be fine, Eily. They’re both going to be fine,” Nic said, taking her by both arms. If he’d been in her position, he’d be panicking too. To come this far, to survive the zombies, and then have two family members attacked by wolves on the same night, in a place they were supposed to be safe... It would drive him to do a lot more than panic. “I didn’t want to say anything on the way here because we needed to focus on Patrick. You should probably talk to Micah when you get a chance. He can give you the complete run down.”
Eily nodded, though she trusted Nic to be telling her the truth. "I'm guessing they're both going to be off limits to me for a while." she said. That steel was coming back into her frame, that survival mode clicking back in with the news that they'd be okay. She needed to contact the girls, and let them know they were officially staying wherever they happened to be right now, and then... "You're on your own tonight?" she asked, to confirm what he'd said earlier.
“Probably a little bit, yes,” Nic nodded. The hospital wasn’t his domain, but he knew that patients couldn’t have visitors when they were still getting patched up. She could see them in the morning, after everyone had rested, or she could wait it out. “Yeah, I am,” he nodded. “We’re a little short staffed in all this chaos. The guy that sometimes rides with me got attacked earlier this evening.” Nic hadn’t been on that call, thank God. He couldn’t have handled it. The chief had gone in person and put Nic on the ambulance, alone.
Eily looked back toward Patrick's room, and knew she would be an absolute bitch to the staff all night, wanting to see him and Lochlan. Or, she could do what she was good at, and go out with Nic and try and save more people. Which in the end, was what made her decision. They would have wanted her to do that. And if they didn't, she'd correct them into wanting her to do that. "I'm driving." she told him, digging the keys she still had out of her pocket.
Nic opened his mouth, prepared to say that it wasn’t her job, that she wasn’t qualified, but really? That was bullshit. She’d already driven the ambulance once tonight and he was down a paramedic. She’d seen just how effective he was at getting someone to the truck on his own, and he couldn’t be in the back with the patient if he was up front driving. His phone began to ring and he nodded, waving her back towards the exit. “Let’s go,” he said. They had another call.