Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

eye was blue, the other was bloody. "No!" The kid shouted through swelling lips. "They'll find me there. No hospitals. People talk. No doctors!"
    "You need to get to a hospital."
    "No." The kid shoved at the floor, trying to scoot himself away from Sebastian, but collapsed with a cry. "Don't let them find me. They'll kill me!" The kid's voice cracked. "They'll kill me."
    "Okay, okay." Sebastian knew an ambulance crew wouldn't touch anyone refusing medical attention. He crouched down. The kid did his best to wedge himself between the wall and the toilet, leaving streaks of blood in his wake. "No doctors." Sebastian took a deep breath. "My name is Sebastian. I'm a trained medic." Not that he'd practiced since getting out of the Navy a year earlier, but this kid didn't need to know that. "What's your name?" He kept his voice even and calm, the old skills falling right back into place.
    The kid stared at him, eyes wide, for a long moment. "Daren," he said softly.
    "Okay Daren, nice to meet you. Like I said, I'm Sebastian. I know you don't want to go to a hospital, but you are badly injured and losing blood fast. May I help you? Please?"
    Daren still looked terrified, but Sebastian was doing his best to exude calm reassurance. Finally, Daren nodded. "Okay, good." Sebastian pulled off one of his few nice shirts and undershirt. He shredded his undershirt, and trying to touch as little blood as possible, he tied one strip around a deep cut high on Daren's left arm. There was a second cut across some ribs, but that wasn't as deep and looked to be clotting already. He wrapped another strip around a cut across the right thigh, which fortunately was not too deep and far away from the artery. Daren twitched and jerked in pain, but Sebastian worked quickly.
    As he worked, he looked over the bloody mess that was this boy and started thinking about all the stuff he wished he had at his disposal. A C-collar, a backboard, pressure bandages, latex gloves. Especially gloves. Unfortunately, the only latex he had on him was in the form of a pre-lubed condom. Not helpful in this situation.
    "Okay, Daren. I need you to try to keep calm. Can you tell me how old you are?"
    "Twenty-one."
    "I'm not going to bust you."
    "Nineteen."
    Sebastian took the lie as a very good sign. It meant Daren hadn't totally had his brains kicked out. Just the rest of him, by the looks of things. "Nineteen is good. Can you tell me if you have any illnesses I should know about? Hepatitis? HIV?" He looked pretty enough to be one of the working boys from just a few blocks over.
    "No."
    "Are you diabetic? When's the last time you ate?" Sebastian knew it wasn't that important, but it was procedure, and it would hopefully keep Daren thinking.
    "No. A while."
    "Any drugs or medications?"
    "No."
    "Good." While trying not to think of his clothing budget, he tore off another shred of his shirt and pressed it to the flowing cut that was running into Daren's eye. He was pretty indifferent about his time in the Navy, but the ability to render first aid under pressure was one of the few skills he was truly proud of. "I'm going to work on the assumption that everything hurts right now, but I'm going to need to touch you very carefully, head to toe, to check how badly, and I need you to tell me if anything hurts more or if the pain changes or if you have trouble breathing."
    Daren started to nod, but Sebastian gently caught his head. "Try not to move until I know if you have spinal injuries. Okay?"
    Under the bloody face, Sebastian could already see Daren starting to go pale. He had to do this quickly, before the kid went into shock. He carefully started at the top of Daren's head. He found a cut that was still bleeding as well as several large bumps. Sebastian started quietly worrying about brain hemorrhages. The kid needed a hospital. Badly. "Daren, can you keep talking to me? Are you allergic to anything? Aspirin? Penicillin?"
    "Shrimp," Daren whispered through swelling lips.
    "Okay, no shrimp-wrapped aspirin." Daren's chest hitched just a little and Daren winced. "Sorry."
    He moved his hands down to the back of Daren's neck. The truth was that it was possible to have a broken neck and walk around fine for a while. It happened with car wrecks all the time. Sebastian started wondering if maybe there was an all-night vet clinic or something that would let them do x-rays.
    "Keep talking to me, Daren. Let me know you're still here. Come on. Favorite album. Your desert island disc."