The motorcycle was still as uncomfortable as before, but this time I wasn’t able to focus on how close Sofia’s body was to mine. In fact, I could only focus on keeping her body in one piece. She luckily had just enough gauze and bandages in her motorcycle’s storage compartment to wrap around her waist to cover the wound. Her organs weren’t in any immediate danger of spilling out. The bleeding though, there was nothing we could do to stop it.
Right as I began to insist we head to an emergency room, the vibrating flip phone in my pocket cut me off. Sofia and I were sitting by her bike desperately trying to manage her injury. She couldn’t feel pain but I was terrified she would eventually pass out from the blood loss. She was definitely already in near fatal amounts. My plan was to call an ambulance if she did pass out. I didn’t want to be left a defenseless target if Roxane and Vikky decided to return. I still had the gun and I could use the Bowie knife that Sofia had. The problem was, my ammo was limited and my skills were crap.
When the phone rang, I pulled it out and Sofia snatched it away from me. Her face was still bright red from the pleasure coursing through her. Alice described it as if she was getting fucked constantly by something as big as that wound. I failed to see the pleasure in it but I didn’t question mysterious contract logic. Whatever it did, the pleasure it gave Sofia seemed to make her nicer. She was constantly smiling, even if it were a creepy one, and treated me less as a burden or tool but as a friend. Accordingly, as she answered the phone she had this coy attitude that seems to not be able to understand the severity of her wound.
“Heyyy Alice!… yeah they got away. Even gave me this nice scar too! I know… I know… yeah I’ll go to Doc. Where is she?… Okayyy!”
Apparently, Alice and Sofia had another ‘colleague’ who was a doctor and could help Sofia. ‘Doc’, as Sofia called them, was at an address nearby in Lynchburg in preparation for Sofia getting injured. This was apparently common enough for them to plan around it.
This is how I found myself at the back of the bike. Sofia refused to abandon her bike or let me drive it. She was gonna drive it there despite her condition. I was behind her desperately holding onto her body. Even then I was anxiously holding by her ribcage in case the bandages tore or let some intestines loose. There was likely a trail of blood on the road behind us that we couldn’t see due to the night sky. It didn’t help that she never changed her driving style and still drove at the same reckless speeds. If a police car had pulled us over, I would have no idea how to explain the situation.
The address provided was not too far. It was a ten minute drive at Sofia’s reckless pace. It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the front gates. It was surrounded by an early twentieth century style iron gate which had been long rusted. It seemed to be an older building and long abandoned. Its front was like that of an old college building, made of bricks with the entrance having white columns. It was extremely overgrown with Kudzu climbing all the way to its third floor. The gate seemed to have had a lock on it at some point but was now broken and in front of the entrance a white van was parked. The van had a Red Cross on its side, long ago painted on but now fading.
Sofia pulled in without hesitation. I watched as the front double doors opened as we approached. Exiting at a brisk walk was a woman with a more mature tone to her. She wore a very plain and comfortable outfit, a red cardigan over a conservative white undershirt. She had a pair of square wire spectacles on her face and her auburn hair had been tied into a bun. She gave the impression of being a young librarian rather than any significant medical figure. Sofia recognized her and called out with a wave as she slowed down the motorcycle.
“Hey Doc! You won’t believe this one!”
We stopped in front of the entrance and she met us there. I quickly hopped off of the bike and out of her way as she immediately grabbed Sofia by the helmet and yanked her off the bike. It was a bit violent and I was worried she’d tear the wound open further, she didn’t seem to care and immediately began looking at the wound while yelling at Sofia.
“You can never stay healthy can you? I put you together one day and the very next you try to shove a blender up your anus. Jesus Christ, did you have a fight with a lawnmower? This is going to be hell to stitch!”
Sofia looked over to me with a cheeky grin. She reminded me of a toddler who had been caught stealing candy but had already eaten it all. Both of these people’s approach to injury was not something I would ever recommend to mimic. Once the doctor was done analyzing the situation, she grabbed Sofia by the shoulder and began to walk her into the abandoned building. I was never even addressed as they began to walk away. Without much better to do, I followed.