Some of the pellets had passed through, but two hadn’t. Blood ran steadily down his arm.
Lucas grimaced. “That looks bad.”
“Not as bad as it could’ve been. Can you hand me the tweezers?”
Lucas handed me a pair of tweezers from an open first-aid kit behind the counter. I applied alcohol to disinfect them, then poured some on Ben’s wounds.
“Shit!” He growled. “That stings.”
“Hold still,” I gently grabbed his arm. “Taryn would handle this better than you are.”
"Yes, she would," he said with a smile, pride shining in his eyes. "Are you planning to dig around in there?” Ben raised an eyebrow.
I nodded.
“Then let’s get it done. We’re wasting time.” He ran his free hand down his face.
The first pellet sat just under the skin. I pinched it with the tweezers and pulled. The small piece of metal slid free with a wet sound and dropped onto the counter.
Lucas made a face.
“Really?” Ben eyed him in disgust. “After everything you’ve seen?”
Lucas rolled his eyes but didn’t answer.
The second pellet took more time. Ben’s jaw clenched as I worked the metal free, but he didn’t even whimper. He was a tough old bastard when he wanted to be.
When it finally came free, he exhaled slowly. “Done?”
“Almost.” I flushed the wound again and pressed gauze into the torn muscle.
Blood soaked through immediately.
“It needs stitches.” I looked up at Ben.
I opened drawers behind the counter, but they were empty. So, Lucas and I started scanning the shelves for the things I’d need.
Finally, I spotted a small sewing repair kit that hung near the checkout.
“Will that work?” Lucas asked, grabbing a beef jerky stick from the wall and damn near swallowing it whole.
“It’ll have to.” I walked back to Ben.
I threaded the curved sewing needle with the strongest line in the kit. Fishing line would have been preferable, but even in this backwater town, you couldn’t find that in a pharmacy.
“You ever stitched someone up before?” Ben’s face was pale from blood loss and shock.
“Nope.”
“That’s comforting.” He said sarcastically.
I pushed the needle through the skin.
Ben grunted but didn’t move as I pulled the stitch tight. Three more closed the wound, but it wasn’t pretty.
The most important thing was that it would hold.
I wrapped gauze around the arm and secured it tightly.
