Chapter 13: Give The Man A Hand

The town wasn’t large, and the single hospital was more meat for accidental bone breaks by hapless rich skiers than dealing long-term with anything critical. But as Thomas pulled his car into the parking lot, he saw that things had changed. There were now temporary tents set up outside, and it was hard for him to find a parking spot anywhere close.

Dungeon diving had its dangers, and after the injured were somewhat stabilized by the National Guard, this was the closest place to go.

The parking lot was full of the walking wounded.

Thomas weaved in and out of them, muttering sorries and excuse me’s, all the while with one eye on his phone. Derek hadn’t returned any of his frantic texts. Thomas hoped he was just being an asshole and it wasn’t that he couldn’t.

He got into the waiting room and saw every seat was full, with a couple of people even sitting on the floor. Derek was nowhere to be seen… but there was Ashton, curled up with his knees against his chest while managing to frantically tap at a mobile phone. It looked like he was playing a game.

Thomas called his name and crossed the room. His nephew looked up and unfolded in an instant to practically launch himself at his uncle. “Uncle Thomas! What the hell? I called and you didn’t pick up!”

“Sorry, kiddo.” Thomas didn’t want to go into the why right now, especially with listening ears. No one else waiting to be seen had anything better to do. “What’s happened? Where’s Derek?”

Ashton spoke in a rush. “They finally took him in—we were waiting for hours—but they wouldn’t let me in without another adult. And the little kids are going to get out of school in an hour or so, and I didn’t know what to do.”

Thomas nodded and noticed that Ashton didn’t mention what Derek had been up to, either. “Here, follow me.”

Steering him by the shoulder, they walked to the main desk. Luckily, there was a receptionist open, though she looked frazzled by the deluge of people they’d been getting over the last couple of days. It was probably going to get worse for her.

“Derek Coldstrike came in earlier. I’m his brother,” Thomas said.

She nodded, tapped something on the computer, and within a few minutes, he and Ashton were being escorted to the back by an equally frazzled nurse.

To Thomas’s memory, there weren’t many beds in the hospital, but it looked like they were making room with hastily added curtains to create temporary space for gurneys.

In the distance, someone was screaming, and Ashton went very, very pale.

Thomas thought he might have gone pale too when he saw his brother laid out on the hospital bed. He was in one piece… except he was missing his left hand at the wrist. The problem was his dumbass brother was left-handed.

“Oh shit,” Thomas muttered, glancing up at the beeping lines that showed his status. Honestly, he didn’t know why he did because he had no idea what any of that stuff meant.

“Is he going to be okay?” Ashton asked anxiously.

That was like a slap in the face. He was supposed to be the adult here. He had to keep it together. “Yeah,” Thomas said out of reflex. “Yeah, of course he is. We have magic now, kid.”

“But our teachers say it’ll be six months until the full System intergration.”

“Yeah, sure, but… the beginning stages are happening now,” Thomas corrected, desperately trying to find a silver lining to this very dark cloud. “And your dad’s going to live a long life. Soon all sorts of things will be possible.”

Ashton gave him a narrow look. “That sounds like you’re guessing. Can magic grow his hand back?”

Thomas reached into his backpack and pulled out the healing mana crystal. “Yeah, maybe.”

Instantly, his nephew lost his skeptical look. “Whoa, is that a real mana crystal?”

Ashton reached for it, and Thomas snatched his hand back. “Yeah, it is. Let’s wait for the doctor first and see what they can do with it.”

As if on cue, or more likely because voices carried very well between curtains, a young man entered. Like, he looked like he just graduated from high school, young.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Saddler—yes, like Jurassic Park,” he added, and Thomas shut his mouth. “I understand you’re Derek’s relatives?”

“I’m the brother,” Thomas said. “And this is his eldest son, Ashton.”

The doctor nodded perfunctorily and didn’t seem to care. “We’ve stabilized him and he’s currently receiving fluids and general painkillers. I would like to provide more intensive treatment, but our ICU beds are full, and I’m sure you saw the waiting room. The wound was already cauterized and clean, so there wasn’t much blood loss.”

Derek, what were you doing? Thomas wondered, but… he already knew.

The doctor continued. “Unfortunately, his dungeon diving days are over. The discharge nurse will provide him with references for prosthetics.”

“Doctor.” Thomas held up the crystal. “Can this help?”

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Doctor Saddler looked at it and then snorted. “No one in this hospital will risk their medical license on new, untested methods until there are studies done on a much higher level than you’d find in this community.”

“What?” Ashton barked. “But it’s magic!”

Thomas, though, was picking up what the doctor was putting down. Announcement day had only been a week ago, after all. “Well, if we were to try something alternative, do you think this would work?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.” He looked at his chart with exhausted eyes. “Now, the nurse will be checking in on him when he wakes so he can be properly discharged. He will need lots of rest and protein, and I would probably suggest a therapist to deal with the missing limb.”

“You’re not even going to try?” Ashton protested.

Thomas made a cut-off gesture to him.

The doctor scoffed lightly. “I’m sorry,” he said, and with a nod, he walked out. Then he turned and closed the curtains all the way around them, blocking them from view. He didn’t have a good bedside manner, but he wasn’t going to get in their way, either.

Ashton turned to him. “Uncle Thomas–“

“Shh,” Thomas said. “There are ears everywhere, and honestly, I don’t know what I expected. Dr. Douggie Howser won’t risk his new medical license by not going anything board-approved. So let’s see what we can do for him.”

Then, because Thomas also had no bedside manner, he reached over and shook his brother on the good shoulder.

“Huh?” Derek muttered, blinking and opening bleary eyes. “What?”

“Wakey wakey. There’s my brave dungeon diver,” Thomas said sarcastically.

Derek looked at him and then groaned. “Damn it.”

“How are you feeling, Dad?” Ashton asked.

“Actually… a lot better than before.” Now Derek blinked at his son. “Why are you out of school?”

“Uh, you let me skip today?” Ashton shot a freaked-out look at Thomas. “You don’t remember?”

“It’s the drugs,” Thomas said, and hoped it was that and not some sort of short-term memory or trauma thing. He gave his brother a hard look. “You took your fourteen-year-old kid dungeon diving?”

Luckily, the fog seemed to be lifting from Derek’s mind. “He’ll be fifteen in a few months, but it didn’t end up the way I hoped.” He grimaced and looked at his wrist.

“Ya think?” Thomas said. “All right, so the doctors said they gave you the good stuff, but I might have something up my sleeve, too.” He held the healing crystal between the two of them.