Chapter 4 - Dr. Streak

Unnamed Village - Dawn

Simon laid the girl down on a simple bed made of straw he managed to find after following the Elder's lead. Several of the villagers were currently crowding around the home's entrance, standing around quietly. During their short trip to the house, none of the villagers had been willing to meet his piercing gaze.

They all seem to share the same twitching furred ears and tail found on the girl, except their colors are different shades. None of them possess the same crimson hue as the girl's hair.

Simon closed the thin door and latched closed the open window before looking around the house's sparsely furnished interior. A set of fragile-looking chairs along with a small dining table covered in a large stained linen tablecloth took up the majority of the room's open space. A large bucket filled with clear-looking rainwater sat on the damp floor in the corner of the room while a second smaller bucket sits at the opposite end of the house. Nearby, several neatly folded pieces of cloth hang across the walls. Simon walks over towards the smaller of the two buckets and takes one of the rags from the wall, quietly dipping it into the water, before wiping off his face and staring down into the clear water below, observing his face for what seems like the first time in years.

His once midnight black hair now contains various streaks of gray mixed in with the black. His tired eyes still display an aura of defiance despite all the horrors they have seen. Moving downwards, his once neatly trimmed beard now reaches nearly down to his navel, patches of mud still stubbornly clung to various spots across its length. Simon closes his eyes before retrieving the dirtied cloth and wringing it out. First, his arms, then his legs, and eventually the rest of his body was freed from the mud's sticky confines. By the time he was satisfied with his level of cleanliness, the once clear water had turned into a thick bubbling mass of brown sludge.

"Sorry," Simon mutters softly to himself while looking at the bucket before opening one of the nearby cabinets. Inside, several small blades rest on the shelves along with a palm-sized piece of shining metal. He silently picks up one of the larger blades and tilts the metal object so that its reflective surface is pointing towards his face. Several minutes pass as long strands of hair continue to rain down onto the ground like a furry avalanche. Satisfied with his appearance Simon returns the blade to its rightful place before giving the mirror one last look. His once scraggly beard has returned to its proper appearance along with his hair, now cut down in length to prevent it from obstructing his vision. A frown spreads across his face as he looks at the mass of hair still dangling behind his head. Simon had decided that trying to properly cut it would have been more trouble than it was worth. He instead opts to tear a strip from one of the nearby rags and quickly uses it to tie his hair into a ponytail before closing the cupboard door.

Now then.

Simon picks up the bucket and a handful of cleanish-looking rags before heading over to the sleeping girl and kneeling down. He nimbly peels off the girl's wet clothes before gently using several of the rags to wipe down the small body. Various cuts and bruises can be seen along the sleeping girl's lightly-tanned skin. His large calloused hands gently caress the girl's wounds before briefly pausing between the girl's legs. He mutters a small prayer in his heart before one of his fingers presses into the small mound. His hand quickly retracts as a relieved sigh escapes his lips.

Thank you.

Simon leans back slightly and observes the girl's breathing, her small chest rises and falls evenly with her breathing. However, something still concerns him. The girl is sweating. Simon places his hand against the girl's forehead before shaking his head.

She's burning up.

He reaches out towards the large bruise across her stomach, gently tracing his fingers across the girl's unfortunately well-defined ribs and quickly re-examins her wounds. Simon's hazel eyes narrow as his finger pushes past where a rib should be.

{Röntgen Level: 1.}

A quiet sigh escapes Simon's lips at the sight of the error message.

{Administrative Override - Ocular Subsystems: [CRITICAL]}

Simon's eyes suddenly darken as several letters danced across his vision, displaying various subsystem messages, the majority of which ended in either [ERROR] or [NULL]. Despite expecting this result, it was still a lot to take in. Simon's left-hand presses against his aching forehead before issuing a second command.

{Disable all Ocular Subsystems in non-zero states.}

WARNING: 217 Subsystems Disabled. 26 Subsystems Remaining.>

Light swiftly returns to Simon's eyes as he stares down at the small girl's naked body.

{Röntgen Level: 1.}

His eyes emit a brief flash of light before returning to normal as an image of the girl's internal organs appeared in front of him. Dam. Simon's gaze focuses on the highlighted section flashing red surrounding the left side of the girl's abdomen. One broken rib, a punctured spleen, and hairline fractures across the remaining ribs. He quietly stood up slowly to avoid waking the sleeping girl and quietly left the house.

Some of the villagers notice his emergence from the building, quickly turning away. However, instead of turning away completely like before, several villagers continued to make quick glances at him when they thought he wasn't isn't looking.

{Scan: Alcohol. 90% or greater.}

WARNING: Olfactory Systems Offline. Add to override state? Y / N>

{Y}

Several dots appear inside his vision displaying various points of interest along with varying percentages. Simon approaches one of the villagers leaning against a railing before taking the flask of alcohol from his grasp, much to the man's surprise. He leaves the stunned man behind and continues walking down the village's main thoroughfare. Out of the corner of his eye, a small piece of sharpened metal sits embedded in one of the many nearby barrels. Most likely a fragment from a sword or dagger. Simon quickly pulls the blade free from the barrel's side and observes the edge closely. The section embedded in the barrel seems to have been rolled over slightly. However, the remainder of the blade still appears to be more than sharp enough for his intended use case.

With impromptu disinfectant and scalpel in hand, Simon turns back towards the direction he came from.

{Scan: Sewing Needle.}

Once again, several waypoints appear in his vision, and he heads toward the closest one. Simon softly opens the door and faces the woman inside before giving a brief bow. Then, with a soft gesture, he presents his hand towards the shaking woman, causing her cheeks to blush slightly before Simon's fingers gently retrieve the needle from the now stunned woman's hands and closes the door.

Outside of the door to the house where Simon left the girl, the Village Elder could be seen along with a small group of male villagers shaking like leaves as he approached. The Village Elder lifts out a hand to stop Simon from entering the house.

She doesn't have time for this. Without replying, Simon pushes his way through the group of men while dragging the Elder into the small house.

"Look," Simon says sternly, pointing towards the small girl's bruised stomach.

The Elder's gaze remains focused on the man before him, causing Simon to grip the Elders' head and forcibly turning it towards the girl's stomach.

Simon grabs the Elder's hand with his own and traces it across the girl's broken rib.

"Water," He points towards the now-empty bucket of water before handing it to the conflicted Elder.

The Elder quietly shakes his head to seemingly confirm understanding before quietly exiting the house.

Several minutes later, a woman appears in the doorway holding a full bucket of water along with several thin strips of cloth. The woman sets the items down on the table and prepares to leave before Simon reaches out and grabs her arm gently. She turns around with a terrified expression before noticing where Simon's hand is pointing. He releases her hand and makes exaggerated motions, depicting holding down the girl's arms and legs before pointing toward the group of men standing around outside. Then, with a tearful nod, the woman leaves the building. Several muffled voices could be heard on the other side of the door before the four men standing outside walked back into the house with the woman.

Simon turns his attention towards the woman once again and points at the nearby bucket of water and holds up three fingers. With a single nod, she leaves the house once again.

Simon quickly makes his way over to the bucket of water sitting on the table and begins slowly washing his hands and arms again in front of the four men, making sure to make exaggerated motions while doing so. He continues to stare at the group of men for a moment before one of the men eventually catches on. The man quickly repeats the process before whispering quietly at the other three men to do the same.

Simon then opens up the flask of alcohol before rubbing a small handful of it across his hands and arms while the group of men stare intently. The first man quickly picks up the flask from the table and repeats the process he had just witnessed. He's clearly confused but unwilling to stand against the man in front of him. He then quietly instructs the other three to do the same as well.

As the men finish cleaning themselves, the woman from earlier arrives in the building and places a bucket of water at the foot of the bed where Simon had motioned earlier. Simon then gestured for the woman to wash her hands as well under the instruction of the four other men in the room. With the setup complete, Simon sighed loudly before soaking one of the clean-looking rags in alcohol and tightly twisting it up before tying it onto a large knot and handing it to the woman. He then points at the girl's jaw and pretends to bite down on the cloth in the woman's hands.

Simon retrieves the improvised scalpel and cuts a small section of the girl's long hair before rigorously washing it in the nearby bucket of water repeatedly. He then takes the damp strands and drowns them in alcohol before braiding several of them together, creating a suitable suture made from the girl's sanitized hair. Simon then proceeds to wash the needle and scalpel in the same manner before taking a deep breath.

"Hold her down," He quietly shook his head after remembering that the people around him have no idea what he was saying. So instead, he motioned for the men to restrain the girl. The men quickly grab the girl's limbs while Simon moves into position.

{Röntgen Level: 1 - Toggle}

His eyes continuously glow slightly as he observes the girl's internal organs before motioning for the woman to place the cloth in the girl's mouth. Simon slowly raises the knife and punctures the girl's skin. The small girl's bright scarlet eyes open wide as she lets out a banshee-like shriek, kicking her legs wildly while trying to free her arms.

"Hold her down!" He shouts loudly, causing the men's grip to tighten as the knife cuts a small incision across the girl's battered side. With an almost seemingly practiced motion, two of his fingers spread open the incision site despite the girls shrieking. Outside the house, several villagers are swarming about while pressing their heads against the thin wall.

"There you are," Simon mutters softly before using his free hand to gently pull out the broken piece of the girl's rib and tosses it onto the bare floor. A small stream of blood spurts out from the hole left behind, spraying onto his face.

"At least it was a clean puncture, no signs of any tearing," Simon speaks in a calm voice as his bloodied hand deftly threads the sanitized needle with the girl's hair. Working quickly, He manages to stitch the wound in the girl's spleen closed tightly with minimal blood loss. By the time he finished the process, the screaming girl had long since passed out from the sudden onslaught of pain.

With a sigh, Simon uses the bloodied knife to cut the remaining thread off the stitches before closing up the incision site and lightly dousing the area with alcohol. He then soaked several of the cleanest-looking rags with liquor before pressing them tightly against the closed incision site. Then, motioning with his free hand to hand him one of the larger strips of cloth.

One of the men, the same one who caught on to the hand washing first, releases the girl's leg and retrieves the strip before handing it to Simon. He tightly wraps the strip of cloth around the girl's stomach to maintain the pressure on the wound.

Simon finally stands up with a smile and releases the breath that he had been holding in. He happily turns towards the man who handed him the cloth and takes a large swig from the flask before passing it over to the man. The beastmens pale expression softens slightly before nodding and accepting the flask, taking a swig, and passing it on to the next man. Simon watches the shaken men drink stiffly for a moment and bends down slightly. He observes the small girls twitching ears for a moment before retrieving the blanket and gently tucking her in after wiping her body down once more. With a satisfied nod at a job well done, Simon grabs the broken piece of rib from the floor and quietly leaves the building.

"This would have killed her," Simon spoke clearly towards the large group of villagers outside of the house, holding up the broken piece of rib for all to see while pointing towards the sleeping girl with his free hand. The Elder once again appeared before him, babbling in the same incomprehensible language while gesturing towards the house. Shaking his head, Simon replies while forcing himself to avoid rolling his eyes.

"I have no idea what the fuck you are saying." He gestures towards his ears and shakes his head side to side.

The Elder lets out a tired sigh while hanging his head dejectedly before pointing at Simon, more specifically towards his crotch. Simon's eyebrow tilts up slightly before following the Elder's gaze.

"Oh."