Chapter 87 Chapter 87
Shae went over and helped her get her other arm in her jacket, pulling her long grey braid out of the way so it wouldn’t get snagged again.
“Should just cut it off and shave my head, be simpler.” She grumbled and went out the open door.
Shaking her head, Shae followed and pulled the door closed. Nona’s brusque personality was one of the things she loved most about her.
Morris was halfway down the path ahead of them before Nona reached the first small landing area on the stairs.
“Elevator would be a great idea too, don’t suppose you found out how to build one while you were gone learning?”
“No. I was more concerned with nature, not construction.” Shae smiled at her.
“That’s too bad.” Nona walked a few more steps in silence then paused and looked at her. “I don’t want you to be upset by what you might see, so I’m warning you now.”
Shae nodded, a seriousness replacing the lighthearted banter they usually had when around each other.
“He’ll be chained up, that’s for our safety more than anything.” She started walking again. “I didn’t ask details, but it will most likely be from fighting, so cuts and welts are more than likely what we’re dealing with in there. The odd time it’s an illness or other complaint.”
“Okay.”
“Sometimes they’ll sedate them, the real riled ones, before I get there.”
Shae helped her down from the last step. “Oh, okay” She almost hoped they had this time, her nerves were strung tightly at the thought of finally finding out what was behind the prison walls. Billie and she would try to get a peek when they were teens, but most of the time Billie just wanted to flirt with the one guard that worked here.
She hadn’t seen Billie since she’d returned, each time she’d gone to her house they had given her some excuse. Shae didn’t know why, but once she got through catching up, she was going to find out. While she was away, Billie was one of the few she missed. No modern communication in the village was definitely one of the things Shae liked least.
As they approached the entrance to the prison, butterflies filled her stomach. When the solid wooden gate swung open, Shae took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. She’d followed Nona around for years, so she wasn’t sure why her nerves were singing this time, perhaps it was finally seeing what it was like in here.
Another guard, Earl, opened the inner door and nodded to Nona. “Two for you today, Nona. A few stitches may be required for the one that got a little too close…” He paled and looked at Shaelan.
Nona mumbled something then waved him aside. “Nothing we’re not used to.” She took off her jacket and handed it to him. “And the other?”
He put the jacket on a chair by the door and started walking. “He was just brought in, we’re sedating him now, hopefully it takes this time…”
Nona stopped and looked up at him, then shook her head and started moving again.
“He got a little banged up coming in…” he glanced at Shae nervously for a second, “maybe just give him the once-over.”
What was the big deal about her being here? Sick or hurt was the same, whether you were in chains or not. Shae wondered if she’d know either of these men. She really hoped not. Staying quiet, she followed Nona into a room as Earl held the door open for them.
She wasn’t sure what she expected, but it seemed darker than she’d imagined. Not just the lights, but the aura as well, and… what was that smell? It was like someone found a sale on the worst smelling incense and burned it all at once.
Nona took the bag from her. “It’s stinkweed. Used to help cover up the other… less pleasant odors.”
Shae didn’t know what could be fouler than that weed, but she was sure she didn’t want to find out. The room wasn’t large, but it was empty. Cement floor, no windows… maybe this was just for medical purposes while Nona was here? She stopped suddenly when she noticed the man by the wall. With both arms in shackles, the chains secured to cement pillars. She’d thought ‘in chains’ had been Nona’s phrase for handcuffs, not actual heavy chains.
Shaking it off, she went over and took the bag from her mentor’s hand. The blood was running down the man’s side right through a poorly patched-up wound. She knew the next steps for this, even if she was unsure of protocol.
“You’d think after thirty years, they’d put them on a table, or give me a stool.” Nona mumbled.
“I’ve got it, Nona.” She knelt beside the man and glanced at his face, or what she could see of it as it dropped toward his chest. They hadn’t been kidding about sedating him. Placing her fingers on his jugular vein, she checked his pulse—more for her own peace of mind that he was just drugged.
He was alive, and his pulse was oddly strong for the amount of blood running down his side. She pulled off the gauze and tape quickly and leaned down trying to see around the hand that hung awkwardly in front of his chest. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked at Earl. “Could you hold his arm up, please?”
“Sure thing.”
She heard the scuff of his boots on the cement floor. The chains rattled, and then the arm was yanked up above his head. Eyes wide, she looked up at the guard. “Maybe a little lower, so he doesn’t bleed out before I get this closed up?”
“Oh.” He lowered it down.
Nona chuckled from beside her. “You tell him, child.”
She held clean gauze over the five-inch cut as she reached for the disinfectant in the bag.
“Always use the coarse stitching in here, child, in case they get rambunctious later on.” Nona told her.
Shae nodded as she cleaned the area. She didn’t know what he’d got a little too close to, but it was all the way through the flesh. He was lucky it hadn’t hit bone. Later, when it wasn’t her first time inside, she’d be talking to whomever was in charge about something sharp enough to do this to one of their inmates. She wasn’t knowledgeable about law enforcement or custody guidelines, but common sense predicted you kept sharp objects from prisoners.
As she finished the last stich, the door behind her opened.
“Nona, one of the kids fell out of a tree, broke their wrist.”
Nona tsked, “I’ll be along shortly, Morris.”
The door closed. Placing the tape over the stitches, Shae picked up the supplies. “I can go now and check on them.”
Nona nodded, “that would save me trying to rush. I can give the other fella a once-over and then meet you there.”