Author's note: No actual violence... but the wounds from the battle and its violence are described, thus the warning...
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The emergency personnel as they arrived found a rough scene as they arrived. And found things that would be tough to put together. They had one officer cradling a wounded arm that they were rapidly able to tell had been bitten, and given the wounded werekomododragon laying on the concrete sidewalk, they were able to tell that they had a case of envenomation. They had another officer sitting still and taking very pained breaths. In this, they were caught with the tough duty of triage and they had to do it quick.
"How hard was the bite?" the first EMT asked as he took the bitten officer's arm and pulled the sleeve of his uniform away and could soon see the depth of the wounds.
As he lifted the arm and carefully rotated it, he could tell that the bite was deep, just by looking at it. The teeth marks were still deep and had left dragging lines in the flesh. The only real good news was that by this time it looked as though lycanthropic regeneration had set in and the wound had stopped bleeding.
"It was a hard bite," the officer said slowly.
"I'm going to need you to keep your arm raised above your head," the EMT said slowly, "and come with me. We're going to move you slowly into the ambulance."
He then carefully helped the bitten officer to his feet and lead him to the ambulance. The officer was slow and unsteady, but wasn't completely out of it, yet, but based on what the first EMT had seen, the situation wasn't an easy one to work through. In many ways weres were tough to kill. Lycanthropic regeneration seemed to heal just about any wound, but that didn't mean it couldn't be overpowered. And that didn't always require the death of a were to have been caused by the traditional "weaknesses" that weres had, fire, the allergy to silver, and beheading, especially in the modern era where guns were not only more accurate but more destructive than they were way back in the day. Car crashes could bring in potential crushing injuries that went beyond even a were's ability to heal. All those sorts of factors went through the EMTs minds as they rushed to take care of the wounded...
The second EMT from the back of the ambulance was checking of Dymixious with a nervous Jade Drake standing nearby while the driver of the ambulance had gotten out and walked around to check on Officer Carter. And all appeared to have an injury of some kind. Though to the first EMT, there were only two that were truly "life threatening." One was Dymixious, who had multiple gunshot wounds, with the one to his chest being the most critical and the other was the bitten officer. The first EMT didn't know about Dymixious, but given the amount of blood that stained the sidewalk and the grass around him, he was pretty fearful that the damage from the gunshots that Dymixious had taken would be mortal, even for a were. The bitten officer, thus remained the most important candidate for the first EMT.
The bitten officer didn't quite look it, but given the circumstance, the situation likely required it. The Komodo Dragon from Indonesia WAS highly venomous and it was that venom that scientists had found really did the killing, not the bacteria in the monitor lizard's mouth, largely given by how fast animals the Komodo Dragon had bitten had died when compared to the speed of death caused in confirmed cases of infection by the bacteria and so on. And while Moon Lake had no known venomous weres presently living in Moon Lake, or at least they didn't on record, that didn't mean that there weren't records of venomous weres in existence. As was the case with Dymixious, they were generally reptilian, but the biggest threat was the combination of the were-virus in the saliva and the venom in the venom glands that they had. About the only way these weres could transform normals into their kind of were was through scratching with a claw or fingernail or through sex, as while the were-virus in their saliva might initiate the transformation, a bite ran the risk of the normal being envenomed and killed by venom before their transformation could even take place. And some theories even speculated that a venomous were's venom to be even more toxic than the animal the were was based on due to either increased size of the fangs/teeth or the venom glands themselves.
And that was what presented the greatest threat to the first EMT. That the bitten officer had been envenomed by a bite from a venomous were, who's species in nature had already proven extremely toxic. Now, the bitten officer was a werewolf and could have a good chance of surviving for longer than a normal would, but the EMT knew that likely against the toxicity of a werekomododragon, based on what records and stories were available, not even Lycanthropic Regeneration would be a guarantee of survival. At present they needed to get the bitten officer anti-venom, and specifically that designed for the Komodo Dragon, which had its own problems. Moon Lake had records and knowledge of the existence of venomous weres and the existence of venomous animals, but the anti-venom that the Moon Lake hospital stocked was for the venomous animals of North America that people in the area would be more likely to run into, including Black Widow and Brown Recluse Spiders, various Rattlesnakes, and so on. With no venomous were species in Moon Lake and no city zoo, they didn't have the anti-venom for a large Indonesian lizard on hand. And that would leave two options, one would be to have anti-venom rushed from a zoo that had a Komodo Dragon, likely in Seattle, or collect venom from Dymixious before he died and reverted to human form and have that sent to the lab in the hopes that an anti-venom could be synthesized in time.
The EMT tried to remain calm and not let his racing mind cause any trouble, but the bitten officer was fairly attentive and noticed the EMT's heavy frown. He carefully stepped into the ambulance and was helped to a small sort of "bucket seat" near the wall that separated the passenger/patient area from the ambulance's cab and set him down in it.
"Keep your arm raised while I get some things to clean the wound," the EMT instructed.
He then turned to a counter behind him while the officer kept his hand raised. The officer merely watched and then worked up the courage to ask a question.
"So... what's the prognosis, doc'?" the officer asked.
"You've almost certainly been envenomed by the were that bit you," the EMT said slowly, "and based on what I can see... you may have gotten a decent dose when the were that bit you dried to rip your arm up. We're going to clean the wound here and get you to the hospital. You'll be monitored for any signs of the venom taking effect and we'll do what we can to deal with those symptoms and hope that we can get some anti-venom for the Komodo Dragon gathered before the venom begins to take effect."
"How long...?" the officer asked nervously.
"If you weren't already a were, we'd be looking at death in a matter of hours," the EMT answered with a straight and slightly nervous looking face, "but in your case, Lycanthropic Regeneration should buy the time needed... provided we hustle..."
Outside, the second EMT looked over the wounds that Dymixious had taken and was quick to take the Werekomododragon's pulse. He found that Dymixious's scaly skin was thick enough that the second EMT found that it was thick enough that detecting the pulse was difficult to begin with. But even with all his training, the pulse that he found was weak and slowing down, which wasn't good. The gun shot wounds to his shoulders weren't bad. In fact one shot had gone clean through him. In theory, all that wound really needed was to be cleaned. Lycanthropic Regeneration could probably knit the shoulder back together if given enough time.
The real problem was the gun shot wound to his chest. Weres had the potential to survive many otherwise fatal wounds. The EMT knew that a different ambulance had been dispatched to rescue a weredog who had taken a similar wound to the chest, which would have killed a Normal due to a collapsed lung and the resulting shockwaves of the bullet's kinetic energy going through the body. The weredog had survived, though it took surgery to sew up the lung and essentially reflate it to help Lycanthropic Regeneration heal that were, and the present situation was a bit different. The wound in Dymixious's chest wasn't dead center on him, but it was remarkably close to the heart, and the EMT found it likely that the heart muscle was probably hit when the bullet went through or bone splinters went into the heart when the bullet went through his ribs.
"Will he be okay," Jade Drake asked from nearby, looking down to her wounded husband and the EMT treating him.
"I..." the EMT said slowly, "I can't say for certain. He's very weak and has already lost a lot of blood. Honestly, there is the real potential that that alone could kill him right now... and if the bullet to his chest went through his heart... things could be worse..."
"No!" Jade spoke with a level of panic evident in her voice, "No! You can't let that happen! Dymixious may have been confused on how complicated the world's becoming... but he's a good man! He didn't want our secret out and he didn't want rogues out hurting people!"
The EMT paused to watch the pregnant woman brought her shaking hands to her swollen womb and began to stagger back a few steps. Her whole body was trembling, and was likely responding in stress from the whole situation, and if she was involved with this werekomododragon, seeing him shot was rather shocking.
"We'll do what we can, and he might pull through," the EMT spoke, "if we can get him to the hospital quickly."
"We do have some bags of plasma on hand," the driver spoke, "we might be able to give him a shot to make it to the hospital."
The EMT looked over to the driver, who was coming over from where Samson Carter was seated and was still seated.
"How is he?" the EMT asked referring to Samson Carter.
"At worst a couple of broken ribs," the driver spoke, "he'll need some X-rays to know for sure, but he should be perfectly fine in a couple of days, perhaps sooner, depending on whether or not its a bruised rib, a cracked rib, or a broken rib. Best to get this guy hooked up."
"Right," the EMT nodded and got up, "Come on, we'll get him on the gurney..."
The two were quick to run over to a rolling gurney that they had set down when they first came on and with a loading board strapped to its side. The board was there in case of dealing with a neck or spine injury, but it wouldn't be a problem with regard to loading Dymixious. For the moment they ignored Jade who stood their trembling as the two rolled the gurney up Dymixious's side and then managed to carefully lift him up into it. She admitted that Officer Ryan Conner could be right with regard to Dymixious having the wrong conclusions on what to do regarding rogue weres and so on. And at times, she did recognize the flaws in her husband's temper, but that didn't remove the times when he was loving to her and that in a way, he and his father had provided for her, but now... now that risked being lost.
"We'll need to hook up some plasma bags for this one," the second EMT said to the first as the reached the back of the ambulance with the gurney. He and the driver then lifted it and rolled into the ambulance. Before it could all the way in, the second EMT flipped a red plastic lever on a side which allowed the gurney to be lowered so that there was more room.
"Right," the first EMT spoke, "and the third guy?"
"He may need some X-rays, but we can set him on the bed area on a side," the second EMT answered.
He then turned and moved over to Samson Carter who was seated still and breathing, though in obvious pain.
"Can you walk if I help you up?" the second EMT asked.
"I think so... it just hurts... right now," Samson said slowly, "Thankfully... my partner... will deal with the car..."
The EMT figured he meant the police car and bent down to wrap one arm under Samson's. He gave a warning on additional pain and gave a count of three. On three, the EMT pulled Samson Carter up to his feet, and heard an almost canine whimper in response, but the officer did make it to his feet, and leaning heavily on the second EMT made his way to and into the ambulance. This left Jade nervously watching with the uninjured officers standing nearby and almost looking like they were willing to comfort her. She was still nervous at the whole situation and didn't really know what would happen if Dymixious died, and her body trembled.
"We'll do what we can," the second EMT said to her before he disappeared into the ambulance and it pulled forward. Jade watched as it moved forward, turned into the empty Twist driveway and then backed out before moving along with its siren blaring.
"Once things are all clear here, we can give you a ride to the hospital if you need it, ma'am," one officer said to her.
"That's most kind," Jade answered as her body trembled, but now not only in nervousness but in something else. Something she wasn't sure of at first. "I... I... I think... I'll... nnnnneeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGH!"
Jade's answer went from a soft answer to nearly a pained roar as she felt her water break and her body began to go into labor.