SURVIVORS

Chaptre 47. Dean's Wound

Early in the morning still dimly visible, Dean's loud scream woke up all his friends.

"Aarrgghhh!" he screamed while holding his head.

Sunil who had previously slept next to her woke up in shock. With a swift snatch of a spear lying beside him.

"What's wrong?" Sunil looked alert watching the surroundings.

"What's wrong?" ask the frightened women.

Alan observed the mouth of the cave, looking forward to what would have bothered them. His hand gripped the spear tightly.

"Aarrgh."

They looked at the curled Dean as he clenched his head. His breathing is irregular.

"Dean, what's wrong with you?" Widuri ran towards Dean, grabbing his head to check.

"Give me the light!" yelled Widuri panicked.

"Pick up a cloth to compress too, he has a high fever" he added.

Nastiti took the pass and wetted the pool water and squeezed it until it did not drip any more. It used to compress Dean's head.

Widuri put Dean's head on his lap. Alan held the light crystal closer so that Widuri could see clearly.

"Goddess, get a cloth for the bandage. Wet it a little to clean the wound."

Dewi immediately worked on Widuri's orders and unpacked his backpack looking for cloths for wound dressings.

"What's wrong with her?" Sunil asked worriedly.

"I don't know for sure. Either this is an old wound when the plane crashed that is re-infected, or a new wound. But this looks festering."

Widuri cleaned the pus on Dean's head carefully assisted by the Goddess. They then bandaged the wound so as not to be exposed to dirt that makes it easily infected.

"Give him some water, let his fever drop quickly" Alan suggested.

Nastiti immediately went to the fireplace and picked up a pot of warm water to drink Dean. Dean's a little quiet now. Widuri let him sleep on his lap while occasionally flipping over the compress cloth.

"Why suddenly can his head fester?" Sunil took a seat on the rock.

Everyone was relieved when they saw that Dean was no longer in pain holding his head. They took their respective seats while trs thought. It is very dangerous if the leader of the group suffers from illness. They're gonna be stuck in the woods, don't know what to do. So for good, they have to figure out the cause.

"When the plane crashed, Dean's head was indeed injured. But as long as we're in the snow forest, she looks fine no one's complaining of pain or anything. Doctor Chandra didn't say anything either" Widuri said what she knew.

"Could cold weather have kept Dean's wounds from infection?" Alan guessed.

"Can be. And because the weather is warm here, the wounds that have not healed are vulnerable?" guess Nastiti.

"That's possible. Anyway all day yesterday we went back and forth to enter the bat cave to pick up rocks. It's most likely Dean's wound was contaminated with bat droppings." Sunil concluded.

"You remember no? 2 Nights ago Dean was screaming in his sleep. That afternoon Dean and I first checked the cave. Could he be hallucinating because of the bats?" Sunil shook his head not understanding.

"Stop assuming. Whatever the cause, the most important thing is to heal Dean's wounds first." Widuri.

"Today let Dean rest. Alan and the Goddess are in search of food. While Sunil and Nastiti collect stones in the cave. Work until noon. Do you agree with this arrangement?" ask Widuri.

"Yes, we agree" his friends nodded in understanding.

They began busy preparing breakfast to have enough energy before duty. Dean seemed calm that morning. Slowly Widuri moved Dean's head onto the pile of cloth he had made in exchange for a pillow.

When the four friends passed to do the task, Widuri started hitting the wheat sticks with her spear wood. It made the old hairs slip off easily from its stalk.

Widuri gathered all the grain of wheat and began to knock her skin with stones to break and peel off from her skin. He did it carefully so as not to wake Dean up.

"What are you doing?"

Nastiti asked in passing while bringing out the rocks from the bat cave. Sunil followed from behind. They piled up rocks not far from the mouth of the cave.

Sunil took a piece of black stone and then smashed it towards the huge pile of rocks in the cave. The black stone broke into pieces. Nastiti helped Sunil collect the rock fragments and added some to the fireplace to keep the fire burning.

Nastiti watches Widuri's work.

"Is that the wheat you brought home yesterday afternoon?" tanyanya.

"Yes" Widuri did not raise her head.

"What can it do? Wheat porridge?" ask Nastiti again.

"Wheat can be made of anything. Porridge, bread, cereal," replied Widuri.

"I haven't eaten bread in a long time. Can you make a Widuri flatbread?" tanya Sunil was happy.

"Isn't it a miracle to make bread out of self-harvested ingredients? That's so great, Widuri. I can't wait to see it," Sunil was excited.

"Yeaahh, I came to imagine how good it would be to eat flatbread with vegetable sauce. Yummy.." Widuri closed her eyes imagining the pleasure.

"Well, you're just making me hungry. Come on Nastiti, let's continue taking more stones before being tempted by food," Sunil left Widuri while continuing to smile.

"Make good food yes.." Nastiti waving leaving Widuri.

"Yes. prepare your guts to eat it. Hahahaa," challenged Widuri while chuckling amusedly.

Widuri continued his work of smoothing wheat seeds to be made into flour. Long enough he worked on it until Sunil and Nastiti brought the rocks again.

"Where was the grain?" nastiti asked astonished to see that Widuri was no longer sitting on a big rock.

"It's flour, but still rough. I was just drying myself outside the cave for a while." replied Widuri.

"Ahh," Dean's small complaint stopped their conversation and turned to look at him.

"What do you feel now?" tanya Sunil approaches to help her sit down but is preceded by Widuri.

"Am I sick?" asked Dean in wonder.

The three friends nodded confidently.

"The pain in your head festered you last night's fever." Sunil explained.

"But it's been cleaned and bandaged Widuri. Ett, don't hold it with your dirty hands" Nastiti prevents Dean from touching her head.

"We let you sleep to get enough rest" Widuri added.

"Where are Alan and the Goddess?" dean asked as he took a pot of water to drink.

"They were looking for food outside. Widuri, we went back into the cave," Sunil passed, followed by Nastiti.

Widuri took some apples left for Dean for breakfast. Dean accepts.

"Thank you for taking care of my wound," Dean bit down on the apple while watching Widuri who was walking into the mouth of the cave.

"No problem." A moment of Widuri's shadow disappeared and then reappeared while holding a piece of cloth in his hand.

"What's that?" ask Dean to know.

"Rude grain grain. I want to make bread, but it's not as smooth as wheat flour" Widuri pointed out the contents of the cloth.

"Breads with such ingredients are healthier, contain more fiber" Dean told Widuri.

"You just persuaded me," said Widuri.

"No. In many countries, bread is sometimes also mixed with grains and uses slightly coarse wheat flour to enrich the flavor and be more healthful." Dean convinced Widuri.

"alright. Let's just try something. Sunil wants flatbread. After all, there is no yeast to make bread rise," Widuri lamented.

"You can make your own yeast. I'll teach you later" Dean said convincingly.

"really? Teach me," said Widuri happily.

Widuri moved the flour into their only pot after moving the rest of the contents to Eugene's 2 wooden bowls.

Dean grabbed his bag and took out a plastic water bottle and thrust it at Widuri.

"Use this saltwater a little to add flavor."

Widuri grabbed and poured a third of its contents into the flour. He stirred it by hand long enough for the dough to be soft. Widuri covered it with a cloth and let it go.

"Thank you Dean" said Widuri as she returned the bottle to Dean.

"Hold it to cook. If I had another bottle, I'd fill it with salt water from the pool of warm water in that cave. But I only have that, so keep it," Dean refused.

"We have to find the source of the salt again," Widuri muttered enough to sound in Dean's ear.

"Yes, we have to find a source of salt." Dean assented. Try standing up to get out of the cave.

"Where are you going? Just take a break today," Widuri prevented Dean from doing the work.

"I want to pee, do you want to ban it too?" tempt Dean lightly as it passed.

"Huh! Whatever!" Widuri yells keki. Follow Dean's laughter from the mouth of the cave before his shadow disappears.

"This guy is really upsetting. If pain looks so pitying. But after being healthy, returning to his original irritating nature, "widuri grumbled long and short.

***