In the Blood by Jackie French

girl’s eyes flickered open again. She stared at us unseeingly, then focussed for just a second on Neil’s face. For a moment I thought she was going to scream again. Then blankness took over and her head fell back on the pillow.
    Neil stroked the medi-seal at her throat, absently smoothing out the creases. ‘Has she said anything else?’ he asked. ‘Her name? Who did this to her?’
    ‘No. Nothing more. Neil she’s…she’s so very young.’
    Neil hesitated, then put his arm around me. He hugged me briefly, then moved away. ‘You look pretty shocked yourself,’ he said. ‘Better get yourself a hot drink. A sweet one.’
    ‘I don’t want to leave her.’
    ‘I’ll watch her,’ said Neil. ‘Elaine will be here soon. Go and make some tea. Go on.’
    I went.
    He was right. I sat and sipped my hot sweet tea and watched the girl and Neil kneeling beside her and felt my mind clear and my hands stop shaking. I hadn’t even known they were.
    A door slammed outside. ‘That’ll be Elaine,’ said Neil. ‘I’ll give her a hand with the stuff. No, you stay here.’He was gone before I could protest. I heard the door open, a few words of greeting and then Elaine was in the room, with Neil behind her—looking even larger in comparison to her—carrying a metal box and a small bag.
    Elaine stopped, then stared.
    ‘I…I tried to get rid of all the blood,’ I said apologetically. ‘But I was afraid to scrub too hard.’
    ‘Oh my sweet Lord,’ whispered Elaine. Her face was blank and white with shock.
    ‘I found her outside my gate, about an hour ago now.’
    ‘An hour ago?’ Elaine seemed to pull herself together. She crossed the room swiftly and pressed her fingers over the uninjured wrist, feeling the pulse.
    She glanced up at Neil. ‘Bring the bag over will you? Thanks.’
    She opened it and picked out a small blunt probe and pressed it to the girl’s inner arm. ‘I need to check her blood type.’ The probe beeped. Elaine held it up to the light to read the screen. ‘AB positive,’ she said. ‘The same as mine. Neil, you’ll have to help me hook up. Do you remember the procedure?’
    Neil nodded. ‘Do you need a City backup Link?’
    ‘No,’ said Elaine quickly. ‘No. I can handle this.’
    ‘Maybe I should get the camera out of the floater just in case. Did you bring it?’
    ‘Yes, I brought it.’ Elaine considered as she attached a broad plasticuff around the girl’s uninjured arm, with a flat metal cylinder attached to a catheter in the centre. She pressed the cylinder down. ‘All right, bring it in. At least it’ll be set up if I do need it quickly.’
    ‘How long does it take to get City backup?’ I asked.
    ‘In emergency medical? About two seconds.’
    The pressure on her arm must have woken the girl. Her eyes opened, flat and unseeing. She began to scream. The screams grew louder, louder. Suddenly she jerked her arm away, tearing the tubing out of the plasticuff.
    ‘Shit,’ said Elaine softly. She bent down and opened the metal box. It was neatly divided into metal sections, each with unfamiliar controls. She selected one, and pressed. A red light began to pulse slowly in one section. It speeded up, then suddenly it was flashing green. ‘I may as well get the rest set up before I try to reattach her,’ she muttered. ‘In case she moves again.’
    She opened the box, and took out a transparent container, squashy and full of blood.
    ‘Here, take this,’ she ordered.
    I didn’t move. She glanced at me. ‘Don’t worry, it’s sealed. You don’t have to be sterile. I’m not either for that matter.’
    ‘It’s not that. It’s…’
    I had never worried about the sight of blood before. But I had never seen it ooze from neck and wrist before either. I had never realised the power blood has. It’s our life, and our death.
    ‘For goodness sake,’ said Elaine impatiently. ‘I don’t have time to set up the stand. Just take it and stand up slowly.’
    I took the container