Red Moon: Revolution: Chapter 31

The day was set, and Trevor went, with Rommel, to meet the doctor just outside of the hospital. It was in the middle of the day, and it was busy with people filing in and out at a steady enough stream to make Trevor think about just how many sick people are in the world. Not as many as sick as I may be. That was what he concluded after some thought. He figured that a bit of a cold, a broken thumb, or even a broken limb wasn't quite so bad when compared to his own ailment of having bullet fragments in his brain. Sure he had the ability to heal, but he just told himself that to make himself feel better.

He had the shakes, both from excitement and fear. Everything sounded easy and straightforward when it was just that, talk. Now it was real, he was there at the hospital, walking into the main lobby where the doctor was waiting for him.

Eric greeted them with a smile and quickly introduced one of his coworkers, a medical technician who had access to all of the machinery. The tech didn't know about werewolves or why Eric had asked him that he be allowed to bring someone in for an off the books appointment. The tech didn't really care either. Eric had been kind to him, helped him learn his trade, he was a friend and friend did each other solids without question.

Trevor was led to a restroom where he was allowed to change into a medical gown so that he would not draw any unwanted attention. When that was done, he was put on a gurney and wheeled down the sterile white halls. People passed by without giving him so much as a glance. As far as the rest of the staff was concerned, as long as he wasn't actively dying or infected with some infectious disease, he didn't require any more attention than was being given by his doctor.

They got to radiology without interruption and the technician let them in and turned on the power and began to set up the equipment.

Trevor looked around the room. It looked just like any other hospital he had been to. There was an examination table in the center with white paper rolled over it. Above it loomed a machine, the x-ray machine that would determine if there were shards in his brain. It wasn't large. There was a 't' shaped post with wires running down it and into the wall at one end and on the other was a box with a lens on it that was facing downward.

"It should be smooth sailing from here," Eric said and inspected the rest of the room to make sure everything was ready. "We'll get this done and be out of here in less than half an hour." He gave Trevor a reassuring grin.

The technician went over to a rack on the far wall and grabbed a vest from it and handed it to Trevor. "Put this on," He instructed, and Trevor did so. It was heavier than it looked. Filled with lead to stop the x-rays from going anywhere other than needed.

He was then instructed to lie down on the table.

"You're going to need to have to look straight up," Eric said and put his hands in the pocket of his doctor's coat. "We're going to step out just for a moment, and I'll need you to hold still." He reached up and pulled on the x-ray machine and pulled it down to a few inches from Trevor's face.

The process was fast. After the first image, Eric had Trevor turn his head to the side and then to the other side. There were a few more images taken at different angles after that, but within ten minutes, it was done, and Trevor was back in the bathroom and changing back into his regular clothes.

"Now," Eric said to the technician. "This was a favor for my friend here and we really don't need anyone to know about this."

"No problem, Doc." The technician promised at the front entrance to the hospital. "No one will know about this. The security office doesn't check the camera footage unless they need to and on an average day like this, your little escapade will leave then none the wiser."

"Good man." Eric shook the technicians hand before taking an envelope from him which contained the developed x-rays. "I'll see you at work Monday."

"See you then." The technician shook hands with Eric and then went back to work before his supervisor noticed that he was gone.

"Alright," Eric said as they walked away from the hospital. "Once we get back to my place, we'll take a good look at these." He shook the envelope. "See what exactly has jammed itself in your head."

Trevor was getting excited. Felt like a child at an amusement park walking down the path to the next ride. Except for the path was the sidewalk and the next ride was the doctor's flat.

Back at the apartment, Eric grabbed a lamp and upturned its shade to get a wide beam of light going to the ceiling. He pulled out the first of the x-rays and put it over it.

It was immediately apparent that there were fragments. Dark spots embedded in his skull. Checking the other x-rays gave a more 3-d image of where they were, but that wasn't necessary. The fragments were everywhere.

"My God," Rommel said and covered his mouth. "Looks like someone took birdshot to you."

"They may have," Trevor remarked.

"You should be dead." Eric went back and forth between various x-rays and marked each of the black spots with a marker, numbering them. "I count thirteen large fragments and multiple smaller ones. Probably bullet fragments and debris that just got swept up. Dirt, rocks, stuff like that."

"Can you do anything about it?" Rommel asked, and the doctor smirked.

"Normally no. Like I said, you should be dead, a werewolf should be dead right now, but you aren't and that speaks magnitudes about you." He pointed at Trevor with the marker and turned off the lampshade. "I've never seen anything so severe with a living person. This has been a day of firsts, and I think that I would like to continue that." He gave Trevor a wink. "I believe that if this man's healing abilities are as good as I think, I'll be able to get those things out of him and have him up and going again like how he should be."

"That's good." Trevor felt a little queasy. All of those things were in his head, no matter why he was having seizures. It was a miracle that he wasn't brain dead and having Dmitri spoon feed him mushed carrots.

He was kind of glad Dmitri wasn't here right now. He would have thrown a massive fit about it, no doubt, but Dmitri had his own things to take care of.

It had only been three days since they had their talk and agreed that having the child was the best thing for the both of them. He had swallowed his pride and admitted to his father that he was wrong and would go ahead with his plan.

The Alpha had personally thanked Trevor for his help on the matter and just how much this meant to him. Trevor knew that this was serious, but just the way that the Alpha explained it, made it seem even more urgent.

Packs rarely split, and when they did, it was never without bloodshed. Dmitri was right about loyalty. It was crucial and treasured by all. Many would see the split as a break in that loyalty and would try and force the splitters to come back. When there was the inevitable resistance, then that was where werewolves died.

The Alpha talked about how he had witnessed an exceptionally bloody split during the French revolution. Some members of the pack supported the Crown, which had known about werewolves and honored its treaties with them. The Crown provided protection and high standards of living for the pack and in return, they provided strong soldiers. It had been like that for many years, but when the revolution began, some left. They were branded as traitors.

To avoid being hunted down, those that left, instigated more riots and fanned the flames of revolution. So many were caught between the two sides, but in the end, those that sided with the Crown lost and many saw the guillotine.

Most times it wasn't so tragic and violent, but any bloodshed had to be avoided. The war couldn't afford a divide so close to the end, and if it happened after the Inquisition was defeated, then the destabilizing effect could just start another war. Keeping together the pack was important, what Dmitri was doing was important, and this was important as well. Trevor wanted to be his best for Dmitri and to do this, he needed to fix himself.

"I can perform today," Eric said. "Right here actually."

"What? You can't be serious." Rommel exclaimed which snapped Trevor back to where he was. "This is brain surgery."

"I know." Eric motioned for calm. "But this is brain surgery on someone that can heal faster than I'll be able to cut. We don't need as many precautions." Eric walked over to a closet he had by the kitchen and began to pull out boxes. "I've performed my fair share of illegal surgeries in the past. Many on werewolves that wanted to avoid attention. I have everything we need right here."

"You truly are a mad doctor." Rommel sighed and looked at Trevor. "You don't have to do this. I advise against it, but it is up to you."

Trevor did consider just walking away at the moment. It would take time, and something more official could be scheduled in a hospital, but Trevor felt as if there wasn't much time.

Conversations with Rob and Sean indicated that Caughey would be in contact very soon and after that, they would consolidate forces and attack the Coordinator directly. That could be later this night, tomorrow or even in a year. Trevor didn't know, Rob didn't know, no one knew when it would be, and Trevor would prefer to be ready now than when it was already too late. He didn't have the slightest idea what he was going to be ready for since Trevor didn't ever see himself fighting at all, he was too soft for that, but he wanted to be able to do his part when the time came.

"I- I'm going through with this," Trevor said to Rommel, who didn't question his decision.

Eric opened the boxes. The first few had sealed packages of white, plastic tarp. The rest had all kinds of equipment that looked like it should have been on a shelf at Home Depot. The more that Trevor saw it, the more disheartened he felt.

"Relax," Eric said as he began to boil tools and pull out more tools. He had a set of scalpels and then an iv drip. He gave Trevor another gown to put on and handed some sterile clothes to Rommel. "Put those on while I set everything up.

In half an hour, the flat was transformed into some makeshift operating room with the tarp hanging up and on the floor. The table had all the tools, actual medical tools, and power tools alike.

Trevor sat on a chair in the gown with his head shaved. Eric had seen the scars that were left behind from when Trevor was shot. They were faint and had felt very well, even for a werewolf.

"It'll grow back." Eric had joked. "We're all aware of that fact." He chuckled and tossed out the bag of hair and stowed the electric razor. He then pulled out a neck brace. "To reduce movement. I'll have to strap you down as well."

Trevor nodded and focused on his breathing as the neck brace was put on.

Rommel was there in white, sterile clothes with little booties on over his feet. He was there to assist when needed.

Some few minutes later and Trevor was strapped down on the chair which was also heavily weighted down with straps and massive dumbells on the legs to prevent movement.

"Okay,"  Eric said and picked up a needed from the table and showed it to Trevor. "This has suspended silver in it. I'll apply this to the iv to slowly administer it. You'll feel like shit when this happens, but it's necessary. You understand?"

Trevor tried to nod at first, but couldn't so he answered verbally. "I understand." He looked around the room one more time. "You're not going to steal my kidneys as well, are you?"

"Well." He tapped his finger to his chin. "Maybe next time." He walked over to the iv which had been put in Trevor's arm and stabbed the needle into part of the tubing where drugs would generally be administered.

While Eric did keep a positive attitude, there was worry. All he had were x-rays. What he really need was a CT scan or an MRI to give him a more detailed image of the cranial cavity. It would speed things up a lot, but those machines are more closely monitored than the x-ray machine. He had over seventy years of experience to go on, and he was still afraid that it wouldn't be enough. This was the riskiest thing he had ever done, super healing patient or not. He looked up at Rommel, who watched him intently and gave him a thumbs up before sliding behind Trevor.

Trevor did start to feel sick, but it was more like a cold with aching joints which he could deal with.

Eric let the silver settle in for a few more minutes before he began.

It started with the application of a local anesthetic to Trevor's head. He marked where he wanted to make his cut, at three points along the skull where the most fragments were.

"Doing alright?" Eric asked as he drew three rectangles with a marker.

"Just a little sick."

"That's good." He said and motioned over to Rommel. "Erwin, I need you to hold him down for the first incision, he may feel this."

Trevor took a deep breath as Rommel walked over and held his wrists down while sinking his knee in the area between Trevor's legs to put more weight on the chair.

Once Eric got a nod from Rommel, he made the first cut. Trevor felt the sting, but this the anesthetic, he only took in a small breath of air.

Then it was the truly hard part, mentally. Cutting the bone.

Rommel kept a hold of Trevor as Eric turned on the small disk saw.

The whirring sound of the saw behind Trevor got him riled up, and he pulled on the restraints, but Rommel held him down.

"Look at me," Rommel said to Trevor, who was sweating. "Focus on me."

Trevor looked at Rommel and saw that the older man was completely calm. His eyes were focused right on Trevor.

"Don't panic." He said. "Nothing to fear."

Trevor's head began to vibrate as the saw cut into bone, creating a sickening screaming sound and sending the smell of burnt bone into the air.

Trevor couldn't see what was going on and did his best to focus on Rommel, who kept speaking to him to keep his attention.

The vibration intensified and then stopped.

"First incision done," Eric said and let go of the breath he didn't realize he was holding. everyone did. "Some healing, but it's slow. Slow enough, but I need to act fast." He looked over at the array of x-rays he had taped to the tarp with bright lights behind it so he could refer back to it whenever he needed to. "Time to find these suckers."

It wasn't even five seconds before there was a metal clank of a fragment being dropped into a bowl. Trevor hadn't even realized that Eric had begun to sift through his brain for the fragment. It suddenly wasn't so bad.

"How're you doing there?" Eric asked.

"Good." Trevor let out a laugh. "I'm good."

"Good," Eric repeated. "Very good, indeed."

The operation continued slowly. Eric, one by one, pulled out the fragments. Some were from bullets; others were rock. He tossed them in a little bowl with a floral pattern on it.

Rommel talked to Trevor to keep him calm, but that wasn't needed anymore. Trevor was actually getting bored by the time Eric finished his third incision and began to get the last of the fragments.

"Feeling any different?" Rommel asked Trevor.

"I don't know. I don't think so." He answered. "Should I?"

"He is digging in your brain, the very thing that controls who you are," Rommel stated. "Pulling out rocks and bullets that were blocking you from fully healing. I would imagine that there might be some kind of change. Do you have any more memories?"

"No, I-"

"Woah!" Eric exclaimed and jumped back to prevent him from stabbing his tweezers right into Trevor's head as the neck brace cracked and splintered when he jolted his head back.

"What's going on?" Rommel tried to hold Trevor still, but there was a sudden surge in strength that he could stop. "What did you do?" He yelled as the strapped broke like taffy, stretching and then giving way.

"I just pulled out another fragment." Eric was still holding the tweezer with the corroded piece of metal. All the metal was corroded, having sat in a wet mush for years. "Don't grab him, or you might hurt him."

"Or he might hurt me," Rommel said and jumped back as a free arm swung wildly in his direction.

Trevor fell off his the chair and convulsed on the ground. There was nothing that either Eric or Rommel could do, but hope that the seizure ended soon so they could help Trevor.

Eric ran over to the iv stand and yanked on it to pull it out of Trevor's arm. If something went wrong, he needed to heal quickly and hope that there wasn't any permanent damage.

Trevor continued to writhe on the floor. His eyes rolled back into his head. He twisted and turned violently, lashing out in all directions at random. He hit the chair which shattered instantly. The tarp tore away in shreds. The entire, makeshift operating room was gone now.

Then, just as quickly as it began, it was over.

Trevor's eyes instantly came back into focus, and he sat straight up. He looked over at Rommel and Eric as if nothing even happened.

"Trevor?" Rommel said and stepped toward the man. "How are you feeling."

"I'm feeling alright," Trevor said and then stood up.

Rommel would have preferred him to stay seated until the situation was fully known, but Trevor got right up without any trouble at all.

"I'm actually feeling pretty good." He walked past the torn tarp to the couch where he had put his clothes and then, without hesitation, put them on.

"Where are you going?" Eric demanded. He couldn't just let his patient leave so suddenly after having a violent reaction. There could be neurological damage that would need to be discovered now, not later. "You can't go."

"I'm going." Trevor insisted. "Got stuff to do." He pulled his shirt over his head and Eric noticed that there was no longer any incisions on his skull. He couldn't even tell that there was ever a cut. Even the scars from earlier were gone, no sign of them existed on Trevor's scalp.

"You need to stay." Eric went to grab Trevor's wrist, and the man turned around on his so fast and stared at him right in the eyes.

"I'm going." He said with a growl.

Eric stopped dead in his tracks, suddenly afraid. "Okay." He raised up his hands and backed away. "I won't stop you."

"Good," Trevor said with a devilish smile and then looked at his watch. "Think I'll go see how Dmitri is doing. You think he's done with that bitch now?" He asked no one in particular. "I guess I don't care." He shrugged and stepped out, leaving both Eric and Rommel speechless.