Age of Blood

62

Laws was close enough to Walker and Hoover to call out to them, but when he heard YaYa’s scream, he turned and watched the other SEAL fall, saw his blood pumping out of his arm stump like something from an Akira Kurosawa picture. He had no choice but to jump to YaYa’s aid. He turned and ran, calling for Hoover over his shoulder.

The dog followed and they arrived at about the same time. She paced nervously as she saw her onetime handler lying in a growing pool of blood. She started to sniff at the severed arm, then backed away and growled instead.

YaYa had already lost a prodigious amount of blood. Laws put a knee and all of his weight on the soft spot of YaYa’s shoulder. With his left hand, he shoved two fingers into the remarkably clean wound, applying pressure to the median cubital vein. The amount of blood immediately decreased. With his right hand, he reached into the cargo pouch on Hoover’s vest and pulled out a med kit. He grabbed a pouch of QuikClot gauze and ripped it open with his mouth. Then, as best he could, he unrolled one end and began to pack it into the wound, inch by bloody inch. The gauze contained kaolin, which promoted clotting like no one’s business. He’d seen a training video where they’d cut the femoral artery of a pig and using just one packet of gauze, had completely stopped the bleeding within minutes.

After he packed the first one, he packed a second one.

The bleeding had stopped, but was it going to be enough to save him?

YaYa came to. “Laws, is that you?” he asked groggily.

“Just leave it, kid. Save your strength.” With the loss of blood, YaYa was bound to become hypovolemic, which meant Laws also had to treat him for shock. He needed to find something he could use as a cover. Glancing back at the pile of dead ’cabra, he knew what to do.

But then he saw the obsidian butterfly. It had Holmes pinned against the side of the pyramid. While Laws needed to treat YaYa, he also needed to help the boss.

He fed YaYa the remainder of his own Fentanyl lollipop, then made his move.