In the moonlight, the room was dimly illuminated.

Lia flicked off her flashlight and the group were all still, standing in different places around the room and staring around the space. It was exactly how Miles had always pictured a dormitory to look. One wall was covered in bookcases, another held a Digi-Screen - a screen attached to a wall which normally had countless channels to surf through, though currently the screen was just static - and then there was a small hallway that broke off into a small bedroom and an even smaller en-suite. There was a kitchenette near the door of the dorm.

It looked, in Miles' opinion, like a very small apartment. It was no wonder, really. The school cost a fortune.

After examining the room, Miles sagged onto the sofa that sat across from the Digi-Screen. He let out a groan of both pain and relief that he could finally sit down. Beside him, Aaron sat too.

Slowly, Luca and Eira seated themselves on the ground in front of the sofa, not protesting once about it. Miles was begrudgingly grateful for the fact that he didn't have to share the large sofa with anybody but the other injured boy.

From across the room, Lia called, "The lights aren't working."

"I guess all electricity is out," Miles responded, voice strained and raspy. His neck was bruised and his throat sore, phantom hands still roughly caressing his skin. Absently, he rubbed gingerly at his neck, gritting his teeth against the pain.

There was a rattling around in the kitchen that lasted a few long seconds before Lia returned to the rest of the group, something in her hand and her expression triumphant. "I found the first aid kit."

It wasn't big, but when Lia sat down and opened it, Miles realised that it was surprisingly full. Aaron must have been thinking similarly, for he muttered, "Whoever owns this room must really have been preparing for disaster." He said it jokingly, but Miles was just relieved that the owner of the room had these supplies.

"Yeah. And lucky he was." Lia started to unpack bandages and antiseptic wipes and small vials onto the floor, along with other things Miles couldn't quite see or understand in the poor light. She lifted her eyes to look at Miles. "We'll work most quickly if somebody treats Miles and somebody treats Aaron at the same time. Then after that, we can use what's left to treat Luca and any other small wounds that anybody has. Does that sound okay?"

"Actually," Aaron interjected, looking to Eira as if he required backup on what he was about to say, "I know a little bit about medication and treatment." He ducked his head modestly, but Eira was enthusiastically nodding her agreement. "Both of our parents are doctors, and that's my plan for when I'm older, too. I mean, I'm not promising -"

"Perfect," said Lia, smile appearing all of a sudden. "That's fantastic. It doesn't matter how much you know - I'm sure it's more than anybody else. If you're happy to help treat the others, maybe we can learn something from you."

Aaron looked relieved that his offer to assist hadn't been turned down. "I can wait until the end to be treated," he said, but Miles looked immediately towards him.

"No," Miles objected. "Don't do that. Your cut isn't clean, and it doesn't take expert advice to know that it could get easily infected. You've been in pain longer than me or any of us; treat yourself first and then help."

Aaron blinked slowly, and Miles stared back without pausing to alter anything he'd just said. His shoulder was causing him agony, but the longer Aaron's wound was left open, the more he'd bleed and the weaker he'd get. Miles forced aside his own pain and looked down at the medical equipment Lia had found. "What are you waiting for? We don't have all night."

Aaron shook himself and then without arguing, began to tug at the knot holding his makeshift shirt-bandage around the wound. When he let the shirt fall away, everybody winced at once. The wound was angry red and still dribbling blood.

Eira got to her feet. "I'll go see if there are any shirts you can use in this place." In other words, she just wanted to get out.

After Eira left, Aaron held out his hands and Lia piled the equipment into them. "It's not as deep as it looks," Aaron remarked without being prompted. Despite what he said, his face was ghostly pale and he looked ready to pass out.

"Tell us what we can do to help," Lia said.

Aaron did.

It took half an hour to clean and dress Aaron's wound. Miles realised, as he, Lia, and Luca worked to help Aaron, that Aaron had been right; the wound wasn't so much deep as it was long. Aaron protested immediately against stitches. Not only did they not have any materials for that, but nobody knew how to properly do them and no one was willing to try.

Miles didn't participate much, but when he did, he was painfully reminded of his own wounds when they flared up at his movements. The only way that the group worked was slowly and with Aaron's instructions. Miles tried to store everything that Aaron said at the back of his mind for a later date in case they needed the information again one day when Aaron wasn't present.

Eira had returned from the bedroom with a shirt in her hands just five minutes after everybody had started working on treating Aaron, and she'd reluctantly joined in. Though Luca dedicated a lot of effort into the task, he didn't say much at all.

When they were finally finished, Aaron slipped the too-big, borrowed shirt that Eira had found for him over his head and gave it a sniff just to confirm it was safe and clean.

"That feels so much better," he murmured, reclining against the back of the sofa with a small smile. With ointments and antiseptic pads and a clean bandage now keeping his wound protected, Aaron looked much more comfortable, but no less exhausted.

Everybody was exhausted. Miles hadn't slept for almost twenty-four hours now, and he could feel it starting to affect his usual behaviour.

After Aaron had been treated, Miles had the wound on his shoulder treated too. It was a much more painful experience than he'd anticipated, and he'd spent the time both muttering curses under his breath and snarling at anybody who accidentally hurt him. Now that Aaron was a little better, he was the one doing most of the work, relying on the others to listen to what he was saying and occasionally assist.

It was easy to tell that as tough a facade as she put on, Eira had a weak stomach. She left the room halfway through the procedure to go get Miles a shirt, and didn't return until Aaron was almost finished dressing Miles' wound.

Miles was a little uncomfortable with people - chiefly Aaron - touching him, but he had to tell himself to put up with it. He'd be the only one suffering in the consequences if he tried to avoid the contact.

The shirt that Eira had fetched for Miles was even bigger than Aaron's was. He almost suggested that he an Aaron swap, considering Aaron was taller, but he decided against it in the end.

When the wound on his shoulder had been treated, Miles tugged on the shirt. After that, it was just a matter of treating everybody else - none of which had anything severe.

By the time everybody had been treated, they were all thoroughly drained. Aaron was half-asleep on the corner of the sofa. Eira slapped his arm to wake him up.

Lia leaned back on the heels of her hands, letting out one long, drowsy sigh. "Now that that's done," she started, closing her eyes momentarily, "it's time to discuss what the hell is happening."

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+1318 Words

((Banner cred to itsnothardtodreamx))

Random q, but has anybody else noticed that Wattpad counts words differently to every other program? I don't know if it's just me but when I was submitting my Write to Rank entry I pasted my story into a Word document and realised that the word count was different to it was on Wattpad. Is it just me?

On a different note, please vote and comment letting me know what you thought of the chapter! I hope you're all staying safe :)

- Reb <3