Geno Lucaino's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

The voices outside grew louder. Geno kept his hands pressed against Kaine's side and felt the blood warm against his fingers. His brother's breathing was shallow and too fast. The wound needed stitches and cleaning, but the storage barn had neither supplies nor light enough to work by. Geno looked around the barn and saw the old wooden chest in the corner—the one he used to store winter feed. He pulled his hands away from Kaine's wound long enough to drag the chest forward and shove it against the floor. The lid lifted with a creak, revealing nothing but old grain sacks. But underneath, his fingers found the seam in the floorboards. The trap door. He'd forgotten it was there—a cellar space the previous owner had dug for root storage. Dark, cold, and hidden. Geno pulled the boards up and saw the narrow ladder leading down. It wasn't a clinic, but it was shelter. He pulled Kaine to his feet and half-carried him down into the dark. The cellar smelled like earth and stone. Geno felt along the wall and found the wooden crate he'd stored there years ago—a medical supply box with a red cross painted on the lid. He opened it and pulled out bandages, clean cloths, and a small bottle of antiseptic. His hands moved quickly in the dim light from the trap door above. He packed the wound and wrapped it tight, then gave Kaine water from a flask he'd left down there. Outside, the voices grew closer. The wolf barked once. Geno climbed back up and lowered the trap door, then slid the chest back over it. He wiped the blood from his hands and walked to the barn door. He opened it and stepped outside. The two men in dark coats stood near the clinic gate. The wolf strained against its chain. One man held up the parchment and asked if Geno had seen anyone come through. Geno said no. The man studied him for a long moment, then looked past him toward the barn. Geno didn't move. He thought about the watch in his pocket and his grandmother's words about stillness. This wasn't stillness. This was standing in place and refusing to move. The man finally nodded and turned away. The two figures walked back toward the road with the wolf between them. Geno waited until they were gone, then went back inside the barn and pulled the chest away from the trap door. Kaine was still breathing. He wouldn't survive the night without a healer, but Geno had bought him time. And the only route to help ran straight past the road where those men were waiting.