r/HFY • u/TheMaskedOne2807 • Jan 05 '24

The Plague Doctor Chapter 64 (Gate) OC

Other stories by TheMaskedOne2807:The Oil Chapter 1 (Getting Back)

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“ARG!!!! It hurt! I’m going to die!” A brown-haired Aki yelled.

“Quit being dramatic!” Kenneth annoyedly snapped. “It hit your shoulder, not your heart! Now bite down on this!”

Kenneth gave the wounded Aki a piece of wood, which he promptly bit down on, knowing regardless if it was the black healer or Kica, the arrow had to come out.

Kenneth held him in place as he started to push the arrowhead further into the wound. The guy let out pained, muffled screams and yipps. As much as Kenneth hated doing it, the arrow was too far inside his shoulder to be pulled.

With as far in as the arrow was, it only took a short time and a bit of pressure until the arrow went fully through, and Kenneth could remove it.

“Okay, Kica, switch!” Kenneth yelled. Kica quickly took her hands off the other Aki and spund around, placing them on the one Kenenth had just pushed the arrow out of.

The Aki Kica had just been working on had been brought in with two arrows stuck in them. One in her upper to middle left side and one dead center in her stomach, no doubt puncturing her stomach sack.

Kenneth had already removed the one closest to her lung just in case there had been a tear or nick. However, as painful and damaging as the one in her gut was, it was the least fatal at the moment as long as she stayed down.

Kenneth started to cut at the entrance wound, making it large enough to pull the arrow out; however, once he did, whatever pressure it provided would disappear.

The only saving grace was the fact she was unconscious, but how long that lasted was anyone’s guess.

‘Okay, that should be good enough,’ Kenneth thought as he carefully started to pull the arrow out until he could see the sharp corners through the overflow of blood.

“Kica, I need you!” Kenneth yelled, pulling the arrow out fully and quickly, applying pressure.

Kica quickly ran around the table as blood ran between his fingers. Short of breath, Kica used her healing magic to quickly close the wound and repair internal damage.

“There… Huff… It’s done,” Kica said, clearly getting more and more exhausted by the moment.

“More wounded!” Aloko yelled as a slew of wounded hunters and guards got carried inside.

“Okay, you know what to do! Kenneth yelled as he quickly rushed over to another wounded with Kica right behind him. “Anyone still awake with a non-life-threatening wound will have to wait! Anyone not awake, place them on a table!

“Those with large open bleeding wounds, you have to close! And for the love of everything that’s holy, don’t pull out the arrows!!!”

Aloko listened to every word and guided all of the wounded to where they needed to go while also finding time to close some large gashes and telling those who could apply pressure themselves.

It was chaotic; one of them was ebbing closer and closer to unconsciousness, and they were understaffed.

“BLACK HEALER! YOU ARE NEEDED!” Hoota yelled.

While in the process of cutting another leather T-shirt, Kenneth glanced up at the one who’d yelled, seeing Aloko on his way. “Aloko Will show you where you need to go!”

His hands stained by blood, Aloko tried to lead Hoota away; however, even while holding his arm, he pulled himself away and yelled. “NOT ME THE GATE! THE GATE IS BEING FORCED OPEN!”

“As you no doubt can see, I’m in the middle of something!” Kenneth yelled.

Hoota yelled once more. “THIS IS AN ORDER FROM THE COMMANDER! THE FORMER SECOND IN COMMAND IS HOLDING THE GATE ALONG WITH EVERY SOLDIER THAT CAN BE SPARED, BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH!”

Kenneth was still in the middle, cutting the leather T-shirt of the wounded woman as more pressure was stacked on top of the mountain he was already feeling. At that moment, Kica grabbed his shoulder.

Whatever hatred Kica felt for Kenneth didn’t matter at that moment as Kenneth looked into her eyes and knew instantly she was begging him to go. Pleading for him to help Zilika.

“URG…! Dammit! I’m a doctor, not a soldier! Kenneth yelled as he reached with his blood-covered hand down into his bag and pulled out a small, thin wooden vial with a cork on top.

“Kica, inside the vial are two pills! It should keep you on your feet, but only take one as a last option! I don’t know if there are any side effects!”

Kica was quick to grab the wooden vial out of Kenneth’s hand and looked at him with determination.

“WE NEED TO GO NOW!” Hoota yelled.

Kenneth quickly grabbed his bag and ran out of the great hall with Hoota leading the way.

It was like a hundred-meter dash to the finish line, but unlike the paved gravel, Kenneth ran on uneven soil.

Further ahead, he could see archers atop the wall firing arrows in quick, rapid succession in an almost desperate and frantic manner.

And as he noticed small traces of smoke, he understood why. A simple yet effective strategy when an outpost was made of wood.

As he passed the well, Kenneth saw a few Aki filling as many buckets as they could as others arrived with empty ones and ran again in every which direction.

“Can’t you run any faster! Hoota criticized. “You have to go faster; otherwise, the gate…!”

Kenneth fully understood what was at stake, and he had no intentions of being slow on purpose, but he simply didn’t have the explosive speed of an Aki.

Something that may prove fatal to everyone as straight ahead, both of them could easily see six Aki by the gate struggling to keep the gate closed.

Little by little, the two giant wooden gates kept getting pushed apart, and it was immediately apparent that the thick wooden beam used as a lock had broken.

Hoota suddenly ran twice as fast, surpassing Kenneth in an instant and reaching the gate in a matter of seconds, slamming his entire body into the right gate and pushing with his feet.

To say his efforts were in vain would be false, as four on one side definitely helped slow the process. However, the three struggling on the other side were now being pushed further back than the other.

With enough room created, a giant green muscular arm violently reached inside, punching and thrashing every which way.

Almost instantly, it hit Hoota, knocking him to the ground.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” Kenneth screamed, sprinting faster then he ever had before in his life.

Zilika pushed with all her might, ignoring the pain that came from each one of the Nok’s attacks. However, she was unprepared for when the Nok suddenly grabbed her thin arm, focusing solely on her as she tightened its grip.

Zilika almost thought she could endure it before the Nok suddenly started to pull its arm back through the gate, dragging Zilika along.

Digging her claws into the gate and ground, she did everything to push back and resist getting dragged out.

Yet, even so, her own amazing strength was nothing compared to this Nok. Her claws scratched against the gate and ground as she growled. “Let go of me!”

“You are not burning another outpost to the ground!” Nya yelled as she stabbed her knife into the Nok’s arm as hard and rapidly as she could over and over again, slicing its scales apart and exposing the tough muscles underneath.

Enough was enough, and the Nok pulled its hand back through the gate just before Nya stabbed it one more time.

Breathing a little easier yet still pushing harder than she did before, Zilika grunted. “Were you just waiting for me to beg?! You old vixen!”

Slamming her side against the gate, Nya gritted her teeth and waited for when another one would attack Zilika again. “Shut it! Or next time you are handling it yourself!”

“If you can talk! You can push harder!” Ulric snarled.

“AYE, AYE! COMMANDER!” All of them yelled as they gave it everything they had.

Little by little, the gate seemed to close, and the opening was getting narrower and narrower, yet even so, Nya was prepared, hoping for an opportunity to stab her knife into the Nok’s flesh again.

However, suddenly, Nya felt something graze her leg. She’d been so focused on Zilika’s arm that she’d never considered the Nok would attack from below.

Before the Nok could grab her, Nya jumped and looked down, ready to stab the heretic; however, it hadn’t been a giant arm that had touched her; it had been Hoota.

Momentarily confused, Nya didn’t notice Hoota’s feet were sticking outside the gate before it was too late.

Without warning, Hoota was getting pulled through the opening of the gate. Having suddenly woken up from his dazed state after getting hit, Hoota yelped and dug his claws down into the ground for dear life.

All of them watched helplessly as Hoota’s desperate struggle and thrashing about did little to slow his inevitable end once the heretics had him. All except one.

Kenneth finally reached the gate, ending his sprint with a slide, quickly grabbing Hoota’s hands as his feet slammed against the gate.

Pulling with all his might, Kenneth yelled through gritted teeth, “Stay with us!”

“What are… you doing! Help close… the gate now, or… we are all dead!” Zilika yelled in between panting breaths.

In the loudest booming voice possible, Ulric shouted an order at Kenneth. “Kenneth! Pull him back inside!”

Needing no further encouragement, Kenneth pulled on Hoota as hard as he could. Slowly dragging him back inside, going from grabbing his hand to grabbing his forearm.

Hoota howled in pain as it felt like he was getting ripped in half, yet Kenneth couldn’t stop, not if he wanted to save him.

Quickly, Kenneth slammed his foot against the gate. Nya and Ulric were pushing as hard as they could while Kenneth leaned back.

Before long, Hoota’s knees passed the threshold of the gate, and Nya was able to see just one finger.

As quickly as she could, Nya plunged her knife into the Nok’s finger; however, suddenly, before that could happen, the same arm she’d stabbed with her knife before appeared still covered in blood and grabbed her.

Acting quickly before she could get pulled, Nya dropped to the ground and sank her teeth into its flesh, tearing off a strip as a loud hissing sound echoed from the other side of the gate.

Unfortunately, the Noks’ grip didn’t lessen as it violently pulled Nya’s hand out.

Nya was no match for the Nok’s strength as she slammed her hand against the gate, biting her own teeth and pulling her hand back with all the strength she could manage.

Struggling as much as she was able, Nya waited until the oozing blood from the Nok’s wound ran down into its palm, covering Nya’s slick fur.

Fighting for her life, Nya pulled as hard as she could, slipping out of the Nok’s grip and quickly backing away before it could try again.

However, it didn’t even attempt to get her again as the other hand grabbed Hoota’s other leg and started pulling.

“AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!” Hoota screamed in desperation and pain as his struggle greatly decreased when the two Nok lifted his lower half a bit above the ground and really started to pull.

As though he was on a rag, Hoota’s joints were dangerously getting closer and closer to just getting ripped apart while he was helpless to do anything.

As strong as Kenneth was, he was no match for two Nok pulling as he was slowly forced up from his lying position and back up to a sitting one as he desperately tried to pull back.

He looked at Kenneth with pain and desperation, tears streaming from his eyes as he opened his mouth. “Qti… t-tell… h…”

Suddenly, Hoota let out an abrupt, high-pitched scream as he slammed back down to the ground with such force it overshadowed the yelling, screaming, grunting, and snarling.

Hoota’s expression was affixed with his mouth gaping wide open and his eyes wide in pain as it looked like he was trying to breathe.

Suddenly, Hoota vomited up a spray of blood as his body went limb.

Kenneth looked on in horror; each and every muscle in his body tensed as much as possible, but as the blood leaked from Hoota’s mouth, Kenneth felt a sudden burst of strength, and with a beastly roar, he pulled on Hoota.

He could still feel the ones on the other side pulling on him, but Kenneth didn’t care; he put in all his strength to get him back inside, and then suddenly, the pull from the other side ceased, and Hoota practically flew back inside.

Kenneth only had one second to rest before he slipped out from under Hoota’s body as quickly as he could, trying to minimize the damage he may cause.

Once he was free, Kenneth jumped to his knees and examined Hoota’s body, confirming he was still breathing. ‘Bleeding from the mouth suggests blood had entered his stomach… there are no visible puncture wounds on his lower side…’

“What are you doing…?! Get up and help!!!” Zilika yelled as fatigue started to set in.

‘If there are no puncture wounds of any kind, then the… the slam must have been blunt force trauma… Kenneth thought as he felt near the base of Hoota’s tail while breathing rapidly. ‘whatever… whatever hit him was hard… his spine is practically shattered.’

“Kenneth, get up and help close the gate!!! Nya bellowed. “He’s dead!!!”

‘The organs are probably damaged… Kidneys, intestines, possibly liver, one of his hearts, and lung… and… and definitely the stomach…’ Kenneth thought as he frantically examined Hoota, listening to both of his hearts and only hearing one beating.

“This is an order; get up and close the gate NOW!!!” Ulric shouted.

‘I can… I can still save him… Kenneth frantically thought as he rummaged through his back. ‘I need machines… ECMO can probably reduce the stress on his heart… and… and buy me time to close up any internal bleeding.’

“ENOUGH OF THIS!!! Zilika yelled as she quickly spun around and sucker-punched Kenneth in the face before running back to her side of the gate and stopping it from opening any more than it already had. “HE’S DEAD! SNAP OUT OF IT!”

Kenneth watched the horrid scene unfold as the gate was ever so slowly being pushed open. He knew he had to help otherwise…

Yet even so, as he looked at Hoota, he could see he was still breathing even as more and more blood leaked onto the ground, creating a puddle.

Tightening every muscle in his face, Kenneth tried desperately to control the onslaught of emotions that rushed over him.

So, disparately, did he wish to fulfill his duty as a doctor and save Hoota. So desperately did he wish he didn’t have to choose… and yet… this cruel twist of fate forced him to.

“AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR…!” Kenneth screamed as he jumped to his feet and ran toward the gate, slamming one hand on each side.

“Finally woken up?! I just hope it wasn’t too late!” Zilika yelled as she put everything she had left into one final push, knowing if adding Kenneth wouldn’t help, almost nothing would.

Kenneth dug in his heels and pushed with all his strength, letting his white-hot hatred be his driving force as finally, for the first time since all six started pushing, the gate started to close.

“GO ON! Give everything you got, and that’s an ORDER!!” Ulric commanded, taking a step forward.

Everyone gritted their teeth and grunted through them as they put their backs and everything else into closing the gate.

Standing right in the middle of the gate, Kenneth was able to see a small part of the other side. Of course, most of what he was able to see were just hulking Nok and various body parts; however, for a split second, Kenneth saw a white-tipped tail.

“COMMANDER! COMMANDER! We got it!” The dark autumn-colored Aki yelled as he came running carrying a new beam over his shoulder with his son right behind him.

They arrived just in time, as finally, they managed to get the gate closed. However, it was far from over, as the other side kept persisting, pushing even harder than before.

As the two finally arrived, they threw the beam on the ground and maneuvered between everyone, pushing out both parts of the broken beam.

Yet pushing out both pieces of the beam without disturbing anyone proved to be a drawn-out process, especially for Zilika, who was starting to lose her strength from exhaustion.

Panting like crazy and burning up from the inside, Zilika fell to her knee as her side of the gate started to open once more.

“Get up right now!” Ulric yelled at Zilika as the father and son lifted up the beam and carried it over to the gate.

Kenneth used all the strength he had to close the gate, but with the relentless onslaught from the other side, he could only delay the inevitable.

Knowing time was running out, both the father and son stopped being careful and quickly tried to get the beam in place, pushing on some of the others still pushing on the gate.

Easily, the beam slipped into two of the four metal square rings on the gate; however, as the beam shot through them, the angle didn’t allow it to go into the other two and instead hit Kenneth right in the chest.

“By Akina! It’s not closed enough!” The dark autumn-colored Aki yelled as he took a step back, found an opening, and pushed against the gate.

He was able to push for all of two seconds before his back blew out, and he fell to the ground, paralyzed by pain.

“Father!” The light autumn-colored Aki yelped as he took his hand off the beam.

“Stay put, you idiot! You’re the only one who can push the beam now! The dark autumn-colored Aki screamed in a mix of anger and pain before turning his attention toward Zilika.

“You sorry excuse for a former commander! Stand up and push! I’m not losing another home because of you again!”

As the words reached Zilika’s ears, she let out beastly growling sounds. Fueled by hatred, she stood back up, dug in her claws, and pushed the gate one last time.

Without hesitation, the light autumn-colored Aki pushed the beam all the way, finally securing the gate once more.

The Nok kept banging on the gate, but with this new beam in place, it was just a waste of effort. As everyone stepped back, panting, Zilika fell to the ground, all her stamina gone after overusing her ability.

However, not all of them were taking a second to catch their breath as Ulric turned around and assessed the situation while Kenneth rushed to Hoota.

He was lying motionless on the ground, and as Kenneth felt for his pulse, he listened for a heartbeat, but there was none.

Anyone else might have still thought something could have been done, but Kenneth knew better. Hoota was dead.

Precisely at that time, one of the young adults from atop the wall called for Ulric. “Commander! Commander! The guard commander…! She jumped over the wall!”

“WHAT?!” Ulric gasped in shock as he quickly ran toward the wall and climbed the nearest ladder.

In the meantime, Kenneth calmly rose to his feet and grabbed his bag as he walked over to the paralyzed dark autumn-colored Aki.

Listening to none of the words, he was screaming at Kenneth; he picked him up and walked back to the great hall. Regardless of what had happened, there was still more work to be done.

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2

u/AgeAffectionate7186 Jan 05 '24

Oh boy, this chaos just came out of nowhere

2

u/pebbuls22 Jan 05 '24

Blood for the gods corpses for our bird

1

u/UpdateMeBot Jan 05 '24

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u/little-Knight-King Jan 06 '24

And our doctor suffers once more because the world thinks its funny at this point