Beyond The Tribe - alternative and parallel stories by the fans

Blaze

Episode Six

‘Thanks, all of you,’ Briar smiled at them as they offloaded the bags on her. ‘It was good to see you again.’
The guys disappeared off into the shadows and as soon as Ebony was sure they had gone, she led them round the back and in via the sewers. As Seth jumped down the last few steps of the ladder he looked grimly about himself. ‘Great,’ he thought sarcastically. Ebony caught the look on his face, there was something about him she didn’t like. They were led up into the Mall and stood at the bottom of the stairs.
‘Hello?’ called Ebony. ‘Is there anyone there?’
Danni heard her voice echoing around the hall and she angrily got up. ‘Oh, its you! Nice to have you back Ebony, where have you been while Bray’s been dying!’ she said vehemently.
Ebony beckoned the others to come up the stairs with her. The rest of the mallrats arrived out on the balcony. ‘And this is the thanks I get! Shut up Danni, you wouldn’t even…’ she shouted up at her.
‘Ebony!’ chided Briar softly, ‘She’s been through a lot. This happens when people they love get hurt.’
Briar didn’t think too much about her words but Ebony’s eyes blazed and Seth caught the look and smirked. Ebony turned and gave him a death stare but he pushed past her, following Briar, totally unaffected, still smiling.
‘Hello everyone. My name’s Briar and Ebony asked me to come and have a look at Bray to see what I can do.’
Danni eyed her warily; beware Ebony bringing gifts. ‘Who are you?’
‘Don’t worry, (Danni is it?) I know quite a lot about medicine and I run a clinic in Sector 6 near the rail yard. Ebony only thought I could help. Can I see him?’
‘Sure,’ Salene stepped forward and lifted some of the bags off her shoulders to help. ‘Come this way. My name’s Salene by the way. It’s so good of you to come.’
‘Thanks Salene. And this is Seth.’
He glanced up as though answering to his name, but then realising he wasn’t meant to do anything. He just continued staring around himself casually.
‘You must be Dal.’ Briar offered her hand to the boy unwrapping some of the bandages on Bray’s head.
He shook it nervously. ‘So you’ve come to help. Thanks, I’ve tried all I can but..’
‘I know,’ finished Briar for him. ‘It’s pretty bad.’
He drew back one of the bandages to reveal the scarred flesh. For a moment a feeling of pain rose up inside Briar, this was Bray, who she’d known all her life and now he was lying here barely conscious just like Anya. She shut away the feeling automatically as she switched into action. 'OK so what’s his pulse?’
‘100 per minute now, it’s gone up about 10 in the last two hours.’
Briar glanced at Seth and raised her eyebrow. He hardly tried to conceal that fact the patient was going to die and he shook his head.
‘The plasma’s too valuable,’ he murmured almost inaudibly but she read his lips.
The others looked on confused at Seth and Briar in silent conversation.
‘Check his pulse,’ she said to him quietly, ‘I’ll tell the others.’

Episode Seven

‘Tell us what? Tell us what?’ screamed Danni, although she already knew.
Briar stood up calmly with apprehension in her eyes to address the group. This was the part of her work she hated the most. ‘When someone receives burns this serious the open skin, the burns leak a body fluid - plasma which is essential for life. In the old days, even in hospital, Bray would have been touch and go with burns this serious, but anyway, they would have put him on a drip and tried to force plasma into his body. But it doesn’t work like that any more; they only way to replace the fluid without a drip is by giving him water and as he’s not conscious…’
‘Briar,’ called Seth gently.
She left the others who already knew what she was going to tell them and moved over to Seth. They whispered to each other while the others stood in disbelief, unable to move. Ebony knew Briar - she knew how good she was and she didn’t believe it. She was sure Briar would save him but she could read nothing in Briar’s professional placid face.
Only Tai-san spoke up, fighting the tears in her eyes. ‘It’s his fate to die. Thank you for trying to help us Briar, but no-one can elude fate, we can only try to accept it.’
But Briar was only half listening, she had Bray’s wrist raised and two fingers on his rapid pulse. She gave a half smile. ‘Well, fate’s always been my greatest challenge. I’ve made my life about fighting it,’ she said putting on a more cheerful tone. ‘Hell, Seth, we’ll give it a try. We’ve got nothing to lose!’
Seth’s eyes blazed, they had got something to lose: the plasma! But she was right, the pulse was only 85, that kid’s counting had obviously gone astray! Ebony noticed him and he was angry that she’d read his antagonism.
‘Seth get the plasma!’
Seth moved over to the insulated medical bag without taking his eyes off Ebony. Only Salene noticed the tension. Those two hadn’t spoken more than two words to each other but already they had something strong; a distrust, perhaps a curiosity, but definitely a rivalry.
Meanwhile Briar looked up and realised the tribe was still staring at her.
‘You mean there’s a chance?’ asked Salene.
‘I’m promising nothing. Now out everyone, give us some room.'
As they turned and headed for the door Briar called after them, ‘Hey Dal! You wanna learn how to do this?’
‘Er.. sure.’
‘Stay and observe then. Seth get the giving set and the cannula. Dal, can you get the plasma out of that bag?’
Dal handed her the clear bag filled with the translucent plasma. Briar told him to hold it up and she connected a clear tube into the bottom of the bag. ‘OK, Seth, take me through what I should do next,’ she said holding the needle and connector kit, the cannula, in her fingers.
‘You inject the cannula into the artery.’
‘Nope, the vein. Whereabouts?’
‘The arm?’
‘Yep. The dominant or sub dominant?’
‘Woah!’ called Dal, ‘the what or what?’
‘The left or right. You know it depends on whether he’s right handed or left handed. I presume he’s right handed, yeah?’
‘Er… yeah. But does it really matter which arm it goes into?’ said Dal, a look of confusion still on his face.
Briar looked up at him and smiled. ‘Not really, but it leaves the patient his good arm to scratch his arse.’
Seth laughed. Dal was horrified - how could they make a joke at a time like this?
Briar lifted up his left arm and turned the hand palm downwards to reveal the wrist. Dal gulped as she brought the huge needle towards his skin.
‘Seth are you watching?’ she called without turning her head from the wrist.
‘Yeah.’
She slid the needle into his arm, puncturing the skin, it pushed inexorably into his flesh until Dal was sure it must have come out the other side. Then she pulled the casing around the needle off and Seth passed her the end of the tube to connect to the needle.
‘Good work everyone.’ She stood up next to Dal to open the valve and let the plasma flow down the pipe. Noticing Dal’s pale face she laughed: ‘Don’t worry Dal, we’ll have you doing things like that in no time at all!’ She turned to Seth, ‘What rate would you suggest for me to put it on considering we’ve only got one sack.’
‘One in four hours?’
‘Yeah, about that.’ She fiddled with the valve until she was satisfied. Then she took the bag off Bray and hung it on one of the hooks on the wall near the bed, originally from some sort of jewellery holder but it served it’s purpose excellently. Walking outside to the others she greet them with a hopeful smile. ‘All we can do now is wait and see.’
She had to leave straight away promising she’d be back. Before she left she told the others about her clinic and they agree, pushed by Ebony, to deliver her regular amount of antidote for her patients. Tai-san was very co-operative but when Ebony suggested they teach Briar the method, Tai-san was saved from her obvious reluctance by Briar admission that she wouldn’t have enough time to make it herself anyway.
‘Before I go, there’s one thing I’d like to ask you, Dal.’ The others turned to him, interested. ‘I was wondering if you’d consider helping me out at the clinic sometimes, there are so few experienced people and I’d make sure to train you up so you could cope with things like this.’
Dal was about to say something. ‘No, I’ll be back tomorrow evening, we can talk about it then.’ Dal smiled gratefully.
Briar turned to Seth. ‘I want you to stay on and look after Bray, he was always a good friend to me and so now I want to help him out. Plus, you’re the only other person who knows how to deal with the drip.’
Ebony who was standing close by caught some of the hushed conversation. She listened intently, seeing the look of panic on his face.
Briar laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, you had one just the other day, you’re not due again for about another month.’
Ebony, overheard the curious comment and was intrigued. What was he due for? It all sounded a bit girly to her, she stifled a laugh.
Seth’s face swung around and caught her expression, he gave her a fierce look which made even her turn deadly serious. She knew this was important and as Briar left the Mall, her curiosity was aroused more and more. What was he hiding? What was he due for?!

Episode Eight

Seth went straight to Bray’s room and sat with him, leaning against a wall, fairly unconcerned. Danni wanted to go in but she felt a little intimidated by his large brown eyes and his gaunt face with jutting cheekbones - everything about the way he looked was indifferent. He had never tried to justify his existence there he was acting on Briar’s orders but he didn’t look like the type who took orders.
She went gingerly into the room to find him reading one of the magazines. ‘Hi Seth.’
He looked up. ‘Hi. Can I help you?’ he asked, a little more gently than she’d expected.
‘I was just wondering if I could sit with him.’
He gave her an encouraging smile, ‘Sure.’
‘So you work with Briar?’ she asked trying to make conversation.
‘Er.. yeah. Sort of. She’s training me up to help her.’
‘Oh, really? That’s good, I suppose but you don’t seem…’ she trailed off a little embarrased.
‘The type?’ he suggested, laughing and not taking offence. He leant into towards her secretly from the other side of the bed. ‘You see, she’s got something over me, I have to work for her!’ he laughed. Danni wasn't sure what reaction to take. Seth glanced at his watch, ‘When were these bandages put on?’ he asked.
‘This morning.’
‘OK, I’d better change them.’ He reached into the bag by his legs and got out paper package containing a sterile bandage. It was one of the last they had left, after this they’d have to boil them. Leaning forward he peeled the bandages of the left side of Bray’s face where the real burns were. He took a deep breath so not to breath any germs onto Bray’s open wounds. Suddenly he was aware of the sound of the girl panicking. He looked up at her and saw the look of horror on her face. She was staring at the remains of Bray skin, the weals were still there leaving rucks, pock marks and lines across his face. His hair had fallen off in a large section around his forehead. She couldn’t believe it; he was unrecognisable, his skin was deformed, she could hardly bare look.
Meanwhile Seth was kicking himself! Why did he show her the guy’s face? He was used to it: he’d seen worse, well nearly. Danni was rocking backwards and forwards, tears running down her cheeks and deep sobs of fear welling up in her throat. He quickly got up and moved over to her side of the bed. He gripped her arms and held her there and with one hand forced her head around to look at him. ‘Look at me!’ he said violently, desperately trying to tear her eyes away from the horror before her. ‘Look at me!’ he shouted but her eyes were wide and she was choking for breath, hyperventilating. He took his free hand and slapped it hard across her face.
For a moment she looked at Seth with fury, a new emotion, anger, took her other. He smiled when he saw it. ‘I’m sorry. Now listen carefully. What ever you do, don’t turn you head. Got it?’ She nodded numbly.
‘I want you to get up and leave the room without looking back.’ He pushed he towards the door and she stumbled outwards into the arms of a surprised Salene.
He took one look at Salene and shut the door. ‘Stay out,’ he said, ‘until I tell you that you can come in.’
Salene took the sobbing Danni in her arms and moved back onto the balcony. Meanwhile Seth continued too dress Bray’s face, glad that he was dealing with someone unconscious.

Episode Nine

Jack sighed as he flicked the switch which turned out the mall lights. Everyone who still wanted some light had candles on by now, it was a routine they were all used to. But none of them could sleep; they all got into bed as normal but still the events of the day ran round and round in their heads. Just yesterday evening everything had been normal with hope for the future and a feeling of progress as their well laid plains were starting to come off.
Salene wept with fury, why did everything go wrong for them? Just when they thought things were going right, events would come a long and blow their hopes out of the water. But in the midst of it all she knew she’d rather blame Fate than Ryan, who’s fault it really was.
Danni couldn't sleep either, she couldn’t even bring herself to try. The image of Bray’s scarred face haunted her even though he wasn’t dead and she was angry with herself at her reaction to his appearance; surely it didn’t matter?
The rest of them lay in the dark in apprehension, the waiting for news of Bray’s health was killing them. If he’d just died at least they’d know where they were! And deep down underneath it all there was a guilt, that their worry was more through selfishness than concern for Bray. After all what would happen if he left them? They would be at Ebony’s mercy and even Ebony realised she couldn’t run the mall as well as Bray could.
Salene got out of bed and wrapped a dressing gown round herself. She moved restlessly out of her room, being quiet so as not to disturb Ryan, who always managed to sleep like a baby through anything. There she saw Danni sitting at a table with a mug in her hands. ‘Hi,’ Salene said, pulling up a chair.
‘Oh, hi Salene.’
‘How are you feeling? What was the matter earlier?’
‘I… oh, er nothing, it’s just the uncertainty of it all,’ Danni stuttered not wanting to talk about the hideous image imprinted in her memory.
‘I know, we can’t take this much longer, I wonder when we’ll know.’
‘Not long now,’ said a voice behind them. They turned to see Seth, he moved confidently over to the table and sat down, not wanting conversation but more the offer of a hot drink.
‘How d’you mean?’
‘The drip will run out in about half an hour. After that, there’s nothing more we can do for him, except pray and you don’t want to hear what Briar thinks about that.’
‘So how’s he looking? Any better?’ asked Salene hopefully.
‘I.. er.. really wouldn’t like to say without Briar. It’s not that he’s much worse or anything,’ he added quickly.
Danni felt she should say something to occupy her brain. ‘So what’s the deal with you and Briar?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I mean she runs a clinic. Are you a doctor too?’
Seth laughed, not really caring that Danni was offended. ‘A doctor? What? Do Briar and me look old enough to have had seven years medical training?’
‘I, er, guess not.’
‘Nope. In this day and age, girly, Briar’s the best we’ve got and she’s only a teenager with common sense, a pile of medical textbooks and a dead doctor as a father.’
‘You mean her father was a doctor?’
‘Yep, but she never wanted to be. You ask any doctor's daughter. Now she feels she has an obligation to help people considering she knows more than the average 12 year old about medical treatment. She’s a hell of a girl.’
‘Are you and her…?’ insinuated Salene out of curiosity.
‘No!’ Seth laughed. ‘She seems a bit out of my league doesn’t she? Which is funny 'coz I’m two years older than her. Anyway, it’s a nightmare for her, especially now word of the clinic is getting round, we get more and more patients every day and with such limited resources, there’s nothing we can do. Eventually the few drugs we have will run out and all we’ll be able to do is watch people die. Mind you, we do that a hell of a lot already.’ He paused, ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean that.’
‘That’s OK,’ said Salene quietly. ‘So you stay there and help her? Was your dad a doctor too? That’s really good of you.’ As she spoke one of candles next to them went out. She got up to get a box of matches, nearly tripping over Cloudy the dog on the way to get them.
‘I er.. um.. yeah,’ muttered Seth, realising it was easier to go along with them. Salene was too busy with the matches to notice but Danni saw the look on his face, in fact the more she studied his strong, decadent features, the more she thought she recognised him… He looked up and caught her eyes. He looked away quickly and so did Danni, with a feeling of embarrassment but there was still something about him…

Salene moved back to the table with the matches carefully avoiding the dog strategically placed in her path. Swiftly she drew the match against the rough side of a box and the flame sparked up, brightly in the room’s dim light.
Seth felt his body spark too, his muscles tensed and twitched as his mind felt with dread, another one, it was coming!! Salene and Danni noticed it and looked at him concerned.
‘Are you alright?’ asked Salene.
‘Sure, fine,’ he pushed his chair backwards and stood up in a hurry. Cloudy began barking wildly around his ankles for seemingly no reason at all. ‘Shut up!’ he shouted at it. ‘I’ve got to… I’ve got to….’ He stumbled down the stairs, feeling his whole body tense with dread.
‘What is it?’ called Danni she got up to help him.
‘Just leave me!’ he spat vehemently as he disappeared off into the dark corridors underneath the balcony.
Salene and Danni looked at each other in confusion, they’d never seen anything like it.
Meanwhile, in one of the corridors Seth lay on the floor his whole body in a spasm, muscles tensed and his head rolling wildly round the floor. All that could be heard was the rhythmically banging off his limbs on the walls and floors in his violent fit. If he’d been conscious, he’s have been praying that nobody heard, but he wasn’t, his mind had ceased to exist.

Episode Ten

Early next morning Ebony pushed her way through the curtain that was the door to her bedroom to go out into the mall. She was only a few yards from the door when caught sight of Seth lying there on the floor. At first she eyed him suspisciously and then circled him warily but soon she saw his tired, strained face resting on the hard floor. He actually looked sweet, so different to when he was awake, then he was slightly distant from everyone, uncaring and passive and yet there were still the angry demons in him, biting and snarling at Ebony. Those she liked, she enjoyed the way she provoked a reaction from him on a level that no one else seemed to reach. Anyway, they excited her in a way that she wasn’t sure was either lust or hatred. So, being Ebony, she put it down to hatred out of pure suspicion. There was still a kind of unspoken rivalry between the two, each trying to get one over the other.

Only Briar had noticed it, but then she didn’t miss much. Back at the clinic she thought about it while sewing up a nasty gash on a demon dogs’ right arm. Seth had been a rock to her since he’d arrived. He was practical, decisive and reliable if reluctant at times and lacking in tact in front of patients. She knew nothing of his past, although he would give all the practical help his hands could offer, his mind was always detached. Some patients saw it as hostility and arrogance but Briar felt that although some of it was hatred of himself and his condition, it had always been part of his character. She knew he despised the fact he was epileptic, he’d tried to ignore it at first but as the effects of his medication became less and less the fits became more and more frequent and he could no longer pretend it wasn’t a problem. That was the point that he’d decided to stay on with Briar and to let her train him up. There he someone would always be close by to help and protect him when he was vulnerable. Seth hated relying on anyone for help but with Briar, it didn’t seem so degrading, especially as he was paying back the favour with his help.
And then there was Ebony. Briar had known her for ages. On the surface there was the power seeking, aggressive chimera which Briar had always known existed, but on the inside were the feelings which she’d learnt to repress, ever since she’d been with the Locos. It had all started when her parents died- the outlets of love had narrowed to only a few other people which Ebony cared for, Briar being one of the few. But when Zoot’s attractive offer of power came along (albeit with chaos) her surface emotions broke loose and shut Briar and any decent emotion she had left off. Ebony hated caring for people, it opened up a passage to a part of her self which she hated for her weakness. In that respect she was just the same as Seth.

Meanwhile Ebony crouched down and titled her head to one side to look into Seth’s face. She was suddenly aware of his strong features and she couldn’t help admiring his impressive face. ‘Rise and shine,’ she called softly.
Seth’s eyes flicked open straight into an unfamiliar face but within an instant he remembered who she was, and then where he was and why he was there.
He got up quickly, a look of panic on his face, taking Ebony by surprise. But she just stepped backwards and laughed. ‘So what are you doing sleeping outside my room? Not brave enough to come in?’ she teased.
He brushed the dust off his clothes. ‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ he said before he walked off, leaving Ebony to stand furiously unable to think of a pithy come back. And in her indignation she totally forgot to wonder about the real reason why he was there, sleeping on a cold, marble floor miles away from his own room.

Seth made his way back up to Bray’s room. The lights weren’t on yet so he wasn’t sure how long his fit had lasted. At a guess it was early morning; no one else was up and about yet.
As he moved into the room he glanced at Bray who was sleeping much more peacefully. He checked his pulse and it was down to 85 now and considered taking the cannula tube out of his arm and disconnecting the drip. But then he’d better wait for Briar. He breathed a sigh of relief, the patient was out of immediate danger - still it didn’t occur to him to tell the rest of the mallrats who might be worried. He moved to a large mirror nearby to inspect his face for the inevitable post-fit bruising that he hated so much. He rolled up his long loose sleeve to check his arms and to his frustration they were black and blue with old an new bruises. He rubbed them painfully. No more short sleeves for a while, he thought. He leant into the mirror to look at a cut on his cheekbone.
‘I’ve think I night have something to soothe that,’ came a voice from behind him. He turned to see Tai-san moving over to the bed to look at Bray. ‘That’s cuts’s nasty,’ she continued. ‘How did you get it?’
‘I er.. oh a fight, a few days ago.’
She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s strange, I could have sworn you didn’t have one yesterday,’ she said looking at him meaningfully.
Seth was angry and flustered. Tai-san bent over Bray and started to remove some of the bandages around his face. ‘Hey! Wait a minute! What are you doing?’
‘I want to let his skin breath. The air has amazing healing powers, you know.’
‘Yeah, well so’s a machete. Leave it. If infection from the air gets in, his scarring will be worse and take longer to heal.’
Tai-san decided it was best to avoid a confrontation so she tried a different tack. ‘Is it OK if I put this on him then?’ She held up a small brown bottle with a viscous liquid in it.
‘No. Put nothing on the burns, let them heal naturally.’
‘This is natural!’ protested Tai-san.
‘No, just leave it alright kid? You can talk to Briar about it later and maybe she’ll let you put it on this guy er…’
‘Bray,’ supplied Tai-san.
Seth winced, it was bad not even knowing the patient’s name. ‘Yeah, maybe you can put it on Bray when the wounds heal up. Is that ok?’ he asked a little patronisingly.
Tai-san was seething so she left the room quietly to calm herself down. Kid? Kid?! Her mind screamed so she went to the lab to make some early batches of the antidote.

Seth went back in and sat on the bed feeling at a loose end. The patient would look after himself now- although there was still the risk of infection, especially if that crazy girl had her way. In fact he was hoping Briar would come back soon so he could go back to the clinic, he was getting really bored having to stay with the same patient all of the time, and he was even very communicative.

Episodes 11-15
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