Luxuria by James Fuller Read Free Book Online Page A

growled.
    Mark licked his lips nervously. “I am going to have to pull your leg off the barb.”
    “Well, hurry up about it!”
    “Okay... okay.” Mark leaned down and gripped his friend’s leg carefully. “When I lift the leg it’s going to hurt but I need you to stay as still as possible.”
    “It already fucking hurts, Mark!” Josh hissed. “Just get me out of this fucking hole!”
    Mark nodded and looked back to the leg. Bracing himself, he lifted up as fast as he could. Josh’s scream echoed through the jungle.
    Dustin and Jessica helped pull Josh from the pit and onto the pathway. The wound in his leg was grievous, blood flowing out freely from the large, gaping hole.
    “We have to stop the bleeding somehow.” Jessica cried out, looking around hysterically.
    “I got it.” Dustin pulled his belt off and wrapped it around Josh’s leg above the wound. “I am sorry but this is going to hurt... a lot.” He pulled hard, ignoring his friend’s cries of protest as he cut off the steady flow of blood as best he could.
    “What the hell were you doing over there?” Mark asked watching as blood slowed to a sluggish ebb.
    Josh grimaced as he fought back waves of anguish and nausea through gritted teeth. “I was just going to take a piss and the next thing I know I am lying at the bottom of a hole with a spike in my fucking leg.”
    “I told you to stay with the group.” Mark scowled.
    Josh turned an angry eye on his friend. “Really Mark - you going to do this now?”
    “I need water - I am all out. We have to clean the wound out or else it will get infected and fester quickly in this heat.” Dustin explained. “God knows how long that pit has been there and what bacteria has grown on those barbs.”
    “Don’t tell me that!” Josh growled, a sheen of sweat already glistening on his face.
    Jessica handed over her canteen. “It’s only got a mouthful or two left.”
    “Same here.” Mark handed his over as well.
    “Mine has lots left.” Josh grunted, his voice weak.
    Dustin looked around for it. “Where is your canteen?”
    “Guess...” Mark muttered looked back down into the pit.
    Dustin got up and looked down with Mark and saw Josh’s canteen had been pierced by one of the wicked spikes. “Of course,” he cursed and noticed blood dripping down from Mark’s arm. “You’re hurt.”
    Mark looked down at his arm and saw the long gash. “It’s nothing… just a scratch I got climbing down. I’ll be fine. How much water do you need?”
    “A lot more than we have to be effective.”
    “What do we need to do?”
    “Why are you asking me?” Dustin said nervously. “I am not the leader.”
    “Face it Dustin, you are the smartest one among us - you are Josh’s best chance.” He told him, honesty making his voice crack. “Now what do we need to do?”
    Dustin looked back at their friend and watched Jessica cradle his head, his face was paling noticeably. “We need to find some water and soon. A needle and thread would be helpful too, but if not, we will have to cauterize the wound closed. But I need to clean it first or he will have no hope – it’ll be impossible for him to stave off infection.”
    “Okay well…let’s pick him up and find some water.”
    “We can’t move him, or we risk making the wound worse. It needs time to clot and scab a little. But if we don’t clean it soon it won’t matter - if it gets infected he is as good as dead out here.”
    “And where the hell are we going to find water out in the middle of nowhere?”
    Dustin licked his lips nervously as he looked around as if he hoped to find something. “We are getting closer to whatever ruins are around here. Ancient civilizations didn’t just build their villages in random places; they built them near sources of water and food. Chances are, where the ruins are, water will be close by.”
    Mark ran his hands through his orange hair and his dark eyes looked from Josh to Dustin and up the pathway they had