It was so loud, like a battle was taking place within the clouds up in the sky.
“Nona!” I shouted again, raising my voice. “Nona, can you hear me?”
Movement out of my left eye caught my attention. My eyes widened when they locked on a grey hand sticking out between two large green leaves. The fingers wiggled. My heart just about burst.
“I’m coming!” I roared. “Nona, I’m coming!”
I climbed over huge leaves and broken branches and tree bark. I cut my leg twice and whimpered but didn’t pause to check my injuries. I needed to get to the downed female. I kept my eyes on her hand that was no longer moving. By the time I reached her, I was nearly hyperventilating. It took a couple of minutes to remove the leaves and branches that covered the female, but when I could see her, I nearly collapsed. I quickly realised that one of the branches that I had forcefully yanked free had been embedded in the female’s stomach.
A gaping wound in her lower abdomen that was pooled with blood stared back at me.
“Help!” I squawked. “Someone help me! Anyone! Please!”
The rain was so loud that my screams were being drowned out. That terrified me because I knew that meant the female was at risk of bleeding to death. I felt myself begin to freeze as fear consumed me. My eyes flicked from the wound to the female’s face. She was unconscious, and her skin was paling. My mother’s face popped into my mind, and I began to sob. I couldn’t help my mother, I couldn’t save her … but this female, I could help her.
I would do everything I could to help her.
“Bleeding,” I said out loud. “What did Nuni say to do if I’m without a healer and I’m bleeding? Think, Levi, think!”
I closed my eyes and remembered my conversation with my friend. My eyes popped open when the answer came to me. Kodak weeds. I had to find kodak weeds, chew them into a paste, and tuck them into my wound to promote rapid blood clotting.
“Kodak weeds.”
I looked around and knew there was no way I could leave the female to find the weeds and come back. The debris field was huge, and she wasn’t visible unless I was standing next to her. I’d never know where she was, and I’d never be able to find her again. She would die. I could not let that happen, not when I still had breath left in my body. I focused on the female as I reached down and ripped off two strips of fabric from my top. I bunched one into a ball and pressed it firmly against the female’s wound.
Her body twitched.
“I’m so sorry, nona,” I whimpered. “Please, be okay!”
I used the second strip to wrap around her waist to keep pressure applied and slow down her bleeding until I could get her free and find the weeds I needed. I checked her twice to make sure she was breathing. My relief at the confirmation she was still alive was almost enough to make me sick.
“You’re going to be okay,” I said. “Do you hear me, nona?”
She was completely unresponsive.
I was horribly worried about her but knew I had to focus on getting her free, then finding kodak weeds. I could worry about her waking up later. I had much to do in order for that to happen. I climbed out of the little nook she was in, and I began to pull as many leaves as I could over fallen branches to create a path of sorts. I knew I wouldn’t be able to carry the female, so dragging her was my only option. I had her safety to think about, so using the leaves and padding to stop branches and broken bark from harming her further was a priority.
When I had a pathway made, I followed it back to the female.
The fabric I used to slow down her bleeding was soaked red, and blood trickled down her skin, mixing with the rain water. It sprung me into moving faster. I repositioned the female, hooked my arms under her armpits, and I pulled with all my might. I got her out of the small hole and onto the leaves. I slipped twice and fell. The rain made the leaves slippery and dangerous, but it was all I had. The leaves being slick with wetness was a surprising benefit. When I began to drag the female, her body slid along them easier than I thought it would.
“Nona!” I shouted as I pulled. “Nona, wake up!”
Her arms hung limply and dragged along the leaves.
I could see blood soak the path I had pulled the female along before the heavy rain washed away the evidence. After a few minutes, I looked over my shoulder and cried out with relief when I saw I had made it to the end of the pathway. I yanked the female onto hard ground, finally free of the field of debris, then pulled her a few metres away. When I laid her down, a new fear arose. I was scared she would drown with the rain falling directly onto her face, so I turned her onto her side.