The aerowing came to a stop in a grassy clearing. Wildwing glanced back at Duke and Anna. Duke was still holding the girl as she silently sobbed in his chest. She seemed to be calming down now. Wildwing could hardly stand to look at her. Blood coated the left side of her face where Dragaunus had apparently cut her somewhere. It looked like a black eye was forming. Blood stained her clothes so much; you could hardly tell what color they were supposed to be. She appeared to have a huge gash in her right leg. No wonder she wasn't able to walk before. He sighed, looking down. The biggest reason he was unable to meet her gaze right now is because he had let her brother go. How could he face her after that?
"Let's check this place out." Wildwing ordered to the rest of the team. Anna didn't move. Duke looked down at her.
"Come on sweetheart, we'll get you a change of clothes." he promised, knowing how uncomfortable she must be. She still most definitely needed to be looked at, but Canard had stopped most of the bleeding.
Duke was finally able to help Anna stand up. He let go of her hands and she nearly fell backwards. He grabbed her just in time, though, and steadied her. He put a hand on her cheek, guiding her to look at him.
"Anna?" he asked, seeing her eyes weren't quite locking onto his. "sweetheart?" he tried.
"Duke?" she was barely able to breathe the question before her legs buckled beneath her. He caught her and realized she had lost consciousness.
"What... happened?" Duke asked, glancing over at Tanya.
"Here, bring her here..." Tanya rushed, going back over to the gurney. Duke did as he was told, picking Anna up bridal style and laying her down on the gurney. He didn't like how limp she felt in his arms.
Tanya quickly grabbed Anna's wrist, glancing at her watch. Everyone held their breath as Tanya sat silently. She got a worried look on her face, but quickly erased it as she pulled out a blood pressure cuff. Once again, silence engulfed the ducks that surrounded the gurney.
She sighed out, undoing the cuff. She glanced back at Wildwing.
"Wildwing, I think she might need a blood transfusion." she muttered.
"Are you sure? I mean, she was doing just fine a second ago." he tried.
"Wildwing, that could have easily been adrenaline... I mean, I've heard of people walking around on a broken leg just because their adrenaline was up and they didn't realize it was broken." Tanya explained. "I mean, wouldn't your adrenaline be high too after... you know, everything that just happened?" Tanya tried to avoid bringing Canard up. Wildwing sighed out, glancing to his left before back at her.
"Well, what are we supposed to do? Can you do it?" he asked.
"Well, maybe. Henry showed me the spots once when he learned about it back in school, but even if I could remember the exact places to stick the needle, I don't know her blood type... unless you do?" she glanced at him.
"Er... No. But Canard would." Wildwing looked down, obviously wishing Canard was still with them.
"Hey, it's alright Wing. We'll figure this out. Maybe this place has a hospital or something around here." Duke tried, placing a hand on Wildwing's shoulder. Wildwing glanced back at Duke.
"Good thinking, Duke. Grin, can you carry Anna?" he asked, turning to the bigger duck. He nodded. "Of course I will carry Anna. It would be a privilege to help out a fellow duck." he said, walking towards the gurney. Wildwing nodded.
"Good." he glanced at the rest of the team, "Let's move. Anna doesn't have much time." he warned as he exited the Aerowing.
"Welcome to... Ana-heem... home of the Mighty Frogs?" Duke read the sign that they had now come across and he raised his eyebrows at the weird place's name.
"Kind of looks like... Puckworld." Wildwing commented.
"Yeah, but with better weather." Mallory chimed in.
"Impossible, I mean we're not even in our own universe anymore." Tanya murmured from her spot. "For all we know, this planet could be inhabited by giant slugs with hundreds of eyes or primitive barbarians." she added as Nosedive stuck his head through the bushes.
"Yeah, sure... primitive. I think we're talking serious civilization here, kiddies." he said as he peered at a mall through the bushes. The ducks noticed what Nosedive was looking at and turned their direction to follow him.
The ducks came up to the Mall entrance and saw strange creatures walking around... creatures who didn't have feathers or beaks.
"Look, we have no idea where we are, but maybe if this race is advanced enough to build a mall, they might have a hospital around here." Wildwing announced from his spot, glancing back at Grin, who held the injured member of the team.
"Guys..." Nosedive trailed off, pointing to a sign. It was blue, read "hospital" and had an arrow pointing up toward the sky, signaling that the hospital was just ahead.
"Well that's handy." Duke muttered from his spot, beckoning Grin and the rest to follow him in the direction the sign said to go.
"Wait, that sign actually read hospital." Tanya looked to be deep in thought.
"Maybe they speak our language." Wildwing understood what she was getting to as they came up to the ER.
The doors slid open and they rushed into a world of medical staff scurrying this way and that. Almost immediately, the hustle and bustle of the ER stopped as the medical staff all seemed to stop what they were doing at once to turn and look at the strange newcomers. One nurse finally seemed to come to her senses, seeing the injured duck in Grin's arms.
"Here." she instantly grabbed the nearest gurney and pushed it towards the giant duck. Well, the more giant duck...
Grin laid Anna gently down onto the gurney.
"What happened?" the nurse asked, making eye contact with Wildwing and he joined her in pushing the gurney down the hall. She could ask the obvious questions later. Right now, she could sense she had a life to save.
The other ducks followed after the gurney and the nurse, Maria, felt an uneasiness settle over her. She focused her attention on the white duck that had joined her. He seemed to be the one who was either related or just knew her the best.
"She was beaten pretty badly. One of my friends back there," he motioned towards Tanya, "her brother was a medical officer. She thinks that Anna might have lost a lot of blood. She might need a blood transfusion." Wildwing explained. The nurse stared at him for a moment, before moving her hands down to brush the feathers on the duck's arm. How in the hell was she supposed to find a vein beneath those feathers?
"Um, okay?" she was uneasy for a couple of reasons. The feathers, for one thing. And for the other...
"I know what you're thinking, and don't worry. Everyone on my team back there is willing to give blood for her if we match." he promised.
"You mean you don't know her blood type?" the nurse asked.
"Er... no. We were hoping maybe you'd be able to figure out. I mean, I'm YZ positive-"
"Hold on, there's no such blood type..." she trailed off, slightly cutting herself off, "I mean here there's not." She said, explaining it the best she could while trying not to offend the newcomers.
"But I'll tell you what... if we can somehow find her vein beneath all the feathers, we'll test her blood type with others on our planet. Who knows, maybe from where you're from, YZ positive is the same as O positive." she muttered.
"O positive?" Wildwing asked. She nodded, seeing she had confused him.
"I'm sorry, I'll explain later. Right now, I'm taking her to X-ray." she turned back, locking eyes with the blond female.
"You... I'm sorry, what's your name?" Maria remembered her manners, knowing she couldn't exactly just point around at people, saying "you".
"Uh, Tanya." Tanya said simply.
"Would you mind coming in with me. I could really use your help, especially if anatomy problems come up. And meanwhile, maybe you could explain exactly... well, what you guys are and how you got here." Maria tried.
"course, I'd be happy to help." Tanya said, stepping forward. Maria nodded, turning back to the rest of the ducks.
"The rest of you... uh, could you just wait in the waiting room. It's down the hall and to the left." she said, pointing. Wildwing nodded.
"Of course. Tanya," he looked at the blond, "can you alert us if anything changes with Anna?"
She nodded before rushing off into the room with Maria. Wildwing sighed out before turning back.
"Come on, there's nothing we can do now." he muttered, turning down the hall Maria had pointed at. The ducks followed him, an almost somber silence falling over them.