The room was small. There were two single beds against the left well and two more against the right. There were positioned perpendicular to the walls and there was just a narrow space to walk between them. Against the back wall there was a small table with four chairs. In the back right corner there was a door to what looked to be a bathroom.

Kyle sat down on one of the beds and sighed. “Man, I wish someone would tell me what the hell is going on here?”

Alex spoke up, “Isabel said…”

“Isabel said…” Kyle mocked him. “Do you really believe that bullshit she fed us?”

Alex looked at Kyle with a shocked expression on his face.

“Calm down.” Max laid a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. He turned to look at Alex. “Alex, I don’t think Isabel lied to us, I just don’t think she told the entire truth.”

Alex sat down on the bed across from Kyle. “Well if she didn’t tell us the truth, then what is going on?”

Max mumbled, “I don’t know but I’d sure like to find out too.”

Michael had been standing in silence but now moved towards the guys on his way to the bathroom. Max looked directly at him and realized that it was the first time he could see his injuries clearly.

“Man, that doesn’t look good.”

Michael muttered, “It doesn’t feel the greatest.”

Max picked up the first aid kit off the floor. “Here, let me see if I can clean it up or something.”

“No man, I’ll do it.” Michael walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Once inside he hesitated for a second before looking at his reflection in the mirror. What he saw shocked him.

There was a long gash above his right eyebrow that had bled profusely and left trails of blood running all the way down his face. At his cheekbone the blood trails met with another gash and continued all the way down to his shirt collar which was soaked with blood. So much for a new shirt he thought.

His entire face was red and bloody. He couldn’t tell where all the little cuts were but he could see bits of gravel imbedded in various places and knew that everywhere that wasn’t cut was going to be burned from the pavement anyway.

He bent over to splash some water on his face but then stood up abruptly, reeling in pain. Bending over had caused a quick rush of blood to his arm and he had to hold onto the sink to keep from falling.

“Okay, maybe not,” he mumbled.

He wet a facecloth with some warm water and tried to wipe away some of the blood. He quickly found that touching any part of his face was out of the question and he could only clumsily wipe away at the blood on his neck with his left-hand.

He threw the facecloth in the sink, “Damn it.”

He opened the door and walked back out to join the guys. Max had opened the first aid kit and set up the supplies on the table. Michael met his gaze and silently took a seat.

Max worked quickly and carefully to clean the wounds, removing most of the gravel. When he was done he taped two gauze bandages to the larger cuts on his eyebrow and cheek, careful to not touch any of the burned skin with the tape.

He sat down across from Michael. “Well, it’s bad but I think you’ll live,” he smiled.

“I think that’s still up for debate.”

“Let me see your arm now.”

“No, don’t man. It hurts too much to move.”

“Is it broken?”

“I don’t know. I think so.”

“Well we should try to set it.”

Michael looked at Max with wide eyes. Well actually with one wide eye since the right one was swollen shut.

Max responded to his silent protest. “If we’re here for any length of time your arm is going to heal in whatever way the bones are now. The best thing you can do is try and re-align them.”

Michael still looked hesitant.

“It’s not going to hurt any more than it does now.”

“Yeah, and you would know that how?”

“Remember when I broke my arm a few years ago? Well, it was at summer camp, which is on this isolated island, and there was no way to get to a hospital until the boat arrived in another week, so the councillors set it themselves. When I finally went to the hospital the doctor said it was the best thing they could have done. Otherwise they would have had to break it again and probably do surgery to align the bones with pins.”

Max continued, “Kyle and I have been taking first aid classes for years. We can do this.”

“Fine, whatever.” Michael relented. “But it better not hurt any worse.”

Max removed the sling that Maria had made and cut Michael’s shirtsleeve off at the elbow. The boys could clearly see a bulge in the skin where the broken bones were attempting to push through. There were abrasions and blood trails running down his arm, with more gravel imbedded.

Max told Michael to lie on one of the beds and then called Kyle and Alex over. Max instructed Alex to hold Michael’s shoulders down while he grasped Michael’s elbow and Kyle put one hand on his wrist, another near the actual break.

Alex looked almost as scared as Michael did but he leaned across the larger boy and pushed firmly on his shoulders.

“Alex, if he tries to move stop him. Lie on him if you’ve got to.”

“I’m not going to move.” Michael spoke up.

Max just glanced at Kyle. They both knew that this was going to hurt far worse than Michael could of ever imagined, but they also knew that it was for the best. And he would definitely try to move.

“Okay, ready? On three, one... two… Michael, move your left leg just a bit.”

As soon as Michael started to move his leg, Max and Kyle went to work. Max pulled back on Michael’s elbow while Kyle jerked the wrist toward him and twisted his hand on the forearm. The distraction of moving his leg had taken away some of the tenseness in his body and he wasn’t able to push Alex entirely off of him when he tried.