Traveller by L.W. Samuelson (reading comprehension books .txt) 📖

Be careful, there’s a rattle snake back there,” Traveller whispered.
“Man what he talkin’ ‘bout? I be waitin’ outside. Tell me when it be safe to come back in. I don’ wanna see no sewin’ on a man’s flesh anyways,” Willy said before exiting the ship.
“Ship, one liter of water, sterlization temperature,” Traveller said, his voice stronger now.
“It will be in the synthesizer,” he said to Tim.
While Tim retrieved the water, Jesse moved carefully into the cargo hold. The medical kit sat on a shelf on the right wall. He sat it down by Traveller then pushed an open door icon and the lid popped up. Nothing inside looked familiar.
“I need some curpatho. It’s a white powder. It’s probably in a silver metal tubing marked with a plus symbol,” Traveller instructed.
After a minute of rumbling, Jesse found the marked tube. Strange symbols were etched underneath. “This it?” he asked holding it up so Traveller could see the markings.
“Yes, mix two pinches of it in some water and give to me.”
While Jesse prepared the medicine, Lori mixed the hot water from the synthesizer with cold from the water bottle. She squirted some camp soap in the warm water before gently cleaning the alien’s injured arm. When she finished, Lori took some iodine from her own first aid kit to apply it on the gashes with a cotton swab. Traveller grimaced with the sting of the iodine. After that, she sterilized a needle and some thin fishing line with hot water placing them in a small tray full of alcohol. Six small fishing sinkers were also placed in the alcohol.
“This is going to hurt,” she said as she threaded the needle. Instead of tying the line off, Lori joined the two strands together by placing them in the mouth of the sinker then biting it shut. Tim held Traveller’s hand.
Lori pushed the needle into the skin on one side of the gash pulling the line until the sinker caught then she pushed the needle into the skin on the other side pulling the wound togther. Pain etched Tim’s face as Traveller squeezed his hand to keep from crying out. Lori criss-crossed back and forth with the needle until the gash was closed. At the end of the wound, she used another sinker to meld the line together and keep it from pulling out.
“How are you doing?” she asked when she finished with the first gash.
“I want to go home now,” Traveller joked. He released Tim’s hand during the temporary respite from the pain.
“One down, two to go,” she said. “When I’m through, we’ll let you drink the medicine Jesse prepared.”
Lori waited until Tim held Traveller’s hand to start sewing again. It took over a half hour to sew the second and third wounds shut. Her forehead was dotted with beads of sweat when she finished. “Untie the tourniquet” she said to Tim who then untied the blue bloody ribbons of coat.
Lori lay back exhausted and said, “He’s all yours Jesse.”
Jesse held Traveller’s upper body in his lap. “Here you go, bro,” he said patiently allowing his friend to sip the curpatho-laced water.
It took several minutes for Traveller to drink the medicine. When he finished, he laid back, closed his eyes, and shut down.
“I hope you didn’t kill him,” said Lori rousing herself.
Tim held Travis’s good wrist, “There’s a faint pulse.” he said.
Lori turned her attention to the head injuries. She removed the makeshift bandage and then cleaned them with soap and water before dousing the bite marks with iodine. She dressed the wounds with gauze, wrapping it around his head before applying surgical tape to keep the bandage in place.
Willy stood in the doorway watching as she finished up. “My turn,” he said. “You guys get some fresh air.”
Willy sat down by Travis. He put a hand on the alien’s shoulder then softly hummed in a deep baritone voice. I sure hope he don’t die. If he make it through this, I’m goin’ to start studying. I been slackin’ off for too long. Time to start takin’ things serious. I get back on the team, I gonna play like I know how.

Three hours passed before Willy decided he needed a break. Lori had looked in on him several times, but Traveller hadn’t moved at all. The late afternoon sun brought a chill air as it slowly drifted downward.
Lori appeared in the doorway. “Take a break Willy. Tim and Jesse have a fire going.
Willy went outside. He sat down on the log where Tim and Jesse were warming themselves by the brightly burning red flames. “How is he?” asked Jesse.
“He be still as a dead man. Never moved all da time I hold ‘im.”
“We probably need to get him to hospital. He’s lost a lot of blood,” Tim suggested.
“I wonder if he have the same kind a blood we got,” Willy said.
“It sure looked like it is as red as ours,” said Jesse.
“Probably ain’t got none left, way he bled all ova’ the snow. Where we all goin’ to stay tonight?” asked Willy.
“In the spaceship. It’s cool,” said Jesse. “Lori and I spent the night in it once.”
“Man I ain’t sleepin’ no where with no rattle snake, be all crawlin’ in da bed wid me. I take my chances out here.”
“You’ll freeze to death. That snake won’t bother you. He’s sluggish in the cold weather,” Jesse said.

Chapter 24 - Down from the Mountain

Willy did spend the night in the spaceship. The three men covered themselves with the Benwarian tarps. Each of them took turns keeping a hand on Traveller, watching him so that Lori could sleep. She slept with her down coat over the top of her using an arm for a pillow. Willy slept with one eye opened.
Monday morning saw no change in Traveller’s condition. He lay comatose on the floor of the ship. His pulse remained weak. Curiously, the pulse on his injured side seemed stronger than the one on his right.
“We’ve got to get him to a doctor. I have no idea what to for him now,” said Lori.
“Too bad ya’ll don’t know how to fly dis thing. We could just cruise up to da hospital like it ain’t nobody’s bidness.”
“Yeah, then they’ll take our friend to Roswell or somewhere like that and experiment on him,” said Tim.
“We’ll have to make a stretcher. There’s four of us, we can all hold a corner. It’ll take a while, but we’ll get him down,” said Jesse.
“And then what?” asked Tim.
“We’ll take him to our place. We can sneak him into the hired hand’s house. No one staying there right now. If we can get him there, I’ll call Dr. Graham, have him come out,” Lori suggested.
“What about your parents?” asked Tim.
“They’re out of town,” said Jesse. “Are you sure about telling Dr. Graham?”
“Do you have a better idea? We have no choice, beside he’s cool. I worked for him filing medical records when I was going to high school,” Lori said. “He’s one of the nicest men I know.”
“Oh really? Are you going to marry him?” Jesse teased.
Lori slugged him on the shoulder. “He’s married, you moron. I worked with his oldest daughter.”
“Hey clowns, we best be gettin’ a stretcher made so we can get goin’,” Willy suggested.
Tim had already laid out one of the tarps. The material was made of metal mesh fibers. He was having difficulty poking holes in it with his pocket knife.
“Use the lazer,” suggested Jesse.
Tim rummaged through the cargo hold until he found it being careful not to disturb the rattle snake. “Let’s take the tarp outside,” he said looking at Jesse. “Why don’t you and Willy find a couple of branches we can use for braces?”
Tim started lazering the holes while Jesse and Willy searched for suitable pieces of wood to make the stretcher. They walked around the area together for several minutes. The branches they found strewn around were gnarled, too crooked to make a brace. Willy did find one straight branch, but it was old and brittle. When Jesse tested it for strength by holding it in one hand and putting pressure on it with his foot, it broke.
“Man, I find de perfect brace, you be all breaking it. Fool,” Willy complained.
“Yeah, right. We’d be carrying Travis down the mountain; it’d break and dump him on the ground. His wounds would re-open then he’d bleed to death.”
“Then what we all goin’ to do?”
“There’s some pines farther up the mountain, let’s try there.”
The two men moved up the slope to the pine trees. They searched around but again the branches were too small, crooked, or old and brittle. Just when they were about to give up, Jesse spotted two pine saplings standing straight and tall. “There’s what we need. The wood will be green and sturdy. They’re just the right diameter. Here hold my pistol,” he said giving it to Willy.
He removed the hatchet from his belt then started chopping at the base of the first tree. Chips flew as he chopped up and then down carving out a mouth on the gray bark. About half way through, Jesse chopped on the other side of the cut until the sapling fell. He trimmed the branches off before chopping it into the right length for a brace.
“One down, one to go,” Jesse said. “You look nervous.”
“Man, I be ‘fraid dis gun gonna go off. I be all shootin’ somethin’.”
Jesse laughed. “It can’t go off unless you cock it and pulled the trigger.”
“You sure ‘bout that?”
“Yeah, watch.” Jesse set his hatchet down, took the pistol, and cocked it. “See the hammer has to be back,” he said thumming the hammer forward before handing it back to Willy.
Willy handed the gun back to Jesse. “Here, I’ll chop the next one. You stand guard. Don’t want no cougar maulin’ me.” He grabbed the hatchet from the rock then attacked the other sapling. Chips flew in great chunks as the bigger, stronger man swung in broad strokes. He chopped in a circle around the tree until it fell then he trimmed it to length and removed the branches.

When Jesse and Willy got back to the outcropping, Willy peeked his head in the ship’s door. “How he be doin’?” he asked Lori.
“No change. He hasn’t moved since we gave him that medicine,” she replied.
“Shoot, you sure he gonna be aright?”
“No, we need to get him down the hill.”
While Willy and Jesse were gone, Tim had finished putting holes in the Benwarian mesh. The men placed the saplings on either side of the rectangular length of tarp, lashing it to the poles with a titanium rope Jesse had found in the cargo hold.
They placed the stretcher next to Traveller, and then all four of them lifted him onto it. He remained unresponsive, comatose. It shocked all of them to see someone once so vibrant limp and lifeless. They took another piece of tarp that Tim had cut and measured and wrapped it around the cot then tied Traveler in place with strips of nylon torn from his shredded coat.
Once they had him outside and on the ground, Jesse used Traveller’s remote to close the door. “Sure you can handle this?” he asked Lori as she knelt by Traveller checking his pulse.
“You turd Jesse. I’ll be alright,” she replied.
“Okay then, away we go,” Jesse said. They each grabbed a corner hoisting the cot up. Tim and Jesse took the front with Willy and Lori holding the back of the makeshift gurney.
They slid on the