4-cowards and heros

4

Cowards and Heroes

“Exactly why am I going to fix him then?” The Doctor asked, staring like everyone else, at the Mexican.  He was tied to the chair in one of the many large conference rooms on the rig.

“I’m kinda with The Doctor.”  Thad chimed in from behind Ein.

Ein sighed, looking at the situation.  Everyone stood just inside the room behind Ein and The Doctor.  Harriet and Thad stood directly behind Ein and then the Doctor’s girls peered over the top of them.  Ein suddenly felt like a lemming.  With that thought came an urge to step forward.

“L-L-L-Look,” Ein started nervously, “we can’t just let him die.”

Ein was nervous now, looking at the Mexican.  The gash on his head looked bad and the blood ran down his face and was beginning to drip off his chin.  This was the first time in Eisenhower’s whole life that he had been in a physical confrontation.  Now it looked like he might have just killed someone.

“Didn’t the guy just try to kill you with a machete?” The Doctor asked.

“Well…er…um…yeah.” Ein answered

“And correct me if I’m wrong, but we are in international waters.” The Doctor continued.

 Ein wasn’t following.  “So?”

The Doctor sighed then stepped forward and put both his hands on Ein’s shoulders.  “So let’s drop the fucker over the side and go back to the fiesta!”

Ein’s face contorted.  He then slapped The Doctor’s hands away, “Good God, don’t you people take oaths?!”

The Doctor bobbled his head, “Well yes, but not until we graduate.”

“OH MY GOD!” Ein yelled.  “Just fix him!”

The doctor became frustrated.  “Then what, hero?  The boat isn’t coming to pick us up for another 6 days!  You just gonna leave him here?  Tied up?  What if he gets free?”

Ein’s resolve kicked in, he felt seven feet tall today. “I’ll knock him out again!”

The Doctor began to shake his head and Ein stepped up, “You fix him or you swim back to L.A.”

The Doctor’s face narrowed, “You are talking like you are a whole lot taller then you really are.”

“Yeah… well… I knocked out a psycho who was trying to kill me with a sword today.  I’m pretty sure I can take The Doctor.”  Ein responded, still sounding slightly unsure, but there was a resolve to him that was unquestionable.

The Doctor picked up his small bag of medical supplies and walked over to the Mexican and began to work.  The Asian girl stepped up to Harriet and whispered, “Did Ein really knock that guy out with a pipe?”

Harriet grinned, “You see the gash on his head, don’t you.”

“Cool beans.” The girl said in awe.

Thad overheard the girl’s conversation and decided to chime in.  “Well, I brought him the pipe.”

Harriet and all of the girls looked at him with little more than disgust.  Harriet turned back to the Asian girl.  “That was before he ran away screaming.”

The girls all laughed at Thad and then ignored him.  Thad frowned and backed away, mumbling to himself.  “The guy had a machete for fuck’s sake.”

Ein watched as the doctor pried open The Mexican’s eyelids and used a flashlight to check the pupils.  Inside, Eisenhower was begging for The Mexican to be okay.  He didn’t want to end up a murderer.

“Well, he’s got a nasty concussion, but I think he’s gonna be okay.  I’ll just stitch up the head,” The Doctor said, putting away the flashlight and snapping on some gloves as he pulled out the stitching.

“You think?”  Ein asked, desperately wanting more than that.

The Doctor took a deep breath.  “Keyword ‘student’, jackass, so ‘think’ is the best I have for you.”

The Doctor threaded the needle then stepped in close to the cut, cleaning it with rubbing alcohol.  He then began the first stitch, slowly inserting the needle-

AHH!

The Mexican woke up, screaming from the pain and violently pulling at his restraints.  The Doctor leapt backwards, as did Ein and everyone else in the room.  One of the blondes turned and bolted out the door.

Directly after the scream, there was nothing but silence and the sound of The Mexican breathing hard as he looked back and forth around the room and at his surroundings. Suddenly breaking the awkwardness, The Doctor began a weird half terrified, half scared laugh.

“Wow, so he’s awake.”  

****

They had just arrived….

Eisenhower and Thad stared in disbelief.  They were completely confused.  Ein slowly looked down at the unofficial owners’ manual that he held in his hand.  He had made it from various print out information off the internet about this particular rig.  Whatever he looked for in the book he couldn’t find.

“You said this was decommissioned, right?”  Thad spoke with a huge amount of confusion.

Ein slowly looked back up from the book.  “Yep.”

“Decommissioned means ‘off,’ right?”  Thad continued to stare.

“Conventionally… yes that’s what it means.”  Ein said, staring with him.

After the ship dropped them all off and they had moved their stuff onto the rig and their only way to land and sailed off, not to return for seven days, the majority of the group had gone off to find living quarters and claim rooms for themselves, whereas Thad and Ein had gone to find the generator room.

The place was so much bigger than Ein could have imagined from the information he had collected.  There were rooms upon rooms, with multiple levels.  The rig itself was a semi submersible, meaning just under the water there were massive flotation devices keeping it afloat.   A long hull stretched below the surface of the water with the pipe leading to the ocean floor, deep under the Atlantic.

Ein had been worried most about the generator because no matter where he looked, he could not seem to find any real information on the power supply to the rig other than that it was ‘self sustaining’.  The one thing he was positive of, was that he wouldn’t find the generator working.

This is exactly what they got.

“So… why is it on?” Thad asked still confused.

The stupidity of this question snapped Ein out of his confused mesmorization, “How should I know?”

Thad frowned, “Well you’re the expert!”

Ein shook his head.  “I’m a liberal democrat who protests for a Green World.  How, in God’s name, does that make me an expert on decommissioned drilling platforms?!”

“You got your little book thingy!” Thad said, waving his hand at the three-ring binder.

Ein gave up and approached the control panel, trying to figure things out.  The dials and buttons where a foreign language to him.  He had a sudden feeling of panic.

What the hell am I doing here?

They were on a decommissioned oil rig that none of them knew anything about, all alone for seven days in international waters with way to much alcohol.  Nothing good could come from any of this.

It was going to be a long week.

“Here you guys are!”  Harriet said from behind them, as she walked into the room.  “You know the place has power?”

“Funny you should mention that, Harry.  The professor was trying to unravel that mystery before you walked in.” Thad responded sarcastically, taking a shot at Ein who spun angrily.

“Y-Y-Y-Y-You’re an idiot!”  He yelled at Thad.  “This is wrong.  All wrong!  Doesn’t anyone think of what could happen?  Why this is working?  Someone has to be-“  Ein’s rant was cut off by Harriet.

“Really, really uptight?”  Ein stopped and stared at Harriet who continued, now that he had her attention.  “Relax, power is a good thing.”

Ein took a deep breath, but still needed convincing.  Thad, however, was just fine.  “No, we need to find the kitchen area and get the beer and food in the fridge.”

Thad started off down the hallway.  Harriet moved over to the fuming Ein and took his wrist.  “It’s a week.  What could happen?  Now, let’s go.”

Ein blushed at the touch and his anger and indecision melted away.  She was right.  It was time to have some fun and stop worrying.  He walked with Harriet back out of the room.

What was the worst that could happen?

Ein thought this as they left the room, completely unknowing of the shadow that moved behind them.

Suddenly, Ein was alone with Harriet as they walked down the hall.  Everything began to slide into place.  Ein had always had a hard time letting things go.  He had always had a hard time taking it easy.  Since he had met Harriet, though, she had a way of bringing him down and helping him live.  Harriet showed Ein how to live life, not just move around it.  Ein looked at her face and realized how much he needed her, how much he needed her to know how he felt.

“Harriet,” Ein’s voice took a serious tone as he stopped her by grabbing her elbow lightly with his right hand.  “I have b-b-b-been meaning to talk to you.  I… er… mean to tell you.”

Harriet looked confused.  “What’s up, Ein?”

“Well, I… er… I think I may-” Ein was cut off as the shadow behind him became a person, a large scary Mexican with a machete…

…or sword depending on your perception…

TO BE CONTIUED…