lagan
noun
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Ben could feel his body going cold. The would on his side pulsed and the red color bled through the white cloth distressingly quickly. He wished he could have gone to a hospital, any kind of doctor’s office, really. But he did not have a choice. He had to get to the drop point before he passed out. Or likely worse.
What really sucked was that the drop point was in the middle of the ocean. Which meant the only medical supplies he currently had access to was what first-aid kit was on the boat he had “borrowed”. He gritted his teeth as he regretted not having time to get it treated properly before having to get away.
He winced as a particularly choppy set of waves made the boat lurch and jump, agitating his wound even more. He glanced at the package. It bounced a bit, but stayed put. That was good. If it went overboard before he got to the right place, everything would get a lot worse for the others.
Luckily Ben was getting close. His vision was getting blurry and fading, but he could hold on just long enough to get to the right place. Sure enough, he saw it. A small reflector bobbing just above the water. The kind of thing that most people would just ignore. But for Ben, it represented the end of his current mission.
He slowed the boat to a stop, thankful that the weather was nice. Ben gritted his teeth and got to work. His wound throbbed and blood started to leak out from beneath the bandage, but he had to do this. The boat was low enough to the water that he was able to grab the reflector and pull. Attached to it was a ring of floatation devices, hidden by the water. And attached to those was a long rope.
Ben let out a groan of pain as he pulled. Not for the first time he wondered why the damn thing had to be so long. But eventually the rope came out of the water. A hook was tied to the end of it. A hook that he was able to use to attach the package to the small buoy-like assembly. The other members of his team would be able to retrieve it once the heat died down enough.
Getting the package overboard was not easy though. The thing was heavy. It pulled at his side, and he could feel his limbs starting to go cold for reasons that had nothing to do with being wet. Blood had soaked completely through the bandage, and he had no time to change it. If there was enough material left to do so.
His arms trembled as he dumped it. The rope followed, and the reflector buoy left the boat not long after. Ben looked overboard, holding his breath that it would work. That the package was not too heavy for the small assembly to remain floating. He only breathed when he saw the reflector emerge from the water.
Ben limped to the steering column and start the boat back up. His vision started to go dark, but thought he could hold on. Maybe just long enough to get back to land. A grin crossed his face as the boat continued on its way.
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