Chapter 10: (3)The Shuttle
Though Alexandre had just explained how William might save the girl who had overdosed—while still allowing William to continue in the Hunter trials—it would be no easy matter.
Only a few moments after Alexandre had finished speaking, another of the flare-powered Hunter's red bursts of power exploded in the air above the track.
Yet another round of running had begun.
Though William had seemed completely useless to Alexandre before now, he immediately showed a level of versatility which surprised Alexandre. The rich boy reached into one of the many pockets on the front of his expensive survival jacket, quickly pulling out a tiny, compact survival kit.
From this kit, he pulled a scalpel and a small straw designed to filter water in the wilderness. William barely hesitated before pulling the hard plastic sheath from the end of the scalpel and then stabbing the girl in the side of her throat.
A horrible rasping sound came from the wound as the girl's lungs tried desperately to use the new source of air. In the next moment, William had cut the heavy filter off his portable water filter and then had inserted the sturdy straw into the incision in the girl's throat.
Her body convulsed again, but this time, it wasn't a seizure. Rather, it was an involuntary movement of relief as her body was suddenly able to get oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide again, despite the foam frothing from her mouth!
But though this emergency tracheotomy had saved the girl's life in the short term, she would require some sort of chemical treatment to counteract whatever drugs she'd taken. That would require William to follow Alexandre's suggestion and deposit her outside the training grounds.
And if William was going to preserve his own chances of becoming a Hunter, that meant he needed to transport her to the far end of the running track... before his time ran out!