m_findlow

Title: Desperate measures
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Esther, OC
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,904 words
Content notes: Spoilers for Miracle Day
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, forced to turn to crime" at fic_promptly
Summary: Esther is left with little choice in order to save Jack's life.

'Don't go,' Jack pleaded, trying to grip Esther's hand as she made to get up. It wasn't hard for her to move. His grip was so weak it felt like he barely had his hand on hers.

'I have to, Jack,' she insisted. 'Christ, I'm lucky you're even alive.'

'It takes more than a bullet to kill me,' he wheezed.

Esther gave him an angry look. 'You are so far from out of the woods it's not funny. I had to dig that bullet out with a pen, Jack. A pen!' The memory of his screams as she'd dug it into his stomach still left her feeling shaken. He passed out on her twice before she'd finally extracted it, continuing to bleed from the wound. She was glad she hadn't thrown up or passed out herself. Jack had terrified her when he'd lost consciousness in the back of the car, telling her he'd been shot. She'd managed to stop the bleeding for now, but only just.

'Just promise me you won't die on me,' Esther said.

He gave her a weak smile in an attempt to stay strong. 'Not a chance.'

Grimacing she slipped out of the abandoned RadioShack store. No one would think to look for them in here. It had already been stripped of anything valuable.

She got back in the car and drummed her fingers on the wheel. The plates had been removed and tossed into a river. New ones had been carefully lifted from a car parked behind a gas station in the last town they'd stopped in. Turning the key in the engine, she made the decision to move. It was insanely risky leaving Jack here on his own. One wrong move and he could rupture the delicate clotting and bleed to death. She'd given him the last of the painkillers they had, thanking Rex in her head a hundred times over for having left them in the glovebox of the car. They weren't nearly strong enough to ease Jack's suffering. He was putting on a brave face for her sake, and she him.

She needed supplies. Drugs, antiseptics, bandages, surgical grade nylon to stitch the wound shut. She feared internal bleeding. She could probably find the courage to close the wound, but if there was damage inside, she knew she wouldn't be able to do a thing about it.

The hospital glowed brightly like a beacon in the night. She cringed as she spotted the large trucks parked in what used to be the emergency bay. She couldn't bear the thought of knowing they were there to take the Category One patients off to be incinerated. She should have done something about it - punctured their tyres, torn their fuel lines - but there was no time. Besides, she was a fugitive on the run and her only priority right now was making sure Jack survived. Taking a deep breath, she left the car and went inside.

If she expected chaos inside she was rudely surprised. It was remarkably civil and quiet. Then again, there were no life threatening injuries anymore. There was no need for panic and mayhem. She walked along the corridors, trying to look like a lost visitor, checking the numbers on the doors until she spotted the one marked Doctor's Lounge. She slipped inside, finding it empty, and stealing one of the long white lab coats from a hook in the corner of the room. She tugged off the credentials clipped to the lapel and pocketed them. She checked her reflection in the small mirror on the wall, tidying her hair into a tight bun.

Coming back out of the lounge, she walked around slowly and purposefully. Each time she passed gloves mounted in boxes on the wall, she tugged a few pairs out, adding them to her pocket. She did the same to a bottle of disinfectant gel, dislodging it from its clip. She spotted a disenchanted looking nurse piling boxes of bandages and scrubs into her arms.

'Work never ends anymore, huh?' Esther said cheerily, joining her in stacking her own arms full of supplies. 'Fourth floor are running so low on everything they're sending us down here for more.' She was impressed at how easily the lie slipped from her.

'Don't even talk to me about it,' the nurse gruffly replied.

Further along she spotted a paramedics bag lying on the floor next to a gurney. It was too good an opportunity let go, so she swiftly bent down and collected it, hurrying away down the hall. In a linen closest, she dumped the rest of her gear inside it, and inventoried the contents. She still needed drugs. Tucking the bag safely in a corner under some patient gowns she went back out into the hall, looking up and down until she spied the caged room. There was a man standing guard out the front of it. She pulled out the security pass and checked it, placing her fingers carefully over the name and photograph, leaving only the barcode visible before making her way towards the door.

'Been on shift long?' she asked, holding out the card to the scanner on the wall panel, letting it beep and go green.

'First shift,' the man replied. 'Twelve hours never felt so bloody long.'

'You'll get used to it,' she promised, sealing herself inside.

She perused the shelves of bottles and vials. Everything inside was labeled with the familiar Phi Corp logo. They were making a killing, she thought, as she pocketed a dozen bottles of morphine.

'What are you doing?' came a voice behind her. She twirled to face a severe looking young brunette. 'One bottle only mandate, remember?'

'We're fresh out upstairs,' Esther lied.

'Let me see your credentials,' the woman insisted .

Esther went pale at the thought she was about to be caught out. Stealing drugs was as heinous a crime as murder these days. She took a step backwards and backed into the shelf behind her, feeling the gun that was still tucked into the back of her jeans press against the small of her back. She quickly made a decision and reached back, pulling it out and pointing it at the junior doctor. 'You're coming with me.'

'What?'

Esther gripped the gun, desperately holding it steady. 'Make any sudden moves and I'll shoot you, so help me God.'

The woman slowly raised her hands. 'Okay. Whatever you want, just take it. I won't tell anyone.'

Esther realised that what she really needed was someone who knew more than she did. She'd drawn her gun and now there was no turning back. 'Get whatever you'd need to treat a gun shot wound,' she demanded.

'Okay,' she nodded. 'Okay.' She pulled a few boxes and bottles from the dispensary shelves and slipped them into her own coat pockets, occasionally shifting her gaze to Esther and the gun.

Esther swallowed hard and let out a breath. 'Now, there's a paramedics bag in the linen closet just down the hall. We're going out and getting it, and then we walk out of here. Understand?' The woman nodded again and Esther brought the gun down, holding it beneath the folds of her coat.

The doctor did as instructed, tentatively walking down the hall at Esther's side, until they reached the closest, retrieving the bag and walking out the front doors of the hospital as if they were just going for a smoke break. The whole time, Esther's eyes darted from left to right and back again, just waiting for them to be uncovered.

Esther pointed her towards the car and the woman stopped. 'Please. You've got what you wanted.'

'I need you.' She hated herself, but she pulled the gun out again. 'Get in the car. Please.' Esther directed her to the driver's side, forcing her to drive them back.

They arrived and parked around the back of the abandoned store. Esther once again directed the doctor inside, carrying the heavy bag and emptying her pockets of all the drugs they'd stolen.

Without being told, the woman saw Jack lying uncomfortably on the floor and rushed over to check him. 'A gun shot wound you said?' she asked, trying to keep her voice from trembling. Esther nodded.

Jack looked waxen and pale, turning his head slowly at the presence of the stranger. 'Who's she?'

'He's Category One. There's nothing I can do,' the doctor announced.

'He's not Category One!' Esther seethed. 'He's dying and you need to fix him.'

'I haven't got any equipment.'

Esther shoved the paramedic bag towards her. 'Whatever you need.'

The young doctor rolled her eyes at Esther. 'I need CT and ultrasound, I need bloods. I need a goddamn surgical team!'

Esther shook with anger and waved the gun wildly. 'Just fix him!

'Esther?'

She came over and knelt down beside him. 'It's okay, Jack. She's here to help.' She glared up at the woman, daring her to do otherwise. Esther watched the young doctor rifle through the medical bag, pulling out needles and tools. 'Is the bullet still inside?'

'No. We got it out,' Esther reported.

'I have a husband and two kids at home,' she muttered as she began to work.

'And you'll get to go home as soon as this is over, I promise.'

'How is he even conscious? The pain must be excruciating.'

Esther forgot herself for a moment before reaching into the pocket of the lab coat she was still wearing, removing the morphine and drawing some into a needle.

'Here you are, Jack. Something to make it all go away for a bit.'

'Not too much,' he warned, letting her inject his arm, watching him slump back in relief.

'I can stitch it up but it won't heal,' the doctor warned her.

'Just treat him how you would if this was before the Miracle.'

The woman scowled at her. 'Why?'

'Because I don't believe that the whole world can't die.'

'You think your friend is the exception that proves the rule?' she asked, carefully trying to thread a surgical needle in the dark.

'Something like that,' Esther replied. She pulled out her phone and turned on the camera flash, adding more light.

The doctor looked up cautiously at her. 'Thanks.'

They fell quiet after that, Esther kneeling beside Jack, trying to keep him comfortable as the doctor irrigated and closed the wound. She tugged off the lab coat and folded it up, placing it gently under Jack's head.

'There's no guarantees this won't get infected, or that I've repaired enough of the internal tissues,' she reported. 'It needs to be cleaned and restitched at least every second day.'

'I can do that,' Esther replied. Jack's eyes had drifted shut, the morphine working its magic and letting him sleep pain free for the first time in more than a day.

'There's only enough antibiotics here for a week. It won't be enough.'

Esther nodded. 'We'll get more.'

'By holding innocent people hostage?' The doctor sighed, seeing the expression on Esther's face. 'No, I get it. Really. I don't want to be sending people to the camps any more than the next person, but what are we supposed to do?'

'I wish we didn't have to do this,' Esther apologised.

'I never thought I'd say life was better when people used to die.'

Esther sighed, stroking the back of Jack's hand with her thumb. 'Me either.'