Shifters

Chapter 10

Muffled sounds were working their way into her blackness.  She couldn’t make anything out.  Everything was black and she wasn’t sure she wanted it to end.  Some kind of pressure was threatening her head. She could feel it.  Something was pushing on her head and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to deal with it just yet. 

Why is it that all she can sense or feel was this blackness and whatever muffled sounds were filtering in? 

Jared looked down at her in the bed at the bases hospital. He hadn’t left her in the 24 hours she had been here. He couldn’t chance it. He was sure she was ok, but her mind wasn’t allowing her to come back yet for some reason.  She’ll come back when she’s ready, he thought. 

God she was right there, on the verge of shifting. And he had knocked her out.  And somehow Petro had gotten out. In broad daylight.  He had made some calls as well to make sure her kids and family were watched and well protected.

How did they know?  He assumed they were after her because of him. But they knew. They knew something that he should have picked up on when he first met her. She was a Shifter. Did she know she was? If not, how had she suppressed it for so long? From her confusion outside of her house it was doubtful she did know. So many questions circled in his mind.

He heard her moan softly, she slowly moved her head from side to side.  He whispered to her softly. Trying to coax her out. But she had drifted back to sleep. The nurse had put in an IV this morning because she hadn’t eaten and there was fear of dehydration.  She looked strong. Even breathing, her skin color was a little pale.  But she looked ok. All vitals were good the nurses assured him. 

Lydia moaned again, this time a little louder then bolted straight up in bed.   She looked around, confused at her surroundings.

“Where am I?” She asked in a demanding voice. She still felt dizzy. And her stomach felt like someone had put a heavy weight on it.

“You are in the hospital,” Jared spoke softly. He didn’t want to startle her. And he knew she probably still had a bit of a headache.

“What? What am I doing in the hospital?” her head felt like a thick fog was rolling through it.  She couldn’t remember anything. She was in her house, then she was here. What the hell?  And there was her neighbor. She eyed him suspiciously.  Every time something weird has happened lately he was in it.

“You don’t remember anything? Anything at all?”

“Do you think I would be asking if I did?”  She was getting sick of people asking her stupid questions. Stupid men.

Jared chuckled at her stiff response. Sitting in the hospital bed with dark circles under her eyes and her hair all messed up she still looked regal.

“Do you remember why you were standing outside of your house? Do you remember the man that was in your house or how you escaped him?”  He was concerned he may have hit her a little too hard. The doctor had said it did no damage.

 Dr. Carnope was a good man. He was getting on in his years.  The short, grey haired man with small circular glasses looked more like a lovable old grandpa than a hardened military doctor.

He had been the one to perform all the tests when he had first signed up with the military.  He had sensed something in him that the other doctors didn’t have. Compassion, caring.  He wasn’t just there to do the lab tests and torture whatever came along. He genuinely wanted to do some good. To help, to discover.

 Jared smiled, guess he could count the good doctor as another of those rare people he considered a friend.

“Are you laughing at me? I just told you I don’t remember anything. How long have I been here? Where are my kids? Does anyone know I am here?” She glanced around noticing no cards, flowers. Nothing to indicate that anyone knew where she was.  Her eyes widened in alarm. Why didn’t anyone know she was here?