To Be A Warrior

Chapter 57: Callista's Lament

My lips press together firmly to prevent any noise of pain from slipping past my lips. The nurse looks at me with sympathy, although he offers me no words of comfort, not that I expect him to. I signed up for this.

"The pain will likely fade, although it may flare up when the nanites reach certain parts of the body," Colonel Sage says. "For the most part, you will just feel very ill."

"Usually illness comes with pain and body aches," I reply. "At least, I think it does. I can't really remember how it felt to be sick."

"Unfortunately these nanites will remind you exactly how it feels. We estimate they will take about four to six weeks to completely turn off the accelerated reproduction of all your cells, but it may happen even faster since you've been given the weakening agent beforehand."

"How will we know?" Sam asks through the headset.

"We will meet again in about four weeks to take blood tests, although you will probably be able to tell if your runner happens to get her arm sliced open and it doesn't heal within five minutes."

I cringe. "Ah, you heard about that?"

He nods curtly. "I saw the report from Colonel De Luca. She mentioned how she believed the leather baby entity had managed to do significant damage to your arm, only to later see that you had only suffered a small cut. She mentioned needing to speak to Dr. Meyers in concern of how much you bled from such a small wound." His face twists into a frown of disapproval. "To get hurt like that with others around was very irresponsible."

I scoff. "Well, it's not exactly like I wanted to get hurt. If you're going to get on to me for anything, you should be scolding for letting A.N.N.I.E. get to me like she did. I'm going to guess you already know about that from Janine's report."

"I knew something was wrong even before then when I got word of you requesting to talk to Peter over coms that night," He says. "I'm sure he'll be looking for you when he gets word you are here, if he hasn't already."

Sam lets out an unsure noise. "Are we sure Peter should see her today? I mean, he might be suspicious that the two times she's come here she's gone to the hospital."

"There will be no need for her to stay here," Colonel Sage replies. "We do not need to take any blood work or do any tests until we meet up in about four weeks time. Mrs. Glover-Yao is free to leave the hospital now, if she'd like."

I perk up. "Really? Sweet!"

I hop down from the examination table, only to stumble and grab onto Sage's arm for support as black spots appear in my vision.

"Woah." I blink multiple times, waiting for my vision to clear. "Must've stood up too fast."

"Are you alright, darling?" Sam asks, and I hear this chair squeak as he straightens in concern.

"I-I'm okay. Just got a little dizzy." I let go of Sage's arm. "Sorry."

"It's quite alright," He says slowly, looking at the nurse with a raised brow. The nurse looks equally perplexed, which I can tell isn't an encouraging sight for Sam, who's seeing everything though my headcam.

I dust myself off and take a small step towards the door. "I'll just go see if I can find Peter, then."

As soon as I get outside of the door I sprint down the hallway, wanting to get as far away from that awkwardness as possible.

"What was that about?" Sam questions. "Were they surprised about the nanites affecting you so quickly?"

"Maybe," I reply. "I mean, I don't think it's anything vision related, or Catherine related."