A Spy's Home---Book 2: Wounds, Both Old and New

Chapter 5

A couple hours later....

I jerked awake as the bus went over a pot-hole, and I rubbed my tired eyes. I looked around the darkened vehicle and saw there were only two other people on the bus with me; both sleeping and unfazed by the bump we had gone over.

I checked my phone and saw it was 12:30 am. "Oh gosh, I've been asleep for an hour." I mumbled, laying my jacket on the window and pressing my head against it. I couldn't go to sleep however, and like earlier, ended up looking at my phone trying to find even the smallest amount of information about what I was getting myself into.

After another hour, I found myself just staring out the dark window with my cheek pushed up against it's cold surface. What jerked back to reality was the feeling that the bus was slowing down; I looked towards the front, and saw we were near a town and a lit up building that looked like a station was at the entryway.

I put my hair into a centralized pony-tail, and as we turned into the parking lot I made sure I had everything. The other two passengers were up, and had been awake for the last 30 minutes of the drive, and they were making sure they had their things too. The bus lights on the inside turned on and I squinted away for a moment. "Alright, this is your stop. If you're heading anywhere in West Virginia, there's a bus here to take you." the driver announced, as we off-loaded.

"Thank you." I told him, smiling. "Your Welcome. Oh, um, kid, your neck alright?" he answered. I stopped and looked at him puzzled by what he was talking about; the driver gestured to the side of my neck, and I brought my hand up to feel what he was talking about. I brushed my fingertips over the side of my neck until I felt it and tensed up; the scar.

"Yes sir, I'm fine. It's just a scar from a childhood injury." I responded, taking another step down. "Alright, you have a good night." the driver replied.

"You too." I called back, as I made my way to the station. As soon as I was in the station I made my way to the desk. "Hello, I just wanted to ask if there's a bus that goes to Princeton, West Virginia." I told the lady at the desk. She looked up from her papers she was reading, and then turned her gaze toward a computer.

"Yes there is, it leaves at 1:00pm tomorrow." she answered. "Alright, thank you." I replied, and then made my way to the nearest corner. I then laid my bag down, took off my coat, and sat with my back against the wall. I took out the book I was currently reading, turned on my phone light, and started to read before I decided that I needed to get some rest.

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Rory's Point of View

It felt like I was waking up from hibernation or a deep sleep; my vision was fuzzy as I lifted my heavy eyelids. There was also a pain in my left shoulder blade that made it feel like it had been crushed. I tried moving it, but it made the pain more intense; like it wasn't intense enough.

Once I had opened my eyes all the way, I took in my surroundings; a hospital room, a beeping monitor, a clock that said 1:00am, me in a bed with a hospital gown, and late night nurses and doctors passing in the hallways. I pushed myself up with the arm that wasn't in intense pain, and I tried to go through my light-headed mind and remember what happened.

It all came back to me and hit me in the chest; the shoot-out, me tackling Zylina off of the bed to get her out of the line of fire, telling her to get to the door, starting dialing 9-1-1, a sharp and burning pain in my shoulder, Zylina screaming my name as I dropped my phone and started to pass out, and finally Zylina's already tear-drenched face above me fading into a world of blurriness and darkness.

"You're awake? We didn't think you would wake up for maybe another day." a kind voice startled me. I looked over and saw a nurse coming into the room and started to turn off the heart monitor; good, the beeping was about to drive me insane.

"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked, coming to the other side of the bed and looking at the back of my shoulder. She tried to put a sling over my arm, but when she lifted it up, I had to contain myself from shouting, and I toned it down to a low growl. I had only one question on my mind since I had pieced everything else together.

I put my good hand up at the nurse and she stopped. "Is everything alright?" she asked. After I took a couple breaths, I turned to her, and asked my one question that I couldn't wait much longer to be answered, "Where's Zylina?" 

TBC...