Overkill

Seventeen

Sarah woke up to the beeping sound of a heart-rate monitor. In an attempt to open her eyes, the light was so blinding, she was forced to squeeze them closed while raising her hand to block the brightness.

"She's awake," It was a voice she didn't recognize. There was shuffling in the room and then she detected a difference in the lighting. Slowly opening her eyes, still shielding them with her hand, she glanced around. The blinds had been drawn and the light turned off.

"Hello, Miss. I'm Kat, you're nurse. I'll just check your vitals now that you're awake and then I can answer any questions you may have." Kat was a petite blonde with green eyes and a welcoming smile. She made Sarah feel at ease as she began checking her vitals and making notes on her medical chart. "Just give me one moment while I go alert the doctor of your newly awaken status." she grinned with a skip in her step as she exited the room.

Sarah took this time to look around, she was in her own private room with her own bathroom. She fully remembered what happened and why she was there, making her wonder if she'd had a proper cleansing. Wondering if her bathroom had its own shower or if she'd be forced to use the wards shower, she raised her hand to her hair, cringing at the greasy feeling.

The walls in the room were beige, trimmed in a color close to olive green, it was ugly. A TV mounted on the wall in front of her was showing the daily news. The time and date were shown in the bottom right corner of the screen. Stunned, she squinted her eyes to make sure she was seeing the date correctly.

"There's no way," talking to the empty room, she learned she had been there for three months. Her attention was pulled away from the TV when her nurse reentered the room.

"Kat, have I really been out for three months?" she asked her in disbelief. That couldn't be right, she remembered the gruesome details of what happened like it was yesterday. She could still feel her skin opening as the blade sliced through to the muscle, she could hear her screams ringing in her ears.

She moved her arm to look at the closest possible cuts and burn marks, they were healed, now a mass of skin creating scars.

Glancing at the TV, Kat smiled softly knowing how confusing Sarah must be, "Yes. You were in a coma; we were beginning to worry. You sustained some major damage to your skull; you're now rocking a titanium plate on the left side. Careful walking through metal detectors now, you'll have everyone's attention when you walk through it." she chuckled at her own joke, "Luckily, you were cleared of any sort of brain damage, though, you might need a bit of physical therapy on your right leg due to how deep the lacerations went into the muscles. You have quite a bit of scarring, but that's nothing. It's just proof that you're stronger than the monster who thought could take you down." she winked as she changed the saline bag.

"What are my chances of being released soon?" she was worrying about work, her status as an agent, did she still have a job?

"Don't jump the gun, now. Doc still has to come evaluate you and draw up a conclusion on the time still needed, but to give you an answer, I don't see you leaving for at least another few weeks."

"When I was found, I was with someone..."

Knowing what Sarah was asking, Kat's smile faded into a frown as she looked away, "Your friend's injuries were much worse than yours." she swallowed sadly as she remembered when Scott Mathews first arrived. "He sustained multiple hits to his head shattering part of his skull; like you, he had cuts and lacerations, but they were far more violent. He had been stabbed a number of times, and his finger nail—"

"—I was there," Sarah interrupted not wanting to hear anymore.

"I'm sorry," Kat squeezed her shoulder, looking at her with a sad expression, "Your friend is still in a coma with no signs of waking up any time soon."

The news of Scott still being around, still alive and breathing, even if it was in a coma had Sarah sitting up straight.

"Woah. Woah. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. You're not cleared to leave the bed yet."

Narrowing her eyes to a glare, she shot daggers with her eyes at Kat, "With all due respect, Kat, I just woke up, so what I endured, what my friend and I went through, it's fresh in my mind, and if I don't get to see him sooner than later, I'm going reign Hell down on this establishment with one phone call." she was bluffing, but if it got her out of the room to see Scott, she didn't care.

Swallowing nervously, but with an amused chuckle, Kat nodded, "Ok. Ok. I understand you wanting to get to him as soon as you can. Can you at least wait long enough for me to grab a wheel chair? I can't risk having you stand up and falling, inflicting more injuries. Those muscles need rehabilitation."

Rolling her eyes, blowing out an annoyed sigh, Sarah nodded in agreement to wait for safety reasons. She didn't want Kat to get in trouble just because she was desperate to see Scott.

Kat was back within minutes pushing the promised wheel chair in front of her. Positioning the chair directly next to the bed, Kat lowered the bed and assisted in Sarah standing. On shaky legs, she leaned forward, reaching for the arms of the chair to steady herself while she twisted her body to sit. Kat wasn't lying, her right leg was extremely weak. If Kat wasn't there, Sarah just may have fallen. Adjusting the foot supports, Kat removed the brakes and walked out of her room and down the hall.

Rounding the left corner, she pushed Sarah into the first room on the right allowing Scott's body to come into view. Seeing Scott laying on the hospital bed, unresponsive, hooked up to multiple machines and IV's broke Sarah's heart. Tears instantly welled up in her eyes as Kat positioned her chair as close to his bed as she could get it. With a small smile and a nod, she left the room to give her some privacy.

Sarah reached for Scott's hand, tears falling from her eyes, "Come back to me, Scott," looking over his visible scars with wide eyes, "don't you dare give up, do you hear me?" she cried. The only sound in the room was her soft sniffles and the steady beeping from the heart monitor.

Scott's arms were marked up with scars from where Mark sliced deeply through his skin into the muscle, one of his fingers on his right hand was missing the fingernail, his right bicep looked as if it was missing a chunk of muscle with how the skin healed into a dip. If one arm looked this bad, she feared what the rest of his body looked like.

Leaning forward, she cupped the side of his face, brushing her thumb over his cheek bone, "I can't lose you, not again. When you wake up, I'm telling you everything, my feelings, how long I've had them, how deep they are; I'll tell you everything. I don't care if you reject me, at least I'll have finally gotten in out. Just please, Scott, come back to me." tears still falling, she allowed herself to rest her head on the bed next to him, not letting go of his hand, allowing herself to slip into a dreamless sleep right there next to him.