In the Golden Triangle

Chapter 21: Manatees

Devon stared down at her ragged fingernails and sighed.

She was bored.

Sitting in the infirmary had been fine when she was too exhausted to stay awake for more than a few minutes, but now that she was fully rested, she was irked. She had examined every inch of the small infirmary and had irritated both medics with her constant questions. The problem was that her mind was ready to leave, but her body wasn't. Every time she sat up the room spun and her legs were still wobbly.

She touched her black eye and thought about Teh.

They received word that he had come through surgery. It was touch and go for a while, and they had used up almost their entire blood bank during his transfusion. But so far they were cautiously optimistic that he would be able to keep his leg. Kitt said his parents had flown out to Chiang Rai immediately and would be there when he woke up. His mood had improved tremendously after he received the news. His mom said they would try to organize a phone call when Teh was awake enough.

Devon had felt an almost physical sense of relief when she found out Teh would be ok. Like she had been holding her breath and she could finally breathe. Not only alive, but able to keep his leg. It was more than she could have hoped. His recovery was a bright spot amongst her boredom. She hoped she would get a chance to see him again.

Flopping her head back onto the pillow she stared up at the ceiling of the tent and contemplated escape methods.

"No."

Devon glanced up and saw John standing at the foot of her bed with his arms crossed and a distinctly unamused look on his face.

"Huh?"

"You are not allowed to leave bed until the medics say so." John said with a raised eyebrow.

Devon groaned dramatically. "What about a walk around the compound?"

"No."

"A walk to the mess tent?"

"No."

"A shower?"

John paused and looked Devon up and down.

"You can even supervise it! Please. I need a shower." And a change of scenery.

"I wouldn't watch you shower even if you paid me."

Devon clapped her hands together. "I'll take that as a yes."

She swung her legs over the bed and let her feet rest against the floor for a moment. Her vision swam as the room spun. Closing her eyes, she tightened her grip on the mattress to ground herself until everything normalized. Once she felt like she wasn't riding a carnival ride anymore she stood up and stretched her arms above her head. Looking down at her boots she grimaced. The leather was stiff from the dried blood but she didn't have any choice—she slipped her feet in without lacing them up.

John retrieved the toiletries bag he brought her the first day and offered to carry it for her. He didn't offer her a hand to help her walk to the showers, he knew she wouldn't accept it. Devon had enough pride that she didn't want anyone seeing her struggle.

Not that it mattered—she looked like hell. Her face was still swollen, and her eye was black. The contusions around her neck had faded a little, but they were still obvious and she had to walk with an unnatural stiffness to keep the wound on her ribs from moving too much.