Flower Petals and Flesh - A Violentine Story

Hospital Bed View

Clementine was quickly moved from the back of the ambulance and into a sterilised grey room. It was dark now, white luminous lights lit the room completely leaving not a trace of shadow. Five large hospital beds sat in a line, all empty; a chair and desk stood next to the beds. The desk covered in an assortment of papers and pill bottles, the chair occupying an older woman who appeared to be half asleep. She wore a clean doctors and a pair of rectangular glasses; her hair a greying brown cut neatly. Her face was kind and slightly wrinkled, making her look wise beyond her years.

"Dr.Woodbury! We got a lady with a broken leg here and we need some help." Hope yelled as she assisted carrying Clementine into the hospital.

"Oh dear!" The older woman gasped, jumping from her chair. She fumbled and stood at the side of the nearest bed and began to prepare it for a patient.

Clementine was set down gently on the bed, even the slightest contact with her leg sent shockwaves of pain down her body.

"I'm sorry dear, but we need to cut these pants off your leg." The doctors apologised raising a pair of stainless steel medical scissors.

Clementine winced as the blade ran down her battered limb, slowly revealing her bruised and bloody flesh. Even the doctor seemed repulsed by the destroyed tissue.

"Antiseptic! And a clean cloth. Ooh and an IV!" Dr.Woodbury called to Hope and the others who stood idle around the bed.

The equipment was gathered immediately and work to clean the wounds started. It was a tediously slow process, the burning antiseptic covering every cut twice over. Hope took Clementine's left arm and slowly injected the pipe connecting the liquid filled bag to her body.

"What's you name honey?" The doctor asked in attempt to distract Clementine.

"C-Clementine." She struggled to speak, all her efforts were focused on managing the prolonged agony.

"Well it's nice to meet you Clementine! I'm Dr.Woodbury but you can call me Beth."
The doctor continued to work, realising she wasn't speaking she desperately thought of a question to ask.
"So, you're already met my wonderful children I see. Do you have any family or friends?" She asked unknowingly.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if their alive anymore." Clementine mumbled doubtful that manny of her family had survived the vicious attack.

Beth sighed, "I understand how you feel, when my son went missing I didn't sleep for days," She declared.
"The people who brought you to us, did they ride bikes and used letters instead of names?" She suddenly asked.

Clementine nodded, a little confused how her strange rescuers were known by a doctor.

"I'm guessing they offered to help find your friends."

Again Clementine nodded.

"They did the same for me when my husband went missing. They found him in an old barn surrounded by the dead; my husband says that only two of them kill over fifty by themselves but I say that's hogwash." The doctor told the tale as if she had spoken of it frequently.

Even though Clementine didn't know any of these people nor did she know H and his people she felt somewhat reassured that they had a solid reputation.

The cleaning and treatment of her wounds was extensive. Her torn feet were treated with a salve and wrapped in a layer of bandage. They then moved on to Clementine's now swollen leg. With no x-ray technology to hand they applied a splint and supported her leg with a collection of pillows in hope that the swelling would subside and they could safely apply a cast.

By now it was nearing the early hours of the morning and everybody was yearning for a soft pillow.

"We've done everything we can for now, I'll send someone down in the morning to check in on you but for now try to get some rest." Beth drew the curtains in the room before leaving with the other assistants.

Clementine was left in the dark, alone. A quiet humming of an air conditioning unit filled the empty air. She drifted her hands over the unusually soft bedsheets, it was the first time in over ten years she had experienced such a sensation. Laying back into the pillow she rested her hands on her belly and intertwined them. Lazily she stared at the pitch black ceiling and allowed her mind to wonder.

Where was she?
Where did Louis go?
What was Violet thinking right now?
Where is Kenny?
Is AJ safe?
Was she going to be able to walk again?

Desperate for her mind to become calm, Clementine closed her weary eyes and attempted to think of something more positive.

How many people live here? She pondered, settlements were usually minuscule or massive and judging by the quality of the equipment they had Clementine guessed that they had a relatively large amount of people living here.

Focusing on the cooling breeze from the air conditioning it suddenly dawned on her that this place had electricity, enough to use on luxuries like air conditioning.

Slowly but surely, Clementine's meaningless thoughts slowed and she drifted slowly into a semi-comfortable sleep.

When she awoke several hours later her eyes flickered at the sight of light, her entire body ached and her leg felt hot. Looking around slowly Clementine noticed she was alone but people had obviously been in the room as things had moved and a small tray had been placed at the side of her bed.

The tray contained a cup of water and a sandwich, inquisitively, Clementine lifted one slice of the bread to reveal the insides. A slice of white meat sat on top of a fresh leaf of lettuce. Restoring the the sandwich to its original condition she raised it to her mouth and took a quick bite. Finding that the food was quite enjoyable she finished it entirely along with the cup of water.

After about five minutes of staring blankly out off the window on the opposite side of the room she noted the things she observed. She saw people on horses transporting goods, overheard an argument about the recipe for a cake and most strangely a business transaction over alcohol.

Clementine's snooping was disrupted when a bruised Louis wandered cautiously into the hospital room.

"Ah, perfect, your awake." Louis quickly dashed to the hospital bed and sat beside her. His face turned sour when his eyes latched to Clementine's leg. For a while he didn't say anything, her just sat there staring at the broken limb.

"Does it hurt? That's a stupid obviously it hurts!" 

Clementine giggled, "Only if I move it, or touch it... or look at it too long." She added sarcastically. "What about you? How are you holding up?" Clementine asked sincerely.

The man gazed nervously out of the window, "I'm just worried about the others. I know they took the twins and then we saw Violet in that cage, but what happened to everyone else?"

Clementine wished she had something reassuring she could say but nothing came to mind, all news she had was bad and she wasn't about to lie about anything as serious as the life and death of his friends.

"I don't know, I just don't know." She responded.

Louis stood up, "I'm going to see who I can talk to about finding our people. Just rest up." 

Soon after Louis's departure, Hope entered the room clutching a radio in her hand.

"They found your friends, their mostly alright!" She announced.

Excitedly she sat up causing her leg to move and a sudden shock of pain.

"Woah, chill out and try not to move too much. H is ten minutes away, I'll send them to you as soon as they get here."

Ten minutes. Ten minutes, she had barely been awake an hour and she suddenly felt the most awake she ever had been. Ten measly minutes stood between her being able to see Violet again.