Asylum - On the Run Sequel

Chapter 22

TW// strong language

Zedaph came back through to the waiting room after a couple of hours. Grian was asleep and had been for a while, Jevin was in that half sleepy state and Cleo was wide awake.

Cleo shook the two boys' heads off of her shoulders and stood up. The nurse's face gave nothing away and it made the girl's stomach churn. Grian lifted his head off the chair back it was now resting on and opened one eye.

"Iskall, was it?" As Cleo nodded, Zedaph gestured for them to follow him. The three trailed after him as he led them through a maze of hallways and doors.

Zedaph dramatically swing open the doors of a specific ward and the doctor didn't even have to look up to know it was him.

"Zed I've asked you not to do that. We can't keep replacing the cracked walls."
Not that the nurse seemed to listen. Or maybe he was but was just so used to the warning.

"Iskall, is it?" Cleo nodded impatiently having already answered the question before. The doctor led them in a much more professional manner to a bed that held their friend.

The first thing Cleo and Jevin noticed was that the scissors were gone, replaced with a thick bandage. Tubes fed into his nose and arms.

"We've sealed up what we can and we're feeding him a particular diet to make his blood thicker. So it can clot and seal the wound naturally. He's very lucky, the scissors came extremely close to not only puncturing his stomach and liver but also cutting it open with all the movement."

Or at least that was the gist of what they heard. And Grian couldn't help but feel guilty. He knew better than to make the horrible situation about himself. But inwardly he felt it was his fault. If only he'd not gone to the small peaceful house. None of this would've happened.

If he'd just sucked it up and kept going then he wouldn't have hurt Iskall, he wouldn't have hurt Mumbo, he wouldn't have hurt Xisuma, he wouldn't have got them all captured, he wouldn't have put any of them through and of the shit, they'd just had to deal with.

"Is your friend ok?" Grian looked up suddenly to the nurse staring at him with worried eyes.

"We've- been through a lot. Especially him."

No. He didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve the accepting people around him. It was his fault that they were here. They didn't have any reason to act like this. This was his doing. This was all because of him.

"Are you sure he's ok? He looks extremely pale."

"I'm sure he'll be fine."

Zedaph pulled his lips into a line but ultimately decided that the friends must know him better than some random nurse. After all, he hadn't trained on avians and they could work a whole different way than humans do.

"When will he be safe to leave?" The zombie sounded desperate to get Iskall home. But she also knew that there was no rushing medical treatment.

"It could take from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on how his body reacts. And, I'm sorry to say this, but the survival rate in the past for that surgery has not been very high. Although you got Doctor Symmetry so he should be fine."

Cleo and Jevin exchanged a worried look and Grians stomach churned again. This place was making him feel sick. The looming thought that this was his fault and the pure white walls with injured people locked in rooms.

CW// throwing up

The place seemed all too familiar.
"Where's the bathroom?"
Zedaph pointed him where to go and he took off. Within a minute he had stumbled into a cubicle, placed his hand on the wall for stability, and threw up.

His stomach simply rejected everything inside of it and it all came up in one horrible cough. Grian hovered his head over the toilet bowl for a while longer in case he vomited again.

It left a terrible taste in his mouth so he tried to spit out as much saliva as possible to get rid of it. But he felt worse than before and how his head was spinning.

CW over// you know what happened there I won't explain it

Grian stumbled backwards and hit the door of the stall. He hastily tried to unlock the door as his vision worsened. He couldn't go back out there.

Grian's breathing quickened. His thoughts were all over the place. It felt like his heart was exploding and

The bathroom door opened and Grian found himself in someone's arms. He quickly pushed them off himself and stepped back from them.

"It's ok, you're ok."

Grian's vision was terrible and his hearing was off. But the face was familiar. He took another step back and words of encouragement flooded him.

"Sir, please get back to bed. You can't be-"
"Iskall get back in that ward. We'll deal with Grian."

Deal with him. He was a hassle. He is a hassle.

"Grian it's me, it's Cleo. You're ok."

Iskall and Jevin sat at the bed as Cleo and a nurse were in with Grian. The two just sat there.

"You ok?" Jevin laughed at this. Iskall was the one in a hospital bed and yet he was also the one asking.

"I mean, kinda? I've not really been able to do anything. I completely froze and didn't do anything when everyone got taken away into their cells at Concorp. And when we were rescuing you all I really did was hold Cub back from grabbing you. I hardly did any fighting, unlike the others. And from the whole way from Grian and Mumbo's house to here I just.., carried you? That's all I'm good for now. Just carrying you be I can't do anything else."

Iskall let his friend rant about everything and anything because he clearly needed it. He felt forgotten, useless, like someone who just followed the others around with no thoughts for himself.

And Iskall listened to it all. When Jevin was finished he didn't snap at him for speaking for too long, he didn't respond. And Jevin couldn't have been more thankful for him at that moment.