The Trip

Chapter 5:

Alex could feel the beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead. The boy looked over to Tom and saw that Snake was making a few final notes on his clipboard before gathering his things to move on to Alex's examination. Snake sat on the bed and pulled out Alex's file. In a final attempt to reassure Alex he told Alex not to worry in a whisper that was barely audible so only Alex could.
Alex saw the medic's face pale and his eyes seemed to grow wider in shock. "Cub I'm so sorry" he muttered. The faired boy pretended he hadn't heard him and waited for the moment he had being dreading most. Snake looked at Alex in sympathy before addressing him. "I'm sorry Alex but I will have to ask you to remove your shirt."
Tom shot Alex a sympathetic look as the teenager around him waited apprehensively. Taking a deep breath Alex pulled off his combat shirt.
Gasps of horror filled the room as his injuries and scars were put on display to everyone in the room. Snake looked at Alex speechless for a moment before whispering "I'm so sorry Cub, but I need to ask you some questions."
The whispers died down as Snake took a deep breath and asked "what is the worst injury you have ever received?" Alex looks around preparing himself for the questions he would receive from his classmates before answering.
"The sniper wound two centre meters above my heart." Snake paused before continuing his questions. This led to five minutes of Alex explaining his various injuries while Snake noted down any important information.
"Finally, why are lots of your injuries not healed properly especially the bullet wound in your heart?"
Alex's stomach churned with this question. He didn't know how to answer he couldn't just say that he had been in hospital when he discovered a group of people were trying to kidnap a boy around his age and his immediate response was to get them to take him instead. Which then led to him being trapped inside a burning building with fresh stitches on his heart and his only way to survive was by tightrope walking across a cable to another building causing him to rip his stitches and he definitely couldn't say that it led to him working with the CIA and becoming the youngest person to go to space at 14 years old.
So he just looked at the ground and said "classified." This led to a lot of confused glances from other people in the room, but Snake just nodded his head and move on to the next person on his list.
Alex could feel everyone's eyes on him so without a second thought he put his combat shirt back on and exited the barracks.
Once Alex had left the room closely followed by Snake everyone started talking at once about Alex and his mysterious scars and the scorpion tattoo on his right shoulder.
*Tom's POV*
As soon as Alex left the room I could tell that people would not let this go and that the already terrible rumours would only become worse due to his unexplained scars and injuries.
I turned around and realised that a few of the 'popular kids' were approaching me. I felt very uncomfortable considering everything that has just happened with Alex and Snake. One of the girls interrupted my train of thought by asking "why does your friend have so many scars and unhealed injuries?"
Suddenly, everyone went silent and was looking at me expectantly waiting for an answer. Unable to find the right words to respond without revealing any of Alex's secrets I just shrug my shoulders. I could feel everyone's eyes on me so I just said "if you are that interested in Alex's life I suggest you go and ask him yourself instead of trying to discover more about him through me." With that I turn over and close my eyes so I could get enough sleep knowing I would need it for my first official day of SAS training tomorrow.
(A/N - I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who had read my story so far)