Infected

Chapter 5

WARNING: This chapter has content involving sexual assault. If you would like to skip over it there is a marker (🌙) to tell you when it is over. xx

Something echoes in the distance, drawing me out of the dreamless abyss I'd been in, a beeping sound. It continues in rhythm, matching the drum of my pulse, letting whoever is around that I was most definitely alive. It changes as I begin to wake and another machine whirs on the other side of me sending a stream of air up my nose. It's uncomfortable and if I had to strength to pull it away it'd be gone in a second, but for now I had to suffer through it.

So far all I could conclude is that I'm in a hospital, the trills and beeps of the room are masked by random calls over a speaker system. I try thinking back to what brought me here, an accident of course, but nothing from the past few days could tell me what kind. They were hidden behind a wall, one too thick and secure for me to break down.

Two voices emerge, coming from where my feet should be, speaking low enough that I have to strain to hear them. I recognize Galen immediately, stressed but keeping his voice steady, directing it towards whoever is next to him.

"She should be waking soon." He tries to show relief but the sigh he lets out says otherwise, "I wished you'd listen to me about leaving Quin. If she even sees you it could ruin whatever you put up."

Quin. I've never met someone with that name before. It sounded old and dated but his deep velvety voice told me he was young, possibly my age.

"I have to stay Nathaniel. If the Brethren finds out she's still alive, wiped or not... I'm afraid you'll have a whole other situation to worry about."

"Since when has their activities been a concern to you? You've also never been one to become involved with something as simple as a rogue. I still think you're hiding something about what happened in that place."

The stranger snaps at Galen, upset by the accusations he was making, "You saw the marks on him, it's unlikely he survived that long without spreading something to the victims. "

"I just think that's an excuse. Don't get too close Quin, it'll spell trouble for all of us."

I held onto every word they spoke, trying to decode the information to see how it applied to me. Maybe I wasn't suppose to remember just yet, my body being just as weak as my mind that I couldn't muster the energy to

My brows furrow in confusion at the pain that's seeping into my body, the medication I hadn't realized was in my system was wearing off at a rapid pace. My skin becomes hot, fevered and irritated by the bindings on my arms and legs that I hadn't felt before. My breath quickens letting out soft cries with every exhale, someone clears their throat and moves from the end of the bed.

"We need to talk about this some other time." Galen says

I want to hear more of their conversation, to pry while they thought I was sound asleep, but I couldn't focus on anything with my body under such duress. 

A cool hand rests on my forehead distracting me from the pain as buttons click above my head. Warmth spreads through the crook of my arm, dispersing medication into my body until I am once again numbed to my surroundings. The hand moves to take hold of my limp, tingling fingers, running a thumb over them in a comforting manner.

I begin to drift away, no longer concerned about what Galen and the stranger had been talking about, grateful that I didn't have to deal with the pain anymore. The hand never leaves, even I am fast asleep I can still feel it tracing its cold fingers over my own.

~*~

I wake again, blinking my eyes hard to shake off the dreams that had filled my head over the past few hours, all of them forgettable but still disheartening. My eyes open to the site a numerous bouquets, decaying on a windowsill to my left as the sun sets for the night. My body feels heavy and suffocated but at least I don't have any aches or pains to grimace over.