A Bit of Wolf in Her

14. What the hell happened?

An incessant beeping brought Winnie out of a heavy, dreamless sleep. For a while she considered just keeping her eyes shut, which were still so heavy, but something told her she needed to open them. Without knowing why, she knew she needed to wake up. Forcing her tired eyes open, the sharp light blinded her and her vision swam. Winnie blinked a few times until the light dulled and shapes started taking form and turned into actual objects. The light came from the ceiling and the beeping from a heart rate monitor. Was she in a hospital room? Winnie noted it with little emotion, her head pounding and her brain fuzzy.

"You're awake," a voice said, sounding surprised. Winnie turned her head to see a man beside her bed, a tablet in hand, which he had probably been typing on when Winnie woke up. He stood for a second, just staring at her, and she blinked back at him until he turned and rushed out of the room. Winnie tried to move but her body was heavy and slow and pain shot through her body as she did. By the time she could push herself into a seated position, a thin layer of sweat had broken out on her skin.

"Miss Miller, welcome back to the land of the living." The man who had been there earlier was back with another man, a doctor, and he stood at the end of the bed, a smile on his face. "How are you?"

"Like death." It even sounded like it. Her throat was dry and hurt like hell, her voice scratchy and deep as she answered the doctor. He nodded, typing away on his own tablet.

"Are you in any pain?" She nodded, lacking the energy to talk to him again, and her lids drooped.

The doctor must have noticed because he sent the first guy to help her lie back down. Through half-closed eyelids, she spotted someone in the doorway and realized it was Elijah. As if a tidal wave had hit her, everything came rushing back to her at once. Oz above her, knee in her chest as she struggled to breathe and then... Winnie slipped back into unconsciousness before she could finish the thought.

Winnie didn't know how much time passed as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Things kept overlapping until she couldn't tell whether it was happening or she was just remembering it happen. When she regained full consciousness again, the beeping was still there, but nothing to show how much time passed. She blinked a few times until the room stopped spinning and only then noticed the boy sleeping in the small plastic chair next to her bed.

Elijah looked his age when he was sleeping; hair hanging in his eyes and a big frame angled toward her awkwardly. He never seemed more peaceful than at that moment. When he stirred, Winnie moved her eyes away from him and stared up at the ceiling. A memory pressed its way into her mind and she remembered Elijah yelling at her, what she couldn't remember, but his face had been the last thing she saw.

"Winnie?" She turned her head, watching Elijah sit up in the chair and realised he hadn't come out of the battle unscathed either. His hands were littered with cuts and purplish-blue bruises and his lip looked like it was healing from a cut. His eyes searched hers, hesitantly searching for any signs of emotion from her.

"Hi," she breathed, and it took Winnie by surprise when he gave her a small smile. He seemed relieved to see her awake, which wouldn't have been such a foreign concept to Winnie had it been anyone else.

"I'll go get the doctor."

When he left, Winnie took the few seconds to stop the rest of the memories trying to break through the surface of her hazy mind. She had no physical or mental strength to deal with any of it yet. Elijah returned with a doctor, a bottle of water in his hands that he handed her. The gesture was as surprising as him being there in the first place and Winnie wondered if something happened that Winnie had missed. She struggled to keep her thoughts from running rampant as the doctor checked the surrounding machines before moving his attention to her. He rambled off a bunch of questions that Winnie tried to answer to the best of her abilities. Now and then, she stopped to take a sip of water to help ease the scratching in her throat. Finally, he nodded, satisfied with the results.