The Ditches

Chapter Twenty-two

I groan, pain zips through my body. An intermittent beep pierces my ears. Isn't death supposed to be peaceful? Blurry lights dance before my eyes and a fuzzy shape stands beside me. The smell of antiseptic, of cleanliness, makes the inside of my nose tingle and a sneeze erupts.

"Glad you could join us," a man in white chuckles.

"Who the fuck are you?" I glance around at the wires coming from my body. "Where am I?"

"Shhh, you're in Hangreen Hospital," he soothes. "You're safe. You have a visitor eager to see you. I'll tell him you're awake." And he dips outside.

Him? I don't have any hims in my life that would care enough to visit me. I shuffle back, panic expands. Could it be Whyan? What happened after I was shot? Where's Marela? Where's Hara?

From the oblong window set in the door I watch a man of blue approach. Anxiety tightens my stomach. I think I would have preferred Whyan. He steps inside my room and the door clicks shut gently. Blue lips curl into a smile and he sits in the chair beside the window.

"Oh, fuck," I groan. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Hello Ramet. I'm doing well. Thank you for asking." Fendan says as he taps the arms of his chair. "I came here immediately when I heard you were dying."

"Hoping to catch my last breath?"

"You always did think the worst of me." Fendan leans forward, long blue hair falls over his shoulders. "Marela contacted me. She told me that no surgeon on Arrah knew enough about entra physiology to operate. I brought my personal medic."

"Oh ... thanks."

"Lucky I was in the vicinity."

"Why didn't you just put me in an incubation unit?"

Fendan smiles, he stands and walks to the window. "You were shot with a bullet," he says dismissively. "I suppose you could have gone in one after the bullet was removed, but you didn't."

"Okay—"

"I think you needed a reminder that you're mortal." He glances to me with a raised eyebrow. "If you search for death, you shall find it. You wanted to leave service, I found you a planet to live on at your request and this is how you repay me?"

"Why do you care so much?"

Fendan turns and leans against the window. "You know what I thought the first time I saw you?" He never did answer my questions.

I shrug, "That you wanted to fuck me."

"No," Fendan sighs, with a look that tells me he expected my response. "That you didn't belong with the entra. I just wanted to keep you safe. But I couldn't save you from Haroc."

"You couldn't save me from yourself, either."

"I gave you the chance to settle on Oneera, you came back into service," he says, calmly. "You wanted to kill those captains, what did you say? 'Fendan, give me the chance to have my revenge.' And I did, it was hardly my fault you got stabbed in the neck. That's on you."

"Yeah, I suppose."

Fendan walks from the window and to my bed. "I've lost Cantral, I don't want to lose you too—"

"Cantral's dead?" I shoot up and clutch my side.

"She may as well be." Fendan's hand pushes me back down. "But no. She ransacked my base on Jebnah and I haven't seen or heard from her since. No-one has ... She's out there somewhere."

I laugh. "Good for her."

Fendan rolls his eyes. He plants a kiss on my forehead. "Your life is sacred. Please treat it as such. I've deposited some more credits into your account, and I hope to never see you again. Have a good life."