renegades [teenage mercenary]

007

[tw: needles]

Rei was not in her room. She knew that well enough without even having to open her eyes with the smell of antiseptics and the obnoxious beeping to her left. God. It needed to stop.

Although, what really bothered her, was that she couldn't feel the comfort of her normal clothing against her skin. Whatever she was wearing was too large around her frame and yet still felt too suffocating, wrapping tightly in some spots.

She let out a soft groan, feeling a slight pang in her temples. How was it that this headache still hadn't left?

Her eyes fluttered open, immediately regretting it as vibrant white light flooded her vision. She reached for the pillow behind her head with her right hand, dragging it over her face so her eyes wouldn't have to suffer any longer.

Nope. Definitely not her room.

It couldn't be someone's house. Who would keep a loud machine? Who'd sleep through that?

Oh.

Flickers of the past few hours seeped through her mind as she recalled what happened.

Fuck. She fainted.

She was in the infirmary.

She had to get out.

Rei tore off the pillow, ignoring the fact that she had a needle attached to the crook of her left elbow, and pulled the sheets off her, throwing them to the side.

Grimacing, she sat up, holding her head all the while taking in her surroundings. White walls, tinted windows to her right (she assumed it was night as it was dark outside), and some sort of device on her left that seemed to be taking in some of her vitals.... Yep, looked like an infirmary room.

Rei frowned. Next to her bed was a guest chair—and it wasn't vacant.

Major Kang was asleep with his head propped up with the palm of his head, his arm against the chair's arm. Huh. She didn't expect him to look so...serene? Especially from the last time she had seen him before she had fainted. Damn. Just thinking about it made her want to cringe.

She could tell through his uniform that his arms had been bandaged, his forehead lightly wrapped up.

She couldn't understand what prompted her to go to Grian to save him. Sure, he saved her. But she had been saved multiple times. And that meant nothing. So why now?

Sighing, she threw her legs over the side of the bed, ready to stand up. Her left foot touched the ground (which was fucking cold) and she hadn't taken note of the fact that she was still dizzy and her legs were numb from staying in that position for so long.

Rei cursed as she crashed into the machine attached to wheels, so all she managed to do was let inertia do its thing. She fumbled to stay still, only falling as everything crashed around her. She hit the ground with a smack, attempting to deflect fragments of shattered glass that came her way.

"Rei?"

Fuck.

Rei hummed in response, still in a position with her knees tucked in, and her arms covering her face. The bare skin along her arms started welling up with splinters, although she was glad that they didn't hurt too bad. Not that the pain was anything compared to a bullet or knife wound.

Through the ringing in her ears, she could hear the soft crushing of debris against heavy boots racing to reach her.

"Rei! Are you okay?" Major Kang said although he spoke too quickly for her to understand what he had just said.