Worlds Apart

Chapter 18

When Max opened up her eyes, the first thing she saw was the white walls of the room she was in. The next thing that registered for her was the soft beeping of what she quickly realized was a heart rate monitor. Max squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them again, she was able to focus and look around the room.

For the briefest of moments, Max couldn't remember why she was in a hospital room and felt panic begin to overwhelm her, but the feeling quickly faded when her memories of what had happened came flooding back. But even though she'd remembered why she was here, she still felt a sinking feeling of dread.

She'd failed.

Not only had she failed, but she failed miserably. Who knew how long she'd been asleep for, or if there was any chance at all that Jane or Selvig would still be in town. She wanted to cry, but whatever medicine the hospital staff had put her on was keeping her just emotionally numb enough that she didn't think she could.

Max took a moment to visually scan herself and assess the damage. From what she could tell, there didn't seem to be very much wrong with her. She was hooked up to an IV, but other than that, there didn't seem to be too many scary looking things on her or in the room with her. There were a few gauze pads placed on her hands and limbs, but that seemed to be the worst of it. She also thought she could feel a bandage laying across her abdomen, but she couldn't quite tell, so she carefully moved her hand there to confirm it. She also noticed that the soot seemed to have been cleaned off of her, so she was grateful to whoever took the time to do that for her.

Finally, her eyes landed on a call button laying next to her, which she immediately picked up and pressed. She had a lot of questions that needed answering, the biggest of which was whether or not she had a chance of getting out of there before too much time passed.

Within a few minutes, a nurse entered her room.

"Well, look who's awake!" she asked cheerfully. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Max admitted. "But fine."

"Good; that's good," the nurse said. "I'm Nurse Andrews. Dr. Tribiani will be here soon to go over your care with you, but in the meantime, while I'm here, can I just ask you a few questions for our records?"

Max nodded in response.

"Excellent." Nurse Andrews took a seat on a stool and rolled up to the side of Max's bed.

"Can I ask you something first?" Max asked.

"Go for it."

"How long was I out?" Max bit the inside of her cheek in anticipation of the answer.

"Only about four hours," the nurse answered. Max's heart fluttered with relief. If it had only been four hours, there was still a chance that Jane and Selvig were still in town. If she could get out of here in a reasonable amount of time, maybe she'd still have a chance at catching them before they left.

"First thing's first; can I get your name?"

"Uh, Max," she replied, bringing her mind back to the present. "Maxine Bowen."

The nurse wrote Max's answer down on her clipboard. "Date of birth?"

Max took a moment to think and make sure she didn't give the wrong date. "February 18th, 1988."

"Do you know your blood type?"

"O-negative."

"Are you on any medications?"

"No."

"Do you smoke or take any recreational drugs?"

Max shook her head.