Wild and Out of Control

|chapter forty-four|

|danica|

I want to say I woke up at a reasonable hour, but the position of the sun through the windows would say otherwise.

     The moment I open my eyes and the sun is streaming through my windows, I know I slept in. Damn it, I wanted to wake up early enough so that the nurses don't notice me sneaking out of the infirmary. Or Xaden. I don't know who I would be more worried about catching me. No, actually, I do. The nurses I could talk out of getting in trouble, but Xaden? Yeah, no. If I tried even to get up, he'd probably tie me to the bed so I would have to rest.

     I lay on my side facing the curtain, stretching my arms and legs, feeling just a twinge of tension in the muscles, which, compared to yesterday, is a big improvement. The aching in my limbs has subsided, and it doesn't hurt to move my arms anymore, so I would say I'm ready to get out of here. Being trapped in the infirmary has brought up unpleasant memories of my childhood that I've spent so long trying to get rid of. That's why when I was assigned infirmary duty at the beginning of the year, I managed to switch out of it with a fellow rider in my section.

     I push myself upright—and feel resistance. Are the sheets too tight? When I tug, something shifts behind me. My pulse stutters. Did Xaden stay the night? Slowly, I turn. But instead of my six-foot-four shadow wielder, there's a mop of blond hair. Liam. Memories flood back—him pushing our beds together, his laugh, his stubbornness. Sometime during the night, he must've climbed on top of the covers. That explains the resistance. I reach out to brush a few sweaty strands from his forehead, but my hand freezes. He's burning up. His skin is slick with sweat, his bandages soaked through with blood.

     "Liam?" I whisper. No response.

     I jump up, slowly turning him so I could get a look at the bandage and gasp when it's all bloody. What the hell? It was supposed to be stitched up. Jumping to my feet, I almost regret my decision when stars race in my vision. Damn low iron. Once I can see again, I rush to his side and pull his blood-soaked shirt off before seeing the messed-up bandage. Even though I was trained in healing, I know it's best if I get one of the nurses to attend to him. When I pull open the curtain, the first thing I see is an empty infirmary.

     I allow myself only a moment of confusion before I go over to the nurses' station to find it also empty. That's not normal; at least one nurse is manning the station at a time, and during a time like this? There should be multiple nurses here. So why aren't there?

     I sprint into the halls of Basgiath. Silence greets me. No footsteps, no voices, not even the faint hum of activity. Just... emptiness. After several frantic minutes, I give up and race back. If no one's here to help Liam, I'll help him myself.

     When I get back to the infirmary, I stop short at the entrance. It's empty. And not just empty of patrons, it's empty, as in there is nothing here. No beds, no medicine trolleys, no curtains, nothing. The sun has hidden behind clouds, casting the empty room in a dark glow. One of the windows is cracked open, letting a cold draft into the room.

     My breathing harshens as I go to where Liam was sitting, only finding a pool of blood on the stone floor. Everything is quiet, so quiet that I can hear the beating of my heart. It quickens as every possible scenario runs through my head, but each scenario is unexplainable. It doesn't make sense. Why would they evacuate the infirmary without taking us? Or maybe they were still evacuating when I ran out and just assumed I was gone with them? Why would they evacuate? Where is Liam? Is he okay?

     All these questions are racing through my head, and I begin to hyperventilate. This doesn't seem right. Nothing about this is alright. My right hand latched onto my left wrist, picking at the old scars that littered there. My weak limbs give way to the crushing feeling of anxiety, and my knees hit the floor hard. Had it been some other time, I would've felt the pain. But everything has gone numb.