The first thing I notice is her eyes. They're grey but not grey. They're also blue and green and brown all at once, and they're hypnotic. They seem a lot darker though because her eyelashes are long, and they appear to cover her eyes in a shadow. When she asks her questions, they just sail over my head because I'm not paying attention to what she's saying.
"Hey!" She says as she snaps her fingers in front of my face, bringing me back to reality.
"Yeah...?" I reply, half distracted.
"Who are you?"
"My name's Damon," I say. Venning says that if I ever run into strangers, and I have to tell them who I am, I just reveal my first name; not my last.
"That's helpful. Thank you!" She says with an eye-roll. I assume that she's sarcastic. "Where am I?" she asks quickly.
"You're safe," I say hesitantly. "You're in a recovery room. You were shot."
The girl presses her hand against her stomach reflexively. Her eyes widen for a second and she looks down at herself like she's just realizing what happened.
"Did you..." she starts and trails off, raising her eyebrows expectantly.
Did I what? Her question confuses me. Did I shoot her? Did I find her? Did I take the bullet out? Not knowing what to say, I give a half-nod and her face contorts into an expression of absolute disgust and repulsion.
"You changed me out of my uniform?"
"What?" I almost jump back from the shock of her response. "No! No, I didn't do that! That was Ada. She's an AI. She's also the one who took out the bullet and I found you against an old apartment."
She takes off the blankets on her bed and tries to get out of the bed, but she grunts in pain from her wound. I have never been more confused or nervous in my entire life; not even when those two assassins attacked me. I don't know whether or not she needs help or if she's alright.
"Are you Endurance or Freeborn, Damon?" she asks, giving up on trying to get out of the bed.
I'm not exactly on either side. I'm supposed to run from both if I should encounter them and I've never really done anything yet for the Endurance although Venning says that he has plans for me. I'm on Venning's side and Venning is part of the Endurance.
"Endurance," I say. It's true, even though Venning says that they are a bigger threat than the Freeborn to me.
The girl nods and smiles. I can't see her figure through the loose hospital gown -- not that I was trying to. She looks up at me with a sense of comfort in her eyes. I feel a lump in my throat, not knowing what to say, so I try for something simple.
"Wh-what's your name?" I ask.
"Dawn," she says. "Private Dawn Hill."
"Dawn," I repeat. "It's nice to meet you."
"You too. Hey, you don't happen to have a way for me to call my commanding officer, do you?" She asks.
"Yeah," I say, "I do, but I've already contacted one of your superiors. He'll come pick you up tomorrow."
Dawn looks confused for a moment. "I'm being picked up?" she asks. "I'm not meeting them anywhere?"
I shrug. "I'm honestly not entirely sure about that, but I know one of your superiors is coming tomorrow."
Dawn nods and bites her lip nervously. She brings her knees to her chest and I see a thin scar on her calf. It doesn't look particularly bad or anything, but I wonder how she got it.
YOU ARE READING
The Wrong Side
Science Fiction"I'll tell you when you're an adult." These are the few words that have been repeated to Damon Ophia for his whole life. Damon's life is made up of secrets. In some cases, secrets are being kept from him, in others he needs to keep secrets, and in...
