Shadow Mutation (Book Seven) [UNDER MAJOR EDITING]

Chapter 38: Her Last Words

Casey takes a deep breath as his eyes fly open, jolting him upwards. The monitor next to his bed beeps crazily, only giving him further evidence that his heart is pounding. He looks around the closed in space, then down at his bandaged torso. The last thing he remembers is passing out in the lair, but then again...he could've sworn he heard Zilla's voice.

The curtains around his bed fly open, revealing a male and female nurse standing there staring at him in shock.

"Woah...uh...what happened?" Casey asks, his heart slowly calming down.

The female nurse opens and closes her mouth a few times, still unable to make words come out. The male composes himself as he clasps his hands together.

"Our apologies, sir...but you were dead. We were preparing to move you to the morgue," he admits, his voice trembling slightly.

Casey's mouth falls open. "I was dead? Am I a zombie?"

"N-No, Mr. Jones, not as far as we can tell," the female nurse finally pipes up. She moves closer to him, forcing a weak smile. "Let me just check your vitals and the wound, okay?" Casey nods numbly as she starts to unwrap her bandages.

"I will alert his family," the male comments. "And...uh..." He swallows as he looks back at the pair. "Just between the three of us, you never died. You simply needed resuscitation. Put that on the report instead, alright, Justine?"

"Sure thing, Mark," Justine responds, continuing with Casey's bandages.

Mark leaves the room, shutting the door. Casey focuses all his attention on listening to the commotion outside the door, his face flooding with shock when he recognizes April and Andrea's voices amongst the group.

"Impossible..." Justine mutters.

Casey looks back at her, finding that her light brown eyes are completely focused on where his wound once was. Casey looks down and sees that the only marking on his chest is a thin white scar. All traces of an infection have left his body.

"What the actual...huh?"

Justine shakes her head, her brunette ponytail swishing lightly. "If you want answers, don't ask me." She smiles weakly. "I suppose you just have a guardian angel, Mr. Jones."

Casey freezes, completely unhinged from reality for a moment. The words of Eustace Nezbit echo in his mind.

"But something healed me. I went to sleep with this wound, the next day I woke up to only seeing this scar. Harry and I believe...that God sent us a guardian angel to heal us."

"Zilla," he whispers.

"What was that?" Justine asks.

The vigilante shakes his head. "Nothing...nothing..." He looks up at her, almost pleading. "When can I get out of here?"

She purses her lips, carefully removing his IV. "Well, you're in perfect shape again. I can send the discharge notification to the front right away." She reaches underneath the bed and rests his usual outfit on his lap. "Get dressed. Once you're ready, you can come out into the hallway and see your family."

He nods again, watching the nurse leave. He dresses easily, finding it strange just how normal he feels. No aches, no pains, absolutely nothing. He's completely fine.