The Cure

The Infirmary

Derek:

I looked down at my arms and found Gwen fast asleep. She looked so peaceful when she slept, like she didn't have a care in the world. And for once she didn't look angry and concentrated. She finally looked like she should be, calm and happy. Everything about her right now reminded me of why I fell for her. She didn't like being told what to do and she was very stubborn but she was beautiful and strong. Not just physically but emotionally too. She had just watched her friends and family get devoured by those monsters and she kept going on like nothing even happened, even though I know she was holding in the tears.

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I kicked open the door to the infirmary and placed Gwen down on one of the beds. I looked around and saw that all the doctors and nurses were swamped with patients. Gwen didn't look nearly as bad as they did. "Excuse me!!" I shouted to the nearest nurse. "Can you help my friend?" I hated that word. Friend. Gwen would never think of me the way I thought of her because we were only friends. "What happened to her? What're her injuries?" She said calmly. I blushed involuntarily. It felt strange to look at her bare back, it was stranger and more embarrassing that she wasn't even fully conscious during it. I went behind her and slowly lifted her shirt up. I heard her groan when the shirt touched her back. Her back arced as the cold air hit her back. "Shes got a bullet wound on her right shoulder and a 8 cuts on her." I said trying to keep my voice level. The wounds were repulsive. Now that I saw the cuts I wondered how she kept the doors closed with all these wounds. The pain must'vebeen horrible, no wonder she told me to hurry up. "Why didn't I close the doors faster?" was the only thought running through my mind. "She wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me." The thing that really caught me off guard though were her tattoos. I never knew she had them. They were beautiful. On her back were two angel wings, the feathers on each one were intricate and small. And written above them in cursive it said, "If I got rid of my demons, I'd have no guardian angels." I remember that I told her this a month ago, when she was sad and lonely about her father being chosen for The Culling. The nurse walked up next to me and inspected Gwen's wounds. "Well theirs some good news and bad news," she said measuring each word carefully. I gestured for to continue. I really didn't want to here the bad news. I'd hate for anything to happen to Gwen. "The good news is that we can take out the bullet and give a slave to close the cuts," I was happy to hear that she could take the bullet out. If we didn't take it out who knows what would happen. "The bad news is that we can't put her under and she'll have to be fully awake and we don't have space in the ER. We'll have to do it here." My shoulders slumped. if she couldn't go under then this was going to hurt a lot. I let out a sigh and raked a hand through my cropped hair. "Ok, lets do it." the nurse nodded at me and went to get an antiseptic. I walked over to Gwen and grabbed her shoulders. I shook her gently. "Gwen. Gwen" I whispered. Her eyes slowly opened. "What?" She said.She said it harshly like she didn't want to wake up. I couldn't help but smile before I said, "They have to take the bullet out while you're awake ok? And then we can go and I'll take you back to your room. Does that sound good?" I said calmly. I didn't want to displease her and I said it as gently as I could. She stared at me in the eyes and I couldn't help but think of how perfect she seemed to me. "Ok, just stay here ok?" Gwen said. She looked so vulnerable and innocent with her big chocolate brown eyes. I gave her a huge grin and said "I was never planning to leave."

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"Ok. One, Two, Three!" The nurse plunged her tool inside Gwen's shoulder. She tightened her hold on my hand and I saw her biting her lip to keep from screaming. The nurse shifted her tool around looking for the bullet and I saw tears streaming down Gwen's beautiful face. I couldn't imagine what she was going though. Then I heard the scraping of metal against metal, and I knew the nurse had found the bullet. "Aaaah!!" Gwen shrieked she was grabbing the end of the infirmary cot so hard her knuckles were turning white. "C'mon Gwen!! You got this! Just hold on a second." I said as soothingly as I could. She was gasping for air like a fish out of water. I looked back at the nurse and saw her pulling her tool back out and depositing the bullet in the tray next to her. Gwen's crying faded away until the only evidence that she ever cried was the tear stains on her cheeks. The nurse gave me a gauze, medical tape, and a salve. "Put these," she gestured toward the gauze and medical tape, "On her now. When you get to her room put on the salve. Give her some more in 8 hours so that she can heal properly." The nurse said. "Alright. Oh. " I grabbed her arm and looked into her eyes "Thank you." I said. She smiled politely at me and walked off to help another patient.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I walked toward Gwen and with burning cheeks, "You need to take your shirt off." I said as seriously as I could when I was completely embarrassed. Her eyes widened on me and she practically screeched out, "What?!" I smiled sheepishly before I said, "I need to put this gauze on you so you don't get infected ok? Plus I've seen it all before." I said jokingly. She narrowed her eyes at me and I couldn't help but laugh. "Whatever," she mumbled. She lifted up the back of her shirt and I carefully placed the gauze on her shoulder and wrapped the tape around her ribs, wound tightly. I brushed my hand across the bare skin of her back after I had finished applying her gauze and I felt her shiver underneath the touch of my hand. "Ready?" I said. She pushed herself off the bed with amazing strength considering she and just gotten a bullet dug out of her shoulder. "Yea c'mon." I put my arm around her shoulder just in case she fell, but I also did it because it made my insides stir nicely.

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I opened up her room door and closed it with my foot. Gwen was getting sleepier by the second and I still needed to put on her salve. She stumbled into the next room and was about to fall flat on her face when I grabbed her waist and pulled her back. I slid an arm under her knee and Picked her up. gently. I walked over to her ajar door and forced it open with my foot. I stumbled across the littered floor and placed her on the foot of the bed. She was practically delirious and was mumbling nonsense. That meant one thing, she was sleep deprived. I forced her shirt up and placed my hand in the salve. It was cold and was an ivory color. I took a scoopful of it and rubbed it gently onto her back. I felt her back arch at first, probably from the pain but she slowly relaxed.. When I had finished I slowly pulled her shirt back down and pushed her on to the bed so that she could sleep on her side. I pulled her sheets up and saw her eyelids drooping. I hesitated before slowly crouching down and placing a kiss in the space between her eyes. "Sleep Gwen." I whispered. I stood up and was about to walk away when I felt her warm, small hand wrap around mine. She looked at me with pleading eyes that I just couldn't say no to and I sighed in defeat. I walked across the room and brought her chair to the edge of her bed. I grabbed her hand again and watched as she drifted to her land of dreams. I pushed the hair off her face and caressed her face softly before I laid my forehead on the edge of her bed and was consumed by sleep with our hands still intertwined.

END OF CHAPTER TWO - Hey guys!! Its Vicky and its 1:13 AM and I should PROBABLY be asleep but I just can't so I thought, "HEY WHY NOT POST ANOTHER CHAPTER? :D" So yea. *looks at word count* OH MY GOSH... 1821 words. DANG. Anyway how'd you like this chapter? Did you love it? Did you hate it? COMMENT BELOW! :D In this story I decided that I was going to switch the Point Of View(POV) between Gwen and Derek. So just a heads up. Anyways AS ALWAYS STAY AWESOME GUYS!! :D