Pyrrha

Episode 4: Grisham Hospital

Pyrrha awoke. She opened her eyes and was blinded by a white light. A beautiful white light, but the dazzling brightness was too much to bear.

Am I dead?

Silhouettes appeared in front of the lights. They were saying things but she couldn't make out what. Their motions blurred everything. The sound of beeps filled her ears. Repetitive beeps. It was really quite annoying. She felt dizzy again. She felt tired. She fell asleep.

Johnson felt a cold hand run over his head. He snapped open his eyes and felt himself twisting a hand into a wristlock before raising his spare fist. He then realised his opponent was a simple doctor. He released his grip. The doctor rubbed his wrist. Johnson didn't even mean to hurt the man, it was all reflex.

"Where am I?" Johnson said, looking around.

"Grisham." The elderly doctor replied.

"Am I supposed to know what that is---"

"Grisham hospital." The doctor corrected.

Johnson leant back in his gurney. He sank into the comfort of the small mattress and rested his hands on his head. He let out an exhausted sigh.

"Where's my friend? His name's Alex."

"Ah yes, the other fellow." The doctor said, leaning against Johnson's gurney. "He's in the other ward, resting up."

"Thank God for that. Alex has saved my life a few times and I was afraid for him." Johnson said with relief.

"Now, the woman has---"

"Pyrrha!" Johnson breathed, getting up.

"She's fine." The doctor said, placing a reassuring hand on Johnson's shoulder. "She's just unconscious. She'll come to when she's able."

Johnson looked at the gurney to his left and saw Pyrrha lying motionless, fast asleep. She looked peaceful. Beautiful. Something about the way she slept amused him. He couldn't help but smile.

"That girl has saved my life a few times too." Johnson said happily.

After a makeshift shower, Johnson was given a fresh shirt by one of the doctors. It didn't fit too well, but a fresh shirt was better than a shirt that had been burnt to a crisp. He walked around Grisham Hospital and noticed the patients had only been stored on the first floor. The second was occupied by the COG, keeping lookout and the rooftop had a helicopter pad which played host to the deployment of new soldiers that morning. It was less a hospital and more an outpost. He actually felt safe here. Safer than he'd felt in a long time. He pieced things together in his mind and came up with some assumptions. Grisham was obviously the city they were in, but the COG were stationed here for a reason. No ideas came to mind, maybe they were just stationed here because the COG was trying to expand their territories? Why would they have such a huge base in the middle of nowhere?

Johnson sat by Pyrrha's bed for most of the afternoon just waiting for her to wake up. It seemed like an eternity, but he rubbed the back of her hand which helped pass time. He was angry at what Alex said, sad even. He felt dead rising up inside of him. The same dread of sitting in that final test at school, the one you didn't study for. The feeling of a quickly approaching deadline.

Slowly, Pyrrha's eyes opened. She looked around at her surroundings before getting an idea of where she was. Her eyes then scanned over to Johnson and her confused look of despair faded away into a cheerful smile.

"I was waiting for you to get up." Johnson said happily. Pyrrha noticed he was holding her hand. She felt strange letting him touch her like that when she was sleeping, but at the same time she really appreciated his concern.