The Renegade

Chapter 6: Healing Takes Time

"Kill..."

Blood spew from Brooke's mouth. She fell to her knees, then face-first onto the store's floor. The ghoul's raised claw held out where Brooke once stood. Without any hesitation, Riley's finger was on the trigger. The bullet flew through the freak's head, it's rotting flesh flying off of it's peeling scalp. They stare at her body in shock, not realizing the danger they are now in. Since Riley shot off her gun, a loud noise rang up and down the street outside. It caught a something's ear, which then raced toward the store. The Govern's pets pounded on the door. They needed to escape, and now. Earlier, they had found a back door, but that would mean a sneaky exit. Which would mean leaving Brooke's lifeless body here.

"We can't do that," Nikki's voice cracked. "We can't just leave her here!"

"For our survival, we must. To save us and this girl," Kylee says through clenched teeth, holding back tears.

For Maansi, though, tears flowed down her face, "As much as we don't want to... and we really don't want to... we must."

"Maybe we can come back later to collect the body," Jeff cuts in. "But right now, we need to run."

Nikki takes the wounded girl hesitantly.

"...Lets go."

Tear stains spoke more than words could whenever they arrived back at the base. Schiffs met them. Noticing that a member of the group is gone, and is replaced with a civilian, she can't help but to think the worst. It's confirmed when Jeff says with a shaky voice, "Casualties. 1. Agent Brooke. Age 18."

Her jaws drop to the floor in disbelief.

Jeff continues. "body not recovered. Left at the scene. Civilian obtained. Major injuries, and needs to see our medic."

Schiffs quietly puts out her arms for the girl. She then carries her to their ER.

Schiffs, Kylee, and a witness were the only people allowed in the operation room. Maansi volunteered to go, being among the less queasy in the group. While she was in there, and while the doctors worked on their patient, Maansi explained what happened in the middle of the road earlier that night. Outside the door, the rest of the tact team silently argue.

"I say we should get rid of her," Jeff says quickly.

Nikki elbows him, "Why?"

"That was... weird. What happened back there. Don't you think?"

"What- that a ghoul jumped out of nowhere?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, your over thinking it," Riley interjected.

"What if I'm not," Jeff though aloud. "Think about it. We cleared the room before we set our gear down and rested. How could have a Ghoul been hiding the whole time? You know how vile they are. If it heard or smelled us it would have attacked. And it didn't. Until that moment."

"Jeff has a point," Mike intervened, walking down the hall with his hands in his pockets.

"Shut up, Mike," Nikki pouted. "You weren't even there."

"And the judge wasn't at the crime scene," Shawna trails off.

"Whatever -it doesn't matter- we should still give her a chance. You don't know what she can be capable of," Nikki argues.

A yelp is heard from inside the operation room, and everyone's heads snap to look at the door.

Jeff sighs and whispers, "Exactly." Jeff angrily storms off, and Riley chases behind, spewing his name.

~~~

Kylee sneaks out of the room and faces the remnants of the group. After Jeff and Riley, Shawna had said she was just going to head to bed - and to wake her up if anything interesting happens. Now sitting in the chairs outside of the room, Nikki, Mike, and Maansi (who had joined them soon after the three had left) had been waiting anxiously.

Kylee sits down in the only unoccupied chair. "She's stable."

Nikki and Maansi let out a sigh. Mike stares, seemingly unphased.

•

When Maansi left the operating room, she had asked Nikki where the rest of the group had gone.

"Well, Jeff and I were -lets say- disagreeing on something. So he ran off like a wimp and Riley chased after him." She raised her voice slightly at "wimp," trying to reach him whenever he was.

"What about Shawna," Maansi inquired.

"She quickly got bored and went to bed."

Maansi nods with some kind of satisfaction, happy with the information she was given. She nods at Mike, "Sup"

He nods in recognition and continues to stare at the floor.

"What about the girl?"

"Well, I'm not too sure. She was talking though."

This caught both Mike and Nikki's attention. With both pairs of eyes on her, Maansi explains. "Well, miraculously, she would come in and out of consciousness. And she would talk to the doctors. That's about when they told me to leave."

Nikki, not so happy with the information offered, throws herself on the chair with a thump. Mike's eyes find themselves focused back on the floor.

"Ignacia. You'd think I'd remember that name." Though the two didn't hear the last part.

Nikki and Mike's head snap back to Maansi. "This isn't time to talk about how fiery she was, Maansi," Nikki spits.

Maansi chuckles, "No uh, that's her name. Ignacia Finis."

Nikki reclines, "Ignacia Finis... Why does that seem familiar."