The Renegade

Chapter 11: Blood and Birthday Parties

   My eyes flutter open, revealing Nikki standing next to my head, Schiffs standing next to her, Mike sitting on the end of the bed, Kylee standing next to him, and Riley standing at the foot of the bed.
  “Well, hello there,” Nikki says with a chuckle.
  “W-What happened to me?”
   “Side effect of the simulator,” Schiffs says plainly. “I’m assuming.”
   “Since everyone who did the simulator yesterday passed out, it’s a safe assumption,” Mike tells Schiffs.
   “Yeah well, hopefully they won’t do that again,” Riley sighs.
    “Do what?” Kylee snaps, “Torture our squad until none of us are sane anymore?”
    Everyone’s eyes take off in different directions except for Kylee’s. “Do you guys seriously think it was a coincidence that everyone who did the simulation passed out? And after we pissed off Ezra?”
    “How… how long have you been conscious, Kylee and Riley?” I ask.
   “Long enough to see two new episodes of Stranger Things,” Riley muttered jokingly. 
   “Couple hours, maybe,” she says with a sigh. “Look, all I’m saying is that we should keep our eyes open. Look out for each other, you know. Watch each other’s backs.”
   Kylee was called by a nurse on the other side of the room. The nurse was messing with medical equipment of some kind, so I assumed that it was for a quick examination. Schiffs shuffled to the other side of the bed, and crosses her arms.
  Once settled, Schiffs murmurs, “Kylee’s right you know. We should have been looking out for each other since jump.”
  Her eyes dart from the floor to my eyes, “Belle, I’m sorry I didn’t do anything else.” She glances at Riley. “You too, Riley.”
  “Don’t blame yourself,” Riley says plainly. “You didn’t know.”
  Schiffs blinks, and brings her wrist up to her face. She wipes her eye, and smears some eyeliner in the process. She hits the footboard once with a curled-up fist and silently dashed away.
   Riley looks on Schiff’s retreating shadow with concern, as Mike looks in confusion.
   “OH MY GOD,” Nikki yells loud enough for it to echo off of the walls of the infirmary a couple times. She slaps Riley’s shoulder a few times, leaving some red marks and a hand outline. She giddily jumps up and down before excusing herself.
   “What was that all about,” Riley asks suspiciously.
   Mike laughs. Actually laughs. As long as I’ve been here, I’ve never seen him smile, not even appear remotely happy. This time, though, a smile grew across his face.
  Riley quickly chased after her, coming to a realization. Mike chuckles again, and glances at me. “Look,” He starts. “I’m sorry if I came off… unapproachable or whatever when you first came here. Just after Brooke-“ He catches himself and his eyes widen, leaving them to drop to the bedsheets. He takes a part of the covers and rubs it between his index finger and his thumb.
   “Were you close? With Brooke?” My voice spurts with a voice crack.
   He nods, “Nikki, Riley and I.”
   “I’m sorry… I know what it’s like to lose someone close,” Now it’s my turn for my eyes to dart. They look to my fingers, now fiddling with the sheets themselves.
  “I lost my brother to some disease. I have two sisters. One got kidnapped or something like that. The other I had to leave behind,” I chuckle to myself. “I think I miss her.”
  “I’m sorry,” He whispers so quietly it was barely audible. 
   I nod. He opens his mouth to say something, but a nurse comes over and tells him something. He nods to me before leaving.

~

  After the nurse was done examining me, she tells me to rush off to the game room. The game room? What game room? I was tempted and close to asking the nurse, but she waddled away to assist another patient on the other side of the room.
  “Thanks,” I mutter to myself.
I look up above the steel double-doors to find a sign that read, “Sector 2, Squads 1, 2, and 3”
Squad One is us. The ‘smog’ squad. I look around the infirmary, no one here was recognizable. Still, I decide to turn to the left of the door and head to the first conscious person. I ask him if he knew where the game room was. He replied with a set of directions that I will most likely forget halfway there.