The Cobra's Gaze and Bite [Cobra Commander x OC]

Entry 01 : Burn Victims

Entry 01 : Burn Victims

14 | 1300 | Z | OCT | 20

When I next woke up it only took seconds for my sight to gain clarity.

The Underground Hospital, more commonly known as 'The Underground', was a hospital that catered to a particular clientele. Specifically, the criminal element that could afford it. It was created by one such member in the eighteen-hundreds with enough sympathy for the rest of his kind to provide medical aid for those to whom it was too dangerous to go to a normal hospital. Since its founding days the Underground had grown with the scientific and medical advancements of the world, funded by many heavily invested offenders of the law in order to keep it a safe haven of sorts for them.

From high profile assassins to street gangsters, the Underground Hospital had a room for all of them. Well, as long as they had the money to pay for that room. No one could just walk in and ask for help, as that was not how this particular society worked after all. Reputation played a major part, and with reputation with the right people brought the money.

Of course, I learned all of this much later, as when the day came that I found myself in the Underground Hospital I was in no state to comprehend much other than pain.

Everything felt like it was burning, my right side particularly. It burned with every jolt of movement I was subjected to, the surface beneath me cold and just a painful contrast to the heat I was still feeling. I also couldn't feel my right shoulder and the arm connected to it. My muscles there should have been contracting and releasing due to the pain, but I felt nothing. This became a note of concern in the back of my mind but the pain as too much, and apparently my tolerance for pain was just high enough that I wasn't going to fall into the blissful numbness of unconsciousness.

In reaction to my pain my eyes were tightly shut and noises came from a hoarse throat to somehow convey that pain to anyone who was close by. I knew that there were people, people moving that cold surface I was on. Briefly I could hear them, but only pieces of conversation actually made it through my ears that had been ringing for some time.

"... happened?"

"Explosion... too close..."

"... pissed, for sure."

"Diagnosis?"

"... bad... will get..."

Then my breathing started getting harder, the burning feeling in my lungs also traveling in and out of my throat as well. In and out like invisible fire, and this garnered more... excitement is the best word for it currently, from those people around me.

"Shit!"

A cold object was placed on my face, the outlines of it surrounding my mouth and nose, and suddenly equally cold air was forced down my throat and into my lungs. As much as it did hurt, it canceled out that burning pain and I was more than grateful for that. However it did nothing for the pain the rest of my body was feeling, but once the surface I was on stopped moved someone must have taken some measure of pity on me then.

"Get the poor girl some anesthesia!"

"Needs to... anyway."

After a drawn out minute the air I was breathing tasted faintly like chocolate.

After another minute, darkness consumed my vision and the pain vanished.

Four Hours Later...

I woke up slowly.

How much time had passed I wasn't exactly sure, but the first thing I noticed was that the pain from before had melted into a strange tingling. It was mostly regulated to my right side but it was certainly more bearable than it was before. However, I did feel slight, lightning shocks of pain in my shoulder and arm. Again, not unbearable, just enough to be noticed. What made me happy was that I could think more clearly, the pain a background feeling now and the former ringing in my ears having been gone for some time it seemed.

I tried to open my eyes, the heavy feeling of them proving to be a great mental obstacle. When I managed to, my vision was blurry enough to where I could not tell great amounts of detail concerning my surroundings. However, I could make out that I was in a room with whitewashed walls and medical equipment. Plain, yet complicated at the same time. I had minorly noted it as an interesting contrast before I heard quite a bit of commotion.

I turned my head a little to my left, the direction in which all the noise was coming from, just before watching the very doors I was watching burst open.

A gurney was pushed into the room, pushed by two men in white lab coats, and they stopped it next to the other installed bed in the room. They didn't make any action to move the obvious new patient onto that bed, I couldn't make out any details since my sight had yet to fully clear up, and I didn't know why until they started speaking. Albeit faintly, my hearing still not that good either.

"Well, Dr. Mindbender," The shorter of the two men in white coats addressed the slightly taller one. "As an official diagnosis, at least seventy-percent of his body is covered in third-degree burns. In addition, there is a severe case of smoke inhalation and as a result of that there is severe burn damage in his lungs. So severe and just from listening to him breathe, I'd believe that he also inhaled a bit of actual fire too."

"Dr. Pershing, can your people bring him back to a level of physical functionality?" The other man, Dr. Mindbender, asked coldly. So coldly that I felt chills from just hearing it. It made me glad that I couldn't see the man all that well, as I didn't want to see the expression that came with that tone.

"Y-yes," Dr. Pershing replied to Dr. Mindbender. "We can bring him back close to a level of mobility that he possessed before, but for his lungs he will more than likely need a ventilator for the rest of his life."

A tense moment of silence passed between the two men until Dr. Pershing managed to speak up again.

"It's going to be a costly procedure, as you should know, and the ventilator would have to be custom-made for it to be mobile and as out of the way as possible."

"The cost doesn't matter to McCullen." Dr. Mindbender responded in that same cold tone. "He's worth the investment. Now, how soon can Surgery be prepared for him?"

"They need another forty minutes, they have only just gotten done with our other patient here in the Burn Unit."

I instantly closed my eyes, and I was lucky since it was just before I felt eyes on me. Judging me harshly and with cold logic.

"Who is she?"

"You know the assassin that's been making Interpol's lists? Wraith? That's his little girl, Sarah." Dr. Pershing replied, his voice holding an obvious fear of my father, and this turned my thoughts to him. Something had happened to me and it was related to my father but my memories, like my sight and hearing, weren't doing all that great.

That feeling of being watched disappeared gradually and I let out a mental sigh of relief.

"How soon will he recover?" Dr. Mindbender asked Dr. Pershing, and by my best guess Dr. Pershing's few moments of silence were dedicated to quick calculations.

"Approximating, a little over a year depending on how well his body responds to the treatments."

"That will do."

With that, I heard the doors open and I assumed Dr. Mindbender left the room. I opened my eyes to see Dr. Pershing running a hand through his greying hair.

"That man..." He turned to face me then, and seeing me awake he sighed. "The anesthesia must have worn off... Sorry you had to hear that Sarah, but Mindbender is an odd character. But right now you need some more rest, as your body is still getting over the shock of what you've been through in the past twenty-four hours."

The doctor easily found the syringe he was after, quick in finding a suitable vein in my left arm and injecting the sleep-inducing drug. My eyes drooped in that sudden tiredness before closing and sending my sight into darkness.

"We will talk more on your condition tomorrow."