Decrepit///Ben Parish

Chapter 8

Memory serves well on my way to Dr. Pam's office.

I waver in front of her door. If I try to stall, I will miss breakfast and not have to face the squad. I feel ignorant for thinking I would stand up to Reznik like I did. I'm a little embarrassed about it. Next time I should do it respectfully, like Zombie does. Zombie having the guts to stand up to him makes me wonder if it earns the veneration of our favorite drill Sargent.

The door swings open, and Dr. Pam is standing there in her white coat.

"Oh Scarlett, what happened, dear?" I can feel tears surface in my eyes for hearing my real name. It makes me long for my mother and my old life. She pulls me into a hug and rubs my back.

"Was it someone in your squad, what's going on?" something about how she cares so much is soothing. She lets go and pulls me into her office and shuts the door behind us.

"I can file a report," she picks up the corded phone off her desk, but I stop her.
"No, no it was Reznik, I said some things I probably shouldn't have," I let out a forced laugh.

She sighs, "Well you were going to have to learn at some point. Reznik doesn't mess around."

"Yeah, he's no joke."

"I'll try to look at you as fast as possible, you need to go eat breakfast." She has me sit down on the table.

She looks at my nose.

"Good news is, your nose isn't broken, but I need to check out your eye and head.

She goes to her one of her cabinets, and pulls out a small, silver flashlight.

"Follow the light with your eyes." She shines the light in my eyes, and moves the flashlight back and forth.

"Do you feel lightheaded, dizzy, or nauseous?"
"I did when it first happened, and I almost threw up."

"It doesn't look like you have a concussion, but I want you to rest for the rest of the day, no training, or shooting, and avoid bright lights and noises. I don't want you anywhere near the shooting range. I still want you to eat with your squad, okay? If we need to we can do a CAT scan tomorrow."

"Okay."

"Do you take a hit anywhere else?"

"My stomach," I say.

She lays me down on the table and unzips my ugly, blue jumpsuit. I take my arms out of the sleeves, and let it bunch at my hip bones. She presses on certain spots on my stomach.

"Any pain?"
"No, it's just a little bit sore."

"Perfect, let me right an exemption note for your squad leader to give to Reznik. What squad did they put you in?" I sit up and put my jumpsuit back on.

"I'm in 53. Zombie is the squad leader."

"Ah yes I remember him, he's a good kid." I give a small nod.

She pulls a pen and notepad from her desk drawer, and begins writing.

"What do they call you these days?" She asks.

"Enigma."

"That's interesting. I wonder how Reznik came up with that. It baffles me how he comes up with so many nicknames so fast. Do you like your squad?" She asks.

"Yeah I do most the time. Except for this pervert guy. And the spunkiest seven-year-old girl I have ever met keeps things interesting. But my squad is not very good at all. We're almost the lowest ranked squad."

"I'm sure you guys will get better as the weeks go by. Especially with more training."
She tears off the piece of paper and hands it to me.

"I want you to come back to see me tomorrow while your squad runs laps, and we'll take it from there." I hop off the table and start walking towards the door.

Dr. Pam gently grabs my arm and pulls me into a hug.

"It's good to see you, Scarlett." It's almost uplifting being called by my real name again.

"Actually, let me give you an ice pack and some pain medicine." She gives me four individual packaged pills and an ice pack.

"Go eat breakfast and don't forget to rest!"

"Thank you, Dr. Pam!" I shut her door behind me.

I slowly make my way to the dining hall. Maybe I should just accept the fact that I'm going to have to face the squad sooner or later. It will be easier just to do it now.

I stop in the barracks fast, and I run into the bathroom and glance in the small mirror at my swelling eye.

Wow I look great.

I use my towel to wipe off the remaining blood and head to the dining hall.

There's no line in the dining hall. I get the leftovers from breakfast, and go to squad fifty-three's table. I take a seat in my usual spot, next to Dumbo and across from Zombie.

My whole squad stares at me, waiting for me to say something.

"Hey guys," I mutter. Everyone mumbles a 'hey' or 'hi' back, then they go back to whatever they were talking about.

I take one bite of my food and immediately feel nauseous again. I push my tray towards Oompa, and put my elbow on the table and lean my head on my hand. Zombie reaches over and rests his large hand on my forearm. Goosebumps appear on my skin.

"You okay?" I pull my arm away from his hand, and put it in my lap. I nod at him. Seven pairs of eyes are on us.

I hand Zombie the note that Dr. Pam gave me.

I study him as he reads over it, his hazel eyes moving side to side.

"Oompa don't touch that food, Enigma needs to eat," Zombie commands. Zombie grabs my tray and puts it in front of me.

"Eat at least half. That's all I'm asking for."

I choke down the canned fruit and set my fork down.

"Now I want you to take one of those pills." Zombie hands me his cup of water, seeing I don't have one.

"I can take care of myself you know, Zombie."

"I know you can, I just want to help." I roll my eyes at him.

I cannot put up with this. I take the pill to shut him up, and stand up from our table. As I pass him, Zombie grabs my arm.

He sighs, "Enigma, where are you going?"

"I'm going to lye down, I don't feel well." The anger clear in my voice.

Another sigh, "Please don't be mad at me, I was just trying to help. We have each other's backs, remember?" the look on his face makes me feel a little bad.

"You're right."

"I know. Let me walk you this time." He says with a small smirk.

"Okay, fine." He grabs the ice pack from my hand, and leads us in the direction of the barracks.

Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 8!! The reads sky rocketed it on this story and you have no idea how happy it made me!! Even one more read can make my day. I'm just really happy that people are hopefully enjoying Decrepit and taking the time to read it! I loved writing this chapter! Have a good week!
<3 M