Never The End (Sequel to 'What Keeps You Alive')

Chapter 19: The Infirmary

--------Chapter 19: The Infirmary----

Gates didn't say a word as the bullet was dug out of his shoulder. As much as it hurt, he wasn't about to give the person removing the bullet the satisfaction of knowing that he was in pain.

"Should be more careful out there," the man said, looking at Gates briefly. "I assume this was accidental."

Gates glanced at him before looking over to the other side of the room, seeing Vic glance over from where he was, not saying a word.

"Yeah, well maybe when I kill the prick who did it then it'll be accidental too," was Gates' response, the man glancing at him again.

There was no more talk between the two of them as the man finally managed to get the bullet out of Gates' shoulder.

"Just take it easy for a while," the man said as he began stitching Gates up. "You should heal up fine as long as you don't strain yourself."

Gates didn't say a word, once again looking over to Vic who returned the look. No-one was currently attending to him at the present time and Gates wondered how long he'd been sitting down here. Vic had clearly been here for longer than Gates and the others had and yet Gates was the one that was getting fixed up first.

It made him wonder why.

"You two know each other?" the man asked, seeing Gates watching Vic.

Gates' gaze remained on Vic as he answered.

"No." The man glanced at him again, Gates not looking away from Vic. "He's been here longer than me; why'd he not get fixed first?"

"Boss' orders," the man said in response, Gates finally looking to him. "I wasn't in here when they brought him in. He's lasted this long, so I'm sure he'll be ok for a few more minutes until I'm finished here."

Gates fell silent again, glancing at Vic before looking over to the door. It was a small room and Gates was trying to figure out the best way to leave without being seen. He couldn't leave Vic in here though, nor the other people that were part of the group.

He didn't know what was going to happen in a few minutes once this man had finished with his shoulder. The fact that Collin was still loitering at the door didn't help.

Hopefully they'd just throw him into the same room as everyone else that they'd managed to get. Unfortunately though, Gates was sure that wasn't going to happen. Bennett seemed to think that he was quite a threat, so he doubted they'd put him with other people.

"Alright, looks like we're done," the man said, Gates reluctantly looking at him for a second or two. "Just keep yourself out of trouble for a bit and you should be fine."

The man gave him a brief smile before he went over to where to Vic was sitting. Collin pushed himself away from the wall that he'd been leaning against, going over to Gates and stopping in front of him.

"Let's go," he said, once again roughly grabbing Gates; it was all he ever seemed to do.

"Where're we going?" Gates questioned as Collin dragged him out of the room and back outside.

Collin didn't say a word as he dragged Gates along with him to wherever they were going. Gates just sighed, knowing that either way, this was going to end badly.

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Juliet quickly moved out of the way, putting her back against the building wall as she saw two people standing outside; talking.

She had no idea where the infirmary even was, so right now, she was just looking for any sign whatsoever that was going to point her in the right direction. So for, her attempts had led her this far and to this building, as there had been at least one person talking about which direction it was in when she'd passed them a while back.