G.U.A.R.D. Book #4: Tracked

-25-

    The next clear memory I had was blinking open my eyes. My mind felt like it was drifting around the atmosphere, kind of... spinning.

I was on painkillers. Did Jade let me live?

I lay half-sitting on a hospital bed. The painkillers made my alarm muted, but I had enough sense to know I was in a foreign place. The floor was wooden, walls baby blue and white. Large discs of light lined the ceiling, illuminating my bed, the small desk area, the couch, and the TV. There was a small storage unit, probably for patient clothes, next to the desk. Glancing to the left, I looked through a ceiling-to-floor window.

I didn't remember the last time I was in a hospital room with a window.

I wasn't in G.U.A.R.D.

With a calming breath, I took inventory of myself. My hospital gown was freshly cleaned, and, I noticed, so was a lot of my skin. All of my fingers were individually wrapped to the knuckle, and my palms had bandages around them, too. Rope burns decorated my wrists, but not terribly so. My bullet wounds had new dressing on them. Feeling my face, I finally noticed several layers of gauze on my left eye, and I had a flash of memory.

It was muddled, like I was only half conscious. Jade had her knife out, freshly wiped on my dirtied gown, and sat on my chest, legs pinning down my arms. The blade's tip slid gently over the skin around my eye.

"What do you think, Lightsaber?" she asked me. "Should I gouge it out?"

I jerked against her, but she was too heavy, and I was too weak. Too afraid to keep my eyes open, I closed them.

"Please," my mangled voice whispered.

The next thing I knew, hot pain burned the left side of my nose, reaching down to the top of my left cheek. But my eye was still there.

The gauze probably just covered the line of stitches the doctors gave me.

The rest of my face was bruised, but okay. I recalled Jade kicking my stomach several times, but my ribs didn't seem to be broken. The area was bruised, and a lot of the skin had been broken.

My right upper arm had a bandage around it. My head hurt when trying to remember why. I felt like Jade cut the inside of my arm, but wasn't entirely sure why. There was a specific reason besides to watch me cry in pain (which I most definitely did).

Despite my trouble recalling the exact events of the last few hours, my memory seemed fine. At least she didn't erase my memories.

Exhaustion took hold of my mind again, and I lay my head back against my better judgement. I was just so tired. I never wanted to open my eyes again...

----

I woke up to someone squeezing my left arm, and my eyes flew open, and I lunged for the attacker.

"Whoa!" she cried, jumping back in surprise. Her fingers felt along her scrubs until pressing an electronic button hanging out of one of her pockets.

Disoriented, I gazed around in alarm, trying to remember where I was. My head was so light and dizzy. It was hard to stay focused on one thing. My whole body seemed to be floating. Weird.

Two men entered the room suddenly, and the nurse said I tried to attack her. They pushed me back to my bed, and I struggled with them for a moment. My muscles were weak, though, and they won our little scuffle. Dang, why did I feel so... weird.

"Painkillers," I said, realizing.

"Painkillers?" the nurse asked. She had a needle in her hand, preparing to inject me with it. She paused, though, when hearing me talk. "Sir, are you still in pain?"