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When someone grabs my elbow and hoists me up I nearly punch them. I only stop when I realize that it is not a soldier at all, but actually a young kid. His has big, innocent brown eyes. He has curly brown hair and adorable dimples. I gasp, a strangled sound that startles the child. I blink. I was wrong.
Not Thomas, not Thomas, not Thomas.
"We're here." The little boy appears to be shaking in his boots as he stares at me. I start to wonder why and realize it's because my face is bruised and bloody from my fight in the gas station before I met up with Parker. "We need to get off the bus."
I glance down and realize that there is a makeshift tourniquet wrapped around my leg, tight. I let out a shaky breath. "Okay. Okay, kid. Go ahead of me."
I don't let myself get attached to the kid, so I tell him to leave even though he helped me. He seems scared shitless as his legs begin shaking and he runs off of the bus as quick as he can. I roll my eyes. That boy will never make it in this world. I know he won't because, in a way, I see my old and powerless self inside of him.
I force the thought away. Who cares? She's useless. I can't think of her anymore.
I stumble down the steps of the bus after him. Parker is there still, directing people where to go. His eyes lock on mine and he calls for another medic.
I don't get a good look at the medic when they approach me. Every single kid stares like I'm the scariest thing they've seen in years, which can't possibly be true. I roll my eyes at them and trudge forward. They can go fuck themselves for all I care.
I raise my chin up and follow the medic in front of me. He tells me he is taking me to a place called the Convalescent Ward so that Dr. Pam can take care of me. I almost want to run. Maybe scream in his face that I can take care of myself, I had for months. But I don't. Only because I know I need to follow through with this. I need the medical care they can provide.
I pay attention to everything that I see on the way there. I notice how the second I pass anybody, they stop speaking. It makes me wonder what they're trying to hide from me and the kids waiting to be brought in. Do any of them even know where they are or had the soldiers kept that from them?
I'm pulled from my thoughts when the medic nods towards a door in the back. He tells me Dr. Pam will be there in just a moment. I nod and take a seat on the metal table in the back. It's surprisingly cold, though I'm not sure why it shocks me. The temperature in the room must have been in the negatives with how cold it was.
Blood has soaked through the cloth wrapped around my leg. I wince at the thought of having to peel the fabric of my jeans off of it and decide it would be better if I did it before Dr. Pam came in. The less she touched me the better. I don't let people I don't trust touch me.
I unbutton the top of my pants and pull them down over my waist with heavy grunts. The smell of sweat lingers in the air and I almost gag at the smell. Showers were a luxury nowadays. I hadn't had one in a while. In other words: I smelt like shit.
