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I wake up to blinding fluorescent lights and the stench of death. I blink. Zombie is in the bed next to me. The back of my neck is burning and there are a ridiculous amount of drugs being pumped throughout my body. Zombie notices I'm awake and shifts, turning his body slightly towards me. I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out but a high-pitched, girly giggle. Too many painkillers.
Zombie grins. "That was adorable. Do it again."
"Fuck you." My head rolls to the side. "What happened?" I expected Dr. Pam, for some reason. Or maybe even Parker. Or Vosche, if he really thinks that we know something that will take him down, which we do.
"Kistner will take out your IV soon," Zombie warns me. I turn back to him. Pale face, sunken cheeks. And those stupid, pretty boy eyes. "Vosche wants to plug us into Wonderland to confirm our story. Don't worry, private. Won't be long before we're back on our feet and out on the field again."
We all knew he would plug us into Wonderland, which is why Zombie needed to be shot and not just me. We needed time. And he's using code. 'Won't be long before we're back on our feet and out on the field again'. We're moving soon. Get ready.
The orderly, a tall, skinny kid with green eyes, starts talking to Zombie likes he knows him. He must be Kistner. He says something about code yellow, an air raid drill. This might make things easier. We can snatch Nugget from the middle of Wright-Patterson instead of searching all of the barracks for the brat. Perfect.
Kistner pulls the drip and Zombie's entire body tenses. For some reason this has me on edge. I don't like watching Zombie get hurt-- Zombie deserves much more than anything that's happened to him. He's been through so much and, yet, he still thinks humanity deserves to live. He's one of the good ones. He doesn't deserve this.
Kistner comes to take out my own and I push myself farther into the bed. "It's okay," Zombie says immediately. "He's taking out the IV, like I told you."
I barely flinch when Kistner pulls out the needle. The second it's gone, my heart starts pounding in time with the dull ache that comes seconds later. Fuck, I forgot about the giant ass bruises on my thighs from flipping over that desk. Fuck, that hurts like a bitch.
"You good?" Zombie can barely lift his head to look at me. I'm not even sure either of us will make it out of this bed. I'm pretty sure Zombie is worried that won't happen, too, because he's staring at me like I'm about to croak over right there and then. Maybe he's right.
"Just a flesh wound." I groan a second later so the lie is useless. He grows restless, muttering something about how I would be the death of him. He's probably not wrong there. He turns to me, nods his head, then looks away and calls for Kistner, who's giving someone a sponge bath in the bed next to me. I didn't even notice until then. The painkillers I'm coming off of are making me delusional. I can barely keep my head up anymore.
"Hey," he shouts. "Hey, Kistner!"
"What is it?" Kistner calls back, clearly annoyed with me. He doesn't like to be interrupted.
