The Vacuum

Part 10

Alex woke up with gasping breaths. The pain set in right away though the throbbing was duller than before. She opened her eyes and stared at the spiraling fan above her for a moment, trying to get her bearings. She looked around the room for a moment, trying to figure out where she was, if she was tied up and who was with her.

Her eyes darted around, keeping the rest of her body still for a moment. Where she was....she was on her sofa, the air conditioning flooding over her methodically. It was dark in the room signaling that night had come. Was she tied up? No...thank god. There were no bindings on her, nothing cutting into her arms and legs. She flexed her hands and fingers while turning her neck from side to side. Who was with her? No one...no one at all.

That was the real shocking part. When people brought you home...saved you as it were, they normally stayed for a round of well earned applause.

She pushed herself up with a whimper of pain. She braced her hand on the side of the sofa and the other on the back, pushing to sit and looking down at herself. She was fully clothed in the attire that she had fallen in. Even her climbing gloves were still on her body. The rips in the shirt and jeans were extensive but she could feel each of her limbs and digits.

Taking a shaky breath she reached over with a bloody, rocky and scrapped up arm, flipping on the light. There was still no one. No Canyon Spirit, no Faceless Featureless Man and no Mac. It had to be Mac that had dragged her back. Why, she didn't know but it made sense that he had deposited her and not cleaned her up. It wasn't exactly his style to take care of an injured climber. Plus he was the only one that her logical mind told her was real.

Wincing, she pulled the t-shirt over her head, leaning back at pain caused by the movement. She frowned, noting that she was missing her bra but far too concerned about the bumps, bruises and cuts on her to really care how much of a pervert her dysfunctional savior was. Besides she could feel her underwear on still under her jeans so he hadn't gone too far.

"Okay." She whispered to herself, giving a slow count to three before pushing herself up to her feet with a moan of pain and soreness. She stumbled towards the shower, grabbing onto walls and chairs as she moved with one hand while checking her head with the other. She could feel a particularly nasty bump on the crown but the skin wasn't broken. She striped off her jeans, also torn beyond saving, while looking at the imposing shower in front of her.

This was going to hurt but she needed to get the stones and dust out before she could patch herself up. Flipping on the water she winced as it touched her arm. She took a deep breath and a few preparatory pants before thrusting herself fully under the water with a scream of stinging pain.

She slipped into her kitchen chair and dropped the bag onto the table still taking shallow breaths from the feeling of the water hitting the already dirt and sweat ingrained cuts. She had wrapped a towel around herself but she could still feel the burning. Luckily her head wasn't hurting as much which meant that her concussion hadn't caused any doctor worthy damage.

A hospital was out of the question. She hated hospitals. Their white walls drove her insane and the smell of antiseptic brought up enough memories on their own. She couldn't do it in there...couldn't hold onto sanity. Wedging the towel up on her legs she began to sterilize the cuts and scrapes on her calves and knees, dripping them with antiseptic and Neosporin. Her head fell back and then forward to her chest, trying to hold off the pain.

Mac poured himself another shot as he sat at the bar, trying to will today out of his memory. Why had he even bothered to take her back there? She was hot yeah but it wasn't like he could have her. The thought alone killed him. Why hadn't he just done what he had been doing for the past nine years? Why did the fact that she actually wanted him do something for him? He hadn't cared about that in a while. It certainly hadn't excited him this much.