Whatever It Takes: Mutations

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Looking Forward

October 5th, 1:29 am

Current Location: Memphis, TN

Jeremy- Moderate Injuries (hospitalized)
Bryan- Minor Injuries
Navarez- Deceased
William- Moderate Injuries (hospitalized)
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Of course, there was no way that I could even try to sleep. With Navarez gone, Dad in bad pain, Bryan still hurting, it was impossible. At the time, I was laying on the bed in the hospital trying to occupy myself with a book. It wasn't doing any good.

Evelyn stayed with me for as long as she could until the nurse kicked her out when it was bedtime. I figured it was sweet of her, and I could tell that the girl didn't want to leave. It still surprised me that she stayed for the many hours she did, but I never argued. I sorta wanted the company.

I sighed and set the book down on the table beside me. "This freakin' sucks."

Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming my way, and someone knocked on the door, followed by a male voice. "Um, hello? Is everything okay?"

I frowned and glanced at the book, wondering if I accidentally slammed it down without me even realizing it. "Uh, yeah? I'm okay."

The door opened and a male nurse poked his head inside the door. "A-Are you sure? I can get something if you would like."

"No, no," I said, waving my hand. "I'm okay, for real."

"Alright. Just press that button if you ever need anything." With that, he closed the door and left, leaving me wondering how in the world he heard me.

The last thing the nurse told me before she left for the night was that I should be released by tomorrow morning, which was definitely a lot sooner than I had anticipated. When I asked about Dad, she said that he'd be released around the same time as me, which was good.

Navarez's final words continued to ring through my mind, and I even wondered about some of them. Like, when he told me to take charge, how? I wasn't the type of person to step up and order people around. It just wasn't in my nature. Navarez was always good at doing those things, presumably from his Air Force training. So, why me? Why not tell Dad those things, even though he was stuck in the nurse's office a few rooms down from him?

Still, I was determined to hold up to the promise he asked me to make. When he asked me to remember that he'll be there in spirit, there was no way I could possibly break that. He was truly a legend, and I probably wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for both him and Sgt. Brown.

Those thoughts made me a little tired, but not to the point where I could fall asleep. The pain in my stomach was already feeling better, and like Damien said yesterday evening, I was extremely fortunate that the bullet didn't pierce anything too major. It was now stitched up, and I'm looking forward to being able to walk when the sun rises. My shoulder was also bandaged up from the other one I took right before Bethany showed up and saved us.

That reminded me of something that I've been wondering since Bryan left when he and Amelia visited. He said something about a guy named Joshua, and he was nowhere to be found. He asked Bethany about it, but he claimed that she brushed the question off as soon as it was asked. Bryan said that he was very worried about him, which I couldn't blame him for.

I hate to think this, but it sounded like to me that Joshua was possibly killed either in the fight or before that. According to Bryan, they were out looking for survivors in the ruined world, and all of us know that it's a dangerous place. Several things could've happened like killed by zombies, shot down by Raiders, etcetera. Of course, I wasn't going to be the one telling him this assumption; that's between him and Bethany, it feels like.