How The Red Eye Bleeds

Recovery

I wake up, my eyes stinging at the sudden influx of light. Fluorescent, couldn't have gone for a less... Intense light? I try to move, and as if my body suddenly started working again, pain begins to shoot throughout my body, suffering etched into every bone and muscle. I groan in pain and scan the room. A small, bland room. Nothing really in it. It contains the bed I'm lying on, a heart rate monitor, a few screens, scattered papers, and seemingly organized-chaos-styled decorations. I see two chairs off to the side, empty. Damn, Kat isn't here. I did see one person, however. A doctor dressed all in white minus the blood stains on his coat. A medium sized man, fairly slim. He had tanned skin and stubble, almost a beard. Medium, black, slicked back hair. He looks up at me, "Good, you're finally awake. That's good news, I'm sure your friend will be pleased" He says to me with a soft southern drawl. "Fuck, feels like I've been hit by a freight train. Bloody hell, what happened? And who are you?" I say, too hurt and tired to be suspicious. "Heh, well friend, you were shot quite a few times, don't know why, or how, your friend didn't tell me much, she only said that you were shot and to fix you. And as for your other question, names Darell, but most people just call me 'doc' instead" He says, a slight smile as he begins to take my IV out. "Well doc, I gotta say, quite the setup you got. Really makes a guy feel like he's just had his kidneys taken" He lets out a hearty laugh, "Good to see your sarcasm is coming back, seems you're getting better by the minute." "So... Any idea where my friend is?" I ask him, wondering why she wasn't here. "Nope, she dropped you off, deflected questions and left" I nod, standing up, and stretching. "Well, I'd better clear off and find her. Thanks again, Doc... Do I owe you anything?" I ask and he smiles "Nope, already being paid by a lot of important people to do this for free for you mercenary folk" I realize he's probably had to discreetly help out a lot of mercenaries in the past when he says this. I gather my things from a small trunk in the corner of the room that had a small sign labelled "Patient's Stuff." I dig through it, getting everything I had in the mission prior to being shot, everything except my mask and everything that was in my pockets. Katyusha probably has all of it. There was only one thing stopping me from leaving, I was sorta still in the patient gown. "Hey, doc is there a place I can change" He points to a small room divider in the corner. I sigh, quickly changing out of the gown and in place dawning my suit from the prior night. Leaving the gown on a counter near the exit, I walk towards the small metal door at the opposite side of the room and leave making my way back to my home.

The walk was long, the walk was hard, but finally, I had made it. I walk up to the door, but when I try to open it, it stays reluctantly shut. Damn, locked. Of course, it is, what am I saying? He said I was fine, didn't he? I just tried to open a fucking sealed door. I sigh, I can't open it either, I don't have my fucking key on me, great! I knock on the door, and a voice from the other side shouts in a thick Russian accent "Fuck off!" Shit, she's been drinking. Vodka probably, judging from how much her accent is coming through. I sigh, "Katyusha come on, it's me, Nathan, let me in" There's a long silence before I hear footsteps coming towards the door, and soon I hear the loud clicks and clanks of a lock as the door opens for me, behind it stands an angry, drunk, Russian bitch. I smile, good to be back. However my smile quickly disappeared. She walked back over to the couch, clearly not wanting to talk with me. I walk in, taking in my house, as I take off my shoes. I then walk over to the couch Katyusha was at in the other room. I sit down beside her, she doesn't even look over, her eyes continue to look back from the T.V currently playing some comedy dribble, and her bottle. "Katyusha come on, what's up?" I ask, gently reaching out and placing my hand on her shoulder. She bats my hand away yelling "Don't touch me!" Hatred burning in her eyes. I was speechless. She never took that tone with me, even at our worst of times. "Katyusha, please talk to me. Why are you mad at me?" This seemed to make her even more pissed off. She stands up, knocking her bottle over, it smashes to the ground, making a loud crash echo throughout the room. "You don't even know why I'm mad!?" She screams "You inconsiderate, selfish, idiotic, fucking cunt!" Now I stand up, irritated. "Kat, what the hell did I do to piss you off this much!?" I ask, barely restraining myself from matching her volume. "You nearly got yourself killed!" I was shocked. She must've seen this as she explained herself, "What? You think I'm some cold-hearted emotionless bitch? I care deeply about you, I don't want to fucking lose you. You're all I have. And what do you do!? Nearly die, wasting your life saving some nobody rich snob!" I was getting quite ticked off now, yes I almost died, but I was doing the right goddamn thing for fucking once. "I talked to her for nearly an hour, I leaned her troubles and her life, she didn't deserve to die. Not in that way" I tell her, trying to justify myself. "Oh, so now you decide to have a conscious? Now after years of this work, you know, killing people mercilessly, you decide to suddenly want to save people!? Oh, look here, it appears we have the reincarnation of fucking Christ over here!" She, yet again, yells and gestures towards me. "Like you're any better, you're the same as the people who imprisoned us! You're exactly what they wanted you to be!" This made her really mad as she lashed out at me, slapping me, and then punching me in the chest. I ignore this, disregarding the pain, and continue my point "I've had morals long before I met you Katyusha, and when I met you. I only gave it up when we needed to survive and because of what they did to us, and brought it back after we were settled because we killed people who deserved to die" She laughed at me... Fucking laughed! "Since when have you ever had morals? When the hell did you show that when you killed nearly everyone in the program!?" "How about when I saved you!?" She looked taken aback by that, apparently forgetting that little detail. "I snapped out of it when I saw you. I was insane, went fucking berserk, killed nearly everyone, except you and a few others. But I stopped at you. That was my first moral decision. I snapped out of it, I didn't want more blood on my hands. From that day I did my best to never kill an innocent person again. You saw me when I broke out of it, I broke down and cried. I didn't want to do any of that! I then got you out of there, took suicidal jobs just to help you, I risked my life for you! I kept all the jobs from you, I know I told you that I was just working manual labour, but no, I was busy killing people and animals and getting rewarded for it. Nearly getting killed every time. That situation was worse than when I tried to save that girl, it was one action, just one that I wasn't as lucky on. I may have been a piece of shit throughout most of my life, but I don't want more innocent blood on my hands, I want to change myself. Why do you think I've never gone after anybody but corporate psychopaths and their henchmen? I went to redeem myself, if that takes a little blood, fine. At least I'm trying to be better, more than you can say. You'd probably rather that you didn't get attached to me back then so you could just go off on your own" I finished my rant, staring daggers at her. She didn't say anything, just went upstairs without saying a word. I went into the kitchen, grabbing a broom and dustpan, and began to clean up the broken glass scattered along the floor.

After I was done I went upstairs, wanting the day to be over. I was about to enter my room, standing in the doorway, but I couldn't keep myself from checking on Katyusha. I may be mad at her, but I still care dammit. I walk up to her door, one she had closed. I take a few deep breaths and steel my nerves. I open the door and the scene before me made my breath catch in my throat. There was Katyusha laying her bed. Blue blanket at her feet, arms tightly clinging a green pillow, another lifting her head up. The only light is a small bedside lamp. She was bawling her eyes out and muttering something. Fuckin' mood swing of the century. I walk over and squat down in front of her. In the time it took me to walk over she had seemed to stop crying. I reach out, just like I had done a few minutes ago on the couch, and rest my hand on her shoulder. Her eyes shoot open, and she begins to cry again, burying her face in her pillow. I hear her say something, but it was muffled in the pillow. "Kat, talk to me," I say softly. She moved her head, now looking at me. "I'm sorry" is all she says. "Hey, hey, you don't have anything to be sorry for" She sits up, and moves my arm away from her, much more gentle than she did in the scene downstairs however. "Yes, I do! I yelled at you, hit you, and I realized you're right. I've done nothing to improve myself. I'm just like them, I've done nothing but kill people without mercy. I... I'm sorry. For everything, I've put you through. The yelling, the stress, the danger. Everything. I don't want to lose you, Nathan. When you were bleeding out I was so worried, I-I didn't want to lose you. And the fact that you did it risking your life for someone you didn't even know. I just couldn't deal with it all" She says, tears still rolling down her cheeks. I really wasn't sure how much of this was her talking and how much of it was the vodka. I wipe her tears off with my hand and embrace her. She hugs me tightly, crushing my ribs slightly, but I don't say anything. I let her have her moment. I rub her back, gently moving my hand up and down. "It's okay Kat, just let it all out. I'm here, and I promise I'll never leave you" She loosens her grip, and backs away, but keeps her arms wrapped around my torso. "Promise?" She says, hope, yet also intense sadness in her eyes. "I promise," I say smiling. She then buries her head in my shoulder. I hear a muffled "Thank you" from her. "No problem, Kat. Anytime". After a little while, she let's go and falls onto her bed. Fixing her pillow, and bringing her blanket up to her. I then tuck her in, I turn to leave, but a force pulls me back. I look back and see a small, pale hand holding mine. I shake my head, and look over at her, giving her a small smile. "Stay" is all she says. "Kat, come on," I say with a small smirk, taking this a little jokingly. "Please," She says pleadingly, seeming to be serious. I sigh, "Alright, move over then," I say, and she does. Shifting herself to the other side of the bed. I lay down, and get comfy, turning off the bedside lamp. I close my eyes and try to go to sleep. After a few minutes, I hear Katyusha move closer to me, and soon I feel the heat from her body. She puts her arm over me, and I chuckle. She freezes in place. "You're awake?" She asks, obviously thinking I was fast asleep. "Yep, trying to cuddle me while I was sleeping so I wouldn't know?" She gets flustered at the comment, stuttering trying to get out a response. I just put my arm over her and pull her close. "You're okay Kat, just get some sleep" She shuts up, and soon I hear light snoring. I follow soon, my thoughts go blank, my vision dark, and I drift off into a deep slumber.