Burdens [Furry BxB]

Chapter 117 - Cold

Roger woke up to a nurse prodding his arm. He was confused as to what was happening, and then it came back to him.

Everyone was already gone. He did not even get to say goodbye to his parents. He wondered what they thought about the situation. Maybe they regretted it. Perhaps this would just be a burden for them.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," the nurse said. It was not the rabbit he had seen earlier. It was a male weasel, fairly flamboyant in his speech. He was gentle, but some of the proddings hurt. He was feeling around to see there might have been any obstructions before he shaved that part of the arm to put in the needle.

Roger could not answer him. He just stared at the ceiling, wishing he had woken up sooner to at least say goodbye. He heard the buzz of the clippers, and then cool metal across his arm. It was just a small patch, and then a sharp pain as the needle went in.

"There we go. You're doing very well," the weasel said. He taped the needle to his arm, careful not to let it catch on any fur. He then attached it to a bag filled with a saline solution.

"We have some blankets if you feel cold, okay? Just let someone know. Dr Oscar will be around shortly and then we'll be underway. You won't even feel a thing. Just a little nap. That's not so bad, is it?" he told him, attempting to soothe the fox. It did not really help.

He took the silence as confirmation and left.

He stared at the ceiling as the quiet of the room enveloped him. He could hear noises outside the room, muffled when the door closed. Different announcements came across, alerting someone that they were not where they needed to be, or telling someone that someone was waiting for them. He heard idle chatter come by every so often.

He heard someone crying very softly, off in the distance. Either thing was not well, or they assumed that things were not well. Either way, it did not give Roger very much confidence in the situation.

He attempted to look at the window. The sun was still out and it was bright. Too bright just by looking at it, so he averted his gaze. The white curtains did not help.

He heard the air conditioning unit hum to life and felt a gentle breeze in the air. It was a little refreshing. He wondered if he would ever feel that again.

The fox did his best to look down and noticed that he was not in his clothes. He remembered from what Greg had said that he had been cleaned, but it did not seem like they had put any clothes back on him, not even a hospital gown.

He was too tired to really care about it at the moment. He figured that they had their reasons for what they did. It was probably integral to the operation.

He squeezed his paw, wishing that Hunter's paw had been there. He could feel his eyes welling up, but he blinked it away. It hurt to blink too hard, so he tried his best to avoid it.

A few more minutes ticked by before he heard the door open again. Half of the bag was gone.

It was the badger that he had seen earlier.

"I see you've woken up. The operating room is just about prepared, so we're about to start this up. Your parents have already signed your forms." The badger came into view. His voice was putting the fox to sleep again. Something about it seemed so soothing.

Behind him followed two nurses. He recognized one as the weasel. The other was too far away to see, but he knew he had not seen that one before.

They wheeled in a cart full of different items as well as an electrocardiogram.

"Now, we're going to put a bunch of stuff on you, but we need to shave a little bit before we do so. After we get a reading on your vitals, you'll be going to sleep, okay? Because of the type of operation, you're going to feel very, very cold, but it's necessary. However, it's my job to make sure that you won't even notice it, but when you wake up, you'll still be a bit chilly." The badger gave a gesture to the weasel, who had clippers prepared.

They shaved small spots on his chest and attached pads to them. It surprised him just how cold it was when it hit his skin.

He watched as the badger inserted another needle into the apparatus that lead into his arm. He could feel a tingling, cold sensation flow throughout his arm as if he had been sitting on it for too long and it had gone numb. The feeling spread through to his chest, and then to the rest of his body. He could feel it all get tingly, and for a moment, he was afraid that it would not put him to sleep.

He looked around the room one last time, taking in everything that he saw, regardless of how clear or blurry it was. He could no longer move his limbs, and then fear began to grip him. He hoped that he would not remain awake during the operation. They had already begun to wheel his bed outside, following him with the cart that they had brought, as well as the electrocardiogram.

He could feel his fear growing, and he could hear the beeping of his monitor growing faster.

The badger twisted a knob connected to the tubes leading into him.

Everything went dark.