Tough - Tup

new struggles

Taz woke up to find herself in a white room in a white bed with ugly white pijamas on. She attempted to move but felt a sharp scratch on the front of her hand. What the hell? Why were there wires coming out of her hand? Who put them there? She pulled them out and winced at the thought of the needle sliding out from her skin. She was just about to get up when she heard someone say her name. She looked to the other side of her Up to see up in pijamas much like hers. She look tired which sort of made sense as he was sleeping. He too had a needle thing jabbed into his hand. Should she wake him? Well she'd better tell him that they had been taken somewhere! What if people were poisoning them?

"Up! You need to wake up!" She shook him a little bit and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Taz whatarya doin'?" He slurred, still not fully awake.

"Up! We aren't at combat anymore! I don't know where we are but I don't like it in here! Somebody has put needles and tubes with liquid in us!" He smiled and laughed a little.

"Taz were in the medical ward. And these aren't needles, they're called canulas. They give you nutrition in your blood to help you recover quicker. And I'm guessing you took yours out too quickly seeing as your shaking and can't stand up." It was only then that Taz realized she was having to drape herself over Ups bed to stay upright.

"Oh. Den why are we in here? And who put us here!"

" Your in here because you fainted after running so much and you've got cuts all up your face from your fall. I took you here. I'm here because I got a little drained so they said it was a good idea that I stay here ." Taz couldn't remember much of what happened after she fell so it made a little more sense.

"I think you should lie back down Taz, the medic will tell you when your strong enough to be discharged."

"I'm fine, I can go now!" She insisted. Up smirked.

"Alright then, off you go." He said simply. She let go of the bed and started to walk some wobbly steps but she collapsed by the 3rd one.

"What was that you were saying Taz?"

"Callaté." She snapped.

"Don't get moody with me! Do you want help getting up?" Taz was really pissed off that she couldn't even walk. The least she could do to regain some of her dignity was make it back to her bed on her own.

"Nope. I will do it." She crawled back towards the bed and made it seen as though she were climbing a mountain, she still felt weak and tired so it really was a trek.

"How are you feeling?" Up asked, his tone changing to concern.

"Um okay, just light headed and my face stings a bit. ¿Y tu?" Thankfully, Up new a few basic words in Spanish so he didn't have to get her to repeat everything as a lot of simple things she said were in Spanish.

"I'm alright, just tired. Hey Taz, I was just wondering; did you learn Spanish first then English or both at the same time?" Taz thought. Nobody had ever really asked her that question before so it took her a minute to think about how she learnt English.

"Spanish is my native language so my first but some of mi amigos were American so I picked up a bit from dem. My school taught English too. Den I guess I just read a lot if American books and picked it up from dere." Up was mesmerized.

"Really? How long did it take you? I think its awesome that you learnt 2 languages fluently in just 15 years of your whole life." She blushed a little at the complement. She never blushed, this was pretty much the first time it had ever happened.

"Well I started learning from mi amiga, Tanya when I was 7 so a long time. Still not quite der yet either." Up couldn't believe that at just seven, Taz had learnt how to speak her own launguage plus the basics of another.

"How do you do it?" He asked, well it was more like a statement of admiration. Just then, the medic walked in with a clip board.

"Good afternoon. Ms. Ziera? Ah yes. Let's see, minor wounds to the face and lack of fluids and nutrition. The wounds look as though they are healing healthily. As for the lack of nutrition, Tia-"

"Taz. My name is Taz" She corrected.

"Okay, Taz then. You are rather malnourished, not to a fatal level but there is a slight cause for concern, especially if you are going to continue with these combat and fitness classes you are taking."

Taz tried to follow but there were a few big words in the sentence that she had never heard before. She looked lost and tunred to Up who seemed to understand both what the medic was saying and what she was thinking.

"Taz, the Medic has said that you're underweight which is why you fainted and will probably continue too unless you can gain some." She nodded in understanding then turned to the medic.

"Dis has never been a problem for me before." She remarked.

"No but you probably haven't ran 8 laps of a 1500 meter field before now have you?" She fell silent.

"I'm not saying you can't continue your courses Ms. Ziera, all I'm saying is that you will need to prove in 3 months that you can gain physically fitness by adding to your weight."

"I am physically fit. Me and Up were de only ones left running on dat damn field. Why aren't de others who collapsed before me here?" She started to get angry.

"Because everybody who goes to the academy had regular check-ups and no body there is in a condition like yours."

"Fine. I'll do it." He nodded and fixed the canula back into Taz's forehand as she struggled to get away. The medic eventually moved to Up.

"Walker Up, you seem to be doing alright, I reckon another hour. I will slowly reduce the medicine and then you can be discharged."

"Thanks." He left Taz and Up in the room.

"Hijo de puta." Taz remarked and Up laughed.