by Melody Adams
Pain doesn’t know how long he lay there half dead. It could have been hours or days. He and Rage were the only ones among our group that were seriously injured.”
“Rage?” I asked.
“Yeah. They also tortured him to near death and left him to die.”
“What do you know about it?” I asked.
Sturdy made an unhappy face. It was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it.
“He thinks I am somehow responsible, doesn’t he?”
Sturdy nodded.
“I had no idea,” I explained in despair. “Seriously. I had nothing to do with that. I was the one who found him. I took pictures of him and went to the press. I was afraid the government would brush it under the rug otherwise. All I wanted was to rescue him. To rescue all of you.”
I trembled, close to tears.
“I know,” Sturdy said quietly. “Rage will realize it sooner or later. Give him some time, Doc.”
I nodded.
“Thanks, Sturdy. Thank you for telling me all this.”
Sturdy grunted in reply and went to the door. Before he opened it, he turned around again.
“You are a great doctor and a wonderful person,” he said. “Thank you for all you have done for us. I know it came at a great cost to you. We appreciate it.”
He left, and the tears I had fought so hard began to flow. I cried for Rage. And I cried for Pain and his dead son.
Rage
I stopped in my tracks, inhaled deeply, and grinned. I could smell them. The Jinggs were close, and one of them was wounded—I must have hit him.
“I’ll get you all,” I whispered. “Damn motherfuckers!”
I continued on my way, following the tracks. I was getting closer. The injured Jingg slowed the rest down. These idiots! They should leave him behind and save their own asses. But it served me well. If I could kill them all, then there would be three less enemies attacking us.
I trekked on for another fifteen minutes before I finally saw something running in the distance. The brush was too thick to see clearly, but it was obvious that something was moving up ahead. It had to be them. I sped up, now in full hunting mode. I concentrated on my three targets before me, but I realized too late that something was off.
Something heavy lunged at me, and I went to the ground. Large, sharp teeth sank into my shoulder. I cried out and tried to fight the beast off. The growling of the predator that had me in his deadly grip echoed with my own furious roar. I fumbled for my hunting knife and tried to ram it into the beast’s side. I had to get out from under it. In a fight of life and death, the beast and I rolled around on the hard ground. Razor-sharp talons ripped open my arms and my side with fangs still embedded deep in my shoulder.
I ignored the pain as I fought for my life. I slammed backwards into a solid tree, crushing the beast against the trunk. It roared in pain as it’s spine shattered on impact. In the throes of death, the beast’s claws and fangs ripped me to pieces. I rammed my knife into the throat of the dying animal. After it went limp, I collapsed. With the adrenaline out of my system, the pain hit me full force. It felt as if my flesh was ripped off the bones. I must have lost a lot of blood, and I could feel the life draining out of me. I couldn’t stand, so I crawled in the direction of the colony. I knew I wouldn’t make it, but I had to try to get as close as possible. I thought about Jessie. I would never see her again. I would never tell her that I believed her. I wasn’t going to quit. I gritted my teeth and continued crawling.
“Oh, Doc,” I whispered hoarsely. “Where are you when I need you?” Then, everything went black.
Jessie
Somebody knocked forcefully at my door. I looked up from my book, wondering who would want to talk to me so urgently. Could it be Rage? My heart beat harder. I jumped to my feet. Maybe it was an emergency at the clinic. I hurried to the door. Happy and Sturdy stood on my doorstep, looking grim.
“Hurry, Doc. It’s serious!” Happy said urgently.
Something really bad must have happened by the looks of these two. Who could be hurt, and how bad?
“I’m coming,” I said and threw on my shoes.
Happy and Sturdy were already running towards the clinic. I hurried after them.
“Who is hurt?” I asked breathlessly when I finally caught up to them.
“It’s Rage,” Sturdy said. My heart sank.
“What?” I cried, horrified. “What happened?”
“He was out hunting and didn’t come back, so Sturdy and I went to look for him,” Happy said. “We found him about two miles from here. He must have been attacked by a large cat or something and then tried to crawl back. He’s in really bad shape.”
I needed to see Rage. I prayed we weren’t too late. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing him. I felt sick as I entered the building. I found Dr. Forster and two nurses in the operating room tending to a bloodied body. Dr. Forster looked relieved to see me.
“Good that you are here, Jessie. I really could use some help here. He is already sedated. Get prepped and assist me.”
I got ready in record time and hurried to Andreas’s side. Rage looked bad. I had to get a grip and stay professional, but it was the hardest thing I had ever done. Rage lay on his stomach while Andreas tediously tried to put him back together. His back, shoulders, arms and sides were badly damaged—everything was shredded to pieces. Bones shone white between the bloodied messes.
“Go to the other side and sort that gash on his arm. I’m nearly done with the shoulder.”
I did as Andreas told me. Lilly, one of the nurses, assisted me. I cleaned the wound then started the painstaking process of sewing the torn flesh back together.
“Was he conscious when he came here?” I asked.
“No,” Andreas answered with a sigh. “He was completely out. His vitals were so bad I was sure he wouldn’t make it much longer. He’s still in pretty bad shape, though. But thanks to the notes we got from DMI, I gave him N73 instead of a normal anesthetic. The Breeds sometimes react badly to our anesthetic, and in his bad condition he could have easily died on the spot.”
A beeping sounded from Rage’s vitals monitor. Andreas looked at it worriedly.
“His vitals are getting worse again,” he said grimly. “Mel, give him ten milliliters of Dextovil. Quick!”
The nurse hurried to the cupboard and prepared the syringe. She disinfected a small area on Rage’s thigh and jabbed the needle into his muscle. I eyed his vitals nervously. His heartbeat was weak and irregular.
“Come on, lad,” Andreas murmured.
We stared at the monitor until the eerie beeping stopped and the numbers stabilized a little. I exhaled and got back to work. It took us two hours to stitch him back together. When we were finally done, I felt like I had run a marathon. But it was more from the emotional turmoil than the work itself.
“Are you going to give him Lunol, Andreas?” I asked.
Lunol was another drug that DMI had created. It helped with a speedier recovery from even the most serious of wounds. But there were some adverse effects. The patient would start to hallucinate, and for his own and other people’s safety, the patient had to be restrained. In rare cases, the hallucination could drive the patient so mad that the patient would collapse.
“Yeah,” Andreas answered. “I know that he had Lunol after he got rescued and didn’t show any adverse effects. He might not make it without the drug. Antibiotics don’t work for Breeds and the risk of inflammation or organ failure is to high if we don’t speed up his recovery.”
Mel looked at Dr. Forster expectantly.
“Give him fifteen milliliters,” Andreas said. The nurse hurried to get the drug.
“It will be difficult to restrain him when there isn’t an inch of his body that isn’t damaged in some way,” Andreas mused. “Do you think we should try to give him Hexomal or Herolyth to keep him sedated? We’ve never combined it with Lunol.”
“We should do it,” I answered. “I think it is not a good idea to re
strain him in his condition. Let two Breeds keep watch in case he does wake up and starts showing any side effects.”
“You’re right,” Andreas agreed. “Tell Sturdy he should arrange for at least two Breeds to be with Rage at all times. Explain to him what to do.” He turned to the nurses. “Give him ten milliliters of Hexomal.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to Sturdy,” I said with a last glance at Rage’s lifeless body.
Sturdy and Happy jumped out of their seats when I came out of the operation room.
“How is he?” they said in unison.
“He is stable so far, but we have something to discuss. Sit down.”
They looked at me with worry and impatience.
“We gave him Lunol,” I continued. “You know that he would normally have to be restrained, but we couldn’t do it with the extent of his injuries. So, Dr. Forster and I decided to keep him under with Hexomal. Since we don’t know how he will react to the mixture, we need at least two Breeds with him at all times in case he wakes or shows any signs of complications.”
“Understood,” Sturdy said. “We will stay with him.”
“You can’t stay with him all the time,” I said. “You need to organize a six-hour rotating shift with the others. Can you do that?”
“Sure,” Sturdy said. “I will see to it immediately.
“Great,” I sighed in relief.
“I’ll stay with him while you do that,” Happy said.
“Thank you, guys.” I smiled at them. “We will transfer him to the ward in one hour if there are no other complications.”
“Okay. I’ll be back soon,” Sturdy said and left.
“Come on, Happy. Let’s see how Rage is doing.”
The usually smiling Breed looked very worried. I was worried, too. I did my best to not think too much about the severity of his injuries, otherwise I would probably burst into tears. He had made it this far. I had to concentrate on that.
The two nurses were just cleaning up the last of the blood from Rage’s body. I felt strangely jealous. I wanted to clean Rage myself, but it would look highly unprofessional. I wasn’t a nurse. I was a doctor. Still, the sight made my blood boil, and I felt the irrational urge to punch them.
Happy went straight to his friend. His distressed cry brought me back to my senses, and I was reminded again how serious the situation was. This wasn’t a time for jealousy. Rage was still fighting for his life.
“Sturdy will organize the watches,” I informed Andreas.
“Good,” the older doctor said with a nod. “Then there is nothing else for you to do at the moment. Go home and rest.”
The thought of leaving Rage bothered me. I didn’t want anybody to know how I felt about the patient, but it was hard to feign indifference.
“I - I will stay until he has stabilized,” I said, satisfied that this sounded somewhat reasonable.
Nobody would find it odd that I wanted to wait until the risk of complications wasn’t so high anymore. After all, it could be that Andreas would need me if Rage’s body reacted badly to the drugs.
Andreas nodded.
“Yeah, sure. Thanks for your help. I wouldn’t have called you in on your time off if it hadn’t been such an emergency. I haven’t had a patient with such serious injuries for a long time. It was good working with you.”
“Anytime, Andreas,” I answered. “You can call me whenever you need me. It’s not as if I have much else to do here.”
“You have been very professional,” Andreas said quietly. He cast a side glance to Happy, but the Alien Breed seemed unaware of our conversation. “After all, it was Rage who attacked you just days ago.”
I had told nobody that Rage broke into my house or what had happened between us. I didn’t want to make the situation any worse for Rage. I knew that he had lost a lot of sympathy from the other Breeds—especially from the women—for his actions at the Clubhouse.
“It’s in the past,” I said. “Rage has left me alone since then, and I think we all should just forget about it. He made a mistake, but it’s over now.”
“Since you are going to stay a bit longer, would you mind if I grab a bite to eat? I feel a bit faint on the stomach.”
“Sure,” I said. “Go and eat. I got this.”
“Thanks, Jessie.”
After Andreas left, I went to Happy. Rage’s back was not nice to look at. Even now, stitched back together and cleaned up, it looked horrible. But most shocking was Rage’s pale color. It showed how much blood he had lost. He’d gotten fluids, but it would take time for his body to produce more blood. Alien Breeds couldn’t tolerate blood transfusions. We knew that from the DMI files that were found after they were rescued. Some Alien Breeds that had been treated with blood had died at the research facility.
“Will he make it, Doc?” Happy’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“I hope so, Happy. We’ve done all we can. His system shut down during the operation, but we managed to get him back. He is stable so far. That is all I can tell you. If there are no further complications, then he should be over the worst of it in a week or so. The Lunol will help him heal faster.”
“I know,” Happy said grimly. “I’ve been treated with it many times.”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
“Why? It’s not your fault, Doc.”
“I’ve worked for them.”
Happy snorted disapprovingly.
“Rage was wrong to put this on you,” he said angrily. “You were the one who told the media about us. You risked everything. We owe you. Stop beating yourself up for working for DMI. It! Wasn’t! Your! Fault!”
I looked at Happy, astonished. I didn’t know that Happy had that much anger in him. I only new him as the good-natured, always smiling man who lived up to his name.
“Rage is my friend,” he explained. “He will always be my friend. But that doesn’t mean that I will overlook his misbehavior. I like you, Doc. A lot!”
He looked at me, and the tenderness in his gaze made me uncomfortable. I hoped that I was wrong and that Happy wasn’t falling in love with me, because I would never be able to return his feelings. My heart belonged to Rage, no matter how stupid that was.
Chapter 3
West-Colony, Eden
31 December 2032 / 06:23 p.m.
Jessie
Everybody was preparing for the big New Years Eve party, but I didn’t feel like partying. Rage was still in critical conditions. Twice in the last three days his system had shut down and he also developed a fever despite his medications. Luckily the Hexomal was effective and he stayed unconscious. I was relieved to know, that he didn’t feel any pain. I sat with him as much as I could without raising suspicions about my feelings for him. Today I was on duty and I could spend a lot of time with him, since all the others were at the party. Besides me, only Speed and Trouble watched over Rage. I was glad it was them, not Happy. Lately he had made it very clear that he was interested in me. I didn’t know how to respond to that, without hurting him or giving him false hope. I liked him. He was a nice guy. But it was Rage who stared in my dreams and who’s touch I craved. I just wished, Rage would finally believe that I wasn’t behind the terrible things he had to endure before he got rescued. As soon as he was healthy enough I would try to talk to him. I knew that he avoided me since he broke into my house and Diamond had told me that all the women were on my side. As grateful as I was for the women’s support, I didn’t want them to shun Rage. Sure, one part of me was secretly glad that none of the women wanted to sleep with Rage, but I didn’t want Rage to be isolated from his own people.
“You look tired, Doc”, Trouble said. “You should lay down for awhile. We’ll wake you if Rage needs you.”
I smiled at the red headed Alien Breed. His green cat-eyes looked at me with concern.
“Thanks Trouble, but I can’t sleep right now. I’ll just get myself a coffee.”
“I’ll get the coffee, Doc”, Speed offered. “Black? One sugar?”
“Tod
ay I need two sugar”, I said. “I could use some energy. Thanks, Speed.”
“You’re welcome”, Speed said. “I’m happy to move my legs a little. Sitting down drives me insane. – I mean, I like to do what I can to help with Rage, but ...”
“I know, Speed”, I cut in and smiled at him in understanding.
Speed didn’t choose his name without reason. He was a hyper active guy, and he loved nothing more than to run or do sports. I could only imagine how six hours of sitting tight would be torture for a guy like him.
After Speed had left, I sat down beside Rage. Trouble sat on the other side of the hospital bed. Rage was laying now on his back. The wounds had healed enough that we could put him on his back for a few hours a day. I starred at Rage’s upper body, monitoring the even rise and fall of his chest with each breath.
“You like him”, Trouble stated calmly.
I didn’t dare looking at him. I could feel the heat flowing into my cheeks. I’d tried so hard to not let my feelings show. Was it only Trouble who had seen right through me? Or was it clear for everybody to see?
“It shows your good heart that you still like him after all he has done. I only wanted to tell you that he likes you too.”
I lifted my head to look at Trouble, stunned.
“Why do you think that?”, I asked.
“I know Rage well, Doc. If he didn’t like you, you would be dead by now.”
“I don’t think, he ... he would really kill a woman”, I said.
Trouble shook his head.
“Not under normal circumstances, no. But he already killed woman at DMI. Whores that they pushed at him. That time we all have been more animals than human. We were permanently on drugs and they tortured and abused us. Like all of us, Rage needed years to get used to our new freedom and the fact that not all humans are evil. He wouldn’t torture a woman, but if he would believe a woman to be evil, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.”