Exsanguinate

by Killion Slade

  Catheterized. This lovely little scenario just keeps getting better.

  “Let me get this output logged in your records. I saw the surgeon come onto the floor to make his rounds. I’ll let him know you’re awake. Overall, you’re looking much better from when you first got here. You’re lucky to be alive you know that?”

  I looked at my dad again. He patted my arm. Why were hospital staff members always so chatty?

  “If you need or want anything, you press this blue button okay? Can you see this? He held the clicker over my face for a moment. I blinked twice to acknowledge his instructions.

  “Water. Lip balm.” Cracks in my lips hurt, and my mouth still felt as if I had consumed the Sahara.

  “You’re thirsty?”

  I blinked at him again and swallowed.

  “Let me get another cup of ice chips for you. We’ve got mouth sponges to help you with your thirst and keep your lips moist. We’ve had to be real careful with your throat, so don’t try to drink too much yet okay?” His voice spoke as if this were an everyday occurrence. I guess for him – it was.

  Lloyd stepped toward the door, snapped his fingers up beside his head, and turned towards my Dad. “Oh, before I forget, will you both be staying with us again, Mr. O’Cuinn? I can arrange for another easy chair recliner if you would like?”

  Daddy looked across the room towards the windows and then back at Lloyd. “Yes. Thanks. D-do you know how long the cafeteria will be open?”

  I tried to see at what he looked at, but couldn’t raise my head high enough to see past his shoulder.

  “Tonight is Monday night and the nurses’ station orders out to the Honey Wing BBQ House. It’s kinda tradition each week. Would you like for us to order you guys something from there instead of the hospital food?”

  My father was a chicken wing fanatic, but I couldn’t figure out why Lloyd kept saying guys. Was there somebody else in the room?

  “Brilliant – sounds aces to me” a voice sounded from the back of the room. “What do you think, Kiernan – ready for something other than bland potatoes?”

  My breath hitched in my chest.

  Oh no! How could he possibly be here? How would he know? I never met up with him at the waterfalls.

  “Thank you, Lloyd, that’d be keen. I app-appreciate that. When can Cheyenne have some food?”

  Lloyd answered, “Let me check with the doctor and see if we can get her some broth tonight, maybe even a liquid Jell-O. I’ll be right back with the menus.” He grabbed his tablet and returned to the nurses’ station.

  I grabbed at my Dad’s arm, struggling to look past him. My eyes desperate to focus and see who was behind the voice I knew so well. The voice I fell in love with so long ago. The voice I had spent hundreds of hours over the headset playing with as Lady Caz in the ExsanguiNation simulators.

  With a stupid grin on his face, Daddy leaned back to give me a better line of sight on my target. Afraid of what I thought I would find, I saw the outline of a man sitting on a couch across the room. What slowly materialized before my eyes was the face of a man I had never seen before in person, but my heart knew I had heard his voice a thousand times.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Roxas caught my eyes. My throat seized up as I tried to gain control over my emotions. I gasped. This had to be the worst first date ever. I pulled the covers up over my face and peeked through the threadbare fabric.

  Roxas stood up and walked towards the bed.

  Daddy got up from his chair and squeezed my hand again. “Sweetie, I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll be b-back soon.”

  I poked one eyeball out from the covers. He smiled at me.

  His voice recovered more and more. “It’s okay sweetie. He’s b-been here since that night you blacked out. I used your phone at your house to call him.”

  Groaning, I tried to take a deep breath. I watched him head down the hallway in the camera monitor. I half-way hoped he’d stand outside the door. I wasn’t ready for this. I loved Roxas, but I wasn’t sure if I could handle this. With my sisters missing, I just couldn’t have this kind of relationship.

  I covered my face again with the sheet until I could barely see over the top. A swoosh of air wafted over me when Roxas sat in the chair my father vacated. His eyes were as verdant as I imagined. His hair and beard were a dark copper shade. He wore a close cropped mustache with a neatly trimmed beard accentuating his jawline.

  His fingers touched my hair.

  I couldn’t believe this was happening.

  Not only did I survive a horrific ordeal, but I had to meet Roxas under these conditions. Uncontrollable tears spilled out of the corners of my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to bury my face into his shoulders and, pretend this never happened. Control Z. Do over. But that wouldn’t be the greatest of impressions. He was here for a reason. Where was Lady Caz when I needed her?

  My shoulders bobbed up and down as I continued to sob.

  “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be smashing.” His voice melted over me as if were velvety, white chocolate. I wanted to bathe in his accent.

  My throat thick, I swallowed hard not able to say anything.

  “C’mon now, m’lady. I promise I won’t bite.”

  I peeked over the sheet with both eyes, as he leaned in closer to me. A faint, clean scent of spice filled my senses.

  “I don’t want you to worry about ExsanguiNation either. I’ve been maintaining the servers and Briggs has been handling the admin side of things. We’ve left messages for Harris, but remember he was out on bivouac with his scout troop in the Everglades and away from cellular coverage. I’m sure as soon as he gets the messages, he’ll be here in no time flat.”

  I tried to smile, so thankful he and Briggs were managing everything.

  He smiled at me. “It’s been business as usual. No one knows you’re in the hospital. It hasn’t been announced that Sheridan and Dakota are missing. At least we haven’t seen anything come across the forums, nor has there been any mention in the news. Beano is doing great. I like him – he’s a funny chap. We also have Sheridan’s Pomsky – Stormaggedon, right? Your father let me into your home so I could take care of them for you. I hope that’s all right. Promise we weren’t snooping in your underwear drawer.”

  He squeezed my hand. “We’ve been calling the little Pomsky, Stormy. She lives up to her name. She genuinely thinks she’s a full size Husky, doesn’t she?”

  Somehow, hearing about the dogs helped me feel better. I nodded behind the covers.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it. She beats up Beano all the time – and he lets her. They’re staying at my best friend’s place having a ball with a couple of other pups.”

  How thoughtful for him to take care of our dogs. In front of the veil I constructed, posed the man of my dreams. I’d shared most of my intimate life with Roxas for the past two years. I allowed the sheet to fall, and I gestured to him I wanted to write a note. Roxas grabbed a pen and paper from the rolling cart and handed it to me.

  I wrote [/Hug Roxas] on the paper as if I’d typed it into our chat program and turned the note around for him to read. Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around me. My heart fluttered a million miles an hour. It seemed as though nothing could ever harm me while I was in the arms of this man. For a few stolen moments, my life felt complete.

  I swallowed hard again as I tried to clear my throat. “You look like your avatar.”

  “As do you, or from what I can see of you. Right now I think you resemble your mummy costume Dakota described to me.” His smile was warm, and genuine as it reached his eyes.

  I looked down at my hands and thought about Sheridan and Dakota. Here, I was meeting the love of my life, and I couldn’t even enjoy it knowing that I’d survived and they were still out there somewhere under God only knows what conditions.

  Roxas put his hand under my chin and I gazed into his radiant green eyes. “It’s all right – we’ll find them. I promise.”

  He hu
gged me again. My breath hitched in my chest as the uncontrollable pain overwhelmed me. My sobs catapulted me into another coughing fit with more globules of blood spewing forth from the injuries in my throat. Roxas handed me a spit cup.

  Unholy hell, what a lovely way to meet someone. If I live through this, I’ll never live this down.

  “Are you in a lot of pain, can I get you anything?” His voice spoke with the kindness of a lover.

  I shook my head no as best I could.

  He headed into the bathroom and returned a few moments later.

  “Sorry, I stood you up,” I choked out.

  Roxas chuckled and carefully dabbed at my mouth with a warm, wet towel.

  “Can’t say it was the first time. Truthfully though, the park was such crackers by that point, we might not have seen one another regardless.”

  He washed my face, my mouth, all while never taking his eyes off me. I wanted nothing more than to hide and go away until I was healthy again. The other side of me wanted to throw my arms around him again and pretend this horrible nightmare never occurred. I couldn’t believe he was here in the hospital with me. Even if I looked like the Battle Kroc’s leftover snack pak, he was still here.

  I tried to sit up in my bed. “No, no. It’s okay – don’t try to move. You need to recover. Just relax, m’lady.”

  M’lady.

  Even for as grotesque as I must appear, he still called me that. I reached for his fingers and looked into his eyes. “What happened?”

  “Before I go into all that, I believe there’s a little unfinished business between us.” Without another word, he bent over and kissed me. I blinked at him. My mouth was terribly dry and I couldn’t move. I squeezed his hand as more silent tears escaped my eyes. He reached up to my cheeks and wiped them away.

  “There, it’s official. We’ve just had our first date.”

  If there was any place on my throat where there weren’t bandages, then he might have seen the heat blush creep up my face.

  An abrupt knock sounded on the door and a man in a white coat walked into the room. My father entered behind him with Amicula. The room seemed smaller with so many people.

  The energy shift left me frigid. The doctor with graying hair stepped forward. “You’re one lucky young lady, Cheyenne. My name is Dr. Laren. I’ve handled your surgeries and wanted to come and check on you. You are healing up quite nicely, but overall you’ve lost a lot of blood. You’ve had a few transfusions, and we’ll continue to administer them until your iron levels are back where they should be. We hope to get you up and doing physical therapy soon. Has anyone reviewed your injuries with you yet?”

  I shook my head.

  Roxas stood up and walked over behind the bed. “She just woke up a little while ago.”

  “Do you feel well enough for us to review this now?” the doctor continued. “You’re looking much better today. Your color has returned to your skin. If you’re up to it, we can get you something to eat tonight. Maybe even a sponge bath for tomorrow. Would you like that?”

  I grinned in embarrassment.

  Dr. Laren sat in the chair and looked me square in the eyes. “Okay kiddo – you’ve got quite a laundry list, but you are healthy so we’re anticipating a strong recovery. You ready for this?”

  Roxas reached over and wrapped his hand around mine. I nodded.

  “All right. Your right ankle is broken, you’ve got a few torn muscles, ligaments, and tendons. They’re going to take some time to repair. You’re going to be immobile for a few days, so we can’t get rid of your catheter. You have suffered deep gouges on your jaw and cheek. There seems to be …” Dr. Laren broke off and glanced around.

  My father nodded at him.

  “There seems to be bite marks on your cheek and at the corner of your mouth,” he continued. “We had to do some reconstruction surgery on your lower lip.”

  I took a deep breath and winced at the pain in my ribs. My right hand involuntarily touched my throat to feel thick bandaging, and that’s when I noticed the splints on my other hand. My mouth seemed as if it were as large as the Egyptian pyramids pointing off my face.

  “Needless to say, you’re covered in abrasions, lacerations, and contusions. Does it hurt when you take a breath?”

  I nodded.

  “That’s because you have several broken ribs. Micro-fractures we call them. They will heal in time, but until they do, I’m afraid the best we can do to is keep you wrapped up and hold your chest in tight. Of course, we will continue to monitor your threshold levels for your pain medication.”

  I looked at him hoping he was done.

  “You’ve broken several metacarpal bones in your left hand, which look like defensive injuries.” Dr. Laren laughed to himself. “Hate to see the one you attacked.”

  My father cleared his throat again, and I was convinced I heard a growl from somewhere in the room.

  Dr. Laren sat a little further out on the edge of the chair. “We’re scheduling reconstructive cosmetic surgery for you to minimize any scarring after we get you a bit more stabilized.

  I looked up at my Dad, and he smiled at me. Roxas put his hand on my shoulder.

  “The good news is, your MRI doesn’t show any signs of head trauma. With your physical therapy, you’ll be back walking on that leg within several months.”

  Months? I can’t wait that long to help my sisters!

  Dr. Laren smiled at me. “I’ll be straight with you, Cheyenne. You’ve got a strong support system here with your family. Be sure to keep them at your beck and call.” He turned to my Dad and Roxas. “Now you two, don’t be bringing her anything she can’t eat. No sneaking in cheeseburgers or chocolates. She needs to heal, and bringing her goodies won’t help.”

  Both of them looked down at their shoes.

  My family.

  Tears pooled in my eyes and overflowed onto my bandages.

  “It looks as though you’ve been stabbed in the neck. You were incredibly lucky that this injury didn’t damage your vocal cords. You might not have ever spoken again. We believe, in the throng of people trying to escape, you must’ve been stepped on by someone’s high heel a couple of times, or you might’ve fallen onto some sort of stage prop. Fortunately, 911 got there in time to help you.”

  Got there in time? You mean put me on hold for pranking the police department. There will be a complaint about that after I’m out of here.

  I looked at my father. “Did they catch the Red Man?”

  “The Red Man?” Dr. Laren frowned.

  “We’ll talk about that after the doctor leaves.” My father patted me on the shoulder. “Dr. Laren, other than the torn muscles, are there any internal injuries?”

  “Not that we’ve seen on her.” He looked down at me. “There were no signs of internal organ damage either, but if she’s in this much pain tomorrow, we’ll run an ultrasound to double check. I’m going to take a look and listen to your heart and lungs now. Are you comfortable enough? How is your pain management?”

  “Hurts a lot. Can you give me stuff that doesn’t make me sleepy?”

  “Yes, we can – but we have to be careful to not let you have too much. We don’t want to send you to rehab after being in the ICU.” He laughed.

  Nobody else did.

  Dr. Laren cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. All right now, let’s take a looksee at your vitals.”

  He expressed my heart was pumping just fine, and my lungs sounded clear. He told me to be sure to call the nurse if I needed anything, but to use the call button and try not to talk too much.

  His information came at me just a little too fast for me to process it.

  He continued to poke and prod as if I were my mother’s sewing tomato-pin-cushion. My skin itched when he pulled on the tape for the bandages.

  Another man walked in.

  It was a freaking metro station in my room.

  I realized he had a pitcher of water, ice, and a couple of cups.

  “You go easy on the water,” the doct
or cautioned. “I’d rather you suck on ice chips at first. It’s been several days since you’ve had anything down your throat. But despite your laundry list, you’re doing exceptionally well. I think we’ll move you out of ICU sometime tonight or first thing in the morning.”

  Amicula walked over to my IV machine. “I’ve adjusted the morphine drip to help counter the pain so you can swallow a little easier tonight, and hopefully not put you to sleep.”

  I glanced at Roxas and my father. I wanted everyone to leave except them so I could rest. I was done learning about me. I needed to know what happened to Dakota and Sheridan.

  Chapter Sixteen

  They moved me out of the ICU, and into a new room around midnight. After I finally got back to sleep, I was awakened to another hole poked into me. The dim overhead lights at least didn’t barrage my eyes, but nonetheless, I hated being woken up every two hours.

  “Good morning, Miss O’Cuinn.”

  A way too cheery Romanian-sounding voice greeted me - or was it Russian? I couldn’t tell.

  “My name is Cedric. I need to check on your blood shunt this morning and flush it out. We need to check your iron and hemoglobin count every couple of hours to see how the transfusion is holding up.”

  I glanced over at him with heavy eyes, and then at the clock – 6:58 AM.

  “How are you feeling today?”

  I cleared my throat. “Better, I think. Can I sit up today?”

  “Let me get your nurse and see what we can do for you. Are you still in quite a bit of pain?”

  I nodded.

  “You’ve got muscles which were ripped off your bones. Sitting you up might require additional pain medication if you’re not ready.”

  Boy, I can see why they keep this guy in the lab. Not much of a bedside manner.

  Cedric’s face seemed warm and friendly enough, almost angelic, but hauntingly familiar. For some reason, it no longer bothered me how he dug into my arm as I watched the blood pool into the test tube. Thoughts of yumminess flashed across my brain. I shook it off to not enough sleep and a perpetual morphine induced haze.