by Loki Renard
“No Zora, I’m not going to spank her,” Savage shook his head. “But she will be punished.” He paused for a moment, giving her a dark look. “As will you.”
“Me!” Zora squealed. “I already got punched in the face. Isn’t that punishment enough?”
“That wasn’t a punishment. That was an overreaction.”
“No way,” Zora complained, her eyes wide. “No way, that’s not even fair.”
He ignored her protestations and turned to address Brian, who had by that stage composed himself. “Get the van, would you Brian?” Brian saluted and made a quick exit, looking all too pleased to avoid the further displeasure of his commanding officer.
Zora perked up at the mention of the van. “Ooh, are we going somewhere?”
“You’re going to see a doctor,” Savage reminded her, picking up her hand and lifting it to the ice pack so that she could hold it for herself.
She frowned. Something about that didn’t make sense. “Wait, we don’t have anyone who can perform doctor services here? We’re going to go into shooty shooty land with nobody to patch us up?”
Savage didn’t even crack a hint of a smile. “We have a medic, it’s not quite the same thing as a hospital.”
“Who’s the medic?”
“Guess.”
Zora almost giggled, though it could have been the concussion making her so light headed. “Anja?”
“Bingo,” he said grimly.
“Brilliant, can’t wait to go get shot at with her by my side.” Sarcasm dripped from every word. Anja would probably leave her for dead if she got the chance.
Savage gritted his teeth. “You make everything so difficult.” He was blaming her, he really was. As if it was her fault that Anja had antagonized her from the beginning. As if it was her fault that Anja had the hots for him.
“Hey, I’m not the one she wants to fuck,” Zora said crudely.
He stiffened, the muscles in his neck and shoulder going hard as if he was preparing for a physical blow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered. It might have been a convincing lie if he were able to keep eye contact, or if he remembered to tell her off for swearing.
“She was practically licking you,” Zora said smugly. “She was jealous.”
“She was not.” Savage was almost convincing. Almost. There was a shadow of doubt in his voice that rather made Zora think he knew damn well Anja was jealous. Now that she had Savage on the hook, she didn’t intend to let him off it easily. He was sitting there blaming everything on her, but she wasn’t the one running the show, he was, and the team he’d put together was no less volatile than an atom bomb.
“Why did you put her on the team knowing she likes you?”
“Same reason I have a misbehaved drunkard on the team,” Savage said roughly. “She’s damn good at what she does.”
Confirmation of what she’d suspected didn’t make Zora feel any better. It was her turn to feel a creeping, seething jealousy that warped her common sense. “Just keep her away from me. I don’t know how much more my body can take, especially if you’re going to punish me every time she assaults me.”
“I will not keep her away from you,” Savage said stubbornly. “You will have to learn not to antagonize others.”
“Maybe you should learn not to screw the crew,” Zora retorted. Savage rocked back almost as if she’d hit him and she knew she’d hit the mark. So they had been intimate, had they? Interesting. No wonder Anja was so jealous to find her lover shacking up in the woods with another woman. “So what’s the story then?” She pressed the issue. It wasn’t a good idea.
“Leave it alone, Zora.” He pulled away from her, a look of something like disgust on his face.
“But…”
He growled as he got to his feet. “Leave it.” His displeasure was almost like a physical force. For a moment she wondered if he was going to grab her and hit her, but she needn’t have worried. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at her. Without another word he stalked out of the cabin, leaving her to her own devices.
“Definitely touched a nerve there,” Zora muttered to herself, laying back down. Savage’s reaction was completely out of order. He was angry with her, really angry and in a personal way, not in the professional way he’d been most other times. She was surprised to see this side of him, he’d practically run away from her when she’d asked him for the truth. Perhaps Captain Savage wasn’t really the debonair gentleman he pretended to be. Maybe he had a few skeletons in his closet. Maybe he wasn’t really in any position to go around telling other people how they should behave.
When the door opened again, she hoped it was Savage coming back to apologize, but it was Brian.
“Where’s Savage?”
“He’s busy. Don’t worry, I’ll take you down to to doctors,” Brian said kindly, his eyes warm.
Grumbling to herself, Zora allowed Brian to help her stand. She found that she could walk easily enough, though the rocking motion made by her own feet as she moved exacerbated the nausea. She discovered when she walked out the front door that Savage and the rest of his team were standing around outside the cabin. It looked like they had been having an animated discussion, but the moment Zora appeared they shut up. She walked to the van in a horrible, heavy silence that made her glad when she shut the door and slid down in the front seat.
Savage didn’t even bother to come over and say goodbye before they set off down the hill. Obviously he wasn’t coming to the doctor with her. So much for him caring about her. What had he said the other evening? ‘Let me take care of you.’ His caring evidently didn’t extend to making sure her head stayed on straight.
She threw up three times on the bumpy ride down the mountain. The rocking motion of the van was unpleasant and the pounding in her head was growing worse by the moment. She felt like she’d spent the day downing raw shellfish past its fresh by date. The fact that a single punch could do that much damage was a very unpleasant surprise indeed.
“Hey, hang in there,” Brian said encouragingly. He was placid like a cow, nothing shook him. The fact that he was in a confined space with a woman chucking her guts out didn’t make a difference to him.
“God,” she groaned, resting her head against the window. “I’m sorry Brian, this is gross.”
Brian glanced over at her with a quick smile. “Don’t worry, it’s not like its the first time.”
She rolled her head to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“The night we brought you were in you were pretty sick too.” The twisted smile on his face told her that he found the fact amusing.
“For a much better reason,” Zora said. She could have been embarrassed, but what was the point. Brian had seen her at her worst many times before. Aside from Savage, he probably knew her better than anyone else.
“Tell that to my uniform, I had to get a new one,” Brian smiled at the memory, as if it were somehow pleasant.
By the time they got down to the little town at the foot of the mountain and found the hospital, Zora was pale and clammy. The nausea still rolled over her at regular intervals, but there was nothing left to throw up, so she ended up dry retching whilst Brian patted her shoulder and made useless soothing noises. They were forced to wait in a depressing waiting room for what seemed like hours, surrounded by screaming sick children who would have done better tucked up in bed than paraded around in a fog of germs. Zora tried to read the old magazines, but they were so out of date that it made her feel nostalgic. She didn’t like nostalgia, it make her feel old.
Brian did his best to alleviate her anxiety by chatting about any inane topic that came into his head, but she wished that Savage was there. Savage as he’d been the other evening, when he’d held her and reassured her, not Savage of earlier that day who had been a complete jerk.
Loneliness, pain and fear all conspired to make her feel very uncomfortable and when she finally got to see a doctor an hour later, she was in a very bad mood indeed. The doctor who ex
amined her, an older man with a gray beard and bald pate, was not impressed by her condition. “We’ll do a few tests and keep you in overnight. It’s probably just a concussion, but you can never be too careful with these things,” he snorted, as if giving the diagnosis was a particularly laborious task.
“Yeah, okay,” Zora agreed. Gazing around the puce green room, she wished she was back at the cabin. Even Savage’s stupid anger was better than being stuck in this institutional hell hole.
The doctor left and a nurse bustled in. She was a matronly older woman with strands of gray through her dark hair and a pleasant round face. “You’re being admitted Ms Matthews,” she announced with the sort of cheer usually reserved for more positive occasions. Her thick arm shot out, holding a white gown decorated with sickening tiny flowers. As if sick people would be cheered by tiny flowers on their clothes. ‘Hey, you’re deathly ill, but look, tiny flowers!’ It was insulting, that’s what it was.
“Yeah, no, I’ll just wear my clothes,” Zora refused.
“Don’t be silly. Get this on,” the nurse draped the gown over the bed next to Zora. On the opposite side of the room, Brian looked slightly nervous, as if anticipating a meltdown.
Zora glared at the nurse. She might be used to bossing patients around, but Zora was no ordinary patient. She was fast becoming a professional pain in the ass in fact. “I’m not putting it on. Just show me the room,” she said impatiently.
The nurse’s chubby face puckered into a bottom of stubbornness. “You can put it on, or I can have an orderly come and help you put it on.”
The threat didn’t have quite the desired effect. “What the fuck? I’m out of here,” Zora exploded, leaping off the bed only to crumple immediately to her knees as pain shot through her skull.
“Zora,” Brian came forward and helped her to her feet. “Maybe you could put the gown on for just a bit?” His eyes were pleading with her to make this easy and she acquiesced. She told herself it was because she liked Brian and didn’t want to cause him more trouble than she already had done. Really she had no choice. Anja had messed her the hell up. She was too sick to fight, too sick to hold her own.
“Okay, fine,” she muttered, snatching the paper thin gown off the table. A similar battle of wills took place when she was informed she had to go sit in bed. All her protestations that she was fine sitting up in a chair were ignored by the nurse, who seemed to take a perverse pleasure in asserting what little authority she had. Eventually, Zora agreed to get into bed simply to keep the peace and give her pounding head a rest. She hoped that would be the end of the interference, but there was no respite. She wasn’t allowed to sleep, they kept her awake by keeping the lights on and the television on and popping in every fifteen minutes like cheerful torturers.
Much to her relief, Brian stayed with her, watching the television and making small talk about the relative merits of various characters on the soaps. He had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the shows that Zora found mildly disturbing and rather amusing. So much for being a hard bitten military man.
Zora didn’t much care for the on screen drama. She was more concerned with the altercation she’d had with Savage. She couldn’t get the image of his angry expression out of her head. After dancing around the issue for a whole, she decided to take a direct approach. “Why was Savage so pissed at me today?” Zora put the question to Brian bluntly. There was no point beating around the bush with Brian. Either he knew and he’d tell her, or he didn’t and he wouldn’t.
“He doesn’t like fighting in the ranks,” Brian answered.
Zora shook her head. Surely something that simple couldn’t be the reason. “I wasn’t fighting, but he was more angry at me than her.”
“You weren’t physically fighting, but you wound her up. Don’t think she’s getting off lightly. You didn’t see what he did with her yet,” Brian reminded her. “He was a little growly with you, he chewed her out and he’s not finished.”
That was a valid point and it made Zora feel a bit better. Maybe his absence wasn’t because he didn’t like her. Maybe it was because he was kicking Anja’s ass all over camp. She smiled a little at the thought.
“Dissent in the ranks is always a problem for a commanding officer,” Brian volunteered a little more information. “It gets people killed. That’s why he’s not standing for it. Neither of you are going to be happy until you put aside your differences. He’ll make both your lives hell.”
“That doesn’t sound like our Mr Savage,” Zora murmured, feeling her stomach flip. Now that she was somewhat reassured Savage didn’t actually hate her, she felt a tingling thrill at how much trouble she was in. It was a perverse instinct that had never served her well, but damn it was fun to be naughty.
There was more to be discovered though, and she intended to discover it. “Was there anything between him and Anja?”
The question seemed to catch Brian off guard. He actually colored slightly, his full cheeks flushing. “I don’t think that’s something I can answer.”
“So there was. So maybe he’s angry at me because I taunted his precious girlfriend,” Zora speculated.
“She’s not his girlfriend. Never was,” Brian said quickly before clamming up again.
“But they’ve been together right? They’re intimate?”
Brian’s shoulders drooped. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Zora shook her head emphatically and he sighed. “Okay, but you don’t talk about this anymore. I’m just telling you this because you being paranoid isn’t helping. Anja had a crush on him a few years back. She pursued him, but nothing ever came of it. There were rumors though, rumors that almost got him into a lot of trouble.”
“Ohhhhh,” Zora exclaimed as the pieces fell into place. “That makes sense.” No wonder Anja had been so hostile, and no wonder Savage had reacted so defensively when she implied that he’d slept with Anja.
She was about to ask more questions and weasel more about Savage out of his aide, but Brian’s phone rang, interrupting her interrogation. Zora didn’t have to wonder who it was, it was obvious by the way Brian practically snapped to attention in his seat.
“Yes sir,” he said, “Right away sir.” He hung up and looked at Zora. “I have to go.”
“Where?” Zora almost whined. She didn’t want to be left alone in the hospital, feeling sick as hell.
“Captain Savage wants me,” Brian shrugged helplessly, as if he were nothing more than a puppet on strings.
“Fine,” Zora’s brow furrowed. “Tell him I said he’s a jackass.”
“I’m not telling him that. You stay here, I’ll be back for you soon, I promise.” Brian smiled as he left, shaking his head a little.
Zora hunkered down in bed, her arms folded across her chest. If it weren’t for how sick she felt, it would have been an unprecedented chance to escape. There was nobody watching her and it was just a normal little country hospital. There were no guards to hunt her down. She could have waltzed right out of the front door and disappeared without rousing any suspicion whatsoever. But could she escape in good conscience now? That was another question. She’d all but given Savage her word that she’d help. Leaving now would be like lying to him, breaking her word. Not that he seemed to give much of a damn about breaking his word. The other evening he’d cradled her like a damn baby and reassured her that he’d be there for her. Where the fuck was he now, huh? Bitter thoughts swirled in her head as she watched stupid show after stupid show, growing more irritated with every passing visit that saw a parade of nurses flashing lights in her eyes and asking her inane questions.
After a very long sleepless night, she was finally permitted to sleep, and sleep she did. It was a dreamless sleep of pure exhaustion that would have probably made her feel much better if it hadn’t been interrupted all too soon by Brian, who had come to collect her.
She growled when she opened her eyes and saw him. “What the hell are you doing?” She clawed at her pillow, ready to use it like a missile if she di
dn’t like the answer.
“Sorry, you’ll be able to sleep up at the cabin,” he promised.
“Fuck that, I’m not going back up there,” Zora replied with a flash of rebellion.
Brian just smiled, completely unconcerned. “Come on Zora, if you don’t come back you won’t get the chance to give the Captain hell.”
That was true, and it was enough to ensure her cooperation. She might still escape, but she’d let Savage know what she thought of him first. She sat up in bed, discovering that she felt much better. The nausea had gone entirely and though her jaw throbbed dully, the painkillers kept the worst of her discomfort at bay. She dressed with grim determination and followed Brian out to the van, her head filled with thoughts about what she was going to say to Savage when she saw him. She was going to tear him a new one, no doubt about that.
When they got back to the cabin, Savage and his team were at work. On the grass in front of the cabin were a bunch of computer like devices covered in camouflage netting with Tank and Archie pouring over them. In the distance, Zora could see Anja running around the very perimeter of the clearing, followed closely by Steve. Steve was in shorts and a t-shirt, but Anja was in full uniform. A heavy oversized pack weighed her down as she ran, circling the place like an overburdened shark.
Zora got out of the van and swaggered over to Savage with a battle ready frown. He was going to get it now. Well, if he ever noticed she was there, that was. He seemed preoccupied with the blips on the screen of the machine, as if blips were the most interesting thing he’d ever seen. She stood there for a full minute, clearing her throat and shuffling her feet loudly before he turned and deigned to acknowledge her.
“Zora,” Savage smiled at her warmly. He seemed to be in a much better mood. His face had returned to its normally handsome appearance unsullied by anger and frustration. He no longer looked like he’d devour her soul if she annoyed him. “How are you?”