"What for?" I asked angrily. I wanted to go home and see my wife. I wanted to see her and I wanted to ask her why she let Lighter boy put his lips on her again. She wouldn't lie to me,
or cheat on me,
I knew she wouldn't. And I knew she loved me, I just couldn't understand this strange…thing…with Daniel.
He finally answered
,
but it was so low I barely heard it. "We're going there for me to die."
I didn't take his bait. I wanted out of that car, but it was a necessary prison. I held my aching arm to my chest and tried not to groan at the pain that suddenly hit me from being still. The adrenaline had said
bye-
bye
and the pain was settling in.
I felt a shudder rack me and felt like cursing. This stupid arm was going to make me go into shock or something. I hadn't been able to clean it. A day and
a
night…it was probably already getting infected.
Daniel must've heard my complaining. "You're injured."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."
He frowned. "You need a doctor."
"Nah," I said, but knew that was a lie. I needed to clean this thing. "I'm good."
"I think I should bring you to a human facility that attends to medical needs."
"No
hospitals. Last
time
didn't go so well for us," I told him, remembering Marissa and I with Billings.
"You may not have a choice. What good would it have done for me to have come to save you if you die from infection?"
"
Point well made, Lighter boy," I groaned. I hated that he was right. "Maybe we'll just stop in for a quick visit."
"I have your back. No need to worry," he assured and I swore, if he patted me on the back like some 'Good ol' Chap' I was going to go ballistic on him. But he didn't, he just kept right on driving. I leaned my seat back, throwing my good arm over my face and let him navigate.
I wasn't sure what his angle was, but he wasn't getting any unnecessary chatter from me.
He told me that he had stopped by the store bunker and the place had been trashed. All the food and supplies were gone. Even Piper, who'd been left in the back room, was gone. I didn't know what to make of that.
A while later I felt him slowing down. He was eyeing a small clinic. He pulled in and put the car in park. "How did you learn to drive anyhow?"
He looked at me as if that were a strange question. "I learned from the humans, of course."
"Ok," I said and
raised my eyebrows in sarcasm. "Well, I'll be back, champ."
"I am coming with you," he insisted and in a stupid move, put his hand on my good arm.
I glared at him. "You're gonna need a hospital for your own arm if you don't let go."
He lifted his ha
nd. "I am sorry, b
ut I
am
coming with you. I will make sure you make it safely back to your Lillian."
I shook my head. "Whatever, man." I leaned over and opened the door. It creaked loudly in the empty
parking lot. He got out, too,
and we made our way to the automatic doors.
I hadn't thought about the mess I would
look
like to her; my bloody jacket wrapped around my neck, holding up my bloody arm. I was dirty, head to toe and who knew what else. The woman gasped and covered her mouth with her hands in a true
Oh, no!
face.
She ran around the counter and took my good arm immediately.
"What happened to you?"
"Boys being boys," I drawled.
She didn't laugh. She dragged me back to one of th
e room
s
and plopped me on the table
. She was short and a little plump, but had the sweetest little face. "Let me take a look at what you've done to yourself," she scolded. "What were you doing? Camping with a bear?"
Daniel had followed us in and he watched her hands move with interest. "Uh…" I tried. "It was more like sandhill bogging. Got in the way. Whatya gonna do?" I tried the smile, but she wasn't having it.
She frowned, her hand on her hip. "My…
Well, I guess I'll get the doctor to take a look at you. You're going to need some antibiotics and a fresh bandage," she peeled the jacket away and grimaced, "and this has to be cleaned. There's dirt and sand scrubbed almost down to the bone," she scolded again.
"Can't a guy get some sympathy around here?" I joked. I pouted my bottom lip out and saw her eyes glance at my lip ring. "I'm an injured man."
She smiled, but it was out of tolerance. "Well you're just a scoundrel, aren't you?"
"I
f I say 'yes' can I have a lolli
pop?"
She outright laughed at that and I grinned inside. I still had it.
"Oh, shush, you." She went to peek out the door and then opened it wide to let the doctor in. It was then that I steeled myself. He was about to scrub this sand out of my wound. The wound that had already started to heal.
Things were about to get ugly.
Next thing I knew,
we were talking about what happened, he was taking a little look see, then
Doctor Sly had stuck me with a needle in the arm and I was going down fast. He leaned over and smiled smugly. "See you in a bit," he taunted. I wanted to punch him, but the sneaky sleep he'd given me was quick.
So my brain dreamed of Lillian
and our honeymoon, our first night together. Gah…I remember gripping her hips, bones very obvious, but sexy and right in my hands. I remember all the noises she made, all the times she grabbed the back of my neck and begged me not to stop…
But she kissed Daniel.
Or he kissed her
. That was something I'd have to deal with later. She wasn't a cheater. After what I went through with my fiancé', Lillian wouldn't do that. But letting him kiss her…
A sharp pain growled its release through my throat and my arm was on fire. I looked to see the flames, but it was a bottle of clear liquid, not flames that I saw. I looked at the Doc's face. He was all business. "I'm awake," I told him and he poured more of that demon liquid on my arm. "I'm awake and can totally feel that!"
"I know," he said calmly. "That's h
ow I wake
my
patients up." He laughed at his own joke.
"Dude.
Comedy school, pronto."
"Are you saying my jokes aren't funny?" he asked even as he still laughed. I didn't answer him, I just groaned like a sissy and tried not to curse like a sailor. "
My patients usually don't mind.
All done. I put you under because it was not going to be fun to clean that arm." He pointed to the nice clean bandage and sling. "Here's some ointment and bandages. Keep it dry and clean."
"Gotcha, Doc. Thanks."
"So…where
are
you from? Not from around here, huh?"
"Why do you say that?" I said with caution. Doc was acting weird.
"Well…we're an animal clinic." I jerked my gaze to Daniel. He looked confused. "The
people
hospital is about three
miles on the other side of town." He grinned in a teasing way. "I didn't turn you away 'cause you were in bad
shape a
nd we weren't busy, but
my patients
used to
come in on four legs."
"Nice going, Daniel," I said and glanced at him before settling back on the Doc. "Thanks. Sorry and yes, we're just passing through."
"
Not a problem. I'm surprised the front door was unlocked. We usually lock it. Now we just run blood test
s
and do analysis for the Enforcement centers since
animals are no longer around. We also stock pile meds for the hospitals since they've had so many break-ins.
Well,
uh,
there's a motel that takes cash next door," he offered.
I eyed him. Man, if only Sherry were here, she could decipher this guy. "Ok, thanks."
"
I'll let you guys get back to…passing through." He smiled and gave the nurse the papers. "Felicia will handle this for you at the desk."
I nodded, but had no intentions of staying and filling out some papers. And I didn’t have a dime on me, so that didn't matter either. We followed her out and I was amazed at how much better my arm felt. It hurt, oh yes, but the pain was more of a good pain now. It was no longer life sucking, it
was
manageable.
When she turned to go back to the front desk, we turned right and kept right on going. Swiftly we got back to the car and I wondered how I missed it. Right there in big letters on the sign it s
aid "Meyer Clinic - K9s are our
specialty". I glared at Daniel as he put us in drive once more.
"I know, I know," he said. "But you're bandaged and better now
,
so I think any
thing
other than that is irrelevant."
I huffed and stared out the window. We passed the motel the Doc had told us about. "We'll need to stop somewhere to sleep eventually."
"Not there," he said. "He may have been nice enough for a human, but I got a strange feeling about it."
"Nice enough for a human?" I scoffed. "Really?"