When Elliot Salem wakes, his entire body is numb and sore. His right side aches the most, and memories return. His eyes open wide, and the bright white light sting. A cold white ceiling hangs above. Rios is sitting next to the bed. He notices, and shifts around, leans in close, and touches Salem's arm, right above the iv in his arm.
"Oh, God..." Salem groans. His voice is weak and croaky. He attempts to sit up, but the pain is too much, so he lays himself back down softly. He turns his head in a delicate manner, and looks at Rios. Dry lips part.
"You shot me." Salem says. His words are soft, but they're also heavy, so they sink like a stone in Rios' stomache. Salem traces Rios' scarred face with his eyes. The crease in his brow, the corners of his mouth turned down, closed lips littered with little white scars that were a steep contrast to his tanned skin. Salem looked away, focusing on the painful lights.
"I hope you got Jonah, too."
Rios nodded, and squeezed Salem's hand.
"I did, right after-"
"After he pulled his men from Shanghai, right." Salem turned his body onto his side, facing Rios.
"I'm guessing that nuclear bomb never went off either," a pained, slim smile spread across Salem's face.
"No," Rios answers, and it hurt to say it, "None of the U.N. forces recovered any nuclear weapons, not yet anyway."
"Better safe than sorry, right?" bitter words dissolved into silence. The hospital PA went off, the heart monitor beeped along with Salem's heart beat, doctors and nurses passed by the room, but all the two could comprehend was the painful silence, and the bleary-eyed stare between them.
"Did they find Alice?" Salem asked, very suddenly, letting Rios' heart flip in his chest. Caught off guard, Rios found himself tripping over his words.
"They haven't, not yet," he finally said, "They think her-" Rios caught himself, "They think she fell into the harbour."
Salem looked away from Rios, and turned onto his back.
"We should've never gotten her involved in all this," he said, jagged words carving themselves into Rios' head.
"You really think we could've predicted this? That we could have stopped any of this?" Rios asked, frustrated, but keeping his emotions in check. He leaned in closer, speaking softly.
"There was nothing we could do, Salem."
Salem slipped his hand out from under Rios', folding both hands across his chest.
"Are we sure she's dead?"
"Salem-"
"There's no body. How can we be sure she's dead without a body?"
"Salem, we saw her helicopter blow itself to pieces. There's no was she survived."
Salem tapped a finger on the back of his hand.
"We've survived hundreds of explosions, she could've survived..." his voice dropped, "We would've survived, if we were there, she would've..."
"It's not our fault, Salem, and it's definitely not yours."
Salem forced a laugh, and it's cold.
"That's easy for you to say," he said bitterly. He tilted his head to look back at Rios.
"Tyse, do me a favour and get me some water?" he said, his mood shifting from dark to light.
Rios sat up straight in his chair.
"Yeah," he stood up, "Yeah, I'll be right back." he gave Salem a soft, friendly pat on the arm before leaving.
As Rios walked out the doorway, Salem, brushed a hand under his hospital gown, feeling the stitched-up scar of the gunshot. From the position, it just missed a lung, probably lodged itself into a rib. It feels like an old scar, something familiar, but alien at the same time. Salem closed his eyes, and realized to his horror that he couldn't even remember the sound of Rios' pistol as he pulled the trigger.