Sam rushed around thaw infirmary. She laid the burn kit on the rolling tray and set up beside the closest gurney. She moved about the room ,quickly gathering other supplies. she grabbed several needle and syringes, laying them side by side, before returning to the medical cabinet and retrieved a vial of analgesics. By the time Sam had prepared everything. John entered the infirmary, carrying Vera in his arms. Sam's eyes fell to Vera and shot a questionable look toward John. "What happened?"

John shook his head. "Something I haven't seen before."

"Fucking acid spitting snakes." Vera muttered. Her burnt hand was pressed against her chest, while her other covered her eyes.

John laid her on the gurney. He gently took Vera's hand from her chest. The skin was a bright red, several spots were a dark grey. There were even divots in the skin where more acid had struck before the healing completed. John watched as it slowly knitting itself together but by the look it was agonizingly slow and painful for Vera. "Sam, I need gauze and burn cream."

"Is she healing?" Sam asked, reaching into the kit.

"Not fast enough." John answered. He reached across for the tray. He picked up the needle and syringe and connected them. He reached for the analgesic vial and looked at it. "You got morphine?"

"You giving her a cocktail treatment?" Sam asked.

John glared at Sam, but Vera intervened in the sibling dispute. "I can only take morphine. Anything else would kill me."

Sam looked down at Vera. "I'll go see." She passed John and burn cream and gauze pads.

John dipped the gauze in the cream and wrapped it around Vera's hand. Vera groaned in pain. Her left hand tensed at the pressure of the gauze. John watched as Vera tried to force her breathing down, slowly breathing through her nose. "Vera?"

Vera moaned again. Tears rolled down her burns.

"Vera, talk to me." John urged. He reached over her legs for the burn kit. He pulled several more gauze pads from it.

"There was...a reason...I went out...of my way...to avoid...chemical burns." she muttered through her gritted teeth. "Lotta good...it did me."

Sam returned with a small vial. "I found morphine."

"Great." Vera muttered.

John looked down at Vera. He could hear her accelerated heartbeat, the strain in her voice, and she wasn't refusing the morphine. She was hurting bad. "How bad is it?"

Vera took a deep breath. "It won't stop burning."

"Sam get me twenty-" Vera reached out and grabbed John's arm.

"Just take the edge off." Vera warned. She opened her eyes and stared up at him. Her eyes were a dark grey color, mixed with her violet brown iris'. Her eyes were fixed on him, or at least in his general direction. John didn't believe Vera's sight was too good at the moment. "Nothing more."

John nodded and looked over to Sam. "Make it five milliliters." He soaked the gauze pads in burn cream and looked down at Vera. "You ready?"

Vera nodded. "Go." She closed her eyes.

John carefully laid the gauze over Vera's eyes. Her grip over his am tensed as the gauze fell over her eyes. John grabbed her hand and watched Sam with the needle. "Almost over, Vera."

"Like hell it is." Vera snapped.

Sam pressed the needle into Vera's arm and slowly injected the analgesic serum into her blood stream. Sam withdrew the needle and set it aside. "Done. What about the smaller burns?"

Vera shook her head. "I'll deal." She shook John's hand. "You should regroup with Stijn?"

John frowned. "You sure?"

Vera nodded. "Yeah. Something is going on in the dig site. There were hundreds of those creatures, he'll need you."

John hesitated. After what he'd just witnessed, there was no doubt something had happened in the dig. Stijn's men were missing and in the ten minutes since Stijn last spoke with Vera, she had been through hell. But given Vera's state, he didn't want to leave her alone. It wasn't her history with infirmaries he was worried about, but rather what could happen to her further. Who knew how long it would take for her eyes to heal.

"I'll stay with her." Sam offered, sensing her brothers discomfort. "Have some girl time."

"Wanna swap embarrassing stories about your brother?" Vera asked.

John snorted. "God that's a bad idea."

"No it's not." Vera said. "I've got some good ones."

John shook his head. "Yeah, then you'll walk right out of the infirmary."

Vera let go of his hand and pointed to the gauze pad. "Not with this thing on my face."

Sam smirked. "She always this difficult?"

"Actually, she's being very cooperative right now." John answered. "For her, that's a lot."

"I can still hear you." Vera stated.

"Then why don't you listen to me?" John asked.

"Because you're no fun." Vera answered. "Go. Find Stijn. I'm not going anywhere. Ten to one Sam will get in contact with you every five minutes of my condition."

John sighed but nodded. "Right. I'll be back soon." He took Vera's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Behave."

Vera flipped him off.

John nodded to Sam and headed through the nanowall.

Vera sighed heavily, more pained than before. "God, I thought he'd never leave?"

Sam arched one of her brows and looked back down at Vera. "You wanted him gone?"

"I didn't want him hearing this." she answered.

"Hear what?"

"Why my healings slowing down." Vera answered.

Realization dawned on Sam. If Vera had mentioned it in front of John, he never would have left. But Vera had managed to fake being alright and stable enough, for John to leave her behind. "Tell me everything, Vera."

short yes. I blame the stupid heat wave here. totally killed the chapter. I hope the ending wasn't too bleh. sorry, my brain is overheated. next chapters will be better!