Copycat
I tried very hard, but couldn't make it all the way back to Terminal City. It hurt too much. My control of the bike slipped a little and the wet streets did the rest. The next thing I knew I was skidding across the pavement, desperately trying to keep from rolling onto my injured leg. I clutched at the injury, feeling that my pant leg was sticky with blood. I vaguely realized that I had lost my gun, but I couldn't move.
I shut my eyes tightly for a second, willing myself to get a handle on the pain. It wasn't safe to stay here. I had to get it together and get back to Terminal City. I opened my eyes again and found myself looking up into a pair of big brown ones. I was struck suddenly that whoever this guy was, he looked a lot like Max.
"Can you move?" he asked.
I nodded silently, struggling to get up and gasping when I put weight on my leg. The man with Max's face quickly grabbed my arm and supported my weight. I looked up and saw Kira's bike a few feet away. Kira was looking at me worriedly.
"I can follow you on your bike. You just hang on." he instructed, helping me over to the bike and onto the seat behind my best friend.
I wrapped my arms around Kira and held tight. I tried not to think about how the side I had skidded on felt like it was on fire or the shooting pain running up my leg. I tried to focus all my thoughts on keeping the muscles in my arms taught. It didn't even register that we were back at Terminal City until Kira pried my arms loose and got off the bike. I struggled to follow, but my leg caved and I landed with a splash on the ground. The impact sent pain washing over me and everything went black.
Time. I didn't know what time it was. My eyes flew open.
I struggled to get up, unsure of where I was. Strong hands pushed me down.
"It's okay. You're safe." a familiar voice said.
"Kira? Where am I? What time is it?" I asked quickly.
"You're in the infirmary. It's almost 1930. You've been out for awhile. You took a pretty bad fall off that bike." she reported.
1930. Alec still had time. I relaxed. And then, I felt the pain. I groaned.
"Shit." I remarked.
My left arm and side still burned, but they were now wrapped in bandages. I propped myself up on my right elbow so I could look at my leg. The pant leg was ripped exposing the place where I had been shot. It was wrapped in gauze, as well, but a large red stain was clearly visible.
"We cauterized the wound while you were out." Kira informed me.
At least I had been unconscious for that.
"Do you need anything?" Kira asked, getting up, "I told Max I would go get her when you came to."
"Dry clothes would be nice." I mumbled.
"I'll get you some." she promised, heading out.
I looked around the rest of the infirmary while she was gone. There weren't many here. Transgenics healed fast so only immediate care for serious wounds was really needed. A pregnant woman occupied a bed across the room from me and another woman was giving some pills to a violently shaking man in another bed near the door. Other than that, the room was empty of people. It was more occupied by medical supplies, although truly these weren't in large amounts either, and the beds. There were six beds, three on each side. They were also the first real beds I had seen in Terminal City with a bed frame to encompass the mattress. I probably would have felt rather comfortable if I hadn't been injured.
The woman who had given pills to the seizing transgenic came over to me.
"I don't think we've met." she said, holding out her hand, "I'm Lena. X-3."
I tried not to show my surprise. I hadn't thought there were any X-3's left. After the failure of the X-2's, the X-3's had merely been an attempt to get back on the right track. They'd been a success, but hadn't been very useful and not many were created. I'd assumed that they'd been destroyed and used for research.
"I know. X-3, Oh my God." she said sarcastically.
I winced, "Sorry."
"I'm used to it," she shrugged and began to unwrap the gauze bandage on my leg, "You X-5's never saw much of us. Or at least, you never knew you did. Manticore decided that the X-3 unit would be most suited to field medic duties. We were the ones that took care of you kids when you shot yourselves up or got attacked by dogs. You just never knew we weren't Ordinaries like the other doctors."
I focused on Lena's face, staring at her intently. I had seen her before.
"You were there when I was getting stitched up after 494 shoved me on that rock." I realized.
Lena paused to look at me, then returned to her work.
"I was. You're X5-613, if I remember right. And I should. That's about the one thing we're good at is remembering things." she informed me.
This was all a bit of a shock. But it made sense. Manticore would want to make the most of the X-3 situation. By making them field medics, they could send in an X-3 in a dangerous combat scenario and not have to worry about the consequences that would have accompanied an ordinary doctor if they were hurt or killed. There would be no family to inform if an X-3 died.
"The pavement did a number on your arm and side. A jacket might've helped. Anyway, it's going to sting like a bitch for a couple days. I can try giving you some painkillers, but they haven't helped other X-5's much. The best thing for you to do is to keep fresh bandages on everything and give the leg a little time to heal before you start jumping ten-foot fences, okay?" Lena instructed as she continued to change the bandage on my leg.
I gritted my teeth as she pressed a clean piece of gauze onto my wound and rewrapped it.
"I hate that White." I growled as she finished.
"I got news for you, we all do." Lena said, straightening. She gestured at the pregnant woman, "He's the reason I had to sedate her. She's scared to give birth to her baby when that asshole's about to lead men in her after us."
Lena turned her back to me, but I could still see the tension in her muscles.
"I hope Max kills him." she said angrily.
I didn't say anything and Lena didn't continue. She stalked off across the room to check on her other patients in silence. I wasn't sure if she was what I expected an X-3 to be like or not. She seemed more...normal...than most X-series. Probably because she'd spent more time with normal people in Manticore than most of us.
I put Lena out of my mind as Max, Kira, and the two transgenics we had rescued walked in.
"Are you okay?" Max asked, eyes moving from one bandage to another.
"I'm fine. Just a little banged up." I said, offering her a shaky smile.
"I need to thank you, Jess. Without you and Kira, me and my sibs would have been dead or in a cage by now getting interrogated by my good pal Ames White." Max said.
"Sibs?" I asked, confused.
"Jess, meet Krit and Syl. They were part of my unit at Manticore, my brothers and sisters.
"Yeah, me and Syl owe you guys one. We've spent about a year trying to find the others. You know, since Zack... Well, we've been having a really tough time, especially after our cover was blown, and then we heard about transgenics gathering in Terminal City. Seattle's always been Maxie's turf, but we thought she was dead. We didn't think you'd be here, running things." he smiled at Max, "Anyway, we thought we might get lucky and find someone or someone who had seen someone. We just didn't think the city would be so...mean."
"Not exactly red carpet treatment." the blonde, Syl, agreed.
"Seattle's kind of turned into Transgenic Central and the natives aren't friendly." Max nodded, "But my girl, Jess, had our backs."
"I brought your clothes." Kira interjected.
I reached for them, then grimaced as I realized what a tough time I'd have getting them on.
"Could someone help me to a bathroom or something?" I asked, hating that I needed help.
Kira immediately stepped forward. I'd known she would.
"Hey." Max said, making me freeze in the process of getting up, "Once you're changed, back to bed. Alec would kill me if I not only let you get shot, but I didn't make sure you got better."
"But..." I began to protest.
"Don't make me court-martial you." Max threatened, her mouth quirking with a grin.
"Fine." I sighed, "But let me know when the raiding party gets back."
"You had a party without us?" Syl pouted.
"You didn't RSVP." Max retorted.
I ignored the antics of Max and her unit members, concentrating on getting up. Kira took most of my weight by putting my arm around her shoulders, but I was feeling stronger already. I could put a little weight on my leg without an explosion of pain. Kira steered me towards the back of the building where I saw a door. Kira opened it for me and I entered the small bathroom. I leaned against the wall and nodded to her. She closed the door.
Carefully, I struggled out of my weight clothes, sitting down on the toilet seat when standing became too difficult. Finally, I was dressed in clean, dry clothes. I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was dark from the water and all tangled from lying on it. The left side of my face was dirty from resting it on the roadway after my fall. I turned on the water and scooped some in one hand, splashing it on my face. I then ran a hand through my hair and turned to head back to my bed.
Kira came to my assistance as soon as I opened the door. Krit, Syl, and Max were still standing near my bed, now talking with Lena. They all looked at me as I approached.
"She'll be fine. Just give her some time." Lena assured them.
"I am fine." I corrected as I got back into bed.
I was feeling rather tired. X-5's tended to sleep more when they needed to recuperate. My eyes felt heavy.
"Come get me when the raiding party gets back." I said before letting my eyes close and going back to sleep.
Someone was shaking me. I opened my eyes.
"Kira? What's wrong?" I asked, immediately attuned to her mood.
She looked upset. She glanced to my right. I looked in that direction and saw that the bed next to me was now occupied.
"Alec!"
Alec slowly turned his head to look at me. He tried to smile, but it looked very pained.
"Hey, baby. What's up?" he asked, his voice more of a groan than anything.
"Alec, what happened?" I demanded, trying to sit up.
"Well, I did something stupid." he said, wincing as he tried to move into a more comfortable position.
"Kira?" I turned quickly to my friend for an explanation.
"You're not the only one who got shot tonight." she said, frowning.
I turned back to Alec.
"Are you okay?"
"Fantast...ow!" he said and collapsed back onto his bed.
"Where was he shot?" I asked Kira.
"The stomach. He was lucky, it missed his organs. But it did bust a rib."
I look at Alec again worriedly, but he was unconscious.
"He'll be alright, Jess." Kira assured me.
That didn't make me any less concerned.
"Is there anything I can do?" I asked.
"You can stay here. Max's orders, remember? I'm covering your duties today."
"You don't expect me to just lay around here all day, do you?"
"Well, that's what you're going to do."
"Like hell." I replied, getting out of bed.
"Look, Alec's going to want you here when he wakes up." Kira said quickly.
I glared at her. That was a cheap shot.
"Then, I'll do something here. I'm sure the raiding party brought back medical supplies. I'll help Lena put them away." I announced, just then noticing that Lena was not present.
I gave Kira a look that said not to argue. She sighed and nodded.
"Alright. Whatever. I have to go help, so be careful. Don't try to lift a car or anything while I'm gone."
I rolled my eyes at my friend and she smiled slightly before heading for the door.
Now that Kira was gone I turned my attention to Alec. His face was creased with pain even in sleep. I moved carefully over to his bed and looked down at him. I brushed wet hair off his forehead before taking a closer look at his bandages. His shirt had been removed so that they could deal with the wound without any interference and his abdomen was firmly wrapped. His wound was still bleeding, a red stain on the white of the bandage. Aside from that he looked okay.
I limped across the room to retrieve a chair. It felt like quite a feat to me and I was filled with a sense of satisfaction when I sat down next to Alec's bed. If I was recovering this quickly, Alec should be better soon, as well.
"How could you get yourself shot?" I asked him quietly, "You're 494, for God's sake. What did you get drunk before you hit the place? Idiot."
Alec remained asleep. I leaned my elbows on his bed.
"At least I was shot by the head of some super-cult. You were shot by a run-of-the-mill bad guy. That's got to be depressing." I smirked at him, "Yeah, I know you'll get me back for that, but it was worth it. I mean, here you go again with the showing me up thing. I get shot so you have to get shot worse. Always stealing my thunder. Copycat."
I folded my arms and rested my chin on top of them, taking care not to put too much weight on the bandaged left one. I resolved myself to sit and watch silently until he became conscious. Or until Lena came back. Whichever came first.