Zane shook his head, rolling his eyes at my stupidity. But, he let me come inside anyhow. Well, technically, he dragged me inside and put me in a chair…but you get the point anyhow.
Carly followed both of us inside, hesitating tentatively before coming in. She was probably more scared than she'd been in a long time. Men getting killed, bullets, blood, and now a stranger in the woods. Where would it end? she had to be wondering.
Zane, after sitting me down, turned to her and smiled. "Would you like a place to rest? You look exhausted."
Carly nodded mutely, but not before glancing over to me for affirmation. I was safety for her, and she was going to trust my judgement. After, I had returned the nod, showing her that Zane was ok, she followed him into a back room.
I waited while he talked to her about how there were extra blankets under the bed if she needed any. Then, he came out, closing the bedroom door behind him.
By this time, I was clutching the back of my leg, trying to examine it. It wasn't as easy as I would've hoped, and I couldn't see the wound clearly.
"Shot up pretty bad?" Zane asked me, sitting down across from me.
"It's not bad."
He laughed slightly. "Zack, if you got your leg blown off by a mine, you still say that it wasn't bad."
"I probably wouldn't be able to talk."
"Good point," Zane agreed and rose to his feet. He left the living area and went into the kitchen off the far right. I heard him rustling around in there before he came back with a pair of long tweezers, gauze, and a bottle.
Zane wore his dark, pure black hair freely, down to his shoulders. Usually it was hanging down naturally. But this time, he had put it back into cornrows, still covering up his barcode. He had brown eyes that were so dark, you would've believed them to be as black as his hair. His skin was a tan color, like coffee. His parents, we assumed, had to be Native Americans. And with his personality, it wasn't all that unlikely.
He was a peaceful guy most of the time. But when he got mad, he was mad. Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if World War IV would start over his anger. It was possible. I had only seen him enraged twice since I had known him. And it wasn't pretty.
Other than the rages he would go into, he was calm and relaxed. He would tell you the truth, whether you wanted to hear it or not. That was usually why I didn't visit him that much-he told me things about myself and my life that I didn't want to hear from him. So, I'd fly into one of my raging fits, and he'd just sit and stare at me blankly until I left.
He was determined to the core, never stopping or hesitating for anything. If I had never been captain or had gotten either hurt or killed, Zane would've become CO. Knowing this sometimes made me wonder if Lydecker would've rather had Zane instead of me. Perhaps the escape from Manticore never would've taken place. But, it was all in the past anyhow.
Different from all of the other X5s, he could accept who he was without hatred or question. To him, being human and alive was good enough for him. The rest of us hated what Manticore had done to us, how it had screwed us up so badly. But, Zane just would shrug it off and try to reason with us that, "it was all good".
"Since the girl's got the bed, you're going to have to lay on the floor," Zane told me, setting the items he had gathered down on a weak looking table.
"What?"
"I need to see the back of you leg, because you obviously can't take care of it yourself."
"I'm fine," I bit.
"We've been through this already. I can take care of your leg. Otherwise, infection is going to set it, and it's never going to heal. You want to be a gimp for the rest of your life?"
Zane's point was a good one, and I reluctantly stood up. Besides, he probably would've pushed me to the floor anyhow. Being injured, he was stronger than I was.
"You're going to have to remove your pants," Zane said with a doctor's authority.
"Since when?"
"Since I'm going to have to look at your leg to see the damage. And, with the denim in the way, it's going to be awfully hard."
"Cut it," I snapped.
"Whatever," Zane groaned and walked back out to the kitchen. He returned with a pair of scissors. "What? Do you think I'm gay or something?" he asked frankly
"No, it's just that…well…why should I have to take my freaking pants off?"
"You're an idiot sometimes, really you are."
"And I've survived."
He laughed as he began to cut around the bullet hole. Eventually, he got enough of the material removed that he could clearly see the wound. That's when I lay down on the floor and let him go to work. He wasn't a doctor, but he was the only X5 would had ever gone to school after the escape.
"Who's the girl?" Zane asked me, trying to distract me and keep my mind off of what he was doing.
"Carly."
"Girlfriend?"
"No…shit…" I groaned as I felt the tweezers go in.
"Sorry, I can see the bullet, though, so I got to get it out."
"God…can't you…ouch!…be any gentler?"
"Why would I want to do that? After all, I thought your leg was fine," he told me, but not without some sarcasm. "Here, the bullet's out. You want to see it?"
"No thanks," I muttered.
"So, why's Carly with you? I thought you went for the loner appeal."
"She kinda figured out who I was."
"Really? How so?" he asked as he wiped away at the wound with the gauze.
"My dad showed up."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Not Lydecker, I hope."
"No, just some guy from the DNA lab. He pretty much blew everything with Carly right there. He was going to take me back to Manticore so…" I didn't finish. Zane understood the rest.
I saw his head bob in the shadows as the sunlight streamed in. "And you believed him?"
"Why shouldn't I have? Zane, you should've seen the guy! He was like an older version of me!"
"Interesting." He rose to his feet, wiping his hands on his pants. "You're set," he told me.
I rose unsteadily, but managed to stand without the intense pain. "Thanks," I mumbled.
"No problem. Here, I'll get you some clothes to change into. You can stay here until you feel better."