Disclaimer: I disclaim
Caged Hearts
Part 2
Alec limped along the corridor making slow progress to his destination. The smell of antiseptic, Lysol, and blood grew stronger with each step.
Two days ago he learned that she had been in the infirmary all this time. When three days passed and he hadn't seen her for role call or around the compound, the struggle of not knowing became insufferable. Knowing she was alive got him through another day, but not knowing if she was okay was what finally made him take the butt of his rifle and smash his toe in when no one was looking. He knew that before sending him to isolation for sustaining an injury as a result of carelessness, they'd allow him to go to the infirmary first to patch it up.
Alec's heart sped up painfully at the sight of her. He almost gave them away by blurring to her but an unfamiliar stinging in his eyes drew his attention back to himself and to where he was and what he was doing. He looked down, flexed his toe and winced. FUCK! It hurt but he definitely had worst. Certainly nothing to cry over so why the hell had he been so close to tears just now?
Alec quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching. Luckily there were only two nurses and they were each busy attending the only other two patients aside from Max. He looked back over towards her and again felt his eyes tearing up and a lump forming in his throat. He had an incredible urge to go to her and take her hand or stroke her hair, but that would be suicide. And he knew that so why had he even thought something so stupid? He angrily dabbed his eyes and then limped over to a counter that had bandages and antiseptics.
He chose the one closest to her bed so that he'd be able to check her status without looking suspicious. After all that was the whole purpose of inflicting pain on himself and losing tomorrow's three meals in favor of isolation. He had just wanted to see if she was okay after her latest stint in the lab.
She wasn't.
His eyes were immediately drawn to her neck. Upon further perusal he saw that her hands, too, were unnaturally swollen. They didn't look at all like the surprisingly soft and delicate hands that stroked him so many times in the past. Unbidden his mind flashed to the sound she made when he licked and sucked the throat that looked nothing like the atrocity it was now. There were also lesions covering a good portion of her skin. They must have been testing a new chemical on her, Alec figured. The swelling was most likely a side effect of whatever drugs they were testing to see what was the best antidote just in case whatever foreign power used it as a weapon or the more likely case we use it and our soldiers accidentally get dosed, Alec thought cynically.
He looked up when a movement drew his attention back to her face. She was blinking. Alec's heart clenched knowing that meant she was conscious. He looked backed to the clear bags feeding into her arm. None were painkillers.
The stinging was back in his eyes and he noticed his hands were shaking as they attended his toe. Just then the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up and he spun around.
The look in his eyes could only be described as feral as he stared down at what he perceived as an approaching threat.
"Is there a problem 494?" The nurse asked, more than a little unnerved at the way the transgenic was looking at him. When the soldier failed to respond, the nurse, remembering his training, straightened further and attempted to sound more authoritative despite how close to quivering he was on the inside. "494, I asked you a question."
Alec shook his head in an attempt to clear it.
"Sorry sir," 494 responded loudly. "Just came back from live ordinance drills. My ears are stopped up and I didn't hear you." He didn't wait to see if the nurse believed him or not. Instead he moved passed him stiffly, resisting the urge to look back at her one more time.
Once in isolation, Alec was thankful for the time alone to think and sort out the strange responses he was having lately.
He couldn't believe how close he had come to killing that nurse earlier and seeing Max so hurt was the reason. Her tortured body stirred up such fierce feelings of protection inside of him that when that nurse came near her all he could see was someone who had embodied Manticore and it was Manticore that had hurt Max.
But Max was a soldier. Like he was. Both of them had and would continue to go through worse. Why had those emotions surged through him, first upon seeing her after not having seen her for the past few days and then his primal need to protect her from the perceived threat when the nurse approached? Alec wondered. What did any of it mean?
TBC