Eli awoke groggily. She rolled her head to the side and moaned softly. For a moment, she forgot where she was and how she got there, and then it all came back. She gingerly ran her hands along her throat, and felt the injury. She felt the stitches placed in her throat, which didn't seem to alieviate anything. In fact, it felt like the stitches were ripping her already torn throat in two different directions. "That's gonna leave a mark." she said to herself. That's when her eyes caught the tube in her arm. She followed the tube up with her eyes until she saw the package she was intravenously connected to. "Morphine." She said, with just a hint of exasperation. This would just hinder her escape. With the morphine in her system she wouldn't be able to function at her best.
She reached over and ripped the needle out violently. Blood began to flow freely out of the little needle prick in her inner elbow. "Fuck." she cursed. She reached over and grabbed the medical tape off the shelf. Tearing off a piece, she was able to create a temporary bandage to her inner elbow, she figured it would clot soon anyway. She continued from there to remove the rest of the tubes she was hooked up too.
Eli got up shakily from the hospital bed, her legs feeling as if they were going to go out on her at any second. She was also going short on breath, and her vison kept on clouding over with dizziness.
"Come on Eli! Get it together. You wanna be around when the pity party starts?" Her mind asked condemingly. Eli shook her head 'no'.
She shakily made her way over to the window, and with no effort at all, forced it open. Eli gazed out warily, searching for any sign of danger with her straining eyes. She had a good idea that if she turned on her internal ki radar, she'd probably faint. No danger within sight range. She reached out and snagged a close tree branch and hauled herself onto the branch. It seemed to take forever, but she managed to get most of the way down from the tree. Noting that the branches stopped about six feet from the ground, she decided to risk the jump. She landed with a muffled thump on the ground. She stood up unsteadily and looked around again. Still no danger in sight.
"Good. Maybe things will go my way for once tonight." and with that she began to walk away.
"Where do you think you're going?" A low voice asked.
Eli froze, but her mind raced; trying to place a face and a name with the voice. She turned her head just enough to see out of the cornor of her eye who it was.
Piccolo.
"It's the lesser of two evils." her mind reasoned.
"How'd you get this job?" Eli asked dryly, turning her head back to where Piccolo could only see the back of her head.
"Drew the short straw." He said in his typical dry humor.
Eli sighed. "Piccolo, if you turn around right now, we'll both say we never saw each other."This wasn't a question.
Piccolo was shocked, did he detect a tone of shame in her voice? "Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta got Chill to give us some details about what happened. I want to hear it from you now."
"He knows! Fuck! Shit! Dammit! He fuckin knows!" Her mind screamed at her. "This is my problem and I'll deal with it." She stated with vehmnence in her voice. Eli began to walk away.
Piccolo began to lose his patience. "Stop." He commanded.
Eli kept on walking, she didn't have to listen to Piccolo.
"Eli, Stop!" Piccolo shouted, slightly louder.
Eli kept on walking.
"Elisha! Stop right there!" He shouted.
Eli was shocked into stopping. But, she wasn't sure what shocked her more. The sound of her ice-jin name, or the fear Piccolo's tone inspired in her.
"Turn around." Piccolo commanded.
Eli grit her teeth and turned around, but she refused to look him in the eye.
Piccolo noticed this, and it disturbed him. For as long as he'd known Eli, she had never been the timid damsel in distress. And now here she was, under the restless night sky, refusing to look one of her friends in the eye. Piccolo began to walk toward her. As he approached, Eli's eyes grew more and more toward the ground.
Eli couldn't stand this. Not only had she been publiclly humiliated, but now Piccolo had to interrogate her on the matter.She saw the very tips of Piccolo's shoes come into her field of vison. Kami, he was close.
"So what happened?" Piccolo asked.
Eli didn't answer.
Piccolo held her chin in his hand, gently bringing her to face up to meet his.
She clamped her eyes shut.
"Look at me." He commanded.
Eli reluctantly opened one eye, and then the other. She found herself staring into those cold onyx eyes.
"What happened?" He asked again.
Eli jerked her chin roughly from his hand, causing pain from her shredded throat, but she wouldn't let him see that. "Leave me alone." she said, in a tone that totally lacked her old vitality.
Piccolo closed his eyes and sighed. He really didn't want this to turn into a full-on brawl, especially when it didn't look like Eli could walk straight much less fight.
"He'll kill you too." Eli said emotionlessly.
Piccolo felt his eyes widen.
"Do you think I kept the secret because I like being hit?" She asked somewhat sarcastically. "Killing people because of my big mouth is no sweat for...him." She said.
"Eli..." Piccolo began, placing his hand on her shoulder.
Eli jerked her shoulder away from Piccolo's hand.
Piccolo folded his arms, he understood not wanting to be touched. "You can tell me about what happened, or I can read your mind. Your call." he said.
Eli grit her teeth again. She couldn't tell him what happened, not without losing her composure. Hell, she was having a hard time keeping it together now.
"You know I won't talk." She stated plainly.
Piccolo unfolded his arms, and placed one hand on Eli's forehead. He could feel the cold sweat that had collected there, and he would have bet that her neck was probably just as cold.
Eli felt his hand press to her forehead, his warm, comforting hand. She didn't know why this calmed her so much; it just did.
Piccolo strectched out his mind into hers. Seeing the inside of his eyelids as if they were the screens in a theater, watching Eli's memories like a series of movies.
He wasn't ever prepared for what he saw.