Songs: Radio Moscow - 250 Miles

I still felt quite dizzy when I woke up. I was in a somewhat dark room, a bright light shining into my face. I felt tired and exhausted and just... weird. Where the hell was I? What was I doing here?

I could hear someone babbling from what sounded like a radio. There was some noise coming from far away. Or maybe it was closer, I couldn't really place it. I turned my head to the side slowly and saw a bunch of blood and bits of flesh and then...

HOLY SHIT. There was a full leg just lying on a table right beside me. I quickly sat up and jumped down from the cot I was lying on. I expected to feel some pain in my leg, but I wasn't expecting the sheer amount of pain that suddenly surged through my entire leg. I screamed loudly and tried walking or running more, but my body just wouldn't cooperate properly and I fell.

"Oh shit!" I heard someone shout and then I was pulled up by my arms and brought back to the cot I had just escaped from.

"Silly lapushka. What do you think you do, hm?" a woman with a heavy accent asked. I felt incredibly exhausted, but things in my head started becoming a little clearer. I was on Elpis. There was Mordecai. And the woman... Nina!

"What is going on...?" I said weakly.

"Relax, lie back down, you just woke up." Mordecai answered while Nina wandered off and got an injection ready.

"What... is that my leg?" I wanted to know and pointed at the leg on the table beside the bed. I started remembering why we were here, I could barely remember getting sedated for the whole procedure, though.

"Yeah. It took 5 hours to get everything done, so we have to get on the shuttle soon, so it can bring us down to Pandora. How are you feeling?" Mordecai asked. I looked down at my leg. From the knee down there was the new robotic leg, all shiny and new, except for some blood stains.

"I'm tired. Dizzy. My leg hurts... well, the part that's still there." I answered. That was when Nina came back, a needle in her hand, grabbing my arm.

"What is that?" I asked her.

"Pain medication. Hold still or pain get worse." she said. I didn't have enough energy to struggle, so I just let her give me whatever shot she was giving me. It was all coming together again and I realized I had panicked for no reason. I sighed and laid back down on the cot.

"Sorry, I... I just panicked when I woke up and saw a leg beside me. I was pretty confused." I told them.

"Happens many times. No worry." Nina replied and came back with more shots, some of them seemed to be healing hypos.

"When do we need to go?" I asked Mordecai as Nina jammed needle after needle into my veins.

"Soonish... we need to be back on the shuttle in an hour." he said.

"I can't even walk!" I complained. Why was I not able to walk? I thought that was the whole point of getting a new leg.

"No, leg needs to heal. I give you crutches. You start using new leg after three days only. Use healing hypos three times every day. Start using leg carefully first, then more later on. Understood?" Nina told me after she was done with all the injections. I nodded weakly. I just felt so tired.

"Here, I brought you some new pants." Mordecai said and handed me a neatly folded pair of cargo pants.

"Thanks." I replied with a small smile. I unfolded them and put my normal leg through the leg of the pants and then carefully did my best with the other one. It was a struggle. It wasn't as much painful, more that I could barely move the leg. It seemed like it was super difficult to get control of it.

When I had finally managed to get to the stage where I had both my legs through the legs of the pants, I looked down with a sigh and just started bawling. I didn't even know why exactly I was so upset, maybe because I just hadn't expected having to struggle so much with a new robotic limb.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Mordecai asked, sounding really concerned. I shook my head. I didn't even know what was wrong, maybe I was just too tired and too exhausted to be able to deal with the fact, it would take some time for my leg to heal. It was stupid, really, but I just felt weird and empty inside.

"I don't know. Maybe... maybe we should just get on the shuttle and get it all over with." I said.

"Is normal, devushka. Takes time to get used to it. Get some rest. Get some sleep. Will be better soon." Nina told me. I nodded.

"Yeah, yeah... thanks." I answered. She gave me two crutches and I carefully got up on one leg, while leaning on one of the crutches and on Mordecai. I finally managed to finish putting on those pants. It took forever, not only because of my leg, but because I was also still groggy from the sedation.

Mordecai handed me the second crutch after I was done and stepped aside, so I could try them out. I moved a few steps forward carefully, just getting used to them, until I thought I was ready to get going. We really didn't have much time left, so we had to hurry back to the shuttle. And hurrying wasn't possible in my state, so things would be extra difficult. Because why wouldn't they be?

"I think I'm ready. Let's go." I said to Mordecai. He just nodded and picked up some things he had left around the place. I looked over at Nina.

"Hey, uhm... thanks for the help, Nina. I assume, Mordecai has already paid?" I asked. She nodded.

"Da, da, he has. Is a good leg. Vladof tech. Can see it from a mile away. You will be just fine with it. Give it one week." she answered. I nodded.

"Thanks. And sorry again, for being weird when I woke up, I was confused." I added. She laughed.

"Nothing to worry about. Nina know. Is confusing. Is not easy to do things. Nina understand." she replied.

"Alright then. I'll see you again at some point, I guess? Maybe?"

"Sure. Whenever on Elpis, just stop by."

"I will. Bye!" I said and moved towards the door.

"Thanks, Nina." Mordecai told her and rushed to keep the sliding door open for me, because I was slow as fuck. It took me a good while until we were finally standing in the streets of Concordia. I didn't think it was possible, but I was even more tired than just two minutes ago. I needed to get into that shuttle and sleep.

"How far is the shuttle? I really need to sleep. I feel like I'm gonna fall asleep standing any second." I told Mordecai.

"It's just outside the city, according to my ECHO. We shouldn't have to walk far. Are you feeling okay? You look pretty pale." he said.

"Yeah, I'm just dizzy. And my leg hurts. I have no idea how Gaige managed doing all this herself. Like, how did she not die? How did she continue building DT after having cut off her arm? I can't understand how she did any of that."

"No idea. Does it hurt much?"

"Not so much anymore with the painkillers. But when I got up, it hurt like shit."

"Damn. Then again, what did you expect. You got your leg cut off."

"I kinda expected it would maybe hurt a little. And I expected my leg would actually properly respond to what I was trying to do. But it's like it doesn't really react half the time. It's frustrating."

"I wouldn't know for sure, but Nina said something about the nerve endings growing together and needing to heal before it works perfectly. So that's probably why you need the healing hypos. To speed that up. Don't worry. It'll be fine. I got a bunch of documents on my data pad, so Zed knows what's happening. If there's something wrong, he can take care of you, alright?" Mordecai said. I nodded.

"Yeah, I just... I'm just really tired. Is that our shuttle?" I asked and pointed at a small space shuttle. They all looked the same to me, so I wouldn't know if that was the one we arrived in or not. Every detail before I woke up was kind of hazy and I couldn't really remember things all too well.

"It is. Come on, let's get you in there, so you can sit down and sleep. You're in no shape to be walking around anyway."

I nodded and followed him to the shuttle ramp. It was difficult to get up the ramp. I had gotten used to flat surfaces quickly, but this was different again. It took a while, but we finally reached our seats on the shuttle. It seemed like we got there just in time, because the ramp was closing not too long after we had gotten in.

"What if things don't go back to normal? What if I'll never be able to properly walk again?" I asked Mordecai. This had been my biggest concern since Zed had told me that I had to amputate.

"Don't worry. It won't happen."

"But what if it does happen?"

"Then that's what happens. There's nothing we can do about it now. And it won't change anything. No one will kick you out of Sanctuary, no one will let you starve. It won't kill you. But the thing is, it won't happen. Everything will be fine. Just give it a little bit of time." Mordecai tried to reassure it.

"I just like to worry... You won't leave me if I can't walk anymore, will you?" I asked, feeling drowsy and sleepy.

"What are you talking about, chica? Of course not! You're really confused from all those painkillers and sedatives, aren't you?" Mordecai replied. I smiled and nodded. Things started to seem so far away now.

"Yeah, I'm really confused." I answered and started laughing quietly to myself before I was drifting off to sleep.