I know I will regret it, probably for the rest of my life. I have never done something like this before; no reason to start now! Everything was so slow and muffled, even the cries from right next to me. I kicked off, oblivious to advice being almost wailed at me, leaving the scene behind.

I looked back at the lone body, bloody and crumpled on the ground. Hmph, serves it and its stunned-stupid face right. It was either it or me anyway. Yes, a matter of survival, and nothing to regret. Now if only I could get a certain someone to agree with me...

I forced a snigger. I could not hold the feeling in and laughed any further argument away, being cold to mask ground zero that was my mind. I had to, it was the only way I could withhold my sanity after doing something like this...

I cruised to a stop by the road and closed my eyes, drowning out the blare of the engine and irritating voices with nothingness. I breathed in and held it, and slowly drew it out. There, that did it. I will complete what I have already started. It is the right thing no matter how you argued. All I need now is to get to a hospital, and to pray hard that the patch holds.

"You won't last a minute out there! Get back here!"

"It's dangerous; hey, come back!"

"Hah, the snivelling wimp who couldn't even cook for himself now wants to see the world?"

I was confronted by that whirlpool of voices – the last one, a grumpier elder's mocking tone, disturbed me most. No, not that voice again! I thought running so far and climbing up so high away from you would keep me from hearing it again, forever...

"I highly suggest that he be kept indoors for the moment. His condition isn't very – "

"Shut up!"

It was a small white room with only one bed (mine) in it. Everything was prim and proper, from the deceptive cloak of disinfectant and blinding fluorescent tubes to the startled doctor and young girl in dark green gear.

"H-huh?"

"Ah, good. Sure took your time, two long days just to return to a stable condition."

"Y-you!"

I sat up, my right hand flying out of the white sheets to aim at her. The doctor, a stereotypical Asian in his thirties donning grandfather glasses, winced and held his clipboard to the white coat over his chest. The girl in green just lifted a disinterested eyebrow, but the dark rings under her eyes betrayed her steely front. She had no resolve to keep it though, and sighed out and closed her eyes, showing a hint of a smile.

The doctor came over and examined me gingerly, scribbling notes with one hand and checking my breathing, taking my pulse and feeling my abdomen with the other. After a few nods, he fiddled with his black eyewear and spoke with a rushed voice with intermittent pauses, like a young man after a brisk walk:

"Good, you seem okay on the outside... You were in terrible shape when he, I mean, she brought you in. The deep gash you have was very well cleaned and taken care of, but heavy stress undone all that good work. We are very curious about how you got hurt so badly... were you robbed?"

"I got it from climbing up a cliff's edge... that scratch was worse than I thought."

'My breaths came out in heavy, rugged puffs as I hauled myself up a ledge... I jumped up the last of it and then collapsed on my side with a sharp pain in the stomach…'

"Yeah – the pain only started then."

"That explains all that mud and soil so deep into the gash when I first got to you."

"Alright... mm, I'd also like to enquire about the financial aspect of your recuperation here..."

My heart skipped a beat – my desperate flight to the city on the mountain was due to that rabid bear demolishing my tent and turning whatever it once sheltered into indistinguishable rubble, my wallet included... my shock must have been apparent to the girl, who palmed her forehead.

"You really are a rank amateur. Injuring yourself so badly, not bringing enough supplies, not being able to defend yourself, and worst of all losing your money? Were you in the right mind when you stepped out of your house?"

"I know I'm bad at these things, but I still want to travel, alright? Pick on someone at your own level! I know I'm a newbie, and a bad one at that..."

The doctor yelped softly, his dark green tie fluttering as he jumped back. The girl however stood her ground with eyes slightly wider, back arched and arms raised from her sides. The air-conditioner joined in, its growls reverberating through the tense air, until green girl sighed and turned to the doctor, now hugging his clipboard.

"I'll pay for him... how much is it?"

The doctor timidly settled the details with the girl, gold coins trading hands. He then slowly slunk out of the brown door opposite without taking his eyes off me, leaving me with green girl. We were silent for a while; only the now-less intimidating rattling from the air-conditioner and our drawn breaths were audible.

My sight blurred with tears I tried hard to withhold. I can't believe this... she's just so – so... she saved me. I had no reason to be angry. Being embarrassed I wiped the droplets away with my sleeve and spoke out – just when she decided to do the same.

"I'm sorry, I – "

"Tch. You win – "

Awkward silence fell before we nearly spoke simultaneously again. This time she lifted a finger to indicate that she speak first.

"Alright, I don't know what I was thinking, but I know that I brought you here out of my own free will. I... couldn't bear to leave you behind, and I'm quite thankful I did not. The doctors said something inside you needed stitching, and only got to it just before you bled your insides out."

She slid down onto the lone metal chair, face in her palms, and then looked up at the ceiling with tired eyes. Her lips curved upwards slightly, her face proud that she did the right thing. I felt even guiltier now...

"Thank you for bringing me here, and for saving me again. I'm sorry about blowing up earlier, but you did touch a raw spot."

"Oh? You don't like talking about your... travelling inadequacies? I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"You can say that. Anyway, I'd like a clear explanation now. Why did you shoot me up on the mountain? Why, after you patched me up and all? Then you bring me here into a hospital to patch me up again... you're not going to lob more lead into me after this, are you?"

The girl tensed up, her eyes opened wider than usual, then her lips curved upwards and her eyes became more settled. Her peaceful expression almost betrayed the possibility of her gun whipping up and pointed at me.

"Don't worry, hospitals are no-gun zones in this land. So you could still see. I wasn't aiming at you, but how convenient for a bear to have shown up behind you just then. It took almost a whole clip to finish it off."

I stiffened backwards, mortified by my ill-thoughts. I hung my head down, and then looked up at her again. She smiled warmly still, as if she didn't mind my misperception.

"I'm sorry I thought so badly of you... but your motorrad could carry me and all of my gear? Say, where is it?"

"Outside in the parking lots, probably making acquaintances with someone's sedan. He was very much against me giving you a lift. Kept saying that you should be chucked off, that your clothes got into his wheel, that you should you should lose some weight... about that I think the mileage was pretty much the usual..."

I felt my cheeks burn. How could I have thought so badly about my saviour?

"I guess he doesn't like me much for troubling him like that. Thank you, and sorry for being such a burden."

"No worries... yawn~"

Her yawn was only the tip of the iceberg of her exhaustion – her head was bobbing up and down as she tried futilely to keep her eyes open, she could barely hold herself up on the chair and she nearly fell forward every few seconds... it was a pitiful sight; did she even sleep in the days before I regained consciousness?

I peered down at myself – a bandaged body was wrapped up in tight white bandages like a type of underclothing from the past, and over it a crumpled change of white and off-white striped hospital shirt and trousers. Here I am, a young man almost twice her age, enjoying the comfort of fresh-smelling bedclothes, a warm blanket and plush mattress when that girl who's been through so much and got only a few minutes of rest has to prop herself up on a cold metal chair.

I slapped myself for that, and got up. My chest stung a bit, but not as much as my guilty conscience. For all that I've done and what I've thought, the least I could do was to – yikes!

In a flash she drew an empty hand curled up as if holding a gun to my face, but only roused from her drowsiness enough to speak a bit later.

"What... are you trying to do...?"

"I, well, you should have the bed. You're much more tired than I am."

She didn't reply but her hand loosened its pose and drooped down, so I took her by her hand and supported her as she half-walked and half-slept her way to the bed. She tucked herself in, mumbling something about the bed being comfortable. I smiled, brushing off some of the stains I got from her coat, and the lingering smell of the outdoors. She didn't even take a bath in this time? Did she even leave the room, eat or drink? On closer inspection there were a few white crumbs on her moist lips, and there was a smaller white door to the left of the bed. I sighed in relief.

Her expression was so peaceful that I got embarrassed to look at it, and decided to look away lest I somehow disturb her well-deserved rest. There was a large window overlooking the hospital grounds above the bed. I couldn't see much with my glasses on the side table. Blobs and smatterings of orange lights from the sodium streetlamps, and oblique dark rectangles in the distance dotted with small white squares. I shuffled to the chair, just a short distance across the cool white ceramic tiling, and sat down. I took a short look at her round, boyish face again.

She was deep asleep now, her breathing light like the gentle breeze from the air-conditioning. Thank you... though, I have another favour to ask of you.

The smell of sweaty, unwashed clothes brought me to my senses. I felt a hand lightly tapping my right shoulder, and peeled open my eyes. It was the girl, and she wore a plain, cold face. Just like the one when she was exiting the mountain cave. The gray clouds outside flashed occasionally and rumbled, as if her mood was orchestrating the weather. There was a faint wail of a siren before she spoke in a tone with as much emotion as the air-conditioner.

"Thank you for the bed. It was most comfortable."

She turned to the door to leave. She wore her gloves as she walked, indicating that her stay in these lands was at its end. She had none of the vulnerability she had last night, only cold resolution to leave me behind. Wait a minute – whoa!

"Wait, wait up!"

"Hmm? I have no intention of leaving you behind. Follow me – I still have the little gear you own left on my motorrad outside. I have no use for them, and they are not much to pawn. You can take your rest here to be on me."

"H-huh? No, that's not it. I was thinking of asking you for another favour."

She almost missed a step in her brisk walk, but continued on her path to the exit, past nurses and doctors with wide-open eyes. I clutched my stomach as it stung from my frantic attempts at keeping up.

Our walk was a wordless one, partly because I had no breath after she deliberately used the stairwell instead of the lifts, and also because the hospital was vaguely familiar. I don't think I've been into this wing, but the layout and the decoration scheme reminded me of – oh, we've reached the exit.

The glass doors slid apart as she approached them, letting in the draughts and rain now pouring down. She looked back at me with uninterested eyes, overcoat flapping. I was however, not in the least uninterested at what I saw outside – it was, it was...

A large revolving metal sculpture of the hospital's emblem, a mishmash of geometric shapes stood directly outside. Around it was a small roundabout. A queue stood under the shelter to the right, the huddled people waiting for a taxi to dock and a reasonable price to pay. There was a small mock waterfall and miniature lake further away, with denizen terrapins swimming in it to their hearts content. A beep and a lady's voice calling out '314' came from a building to the left – the pharmacy's electronic waiting list.

It was the compound of Mercy Hospital. The largest hospital in the city I hail from. The city I had desperately fled just a week ago.