Running From the Truth
Jack came slamming through the hospital doors at Fort Omega like a bat out of hell, a stretcher carrying Corigon's limp body in front of her. She paid no attention to Mandol, Riddick, Michaels, Dannings, or Wilkenson who were still about twenty yards from the hospital last time she'd checked. And she definitely didn't pay any attention to the nurses trying to talk to her. She had one mission and that was to get Dr. Henry Jenkins and make sure Corigon was okay.
Jack came around a corner, Corigon's body still in front of her, she ran like hell towards the Emergency Room. Why hadn't she just gone through that entrance to being with? She was in too much a frenzy to figure out why but she was cursing herself silently for the poor choice. Finally, the nurses desk in the ER came into view. . .Jack came to a screeching halt and practically yelled at the nurse.
"Get Dr. Jenkins RIGHT NOW!"
The nurse looked totally stunned and bewildered, "I'm sorry ma'am but the doctor is in with another patient."
"I don't give two fucks what he's doing. GET HIM RIGHT NOW!"
"I cannot do that ma'am." The nurse's cool detachment made Jack want to rip out her throat.
Jack glanced down at Corigon, was his color improving or was it just her imagination? She didn't take the time to contemplate the thought. "Fine! I'll get him myself!"
Jack took off running towards the operating room Dr. Jenkins usually occupied. She flung the door open wildly and looked around. . .there was Dr. Jenkins looking over a soldier with a bullet wound to his upper right bicep, his old lady probably caught him cheating or some stupid shit. It didn't matter, the soldier could wait!
"Dr. Jenkins. . .you've got to get out here NOW!"
"Jacquelyn. . .what is it?" The doctor took one look at Jack's exposed bleeding shoulder and could only imagine what she was about to tell him.
"Corigon. Bullet went straight through his heart, Doc."
*********
Dr. Jenkins fled the room leaving his whimpering patient far behind. Corigon was one of the better soldiers of the Black Knights and if things were as severe as Jack had made it seem the Black Knights might be losing one of their finest. The doctor followed Jack's hurried foot steps out to the main lobby of the ER. A circle of nurses had encircled Corigon.
"Back off! Give me room!" Dr. Jenkins pried through the nurses and immediately stuck the earpieces to his stethoscope into his ears. . .his listened intently. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Dr. Jenkins looked at Jack, her pleading eyes almost too much for him to handle. . . "I'm sorry Jack. . .he's gone."
Jack visibly paled, no! this wasn't happening if anyone could save Corigon it was Dr. Henry Jenkins. She'd trusted her life with Jenkins more than once and now she was doing the same with Corigon's life and he wasn't even going to try to bring him back? "No! NO HE'S NOT!" Jack ripped the stethoscope from the doctor's ears and put the earpieces in and listened. . .there wasn't any pulse. Oh God no! Oh Corigon's God no! Oh Imam's God no! Whoever was upstairs! A little help. . .just something!
"Jack. . .he's dead." The doctor laid a hand that was supposed to bring comfort atop Jack's shoulder. . .the only thing it did was evoke unspeakable anger.
"No! HE'S NOT DEAD! CORIGON IS NOT DEAD! WHY AREN'T YOU TRYING TO REVIVE HIM? WHY? HE CAN BE SAVED!" Jack listened again with the stethoscope. . .still nothing. Jack stuck her hand back into Corigon's gaping hole and messaged his heart and then listened. . .nothing.
A tear slipped down Dr. Jenkins' cheek. . . he really did care for that boy. Corigon was like a son to him just as his accomplices-Jack a daughter and Mandol like another son. "I'm sorry sweety. There's nothing that can be done. Leave him peace Jack."
"Fuck off! He's not dead!" Tears flooded Jack's eyes as the harsh realization hit as the doctor turned to walk away. Jack frantically listened for a pulse again. . .nothing WAIT! There it was. . .faint but it was there! Jack looked down at the hole. . .she could visibly see Corigon's heart starting to pump just slightly. "Doc. . .get over here!"
Doctor Jenkins turned around, "Jack he's gone. Let him go."
"No! He's not! His hearts beating. PLEASE!" Jack was almost begging. She'd sworn to never stoop so low but this was Corigon, she didn't care what she had to do.
"Jack he's-"
In the speed of a bullet Jack pulled a gun from the holster on her shoulder, "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET THE FUCK OVER HERE OR I WILL KILL YOU AND GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE JOB."
Relunctantly the doctor approached, he solemnly took the stethoscope and listened. . .a pulse! It defied all scientific fact but Corigon was alive and breathing! "Jack you stay here! Betty!" Jenkins' yelled to his head nurse, "Get the operating room ready, we've got to save this soldier!"
Jack sighed and made a move to go with Dr. Jenkins and the parade of nurses surrounding him and Corigon but two larger male nurses stepped in front of her as two other female nurses came to administer to her shoulder. Jack tried to squeeze between the sudden mass but she couldn't. She was about to take all four out by force when all of a sudden. . .
Corigon flew up on the stretch straight as a board from the waist up, his eyes wide with the look of pain and terror, "JACK!"
Jack's gaze instantly locked with Corigon's until he fell back onto the bed screaming her name over and over. She quickly slammed a fist or butt of a gun into the male nurses and barged through the mass of nurses surrounding Corigon, "I'm here Danny. You're gonna be okay."
Corigon had tears in his eyes. His body convulsed from the pain, "It hurts Jack. So bad."
"Sssh. We're going to fix you up. You're going to be fine." Jack tried to smile but she couldn't find it in herself to do so.
"I'm going to die Jack." Corigon's eyes shut but a moment later snapped back open.
"No you're not. Don't say that Corigon. You WONT die. I wont let you. And THAT'S an order!" Jack received a smile from her last comment and right then and there she KNEW Corigon would live. . .he had to.
Corigon was wheeled into surgery and Jack stayed by his side. She wasn't leaving again until she knew that Corigon was going to live and even then she wasn't sure she'd leave.
*********
Five and a half gut wrenching, nerve racking hours later Jack stepped out of Corigon's hospital room. He'd been successfully stabilized for an hour now. Jack nodded to Dr. Jenkins as she left the room afraid to make any sound for fear it would wake Corigon from his somewhat peaceful sleep. She'd properly thank Dr. Jenkins later, he was amazing. She'd just almost lost Corigon. . .holy shit.
Jack made her way down the hall to the waiting area where she found all her remaining troops sitting. As she entered all of the men stood. . . they were going to die. Well maybe not Dannings or Wilkensen but Mandol, Michaels and Riddick were going down.
Jack sighed and ran a hand through her dirty, tangled black hair. "He's alive. They stabilized him."
Mandol sighed audibly, "Thank God!"
"No, thank Dr. Jenkins. And to think your sorry asses were going to give up on him. You know what. . . fuck you all. You gave up on Corigon and tried to get me to."
"We thought he was dead Jack." Mandol tried to rationalize. Should have just kept his mouth shut like the others.
"You're weak ass sorry excuses for men. Do you realize that Corigon almost died tonight? Just when it got real gory and things didn't look good you turned your back on him. I didn't see anyone of you trying to help him out. No you were standing around fighting when I got back in the ship. What. . .did you WANT Danny to die? Huh Michaels? Riddick? Mandol? WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING!? It is your DUTY to try to revive a dying soldier. I am SO disappointed. Fuck all of you! Especially you three!" Jack pointed at Michaels, Mandol and Riddick accusingly.
"Sergeant Major, we thought he was dead!" Michaels was the next to try.
"Shut the fuck up! You know what? You can tell Corigon you left him on the metal floor to die. YOU tell him that! Dick heads!"
Jack suddenly rushed the three men, slamming a fist into Riddick and Michael's face and a then a knee to Mandol's groin.
"May you all burn in hell." Jack then turned her back on the men and left the waiting room to return to Corigon.
*********
Jack walked back into Corigon's room and shut the door quietly behind her. She walked over to Corigon's sleeping body and just stared silently down at him. Thank goodness he was alive. Jack didn't know what she'd do if she lost him. Corigon was like a brother to her, if he would have died she would have blamed herself. Corigon was special, he was different from the other soldiers but so was Mandol. It was as if some superior force had drawn the three together to kick some serious ass. Jack smiled. . .Corigon was alive.
"Jack?"
Jack nearly pissed her pants at the sudden announcement of her name, "Corigon. . . you're awake. How ya feeling buddy?"
Corigon opened his eyes slightly, "Oh don't pull that pussy ass 'how ya doing' bit on me. I'll kick your ass."
The morphine in his system was talking. At least he was awake, "OH yeah? How ya gonna manage that big boy?"
"Watch me!" Corigon thought about moving but nothing in his body actually responded, "Or maybe not."
"Yeah I thought so!" Jack smiled down at her friend.
"Geeze how long have I been out?" Corigon picked up his arm with much deliberation and rubbed his temple.
"About five hours."
Corigon's hand dropped, "How long have you been here?" He asked softly.
"About five hours." Jack's eyes were starting to cloud with tears.
"Jack. . .go home."
Not what she had been expecting him to say, "What?"
"Go home Jackie. You need rest."
"No. You should have someone here watching over you."
"I'm a big boy Jack. You don't have to worry about me. Besides, they've got nurses in and out the door about every ten minutes. I'll be fine. Please Jack, just go home. . .you need rest." Corigon's face almost lit up with his old mischievous glow, "You look like shit."
"Corigon-" Jack tried to protest but it was futile.
"Go home and sleep Sergeant Major Melivenski. And THAT is an order my dear."
Jack laughed, "Fine. For an hour or so and then I'm going to be back up your ass."
"Looking forward to it."
"Alright, Danny. See you in a little while."
"Okay. . ." Just as Jack was about to walk out the door, Corigon stopped her. "Oh and Jack. . .thank you. You saved my life. Thanks."
"Don't get emotional on me now, Staff Sergeant." Jack smiled and walked out of the room.
*********
Jack slid open the door to the waiting room, she dreaded having to walk past all the guys again but she had no other way around it. She looked to the corner, yep. . .there they were. Probably waiting to be told they could see Corigon. Jack had been the only one allowed back there since Corigon-conscious or unconscious-was calmer while she was near. Jack tried to hurry through the room but that damn nurse Betty stopped her dead in the center of the room.
"Miss Melivenski. . .you still haven't had that arm checked out. I think you need to see a doctor and get it all stitched up." The nurse looked her up and down checking for other wounds, her gaze stopping at Jack's knees. "You should probably have your knees cleaned up too."
Fuck the world! She'd totally forgotten about her shoulder which truly HAD been giving her a great deal of pain for a while but her knee. . .damn, she never even felt them. "I really just wanted to get some rest. And its Sergeant Major Melivenski not-"
Riddick stood up and approached the scene, cutting Jack off mid sentence, "It does look pretty bad Jack. Should have it looked at." Riddick touched the wound in her shoulder and Jack's eyes threw him daggers.
"Why don't you back the fuck off Riddick?"
The nurse looked at Jack as if she'd just slapped her, "Miss Melivenski. . ."
"No! Why don't you shut up too. I just want to go home. And-"
The nurse totally ignoring Jack's protesting started to pull Jack away from the waiting room and as she did she spoke over her shoulder to the men, "Oh by the way. . .your friend. Corigon? You can visit him now."
That was the breaking point for Jack, she screamed and ripped her arm from the nurses grip, "The fuck you can!"
Jack flew at Riddick with full force knocking him to the ground. Michaels, Mandol, Wilkenson and Dannings tried to pry her from Riddick's throat but it to no avail. Jack briefly heard the nurse yell to the standing men to get a doctor to sedate Jack but before they could move Jack had knocked them all to the floor.
*********
Why was Riddick always the target of Jack's aggressions? As Jack moved to drop the other men Riddick grabbed her by the shoulder-the wounded one-and slammed her onto the floor, pinning her body beneath his.
"Jack calm the fuck down!"
"Fuck you! You left Corigon to die and then YOU are going to tell ME what to do about my own body!"
Clearly Jack was overloaded. Riddick tried the calmer approach and gently spoke, "Jack. . .you are tired. Just do as the nurse says and everything will be okay."
The next thing Riddick saw was the ground in his face.
*********
Jack let out a blood chilling scream and flung Riddick off of her body. She stood instantly searching around her for something to throw. . .nothing but chairs. Chairs! Yes chairs would work nicely! Jack hoisted one of the flimsy plastic chairs over her head, it felt like a million pounds. . .she didn't care. Then with all her energy Jack threw the chair directly at Riddick's head, he fell to the ground again. Good! Jack looked to her sides. . .the other guys just stood watching, at least they were smart enough to step away while they still had the chance.
Jack charged Riddick as he tried to stand and slammed a booted foot into his rib cage hoping she'd break something.
*********
Riddick jumped to his feet and stood in attack mode, if she was going to be like this he'd give her a run for her money. He came at Jack with full strength. He landed a hook, a right and then a left. Jack was stumbling a little but still fighting. Her shoulder was looking worse by the moments but if she didn't quit fighting there was no way Riddick would. Finally she came at him and landed a hard left to his nose and then a knee to his groin. He doubled over in pain which was just enough time for Jack to grab another chair and slam it into his back. Holy hell did that hurt. Riddick hadn't been in a full out battle with hostile opponents in a LONG time. . .he'd forgotten how much it took out of him. His energy level was beginning to mirror Jack's. Riddick stumbled a moment and then straightened and flew at Jack slamming her against his body and holding her there. As Jack tensed for the blow Riddick did just what she'd never imagine him to do. . .kissed her.
*********
Jack blew up. If she didn't already look like hell before now she was the a mirror image of the devil. Jack pushed Riddick away and looked around. . .where were things to throw? Riddick had just kissed Jack. . .in front of her men! The men she'd just led in the capture of Paco Sanchez. The men she'd just commanded through a battle with androids. He was going to die! Jack looked at the nurses desk. . .she saw silver! Pens! Yes! Jack leapt from her feet and cleared the five foot tall desk. She'd never felt so utterly tired and filled with adrenaline at the same time. Jack grabbed a pen and flung herself over the counter. Riddick was going to die, she was going to jab the fucking pen into his chest and render his heart. Jack wanted Riddick D-E-A-D!
*********
Even with McCarr Riddick hadn't seen Jack THIS mad! For a brief moment he was almost scared. . .almost. But then again almost didn't count.Riddick looked around. . .Dannings, Wilkenson, Michaels and Mandol had all disappeared, presumably to find a doctor. Riddick gestured for Jack to bring it on. If she was going to ghost him with a fucking pen, he wasn't going to go down without a fight!
********
Jack ran like a mad woman towards Riddick and just she was about to collide with him Jack blanked, her body going numb and limp, her eyes rolling into the back of her head and any control she'd had before was thrown out the window along with her consciousness.
*********
Jack still went flying into Riddick but she hadn't killed him. Just knocked him to the ground she was like dead weight in his arms. Was she dead? He listened intently. . .no she was most definitely alive.
*********
Dr. Jenkins came into the room followed by the other men. He sighed. . .good, both Riddick and Jack were alive but Jack was unconscious. She'd done it again. . .over exerted herself but then Dr. Jenkins caught sight of her still unattended shoulder and how much blood she was loosing. Jack was rather pale. Jesus Christ! He didn't need this bullshit!
"Get her into the OR now Betty! She's loosing blood like crazy! Mandol, Mr. Riddick help her out!" The two men just stood there looking dumbfounded. "NOW YOU ASSHOLES! MOVE IT!"
*********
Mandol and the rest of the guys sat out in the uncomfortable chairs of the waiting room AGAIN. None of them had slept yet. . .suck a dick! It was just like Jack to start a fight when she was already fucked up enough as it was. Damn though, he'd never seen Jack so angry. Not in ANY of their years. Mandol thought of his newly arrived sister, God did he hope she'd never turn out like Jack. Mandol nearly laughed at that thought. He hoped Jack would be okay. He should go see Corigon. . .but not until he knew Jack was alright. She would be. . .she always was.
Jack was a trooper, a lone ranger. Something special alright. . .real special
*********
Riddick would apologize later. He would. He knew he would. Okay, he hoped he would. Damn, he hoped she'd be okay. She was always okay wasn't she? She'd fought like a real soldier throughout the fight over the past hours. She would have died for any one of them. And the way she never gave up on Corigon. . .not even for a moment. She'd fought with heart and soul. He admired that. Didn't give two shits about her own life it was all about everyone else. Riddick wished he could be that noble. Things were coming and too quickly. Damn the future and damn everything else! Why couldn't he and Jack just BE? Riddick realized then. . .
They'd never be, at least not the way he wanted it.
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Now for my ranting: Okay, how'd you like the chapter? Did you think it was too much? Did you like it? What's going on? Review and let me know. I'd be MOST grateful. I was feeling really discouraged about the last chapter because I only got THREE reviews. . .for AAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL that writing. If that isn't a kick in the head I don't know what is. So please just take a moment or two and review. Also, read Saphrin's story Down In It. . .IT IS AMAZING!!! I promise you'll love it. :O) Okay, until later. . .love, peace and chicken grease!!!- DevilWithTheAngelWingsOn