"It's not all bad news. There's a cure." Teekay said, "Parker man reckons he can find it before I turn. I'll die of blood loss anyway, so I don't really see the point."
She shot a glance at her shoulder and gagged.
"Oh god. Please no. Is that... is that my collar bone?"
"Yeah." Parker said slowly, not thinking much of it. Teekay was the only one guaranteed not to faint at the sight of blood, or bones sticking out of place or through skin.
And yet, the moment he confirmed that the bone she was looking at was indeed her collar bone, she passed out.
"Teekay! I can't believe it. She's out cold."
"Maybe it's blood loss." Quint said quietly.
Quint and Keith stared as Parker handcuffed her arms behind her back.
"Um, what are you doing?" Keith asked.
"She's tried to kill herself twice already. I'm not taking any more chances. Come on. We're going back to the room we were in earlier. At least it's safe there."
He picked Teekay up as Quint pressed the button for the elevator.
She came to a little while after they'd left the elevator.
She yawned and looked up at Parker.
"What's going on? What happened?"
"You passed out. We're headed to the room we were in earlier."
"Oh, right. The hotel investigation."
"Yeah. Whatever you do, don't look at your shoulder."
"Why?"
"You sort of had an incident involving, your collar bone."
She gagged again.
"I don't wanna know. I'm not looking. Don't say anything."
"I stopped the bleeding a little with my shirt. That's what you're supposed to do, right?"
She nodded.
"Yeah. Apply pressure to the wound."
She looked at him for a moment.
"I really do love you, you know. I wasn't just saying that."
He smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
"Good. You had me worried for a while there. I love you too."
She moved to stretch, and something occurred to her.
"What? Am I... handcuffed? You really don't trust me."
"I'm not taking any chances."
"How much longer do I have? How long was I out?"
"About ten minutes." Quint replied.
"I only have ten minutes to live?" She asked.
Quint blinked.
"No, no. You were out for ten minutes."
She sighed with relief.
"Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry." Quint said quietly.
"You can set me down now Parker man. I'm not the one with an injured leg."
Keith rolled his eyes.
"I'm fine. Really."
"For now. You're doing serious damage to the wound you know."
"Yeah, yeah."
Teekay glared as Parker strapped her to a chair.
"This is demeaning and unnecessary." She grumbled.
"I told you. I'm not taking any chances. And I don't care if I have to leave Jessica behind and forget about securing this place; I'm getting us out of here. You, me, Quint, Keith and Raymond."
"Then you better go looking for him." Teekay said quietly. Maybe it was just Parker's imagination, but he could have sworn he saw her eyes flicker pale pink, lighter than the pink streak in her hair, but still pink.
"I'll see if I can get in contact with him." Quint said, "Raymond. Jackass here. We got serious problems and we really need to regroup."
"...This is Raymond. Jessica, she... I don't know."
Parker strode forward and snatched the radio from Quint.
"Raymond! Where are you?"
"I don't know. I think she knocked me out. I'm in, a hotel room I think. The door's locked."
"Sounds familiar." Parker muttered, "Don't worry. We'll find you."
He tossed the radio back to Quint.
"Parker, untie me. I'll find Raymond since it's obvious you're gonna go looking for the cure."
"Quint. You can help me. We'll look for Raymond and the cure."
"Parker, untie me."
"Keith, you stay here with Teekay. Don't let her do anything reckless."
She flexed her jaw. He was ignoring her.
"Untie me. Now."
"If anything happens, radio us."
"Parker!" She screamed, "Don't you dare ignore me, or pretend I'm not here! Now you listen to me! I'm not dead, yet. I can still walk. I can still fight. Now, I don't see the point in finding the cure, but if you insist on it so much, I won't argue. I won't kill myself, since you've made it clear you'll do everything in your power to keep me alive, I wouldn't hurt you like that. Now untie me or I swear to god..."
"You're wasting your breath. I'm not going to untie you." It was more the tone of his voice that stung her than the actual words. She winced.
He bit his lip, knowing if he stayed there just a little longer, he'd just have to untie her.
So he left.
"Damn you to hell Parker Luciani!" Teekay yelled.
Keith sighed.
"Keith, if I turn, and Parker doesn't get back..."
"Yeah. I was just thinking about that."
"Raymond this is Jackass. How you holding up?"
"Fine. I managed to break the door down. No clue what floor I'm on though."
"Any injuries?"
"My head hurts a little. That's all."
"We're on the third floor."
"Raymond!" Parker yelled, "Can you hear us?"
"Did you hear that?" Quint asked.
"No. Only through the radio."
"Ok. We'll make our way to the second floor and look for you there. See if you can work out what floor you're on. Jackass out."
Raymond frowned and looked around.
"They took all my weapons. Damn. Now I know how Parker felt."
He grabbed a lead pipe leaning against the door and shrugged.
"It'll do."
He walked into the hallway and looked around.
"I must be on floor five." He muttered, as he noticed the number five on the wall.
'Really? You think so?' A sarcastic voice inside his head replied.
"Raymond, this is Parker. If you don't mind, maybe while we're separated you could help us look for the combination to a safe in the lab. Have you worked out what floor you're on?"
"Yeah. Floor five."
"Ok. We should regroup. I'll head up there now."
Sorry for such short chapters! the next one'll be longer, I promise. Boss fight coming up!