When I woke the sun had settled in to bed. The lights were on, though, so it couldn't have been too long since it settled. I sat my head up to see the doors at my feet. The letters painted in red read ICU. My head settled on the pillow again with a light thud.
Outside I could hear the soft cries of Bee.
"I know but there's nothing we can do to help her now. Lets meet Primus and we'll be back real soon." Crosshair's voice was soft and brotherly. I closed my eyes and imagined him putting a hand on Bee's shoulder as he comforted him.
Bee made the soft crying sounds again. He sounded closer. My eyes tore open and I looked at the window but he wasn't there.
"Sam will be here to protect her, don't worry." Crosshair sounded farther away.
The doors opened and something cold was put to my chest. If I had the energy and strength to move I would have slapped it out of her hand. Except it wouldn't be very effective with my left hand because my right hand was gone.
I didn't look at the nurse when I turned my head and raised my right arm. My hand was gone, replaced by a stub. A part of me was relieved. Now I was useless to everyone. A part of me was also kind of angry that I did it because now I was useless to everyone. Which was better? I wasn't sure.
The nurse put my arm down gently. "It'll only make you more depressed," she said before the doctor walked in.
She helped me sit up with the support of the bed and ran the necessary tests. "You have a lot of bullet wounds but they could be a lot worse. Your kneecap was completely torn, though. Obviously your hand…" She paused. "And your nose was fractured but that was a quick fix."
"My hand," my throat was so dry and scratchy that I thought she didn't hear it. "Doctor, my hand. Is there a prosthetic you can put on it or something?" I drank the water that the nurse gave me.
"Someone already got a doctor to help with that." By the look on her face I could tell she wasn't too happy. "You need a lot of rest, Miss Fisher. And whatever reckless thing you did you need to get out of it quickly." With that she and the nurse walked out. I couldn't hold it against her. Nobody-except for Sam, this Cade fellow, and me-knew that once someone was sucked into their mess there was no getting out of it. You were apart of the autobots for the rest of your life if you can prove you'll risk your life for them. If you can prove you're a brother-in-arms.
Alisha didn't come through the doors as I expected. Sam and Ky and a man I didn't recognize came through and nobody else after. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at them.
Sam answered as soon as he saw my face, "Alisha went with the autobots. Don't worry, they won't let anything happen to her."
I stared at the man behind Sam. He carried a backpack and he looked old like my father. Maybe he was my father's age. His chin was scruffy with new hairs growing into a beard. He rubbed his chin and probably realized how scratchy it was by the look on his face. His hands were clean but they looked rough.
"Cade this is Elsa Fisher. Elsa this is Cade Yeager. He's going to build you a new hand."
"Really?" I breathed out.
"Well that's the hope. I'm basing it off of the transformer technology, which I've only done to make weapons not to make hands. It'll be a little trickier."
"As long as I get my hand back." I tried to joke but I coughed instead of laugh.
Ky stood a little way off from the group. His ear was nicked and he had cuts and bruising along his arm. Cade's hands taking my arm made me jump. He jumped back and let go, half expecting to have been hit.
"Calm down, it's okay." Again he gently took my arm.
"It's so weird. It still feels like my hand is there." A tear spilled from the corner of my eye but nobody caught it, thankfully. My arm hurt and it saddened me to attempt to move a hand I knew wasn't there but I tried anyway. All it did was frustrate me.
"It happens but that's why we're giving you a new hand. You'll be using it again in no time." He took some notes but he looked kind of sorry for me as he did. "I uh…have a daughter around your age. Just a few years younger than you, actually." He explained.
"She's probably my sister's age then, huh? My sister just got engaged. I didn't even think she was old enough…still don't."
Cade laughed a little. "Yeah. That's being a parent for you. Where are your parents?"
Sam elbowed him in the ribs.
"Oh…right…jinx…" Cade muttered under his breath.
"Stop calling her that!" Ky yelled abruptly. "Why do you even call her that? Because she has a habit of getting hurt? She's leading a pretty damn interesting life unlike you two!"
The three of us looked at each other. He didn't know anything. Ky didn't know about my history. Or about theirs either. "Can you two leave us alone for a while? But bring the pitcher of water a little closer."
The two men didn't argue. When they were gone I beckoned Ky closer. He pulled up a chair. "How could you just sit there and take the ridicule?"
"That wasn't ridicule, Ky. That was pity."
"Why would they pity you? You have the coolest life!"
I looked down at my hand. In my mind my hands were folded but they weren't. Of course they weren't. "When I was a kid my parents were killed in an electrical fire." I explained. "Before that my grandfather died and left me with nothing but the Quill. I was able to be recognized as an adult by 16 but they wouldn't allow me to keep Alisha. Every six months or earlier, if I could, I would attempt to get custody but every time it was denied. I was denied credit to buy a house and I was denied every job offer until I finally got a job at a coffee shop and my old roommate kicked me out of my old apartment. And then" I couldn't help but smile. "Then I…I bought a car and it seemed like everything was picking up but then my ex boyfriend kidnapped me and then I was kidnapped by his car. Who…who turned out to have become apart of the family even though he was a fugitive for a bit. And then I was fired from my job. So you see, they don't call me a jinx because they ridicule me. They pity me for my background. They probably pity me for being dragged into this mess. I'd pity me too because now I can never attempt to lead a normal life. I'll always be the lucky jinx." I reached out to lay the invisible hand on his but I stopped and hid it under the blanket.
Ky stared at me. "Lucky jinx? That's an…interesting spin."
"It's the nickname I feel I've acquired. It kind of fits." The lucky jinx. I wondered if anybody really called me that. I've never heard of one and it kind of seemed contradictory but I liked it enough to keep it.