My muse returns after leaving stranded for ages, and after I've used her she will leave again.
The Nurse said, "Now, was that so hard?"
I wanted to growl when the Nurse said this, but I couldn't because the whole group had, at first, gasped, then rushed over to see if there was anything that they could do. I wanted to sigh, but sighing required breathing and breathing was hard to do at the moment.
"Well, now that you've exposed my secret, I guess that I'll have to pass out now," I stated warily as the shock and wariness had worn off, and I laid down and fell asleep.
When I came to, I wasn't outside anymore, and there were people who I didn't know surrounding me. I tried to get up, but someone put a hand on my shoulders and pushed me back down. I wanted to attack, but I couldn't for I was strapped to a metal hospital gurney in padded cuffs. I was pushed back down and a light was shown into my eyes, first from the left then to the right. I was panicking, but I couldn't stop until someone that I knew came into the picture. The Nurse from my group showed up and told me to calm down or that they were going to drug me. At the thought of drugs, I stilled my movements, and I took a deep breathe, in and out, and I calmed down.
"Hey, Leader, how are ya feeling?" Asked the Nurse, who stood by the gurney and watched both me and the other individual, who went back to checking my vitals.
I glared at her and said, "I'm fine, but what happened? Where are we? Where is everyone else?"
She ignore my glare and said that the group was fine and that they were just outside of the room. I nodded at the information, but before she could continue, someone came in and ushered the Nurse out. The other individual had finished his task of checking my vitals, and checking my wrapped chest to make sure the bindings were secure, then he left the room after telling me to rest, sleep if possible, and that someone would be coming to release you. I nodded and he left, but before he closed the door, I saw how my people were being treated, at least, a portion of my group, and it appears that the group was afraid but they were handling their fear rather well. I clenched my fist in anger at the their treatment, but I reigned in my temper and calmed down. I fell asleep after waiting what felt like hours, but in reality was about 45 minutes.
I awoke to someone talking to someone else near my gurney, but I couldn't see because someone had drawn the curtains around the gurney closed. I started to fall back to sleep until I heard my name being talked about, and I listened in.
Someone #1: "... I hear this patient's name is Chris, is that correct?"
Someone #2: "That is right".
Someone #1: "Do you know if this patient is a male or a female? I need to know what this patient's profession is as well, so that I can plan accordingly."
Someone #2: "Does it really matter what the gender is, Doctor? Couldn't you just treat the patient as a patient and be done with it?"
Doctor/ Someone #1: "If you want my co-operation, then 'yes' the gender is needed. That is our motto: A patient's a patient, no more no less, so treat them accordingly, and without distress. I can understand the importance of keeping the gender a secret, but I can't treat accordingly if I don't know."
Someone #2: " (sigh) I understand. Your patient is a female soldier who is on a mission from the King."
Doctor: "I see. The King, eh? Understood."
Someone #2: " Well, now you know, but this must stay between us. No one is to know about my involvement unless absolutely necessary."
Doctor: "I understand. This stays between us. For document sake, we'll say a female soldier, but do you want me to say high-ranking or not?"
Someone #2: "Let's ask the patient as she has been listening to us for a while now."
The curtain was drawn open, and I could see my two visitors. One was the doctor who looked surprised at my spying, and the other was none - other - than the Commander of the platoon which I had beaten recently. I glared at them both. "So nice of you to include me in this conversation, but next time if you don't want me to overhear you, then I suggest you don't speak in the same room as the object of discussion, got it?"
"You're very cheeky, considering you're strapped to the gurney, and at my complete mercy," said the Commander who glared down at me, but I could see some mild amusement in his eyes.
I growled, then winced when the sound hurt my ribs. "Mercy is something I don't even know, but give me time and I'll give you a sweet release any time".
The Commander snorted at her cheekiness, but smiled at her nonetheless. "Good! You remembered."
"Of course! You drilled it into us until we could say it backwards and in our sleep as soon as we heard the word, 'Mercy'." I smile at the memory.
"Ahem", said the Doctor who stood on the side, "Well, then, let's continue, because I have other patient's that I need to check in on. So, Miss Chris, what rank do you want to be at?"
"Don't call me that", I mumbled.
" Excuse me, what did you say?" The Doctor inquired softly.
"I said to not call me that," I repeated out loud.
"Call you what?" said the Doctor.
"Miss. Don't call me miss. Don't associate me to being a female in that sense," I said while glaring at the Doctor.
"Why? Wait, no, nevermind, I don't wanna know," questioned the Doctor who immediately shook his head at his own inquiries.
The Commander understood the feeling of not wanting to be associated to those weak, frail, females considering how training in the King's Army made everyone equal. If a female was strong enough to get in and stay in, then they were treated like any other soldier - with respect. Anything else is disrespecting even when addressing someone in their old title, which is banned in the Army, and is punished severly.
"Okay, so back to the matter at hand, deciding rank importance. Since, technically, I am ranked as high, if not higher, than the Commander here. The ranking in a hospital is, generally, the same way - the higher the better - but I am supposed to stay low-key. So, I'll take a middle rank, let's say...hm... Staff Sergeant, 2nd Class." I pondered and looked up at the Commander and the Doctor who scribbled it down.
"I'll put this into the paperwork as soon as possible, Staff Sergeant, 2nd Class. As for your injury, your ribs were cracked and we set them and bandaged your chest to hold them in place. They should be healed withing 6-8 weeks. You should drink plenty of water, try not to move too much, get plenty of rest, and try to relax," stated the Doctor who spoke the rules and left the room.
The Commander was still here and I wondered why he still was. After the Doctor had left, the Commander grabbed a chair, dragged it over, sat down, crossed his arms, and stared at me. His stare was making me squirm slightly, and after a while I glared at him, "What"?
The Commander smirked as she squirmed under his gaze. "Congratulations"!
"Whatever for?" I narrowed my eyes at him. He was being so uncharacteristically weird.
"For beating me and my platoon so effortlessly, even the King was impressed when we came to," said the Commander who was grinning at her confused expression.
"Never been congratulated for beating up my opponents before," I mumbled, blushing slightly.
"Change of topic. The King sent me to send you a message concerning your mission, do you want to hear it?" The Commander inquired.
"Firstly, I want to know what is happening to my group of females that I was traveling with, and secondly, I want out of this hospital, then and only then will I listen to your request, capiche?" I growled out evenly.
"The Doctor stated that you needed to rest," said the Commander. Far be it for him to go against the Doctor's orders.
"I don't need to be here to rest, and really, considering all the time I, already, spent in a hospital, I am healing quite fast as it is," I growled out evenly.
This caught the Commander's attention, "What do you mean?"
I stared at him and asked, "Don't you know about the experiments? Considering your rank, you should know all about them, or not." The Commander was staring at her with a confused expression on his face.
The Commander gulped, "What experiments?"