Survival, стр. 133

The only motivation I had to get better wasso I could kill Mr. Davis myself one day. I sat back against thepillow and tried to relax, looking around the room to familiarizemyself with my surroundings. A few chairs were spread throughoutthe white linoleum floor, a small dinner table complete with fourchairs, a comfy looking couch against the window, and a fridge nextto what looked like a small kitchen complete with counters,cabinets, and a sink. To my leftlooked to be the bathroom and another door that I didn’t know whatit led to. Further left was another door, where the guard sat in achair next to it, staring straight ahead. I had a feeling he was apermanent fixture in the room.

“I’m just going to give you a quickassessment, and then I’ll fix you something to eat that yourstomach should be able to handle.”

I nodded, and it fucking hurt.

Nurse Ginsby assessed everything—checking my breathing, drawingsome blood, and determined my pain scale, which was a fuckingtwenty, by the way. She told me the IV was for my fluids,antibiotics, and my pain medication. A lovely catheter had alsobeen inserted, and I wondered if that was the source of thesoreness I felt down there, or maybe it was from Darren.

When she was satisfied, she went over to thekitchen area and started pulling out some fruit from the fridge. Icouldn’t see much of what she was doing, but it looked like she wasmaking me a smoothie, which was probably all I could eat right now.When she returned, she came back with a bottle of water and asmoothie cup with a bendy straw. She cracked the bottle of wateropen first and put another bendy straw in it.

“Drink this first,” she said. “It’ll easeyour stomach.”

She held the water to my mouth, and Itentatively barely opened my lips to take the straw. I lightlysucked on the straw, groaning in pain as I did, but when the waterreached my mouth, I felt a wave of instant relief wash over me. Thewater felt so good in my mouth, and it calmed my now achingstomach. I finished half the bottle before she took it away and putthe smoothie in a cup holder that was close enough to reach myface.

“I want you to sip on this for a while. It’sa fruit smoothie with lots of protein and vitamins. I tried to makeit as thin as possible, but you’ll need to be careful with thesuction so it doesn’t hurt too much.”

I gave her a tiny nod and wrapped my lipsaround the straw, sucking the thicker liquid down in my gut, the sweet taste of bananas andstrawberries on my tongue. It wasn’t easy to suck the smoothiethrough my teeth and swallow, but when I did, I felt a small waveof nausea come over me and backed off.

“It’s the medication,” she said. “And thefact you haven’t eaten in the last three days.”

I looked at her in shock. It had been threedays? What the fuck?!

“We’ve kept you asleep to help your bodyheal faster,” she replied without looking at me as she checked myheart monitor. “Now, if you can manage to get a good fourth of thatdown, I’ll let you sleep, but you really need to get some food inyour stomach first.”

I glanced away from her, trying to relax soI could finish more of the smoothie. I took a few more sips beforethe door to my left opened and I turned to see who it was. A man Irecognized instantly. Sid. Darren must have brought him in to helptake care of me. He walked his short, fat, old ass toward me, hishands in the pockets of his white doctor coat and addressed thenurse.

“How’s our patient?” he asked her.

Uh, I’m right here, asshole.

“Doing well,” she said, turning to him witha smile. “Vitals are up and her awareness is good. Just trying toget something remotely solid in her stomach so she can rest.”

“Good,” Sid said as he looked over my chart.I eyed him with hatred to the point where I swore he could feel it.When he finally found his balls, he looked up at me with ano-nonsense look on his face. He didn’t care about me. He was justhere on Darren’s payroll.

“Hello, Jaden. Remember me?” he askedme.

I rolled my eyes and flipped him off with mygood hand. Maybe I should start taking up sign language.

“Of course, you do.” He smiled, looking backdown at my chart.

I shook my head at him and looked awaytoward the window with white open wood blinds. I could see somevegetation growing around the windows, but they certainlyweren’t plants I recognized.Definitely tropical.

And then I felt the room spin. Fuck, I wasgroggy.

“Jaden,” Sid addressed me. I turned my headto glare at him, blinking the random dizziness away. “We’re goingto make you better, but we’re going to need your absolutecooperation, understand? Otherwise, your recovery will take longerthan expected, and I know you don’t want that.”

If it hadn’t been so painful, I would havesnorted with laughter. Everybody wanted my cooperation.Whatever.

“Now, if you can finish a little more of thesmoothie, I’ll give you a sedative to help you sleep.”

Sleep suddenly sounded like a fantasticidea. I really didn’t want to be awake anymore.

I gave Sid another glare before Ireluctantly turned and wrapped my lips around the straw to gentlysuck down more of the smoothie. Atleast, it tasted good. I managed to get another quarter ofit down and that seemed to satisfy him. I laid back against thepillows, suddenly exhausted from the excitement and exertion. Sidwalked over to my IV bag and injected something into it.

Within thirty seconds, I felt the drug kickin and my eyes felt even heavier than before. The moment I shutthem, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be waking up for the rest of theday.