Page 24

Story: Pyre

“I TOLD KAVYA to warn you about the needles,” Lucas crackled through the truck’s speaker.

Kavya had mercifully turned off the camera after Jonah helped Ruby to her feet, but comments and messages of varying concern and mockery were pouring in on social media.

Jonah drove them to the hospital while Kavya scrolled through the Tweets: “Needle Little Help: Bounty Hunter Stabbed by Grandma on Livestream” and “Sticking it to the Man: Fugitive’s Mom Jabs Back.” Ruby’s personal favorite read “Croak and Dagger: Stabbed Bounty Hunter Saves Partner with Frog Mug”.

“I did warn them,” Kavya chimed in as Jonah pulled into the ER drop-off. “But I’m getting pretty tired of you putting us in these ridiculous situations.”

Lucas scoffed, distorted by the sound system. “Ruby’s a weird, superhuman zombie and you think a lady with an antique medical equipment collection is ridiculous?”

Ruby bristled at the ‘weird’ comment. “Watch it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “At least I don’t pretend to be a zombie in my free time.”

Lucas’s indignant gasp brought a grin to her face.

She once walked in on him playing Dungeons and Dragons over video chat.

He was playing as a Necromancer named Emerald.

She’d laughed so hard, he kicked her out of his office—and sent her to Alaska.

She didn’t fear the cold, it didn’t bother her, but a moose had stepped on her luggage, ruining her favorite Chanel cardigan.

She had bought it used, but the fucker had still been $2,000.

Over the speaker, someone knocked. “I’ll call you back,” Lucas promised before hanging up.

The hospital loomed over the trio—white, sterile, and disgusting. Ruby’s fingers curled into a fist before she realized it, muscles tensing against the phantom bite of cold steel tables and the sting of countless needles. “Is this really necessary?”

“Unfortunately,” Kavya confirmed, unbuckling and popping her head between the front seats. “We show Jonah at the hospital after every ‘hunt gone wrong’. Our fans would freak if we didn’t do the same for you.”

It had been five years since Ruby’s last hospital visit. Five years since she had been strapped to a table, poked and prodded and cut and injected. Five years since the phlogiston detox that had left her as human as a thermophile could be.

“Alright, darling,” Jonah patted Ruby on the shoulder. “Time to hop out. I’ll park and meet you there in a few.”

Ruby pushed his hand off of her and dragged herself out of the truck.

The scent of antiseptic hit her before the automatic doors even opened.

Kavya and Ruby made their way into the building, the fluorescent lights in the hospital lobby making her skin crawl.

Ruby forced herself to the front desk while Kavya settled into a waiting chair.

“How can I help you?” The nurse behind the plexiglass looked as though she had seen some shit. Her eye bags were dark, rivaling Ruby’s, a permanent frown etched into the sides of her mouth.

"Got stabbed with something rusty." When the nurse didn’t flinch, Ruby added, "Probably need a tetanus shot."

“Are you currently bleeding?”

Ruby patted her side. “No.”

“Fever?”

“No.”

“Pain level?” The nurse gestured at a series of smiley faces on the poster behind her.

“One.”

She hummed as she typed on her computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

“When was your last tetanus vaccine?”

Technically, fifty years ago. “Childhood.”

“Take a seat. A nurse will call you when the doctor is ready to see you.”

Ruby nodded, smiled at the nurse who was already looking to the next patient, and walked over to where Kavya was discreetly recording on her phone.

Ruby shifted in her seat, the plastic squeaking beneath her. “Can’t we announce that I went to the hospital? Why do I actually have to be here?”

“Because Kavya said so.” Jonah dropped into the seat beside her. “And there’s no point in arguing with her.”

“Are you even allowed to film in here?” Ruby shifted in the plastic chair, crossing then uncrossing her legs. “Isn’t this some kind of HIPAA violation?”

Kavya rolled her eyes without looking up from her phone. “Only if I get caught” Her fingers flew over the keyboard. “Lucas thinks you should take a break and suggests we head back to Denver for a few days.”

"You’ve got to be kidding me," Ruby blinked at her. “I’ve already been pulled from the Edward case, how much more of a break can I take?"

She would be dead before she would take a few days off. Without a new hunt, she'd be alone, left with nothing but her own thoughts. In the middle of her spine was an itch that spread under her skin, buzzing and crawling where she couldn’t reach.

Red hair. Orange flame. Screaming.

“Ruby?”

She looked up. “I’ll talk to Lucas about it myself.”

“Ms. Murray?” A doctor popped her head out of the double doors and called for Ruby.

“That’s me.” Ruby popped up, turning a forced grin to the nurse. “Take me away, doc.”

Kavya and Jonah both stood to follow.

“I’m sorry, only one family member per patient.”

They exchanged a long look, having a silent conversation with only their eyes.

Ruby glanced at the exit, then the ceiling, before a black, round sphere caught her attention.

Stupid modern cameras always seemed to be getting in the way of her escape plans.

She could outrun them all, be gone before they even noticed, but then the TCA would have to wipe the footage, threaten the witnesses, and force her to complete a mountain of paperwork.

The mundanity of super powers was oppressive to her mental health.

Superman never had to file incident reports.

“Make sure to get some footage with your phone,” Kavya told Jonah, settling back into the seat.

Ruby gestured toward the open door. "Great. Glad we're done picking my babysitter. Can we go now?"

A short wait and shorter explanation later, the doctor returned with the shot.

He uncapped the needle and a jolt of panic shot through Ruby.

Thin, gleaming, waiting. Her heart thudded faster now, hammering against her ribs.

She rubbed her hands together, trying to ground herself, but the friction only made it worse.

The faint scent of latex gloves and alcohol swabs triggered a wave of nausea, and the room seemed to shrink, walls closing in, tighter and tighter.

Her throat constricted as though an invisible hand was slowly wrapping around her neck, squeezing.

She couldn’t swallow, couldn’t speak, could barely breathe.

Cold steel tables. Restraints. Needles puncturing her skin.

Bone saws hacking through fingers, then arms. Her mind was a whirlwind of fragmented images, flashing too quickly to grasp but vivid enough to make her flinch with every passing thought.

Her hands trembled, barely noticeable at first, but then the shaking spread—up her arms, to her chest, until her entire body vibrated with the force of her fear.

It left her untethered, like the ground beneath her was falling away, and any second she’d be swallowed by the pit that consumed her stomach.

She wanted to move, to run. Her legs were cemented to the floor.

She was trapped. Trapped in this place, this awful, suffocating place, where the walls were too white, the lights too bright, and the air too sharp.

Her chest tightened further, her breath coming in ragged gasps now, too shallow to catch.

I can’t breathe.

“And we’re all done.” The doctor was muffled by the roaring in her ears.

I have to get out.

Without a word or backward glance she fled, sprinting down the hospital hallways as if she was being chased. Jonah called after her. The doctor called after her. Hell, the ghosts haunting the place could’ve called out for her but she kept going, an unstoppable, runaway train.

She found herself halfway up the empty stairwell, collapsing as she struggled to calm down.

Below her, a door slammed. Footsteps followed, but she ignored them, anchoring herself with the mildew smell of the concrete.

Pressing her forehead against the cool surface, she focused on steadying her breathing.

She didn’t look up as Jonah settled beside her. The spicy, woodsy scent of his cologne mingled with the sterile hospital air. He remained silent, simply sitting next to her with his leg pressed against hers, offering a comforting warmth as he waited.

“Not a fan of hospitals,” she murmured after nearly ten minutes of silence.

Jonah leaned back on his hands. “I get it. Most people aren’t.”

“They remind me of when the TCA found me,” Ruby whispered. “It leads me down a whole rabbit hole toward Edward.”

Jonah softened as he turned to her. “Who did you lose, when he turned you?”

Ruby hesitated, her throat tightening.

Jonah noticed her reluctance and added, “You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready. But I understand, as much as a human could. My sister was burned when Edward turned her boyfriend.”

That was news to her. Back when they had been friends, if you could call it that, he had told her all about his family, but never mentioned losing his sister. Pity curled through her.

“The love of my life. Andy,” Ruby confessed, her throat thick with unshed tears.

She hadn’t cried since she was turned, and she wasn’t going to start now.

“It’s been a while, and my therapist says it’s normal, but.

.. I still see it every time I close my eyes.

It’s paralyzing. I replay every moment in my head, wondering what I could have done differently, if I could have prevented it, if I caused it.

And the thoughts keep swirling, over and over.

Every time I think I’m getting better, it buries me again, and I feel so damn weak.

Isn’t that crazy? I can lift a car but sometimes can’t even get myself out of bed. ”

Jonah’s expression grew serious. “Anxiety doesn’t give a shit about how badass or strong you are.

It’s a part of you, but it’s not all of you.

” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close.

“And grief doesn’t have an expiration date.

Fortunately, you’ll have an eternity to work through both. ”

Ruby let out a sad, bitter laugh that made Jonah flinch.

“I think it might actually be the worst part. The bit that makes me feel more inhuman than the rest.” She sighed.

“When you’re five, a year is a huge chunk of your life.

It feels like forever. When you’re twenty, it’s a small percentage of what you’ve known.

Time flies by, not because it’s moving faster, but because it’s a smaller fraction of what’s to come.

It makes the bad things more bearable, knowing they’re temporary.

And yet, people still live it, cherishing and clinging to the minutes and seconds, both bad and good, because it’s important.

Because it’s limited. Because you’ll never know when it’ll be up. ”

Ruby didn’t feel that urgency, not anymore. The banality of life had shifted into something less than meaningless.

“Living through the moments, enjoying the small things, is what makes us human. For me, time stretches forever. The bad is unending and the good feels fleeting. I feel like I’m stuck in an endless cycle, with everything I cherish fading away while I remain.

I’m a robot, unchanging with time. I want to feel like a person again. ”

Jonah considered her words carefully. “Maybe,” he said finally, “maybe I can help with that.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow. “Help with what, exactly?”

“Help you feel human again.”

Ruby stayed silent. Jonah mistook her silence for displeasure and chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry. Just realized how that might have sounded. Like I—”

“How?”

“Huh?”

The cold from the concrete seeped through her jeans, leaving her legs numb. “How would you help me feel human?”

“Spend a day with me.”

“A day?”

“Yeah, just a day.” His thumb brushed circles into her shoulder. “A day off doing nice, normal human shit.”

“Such as?”

“Well, I need a car wash.”

She balked. “You want me to spend a day with you, washing your truck?”

“Among other things.” Jonah grinned and stood, brushing invisible dirt off his jeans. He extended his hand. “So, you in?”

Ruby studied him, the promise in his words sending a flutter of life through her. She took his hand, feeling the roughness of his palm against hers. “Fuck it, why not?”