Page 137 of Survival

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 plantsI 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.

ChapterForty-Two

Spark

The following day, I woke up to find NurseGinsbyfiddling with something atthe kitchen counter. It looked like she was preparing me anothersmoothie, the irritating sound of the blender confirming mysuspicion. I groaned in protest, wanting nothing more than todisappear back into the blankness of my sleep. I didn’t even dream.There was just … nothing. Quiet, peaceful nothing.

“Oh, good.” The nurse turned to me with asmile. “Sorry I had to wake you, but it’s time for you to eat againsince you didn’t eat much yesterday.”

I wasn’t even close to hungry. Just tired,groggy, and achy as hell. I wanted to go back to sleep, especiallysince I was sure Darren’s stupid ass would be visiting me today.Ginsbychecked my monitor and myvitals before placing the smoothie cup into the holderbymy face. I took a few sips here and there,tasting pomegranate, cherries, and raspberries … and fuck if itwasn’t amazing.

“On a scale of one to ten, how bad is thepain today?”Ginsbysuddenly askedme.

I brought my left hand up, exposed fivefingers, and then flashed her two more. I surprisingly didn’t feelas much pain today as I had yesterday. It must have just been theinitial shock of things.

“Okay,” she said, nodding as she pressed afew buttons on my monitor. “We’ll up your pain meds just a littlebit.”

She then returned to the fridge and broughtback another bottle of water, cracked it open, topped it with abendy straw and placed it in the other holder. I took a few sips ofthat, ignoring the pain in my jaw from the suction.

“I’ve been informed to tell you that Mr.Davis will be here to see you within the hour. He landed on theisland late last night, but you were asleep then.”

Like that’d stop him.

I was sure Darren had already visited melast night; I just wasn’t awake to knowitand thank God for that. If I saw him a hundred yearsfrom now, it’d still be too soon. The nurse then grabbed a smalltablet and set it on the table beside my bed.

“If you need to tell me anything specific,you can use this. There are also several apps on there for games,movies, and reading. No webbrowsing,though, I’m afraid.”

Of course, not.