Closing Time

67.

Those two glanced at each other. A move that surprised me considering the refresher I'd just got in my head. Did they maybe... finally... trust each other a bit?

"Likewise." Lou shrugged, turning to look at me again. He jerked his head towards my bed. "How are you feeling? Really feeling?"

I hadn't had a chance to evaluate myself since I woke up. My eyes moved over the blue hospital gown covering me. My body felt... stiff. Raising my hand, I curled my fingers inwards, flexing them a few times. My eyes went to the plaster on my left arm. It made me raise an eyebrow.

"Dislocated shoulder." Dr. Demon answered my silent question, drawing my eyes to him.

He smiled again at me. I cocked my head. "What else?"

"First degree burns on your back, blast ear, minor blast lung, cracked ribs, minor cuts from shrapnel, heavy abrasions on your arms and legs- I assume you were thrown and you slid." I nodded. "Anyway, five stitches on your head- luckily enough most of the bleeding had stopped and it had already started healing. There was a lot of blood around your neck and chest but I checked and there were no serious superficial injuries."

He paused, frowning for a moment out of curiosity. "Was that your blood or... someone else's?"

"Mine." I raised my unplastered arm to rub my throat. The sensation of a knife cutting it was still very fresh. "All of it."

He exhaled softly in amazement. "You should be dead."

"I'm very aware of that." I paused, looking up at the two in front of me. "Did I not die?"

"No. You were on the brink of it."

Mike's words confused me. It sounded like I'd been gone for a while. Stuck in that... what was that place? Apart from having the look of the bar I used to work at- what was it? "Was I found in time?"

"Not really." Lou pulled his bra cup down, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "Barely got you out of there before the emergency services arrived." He pulled a cheap plastic lighter out of the other bra cup. "That friend of yours... Axel, took his sweet time arriving." The lighter clicked. "Any longer and the ambulance would have had you."

"Didn't you pass out with me?"

The lighter clicked twice more, unfruitfully. "Feathers did. I managed to stay conscious. Cloud had to be able to locate me again."

"You shouldn't smoke in here." Dr. Demon smiled at Lou.

Lou threw him a blank look. "You going to stop me?"

Dr. Demon gestured to me. "Blast lung."

Lou looked at me. I could see him evaluate something in his eyes before he sighed, pulling the cigarette out of his red lips and returning it to the carton. "Fine."

"Damn." I sank into my pillows. "I could do with a smoke right now too."

"I wouldn't recommend it." Dr. Demon turned his smile to me. "Not only because of your charred lungs, but also in general."

"Yeah. I know." My hand shook a bit as I raised it. "I quit about three something years back. I don't know." Time felt odd at the moment. Maybe it had been longer. "How long have I been passed out?"

"A week."

My eyes widened as I turned towards the doctor. "A week?!"

"Yes." His smile was kind of starting to irritate me. "Don't worry. You're in a different town, registered under a name that doesn't exist. And once you're all healed up and rested, it will be like you were never here."