Future Rewritten

Strangers and Questions

Groggy. 

Slowly, she wakes up. Beneath her is no longer ground. It's soft and warm. Comforting. Her eyes adjust to her surroundings. What she can tell is that she is inside somewhere. Somewhere foreign.

Rolling away from the wall, she realizes she's not alone. There are several faces staring at her. The first person is wearing a long, white coat. That must be the doctor. So, she's in a hospital or emergent care facility. That's wonderful.

Next, are an older couple. Maybe late 50s early 60s. Dressed casually, but still very proper. They're looking at her with intrigue and concern. Mostly the woman was. The gentleman face showed more hatred. Understandable.

As she continued to roll over, to her right was another person. Leaning on her neighboring bed was a rather large man. Bulky, more like it. Muscle on muscle. His fully tattooed arms were cross over his broad chest. His black jeaned legs were also crossed. He was glaring at her.

What startled her the most was his eyes. Just like the wolf's, they were two different colors. The right one was green, but the left one was the same blue. It, too, had a rather large scar over it. What were the possibilities that a wolf and a man had the exact same scar? She highly doubt that was computable.

Murmuring.

She turns to see that the older gentleman was trying to talk to her. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear anything but deep murmurs. Confused, she shakes her head. Hoping to indicate that she's unable to understand.

More murmuring.

Now the doctor is talking. She seems to be talking mostly to the couple, but she attempts to say a few words to her. Slowly, the doctor's mouth moves. In the off chance that she's able to read lips. She stares, hard, but still shakes her head. Unable to understand.

The older woman moves. She sits gingerly on the edge of her bed. The older woman moves to brush a strand of hair out of her face, but she flinches away. Cowardly closing one eye, waiting for the strike. The older woman briefly pauses before moving the strand.

murmuring again.

She opens her eye to see the older woman was trying to talk to her. All she could do is look down at her hands. They were grasping the bed sheet for dear life. Next thing she sees is the older woman's hand. She has moved it to touch her own. Clasping the sheets harder was her response.

The older woman moves her hand, slowly. Without touching her, she guides her face to look at her own. Caring and concerning eyes were staring at her. The older woman seemed to only want to show care and understanding. Without thinking, she turns to the man with dual eyes. Wanting him to tell her it's okay. That she's safe.

He raises an eyebrow at her. Some more murmuring was heard before the man talked. His voice was low, gravely, and resonated deep in her chest. Still, she couldn't hear what he was saying. It seemed as if they were wondering why she turned to him. As if they knew each other. She didn't know him, but knew his eyes.

The older woman took this opportunity to gently hold her hand. Pulling one away from the bed sheet. The woman doesn't squeeze or yank. Her other hand slowly moves to enchase the hand of the unknown woman. Afraid, she holds still and watches. Making eye contact.

The older woman smiles. Closing her eyes, it seems as if she's trying to read and understand her thoughts. It wasn't long, but afterwards the woman looks scared and sad. She turns to her partner and murmurs something to him. This causes him to jolt off the wall, he was leaning against, to murmur back to the woman.

This frightens the woman in the bed. Whatever was just said, caused a commotion. Everyone around her was murmuring frantically. Fear and flight sets in. Trying to pull her hand away, she begins to scream. Wanting to run, but has no where to turn. Everyone seems to cage her in and try to calm her but nothing is working.

The doctor rushing and jabs her with a needle. A sedative, most likely. After a few seconds it starts to work and the woman in the bed slowly falls back to sleep. The older woman and the doctor get her comfortable in the hospital bed and wait for her to reawaken.

*****

"There she should be asleep for a couple more hours." The doctor informed the group.

"I can't believe she freaked out so bad." The older man stated.

"She's scared. This place is unfamiliar and there are people she doesn't know surrounding her. Questioning her." The older woman reminded the partner.

"Yet, she turned to Ronin when you went to grab her hand. As if she was asking him if it was safe." The doctor pointed out.

Ronin growled. "I don't know her."

"Well, we'll find out more when she wakes up." The older gentleman walked over to his partner. 

"Poor thing. She looks... terrible." The older woman placed a comforting hand on the sleeping woman's head.

"We don't know what she knows. It could all be a trick." Ronin warns.

"Agreed." The older man nods.

"Lawrence, Ronin, you two are out of your mind if you think this girl could be a threat in any way." The older woman scolded.

"Lynn, my love, the people outside of our walls are dangerous. Who knows what they will come up with to get information from inside of here." Lawrence explained.

"You sound ridiculous." Lynn rolls her eyes.

"I'm just trying to keep our people safe." Lawrence places a hand on Lynn's shoulder.

"I understand that, but what can she do in her state?" Lynn asks.

"Enough..." Ronin sounded if he knew what even the tiniest outsider could do serious damage.

"Speaking of which..." Lawrence looked to Ronin. "How did she get over the wall? How did she slip by you?"

Ronin glared harder, at the woman in the bed, in frustration. "I have no idea. One moment I'm patrolling and the next, she running past me. It was like she came out of nowhere."

"People just don't appear out of nowhere. She had to have come from somewhere." Lynn sighed.

"That's all I know. By the time I realized we had an intruder, she was already through our defenses, past me, and running for our open field." Ronin restated.

"I want the wall, in that area, walked. There my be a breach we're not aware of. Find it." Lawrence ordered.

"I'll get right on it." Ronin goes to leave, but Lynn's voice stops him.

"I think you should stay here." Lynn informs Ronin.

"Why? I'm more useful looking for the breach." Ronin turns back to look at Lynn.

"Whether you know her or not, she finds comfort in you. It's best to stay at her side. IF we want her to talk, she'll only talk if she knows she's safe." Lynn points out.

"I agree. Ronin, send others to search the wall. You need to remain here." Lawrence changes his orders.

Ronin, unhappily, agrees. "Yes, sir. I'll be back in 5."

Ronin growls as he leaves the infirmary. This woman popped out of nowhere. Bent her neck to him and pleaded for help. What kind of woman would be such an enigma?