The Eden Compound

The Eden Compound (Chapter Eight)

Chapter Eight:

            When she woke up again, Linn was sitting in a chair next to her bed.

            “Wuzzgoinon?” she asked, trying to clear her head. Linn giggled.

            “You sound funny on painkillers,” she said.

            “Shut up,” Siobhan said, trying even harder.

            “Did they explain everything to you?” she asked. The beeping started to speed up when she remembered what the nurse had said.

            “Kind of,” she said, everything becoming more lucid. She could still feel a dull pain in her chest and ankle but it wasn’t as bad as it had been before. “How did I get here?”

            “Apparently Keenan sent them your tracking code on his way back to the station. Since he’s a intern, he has access to the police database,” Linn explained. “They don’t know this exists so they’re not too fussed about security. Anyway, they sent out helicopters- ones with actual blades, too, since there’s no mag-grid out here- to find you and they found you in the crater and brought you here,” she finished. “Anything else?”

            “You’ve got the duffel, right?” she asked, seized by a sudden fear that her things would be lost.

            “Yup,” she said, lifting it up. “No worries there.”

            “So, Keenan’s working for them?” she said.

            “Yeah, and he’ll get his vacation in a few days so he’ll join us here.” Linn nudged her, winking.

            “Oh shut up,” Siobhan said irritably. “I’m not actually gonna pursue him.”

            “And why not?” The astonishment in Linn’s voice was clear. “Come on, he’s nice and smart and a rebel and he’s totally into you.”

            Siobhan snorted but found it difficult to express what she was thinking. “I just…”

            The nurse came in again.

            “This can wait,” Linn said. She got up, holding the duffel. “Do I have to leave?” she asked the nurse.

            “No, you can stay,” she said. “I’m just here to make sure she isn’t screaming in pain.”

            Siobhan rolled her eyes.

            “So you’re the girl that go kicked out, eh?” the nurse said, smiling. “You’re famous now.”

            “For what?” Siobhan asked. “Making an ass of myself?”

            “No,” the nurse said. “Your gesture- feeding the peri- was like a symbol of rebellion.” Her eyes were shining.

            “It really wasn’t,” Siobhan said. “I just helped a little girl.”

            “Which was illegal.”

            “I wasn’t thinking of rebellion at the time. Just the fact that she needed help.”

            The nurse shrugged. “Whatever you say, kid, but once you go out there you’ll be over your head.”

            Siobhan sighed and sank back into the pillow. The nurse walked out again.

            “Tell me she’s lying,” she asked Linn. Linn made a face.

            “She’s not,” she said, her tone almost an apology. “I’ve seen it.”

            Siobhan groaned. “Why is it that I always tend to get in over my head.”

            Linn shrugged, her blue eyes laughing.

            “Because you’re you and you never think before you act,” she said.

            “This’ll probably die down in a few days,” Siobhan said. She sighed. “This never would have happened if I had just left well enough alone and eaten lunch with the rest of you guys.”

            “There’s no point in dwelling on the past,” Linn said. “Things are what they are.” She pulled her long hair back into a ponytail and sank back into the chair with a smile.

            “These things are comfortable,” she said.

            “Linn, did you tell your dad you were leaving?” Siobhan asked, the fact dawning on her. Linn looked uncomfortable and even close to tears.

            “I sent him a message,” she said. “And when Keenan comes I’ll have him talk to him for me.”

            At least I had both parents, however little I saw them, Siobhan thought. Linn’s only ever had her dad since her mom died. Siobhan knew little about Linn’s home life, and the little she knew told her that she shouldn’t pry.

            “Did they say when I’d be out of here?” Siobhan asked.

            “They said hopefully the day after next. They’ve done surgery and fused together most of the broken bones, you’re mostly just resting right now.”

            “Cool,” she said, starting to drift off. Images floated before her eyes and soon she was dreaming.