Transcend

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

“Mrs. Ward, your son’s injuries have been healing at a rate faster than we expected.” Doctor Mercer consults the patient file in her hand, her eyes flicking to the vibrating cell phone on the bedside table. She smiles at my mother. “If this keeps up we’ll be able to release him by next week or so.”

“I don’t understand.” My mother pretends she can’t hear the violent buzzing. “You’re going to release him a month early?”

“We have no reason to keep Caleb here for another month, Ma’am. All that’s left of his rib injury is a little bruising and if he doesn’t strain his shoulder too much, I don’t see any reason why his arm needs to be in a sling.” Doctor Mercer taps my ankle with the file. “I’ll be checking up on his sprain and the wrist fracture, but other than that, he’s fit to go home.”

The other doctor in the room – the guy with the killer spikes for hair – clears his throat. Doctor Mercer shoots him a look over her shoulder.

The phone stops buzzing for a couple of seconds before launching into another session. I grit my teeth. I wonder what my mother would do if I threw her phone against the wall. Her mouth pursed into a thin line, she swipes the phone off the table and jabs a button. It ends the buzzing. She turns her attention back to Doctor Mercer. “Is it possible for people to heal so quickly? Caleb did sustain serious injuries.”

Doctor Mercer tucks her hair behind her ear and fiddles with the stethoscope in her coat pocket. “To be honest, cases like this don’t arise that often. They’re rare, but yes, I have heard of situations where the patient heals from a severe injury in no time.”

“I see.” My mother smiles at me. “Well, looks like you’ll be home soon, sweetheart.”

I grunt in response.

Doctor Mercer whacks my ankle with the file. There’s disapproval plastered all over her face. She thinks I’m too antagonistic for my own good; she keeps telling me every opportunity she gets. Well, tough.

The spikey-haired guy clears his throat again. “Doctor Mercer,” he says, taking a step forward. “The tests.”

Doctor Mercer tilts her head toward the ceiling. “I highly doubt they’re necessary, Doctor Ross.”

“But it could be extremely beneficial to conduct them. It would offer us opportunities to study the inner workings of –”

She raises her hand to shut him up. “Mrs. Ward, my intern here is very keen on carrying out tests to determine why Caleb’s been healing at such an exceptional rate. It would entail extracting certain samples from him and monitoring his recovery for another month.”

Ah, crap.

Ana said something about this happening. That not everyone would accept my rapid recovery as a medical miracle. And with these crazy hunters running around, I can’t even afford to get tested.

God damn. This Reaper business is already starting to piss me off.

I scowl at the intern. “I’m not a bloody lab rat.”

He squirms in his place. “I’m aware of that but –”

“And you still want me to waste another month of my life confined to this hospital so you can carry out experiments?”

“Well –”

“Do you suffer from a mental condition?”

My mother almost drops her phone.

Damn it. I rub the back of my neck and keep my gaze averted from my mother’s. I didn’t mean it that way. For once, I’m not trying to be a douche. I know it’s still too early to mention that phrase around her.