Vagabonding.1 [COMPLETE]

3. Getting To Know You

I opened my eyes to see that I was still in the same room that I was in originally and that Surge was at my side looking relieved.

"Glad to see you're awake," Surge said as he took sharp inhale. "We had a bit of a scare there—well, at least I did—but you're fine."

"Oh," I took my time sitting up this time so that I wouldn't faint again, "I'm guessing I passed out for a while."

"Yeah, you passed out from getting your blood drawn. Didn't the nurse give you something to eat after?"

I shook my head. Surge sighed before standing up and handed me a canned tea along with a bag of plain chips.

"That's weird that the nurses didn't give you anything," He began to say. "Healers are generally pretty nice people unless you're on their black list."

I shrugged, "Maybe they just forgot, that happens a lot back at the orphanage."

"Well, at least you have something for now," Surge offered a gentle grin before digging in his pocket to pull out his phone. He gave himself a decent facepalm and mumbled under his breath, "I can't believe I forgot to take my phone off of silent... Cailin is pissed off at me, I just know it!"

Surge tapped away quickly at his phone, his fingers pitter-pattering away furiously at the touchscreen.

"That's a name I've never heard," I said as I popped chip in my mouth.

"Yeah, it is a weird name, isn't it?" He replied as he went back to texting.

Long after my chips were gone, Surge and I made small talk for a few hours until Rotem and Dr. Valentine came in. With the results being ready to be read, Rotem was buzzing with excitement.

"We've got the results, boys!" Rotem said as he clapped lightly. "Go on, Valentine! I want to hear the news quickly and finally be on my way."

"Let's see..." She sighed and looked at the papers in her hand, "Well, this is an odd one. Nolan in pretty decent condition and it was noted that he has multiple lacerations and bruises that have been mostly all healed. Other than that, he is perfectly healthy... Nolan is actually fairly advanced at healing his own body if you couldn't tell by his arms."

Raising my arms up, I took note at how my once huge bruises seem to appear much lighter than when I first arrived.

"Wait a second," Surge said. "I had to heal his face for him back at the motel room; he can't just heal now... can he?"

"I was getting to that in a bit," Valentine said before letting her expression harden, she focused back onto the paper she was skimming as she shook her head softly, "It seems that Nolan is something that's a rare breed these days. Granted, it's a real shame that you two have not picked up on it sooner. He's a shape shifter with no background, no chip, and no identity at all."

The room went silent followed by a pair of three eyes staring right at me in wonder and an obvious look of uneasiness.

"Ho...ly..." Surge began to say as Rotem covered his mouth.

"What else, Valentine?" Rotem asked quickly.

"Are you kidding? What else?! This child needs to be turned into the government at once!" She said, her voiced hushed as her face turned bright red with emotions.

Rotem waved his hands cautiously, "Wait, you said he didn't have a chip?"

"He never had one, it seems," Valentine said before letting out a rough sigh. "My only guess would be that his mother gave birth outside of the hospital and never had her child registered; it's pretty uncommon since most mothers get caught before the child turns a year."