The Transcended: They call him Lucius

Part 3: Blood ~ Chapter 16

Zoey woke and immediately looked around for Lucius.

"Hey there, easy," Gwen said as she hurried to her side.

"Where is he?" She was all alone with Gwen, but that was not enough to ease her mind just yet.

"He's in another room, talking with Isa." Gwen pulled up a seat and sat down. "How are you feeling right now? Are you in any pain?"

Zoey relaxed a bit, though she was still restrained. "There's ... some pain. Breathing hurts but it's mostly my legs that drone. If I keep still it's doable."

"Good, that means the painkillers we administered are helping in taking the edge off." She shifted uncomfortably. "I've got some bad news, though."

Dread washed over her. "Please, don't tell me I have to go with Lucius."

"No," Gwen hurriedly replied. "No, nothing like that. No, you'll be staying with us for quite some time if it's up to Isa and me." She smiled. "And after that... Well, that's something to worry about then—but Khalida did state that she is not just going to hand you over to Lucius. I hope that's any consolation."

Zoey swallowed. "I suppose. But, what's the bad news then?"

Gwen plucked at her shirt. "Well, you see... Your legs... I'm not sure if you're aware of what Lucius did to them."

Zoey's expression went grim. "He broke them. Stomped on them."

"How many times?"

"Ehm..." Zoey raised a brow. "Once? Twice? He kicked against one leg I think... I'm not quite sure. Oh, and of course he bent it at the fracture earlier here."

Gwen sighed. "Well, I asked him and..." Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. "After he nearly choked you to death, he said he broke them both further because you were still moving so much even with the initial fractures."

Zoey's eye widened in shock. "He did what now? And I just remained unconscious when he did that?"

"You can thank going rabid for that—it blocks the brain from processing pain signals. So, yeah... Your legs are a mess. We're not looking at simple fractures anymore. Both your lower legs are, for lack of a better term, completely shattered. A normal human might have even gone into shock or worse—there's that much internal damage."

The colour drained from Zoey's face. "Can you fix it?" 

Slowly, Gwen shook her head. "That's the bad news." She dropped her eyes as she continued to pluck at her shirt. "We need to amputate your legs. If we're lucky, your knees are salvageable, but chances are it'll be an above the knee amputation—it's that bad." She looked up at Zoey. "I'm sorry."

Zoey averted her gaze. She bit her lip and tried to fight the tears. "Not your fault," she whispered. "It's his." She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. If I break over this, he wins, she thought. I refuse to let him win. She took a deep, shaky breath. "Do you think I could learn to walk with prosthetics?"

Gwen let out a nervous giggle. "That's not the response I had expected, sorry." She thought for a moment. "I don't see why not. We can always try and in the meantime, we'll get you a good wheelchair so you can keep moving around freely. The majority of the facility should be wheelchair-friendly, as one of the researchers we had in the past used one." She smiled. "So, glass-half-full?"

A tear still slipped from Zoey's good eye, but she nodded. Don't you dare feel sorry for yourself now, she chastised. You're still alive. You're not back with him. Don't give up just yet. Keep fighting! She gritted her teeth, swallowed, and turned to face Gwen. "Yeah, glass half-full." She managed a bitter smile. "I plan to hold on to life and my freedom with both hands—I will just have to learn to live without legs."