Perifidy

Chapter Eight: The Never-Ending Downpour

"Son, I don't know how to tell you this, but Ryan is...gone." Kade stood in the doorway of his family home with the stillness of a stone. The words of his mother rang in his ears. Robert had his face buried in Kade's chest, sobbing as he clung to him tightly. It didn't feel real. Nothing did.

"Ryan's...gone?" Kade asked rhetorically. He could feel the grief wash over him in waves. It was bottomless, voracious, it ate up his entire consciousness. His knees buckled. He stayed standing, though. He had to be strong. For Robert, for his mother. He had to be strong. There was no other option. Like his father. Like his brother. He felt a hand on his face. It wasn't Robert.

That's when Kade awoke with a start, sitting straight up in bed, gulping down air in a panic. He looked around wildly, thinking he was still at the mission site. He wasn't. He was in the infirmary, with a mildly surprised Doc, who quickly eased him back into his bed. Doc pressed a paddle under bed, which slowly made Kade rise to a sitting position.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, my friend." Doc said, a welcoming smile on his face. Kade groaned as he adjusted himself on the bed.

"How bad's the damage?" Kade asked, looking down at his chest. It was heavily bandaged. He remembered the bullet piercing his vest. He remembered Ela's panicked face as he went in and out of consciousness. Worst of all, he remembered his plan falling to shambles the very moment the White Mask suspected attack. He couldn't make mistakes. He felt his arm throb with pain, as if his father's tire iron was still beating down on it.

"I see why you had an addiction to pain killers now, Kade. The amount of steel plates, screws, and rods lodged into your body came as quite the surprise when I was digging out the bullets." Doc said.

"I don't suppose you read how I got them." Kade said, though his tone implying that it was a frail hope.

"I did, as is my responsibility for all my patients. Don't fret, I won't disclose the information to anyone. More importantly, I should warn you, Ela is quite-" he couldn't finish before Ela stormed in. She looked like she hadn't slept in a few days, deep circles and red, blurry eyes were widened in surprise, seeing Kade sitting up in his bed. Her clothes, sweatpants and a sweatshirt, were clearly bedraggled and unwashed. Kade let out a low chuckle,

"You look spry, my dear." Kade said. Not that Kade looked much better, his whole chest and arms were wrapped in bandages like a mummy and his face and other body parts covered in all manner of grim, cuts and bruises. Doc took a manila folder full of files,

"I'll take these out in the hall while you two work out your differences, hm?" he said, exiting the room before Kade could protest. Depending on Ela's mood, Kade might need Doc again very soon.

"If you weren't beaten to hell, I'd punch you so damn hard." Ela said through gritted teeth, clearly trying her best not to cry. Ela was overwhelmed to say the least. Kade had been in a comatose state for seven days, Doc not giving much hope in him waking up in a timely manner. She was beside herself, all her whimsical fantasies of her and Kade living long into life falling down around her.

"I understand how you feel. I should-"

"How can you understand?! Watching you, the person I love, laying in that bed, thinking you might never wake up again! For seven days! Your hands were so cold and I just couldn't stop feeling that I was going to be alone again!" Ela yelled, her voice breaking at the end. She couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She began sobbing, rushing forward and holding Kade in a vice grip. Kade had a stunned look on his face, even the pain from Ela's embrace not enough to take him out of his stupor. He slowly stroked her hair and rubbed small circles into her back. After several minutes of her crying, Ela finally let him go, stepping back, wiping her tears away. She noticed Kade's shocked expression,