Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 53

“I am not peeing in another cup!” growled Xun.

The nurse frowned at him and put her hands on her hɨps. “You can’t move yet, or those ribs might cause more damage!”

“I don’t care!” he grumbled, trying to sit up again. The pain was dull and constant, but he’d experienced worse.

Slamming the bedpan down with a huff, the nurse hollered out the door for one of the other nurses to come help her. Xun ignored her, still struggling to get his feet out of the bed. The blanket was wrapped around them. He was sick of laying down. He had read over thirty books, courtesy of Rick, and had done everything the doctor asked of him. After a week, he was tired of this bed.

Willow sat in a chair, watching in amusement as the two nurses helped him get out of the bed and walk to the bathroom. Then, when he insisted they leave so he could pee, and they absolutely refused, she giggled at his groan of frustration.

“Xun! We have had this discussion before. You can not be left alone if you are out of bed while on the pain medicine. You could fall and hurt your ribs more!”

“Then I’m done taking this medicine.” He was so done with all of their pampering. When the bullies almost beat him to a pulp and he was coaxed back to health by the old man who eventually taught him how to fight back, he wasn’t treated this well.

“Only the doctor can decide that!” exclaimed one of the nurses in shock.

“Oh yeah? Then get the doctor!” Xun jerked his arm out of the nurse’s hands and glared at her. “My legs are not broken, I don’t plan to jump around. I just want to pee alone. Get out!”

The nurses looked at each other, and finally gave in. As soon as they left and shut the door behind them, Xun closed his eyes in relief. He quickly locked the door, then turned back around to pee.

He had noticed, early in the week that the medicine they were giving him made him drowsy all the time and he had a hard time thinking. So, when they brought him the next set of pills to take, he put them under his tongue and waited for them to leave to spit them out. He only pretended to be woozy to make them think he was still taking them. He wondered who was behind the pills as he peed.

Then, he pulled his shirt up and looked at the bandages around his ċhėst. It would take him too long to take them off. He had to get everyone out of the room for a while.

Leaving the bathroom, the nurses immediately took his arms again, and escorted him back to the bed. He ġrȯȧnėd as he sat down. Emphasizing the pain he was in, while in reality there actually was very little. Once he was tucked in, the nurses gave him one last look, then went in search of the doctor.

“Willow,” Xun said as soon as they were alone in the room.

“Get Rick and Hayden here. I want to talk to all of you together.”

She climbed to her feet and said, “All right. I’ll be your gopher.”

“What?” asked Xun in confusion.

“You know, because you want me to ‘go for’ them?” She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “You can’t tell me you never heard that before!”

“Nope. Just get them back here quick. I need to talk to you guys about something important!”

“Alright, alright, I’m going already.” Shaking her head, she left the room.

As soon as she was gone, he climbed out of the bed and headed to the bathroom again. He couldn’t lock the door to his room, but he could lock the door to the bathroom. Looking at his face in the mirror, he took a moment just to study himself.

He hadn’t taken much notice of his features before. Of course, he had seen mirrors before, but it was never an immediate need to have one. His chin had a dimple in the middle that intrigued him. There were no bruises around his face anymore. Apparently, he had several when they brought him in to the hospital.

He slowly pulled the shirt off, taking care of when he pulled in certain angles and there was a resulting pain in his ċhėst. The bandages had not been changed in the week he had been here. The doctors were hoping they would help keep things in place without needing to do surgery. The thought of surgery was so scary to him, that he hadn’t fought staying still in bed. But after a week, he was ready to leave.

Unwinding the bandages, he expected to see black and blue marks, with nasty swatches of purple and green, but as he exposed the skin, there was very little marring the perfect skin. Blinking in surprise, he turned to see either side, and then turning as best he could, he looked at his back. Everything looked fine. There was a hint of discoloration in some places, but he knew this wasn’t normal.

Rick had told him that everyone who had been infected with the werewolf whatever it was, had started turning in the same day they were placed in quarantine, yet, he hadn’t changed. Licking his lips nervously, he began wrapping the bandages back up. He didn’t think the doctors and nurses needed to know that he was almost completely healed after a week. They seemed to think it would take far longer for him to heal. Maybe after talking to his friends he could think of something.

Pulling his shirt back down to hide the bandages, he returned to his bed. No sooner did he finish pulling the blanket up, when there was a knock on the door. He quickly scowled at the door as the doctor stepped in.

This was going to be an interesting conversation.