Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 54

“You want to leave.”

The doctors voice was dry. It was obvious he wasn’t amused.

“Yes. I promise not to leave the compound and to come back if there’s any problems. I can’t stand staying here any longer.” Xun wasn’t sure he was going to convince the doctor to let him go, but he had to try.

“Xun, the damage to your ribs was very severe, there were even signs that some of your organs may have been damaged. When you woke up, seemingly fine, we decided the signs of organ damage must have been wrong. I’ve been told you’ve stopped taking the medicine for pain, so if you can stand to move and walk, I guess it’s in your hands to keep from hurting yourself further.”

Xun opened his mouth, in order to continue arguing, but managed to stop himself in surprise.

“It is my job to help people who are hurt to be healed. Most rib injuries are not life threatening and there is nothing I can do for them. I only wanted to keep you in the hospital due to the amount of damage you seemed to have. If you want to leave, there really isn’t anything that I can do for you to help the healing process, so you can go if you want.”

“Can I ask a question?”

“Sure, I’ll answer it if I can.”

“Why did you give me pills for pain that made it hard for me to think. All I wanted to do was sleep. It was horrible!” Xun scowled in remembrance.

“What? That’s not right!” The doctor looked startled. He stood up from the stool he was sitting on, and quickly left the room.

Xun, wondering what that was all about, carefully stood up and began unwrapping the bandages. He had his back to the door so that if anyone came in, he would have time to pull his shirt down. No one did, thankfully, but he was very worried the whole time he was taking the bandages off.

Hayden, Willow and Rick showed up before the doctor returned. Xun almost had his shoes on. Bending over to tie the laces caused his ribs to complain, so he was taking longer to get it done than he liked.

“Wow, what do you think you’re doing?” Rick, looked surprised.

“Obviously, he knows more than the doctors, haven’t you been sneaking him books to read?” Willow gave Rick a look that Xun couldn’t see from his chair.

“I’ll live,” he grumbled, getting the last tie done.

“Not for long if you don’t get back in that bed.” Willow turned to him. She had a huge bruise that covered most of her face.

“What happened to you?” Xun asked in shock.

“I tried to kiss the ground but it hit me.”

“She tripped and faceplanted when one of the werewolves went after her,” said Rick as he sat on the edge of Xun’s bed.

“Are you really leaving?” asked Hayden, ignoring the glares Willow was giving Rick.

“The doctor said there wasn’t anything else he could do for me, that my ribs will just have to heal on their own.” Xun stood up and slowly took a deep breath. It hurt to breath too deep, but at the same time, it felt good. It was very confusing.

“That’s great! My dad was wanting you to head to the auditorium as soon as you were released.”

Rick looked tired, with huge dark circles under his eyes. His dad had him working overtime looking up things in the library for the council. After the attack, everyone in the compound was trying to learn everything they could on survival and monsters. Xun thought it was a shame that it took something this drastic to get people motivated.

There was a loud commotion outside his room, and everyone moved towards the door to see what was going on. They were all surprised to see one of the nurses being restrained by several guards. They escorted her away as the doctor returned to Xun’s room with his medical file.

“Xun, I want to apologize to you. I had no idea they were giving you such strong medication. I had wanted you to take pain medicine, but they were giving you pills that were far more powerful than you needed. I’m going to look into this, to find out why. As soon as I know anything, I will let you know. Thank you for letting me know about the medicine.”

“So, what now?” asked Hayden as they all moved out into the hall.

Xun headed slowly but purposefully towards the exit. He wanted to breath fresh air. They followed him outside, and paused next to him as he stopped to look around. There was a definite nip in the air. It wouldn’t be long before winter was here. Normally, he would be scampering with the other people in his compound to prepare as much as possible before the worst weather hit, but not this time.

“I want to check on my winter clothes before I head to the council.”

Rick nodded, looking even more tired. He would seriously need a nap soon. The four headed over to see Owen, the strange but friendly guy who worked with the game they brought in. There was still a lot of hides hanging all over the room, but they had managed to process and put away all of the meat they had brought in a while ago.

He smiled and waved when he saw them enter, and headed right over.

“Xun! It’s good to see you! The word was that you were still in the hospital, and no one would know if you would even survive! I’m glad to see the rumors weren’t true. I guess you’re here for your winter outfit? I almost have it done, so it’ll only be a couple more days. Good thing, too, with the weather changing so cold already.”

Xun was starting to wonder if the man needed to breath. He couldn’t wait to see how far along the outfit was.