My shoulder is sore but manageable. Whoever fixed me did a good job.
I’m about to pull the covers back and swing my legs over the side of the bed to test my strength when the door starts to open. I close my eyes and shut myself down, keeping my breathing even and relaxed.
Please be Boxer or Miss Catherine, I silently pray as I hear one set of soft footsteps approaching my bed, and then I am gently checked over.
“I know you are awake,” an American female voice whispers in my ear. I must have given myself away with all the prodding. “We have only a couple minutes alone before Mathias joins me.”
Who is Mathias?
My eyes shoot open and a pretty brunette in her thirties is watching me. I can see out of the eye that had been swollen shut. “I’m your doctor.” She tries to give me a smile, but it doesn’t quite make it to her eyes. “I will talk and you listen if you want to have any chance at all.”
I can only lie here blinking at her. What is she saying? Is she going to help me?
She pulls the bed covers back. “I’m going to remove the catheter from between your legs.” She goes about her business quickly and efficiently, helping me into a pair of paper underwear before placing the thing she took out of me into a bin.
“If you want to live, you will find your inner strength and you will run. I’ll do the best I can to give you time,” she whispers, placing the covers back over me. “You are supposed to be moved in a few hours.” She shakes her head, tears welling in her eyes. “I can’t do this anymore.” She swipes them away and composes herself, all the time keeping her voice a hushed whisper.
I’m very confused about what she is saying to me. She mentioned running.
“I’ll make sure you are given time to escape.”
Escape?
She releases my finger from the clip it is held in and turns off the monitor beside me. “I’ll do my best to keep the skeleton staff here tonight occupied for as long as I can. There won’t be a guard on your door. I’ll handle that. Be as quiet as you can. Remove the IV needle first and apply pressure for as long as you can, but keep moving. Slippers are in the closet and you already have knee-high compression stockings on. Use the blanket on your bed for warmth wrapping it around your head to help keep your heat in.
“That’s all you’ve got until you can find somebody to help you. You are very weak, you shouldn’t be doing this, but you have no choice if you want a chance at surviving.”
I want to ask her questions, but time is valuable. I need to stay silent and listen to her. My gut tells me I can believe this woman’s words.
She stays still listening intently and then she quickly moves the chair over to the heavy curtain and peeks behind it. Satisfied, she stands on the chair, sliding her hand into her white coat pocket, pulling a small key out. Her hand moves behind the curtain and I hear a soft click.
The doctor hurries down, placing the chair back where she found it, and comes back over to me and picks up my chart. She starts writing in it as she talks in barely audible tones. “I will deny helping you if you get caught. I will be killed if they know, but I have to try. That window is the only way you will escape, and we are on the ground floor. I cannot help you any more than this. Find help quickly. You’re not strong enough to make it far in the freezing cold weather. You need to head off—” She quiets down as the door handle turns.
I shut my eyes and focus on keeping myself still as she keeps writing things down. I have to place my trust in this person and take this lifeline she is offering me. I found help last time with Miss Catherine; I can do it again.
I have to believe that.
“Doc, how is she?” The man with the accent has arrived. I can feel his gaze drilling into me. I feel like I’m about to give myself away. I push my mind to the remote place that kept me countless times from being further exposed to William’s torment when he entered my room to check if I was awake. He never touched me when he thought I was asleep.
“Hello, Mathias. She has a strong will to live. Let her fully regain consciousness and then I’ll sign her out to you. Her wound looks good, and she’s stabilized. ”
She called him Mathias. Masked bearded man is Mathias.
“She wouldn’t have lasted much longer if you hadn’t gotten her to me when you did. The girl should be awake within the next eight hours. She’s been through a lot and her body shut down, needing time to heal.”
“She’s been here too many days already. I don’t have the luxury of waiting that long.”
“I’m the doctor, and my opinion should count for something. I get paid well to mend those he deems worthy. When she wakes up, she is all yours.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Please… I would never sign somebody out who wasn’t conscious. It goes against what I stand for as a doctor.”
“You should have thought of that before you went on the payroll,” he growls at her.
“Please… you can see she’s weak.” The doctor is doing her best to convince him.
“I said I’ll think about it.” Mathias isn’t happy about her request. I have an itch to see if he’s wearing the mask.
“You’ve virtually not slept the whole time she’s been here. You need to rest too. She isn’t going anywhere. Hell, lie down yourself for a couple of hours. She is out of danger, and you are dead on your feet. I’ll wake you, Mathias, if there are any changes.”
I hear an exhausted sigh like he’s made his mind up. “I do need some sleep,” he admits to the doctor.
I can hear their footsteps as she guides him away from my bed and toward the door.
“You can use my bed five doors down. It will be quiet, and I’ll wake you in two hours. You won’t miss anything in here. She’s my only patient, so there won’t be any other activity.”
I hear the door open and close and their voices get farther away.
I open my good eye, peeking through my lashes, just to be sure I’m alone, and then I feel for the IV needle and carefully slide it out of my vein while applying pressure using part of my gown, bending my arm toward myself.
The doctor is hopefully keeping her word and covering for me, giving me the valuable time I needed. I had to believe I could get out that window without somebody storming the room.
I knew my escape was based purely on a wing and a prayer.
I slide my feet onto the floor, measuring how well balanced I am. I feel steady enough when I place all my weight on them and move slowly toward the closet, where I find a pair of white slippers and slide them onto my feet.
I grab the blanket off the bed and move over to the window area, carefully peeking behind the curtain. It is dark outside. I’m only going to get one shot at this. I wrap the blanket around my body, using some of it as a hood over my head as instructed.
The window quietly glides up without difficulty. The freezing cold air hits me and I gasp out in shock, small white puffs of breath floating in front of my face. I have no time to worry about the temperature. It’s now or never. I climb out the window, careful of my injured shoulder, and land with a soft thunk as I sink into a few inches of cold ground.
Snow?
I’ve been flown to a place that snows?
I’ve never felt snow. It isn’t soft; it crunches. It’s also wet and really cold.
Instinct to hide has me heading straight for the shelter of the trees ahead, where I seek anonymity using them for protection as I try to get some bearings for the direction I should be fleeing. I have no idea which way I should go. I have never been out of Connard. I feel anxious and desperate and very alone.
There are two soft beams of light coming off the roof of the building from spotlights. I look around and notice a sign. A park backs up to the building I was in. I decide to head through it, wrapping the blanket tighter around me, and make my way through the freezing cold night, the high, full moon guiding me with its silver light.