Lifted ▸ Scott McCall

10 ; the midst of a war

CHAPTER TEN
MIDST OF WAR

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In the midst of war, the soldiers customarily have no time for idleness; they only have the time in which they're not battling another, stronger force, and this time is usually spent devising a plan of action for the next time their lives are put on the line. With this in mind, Lena Roth wasn't expecting to accompany her recently reconciled friend, Scott McCall, on a small trip to bring his mother dinner.

What with a bloodthirsty pack of Alphas analyzing their every move, and latterly garroted individuals making themselves known to the public – all of whom were terrified, some even more so then Lena herself, who was just about ready to take herself and her seven devils back to Europe. Lena wasn't quite sure how they'd managed to make it through the day with no calamity, but she wasn't complaining, it was nice being able to hold out a conversation without any interruption by a life-threatening force.

Although, in spite of it all, Lena found the McCall boy's gesture quite adorable.

What really surprised her, though, was the nearly mobbed hospital the two teenagers had faced after Scott had parked his motorcycle – the same vehicle that intrigued – yet – scared Lena, a lot. In the war that the teens were forced into involved mostly damaged bonds and fractured hearts, all of which the Beacon Hills Memorial hospital couldn't exactly fix, much less heal in any kind of way. And so, Lena wasn't quite sure what to think of the situation at hand, you know, until she was practically frog marched into the crowded building and overheard the words "ten car pile-up" and "victims are being rerouted from downtown."

"Scott McCall," Lena ducked her head to face the tan skinned boy, who smiled at her. "Next time we walk into a packed hospital, you're going in first." Scott's grin widened, and as Melissa McCall rounded the corner, Scott raised the bag in offering.

"Oh, thank God," Melissa breathed out in gratitude. She took the take-out bag and set it down on the front desk. "I'm starving." Lena chuckled whilst Scott's mouth parted into a small 'o,' and instantly, Melissa's expression contorted into one of shock. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she apologized. "Thank you for bringing me dinner."

"Is everything okay?" Lena inquired, quirking a brow, and although the answer was already embedded into her mind, Lena had a feeling that a rant was exactly what the stressed nurse needed right now.

That, and maybe a few more doctors.

"Except for half of the accident victims in a ten car pile-up being rerouted here from downtown," she sighed before adding, "and the E.R. attendant not answering any of his pages? Yeah, I'm okay."

"What does not answering pages mean?" Scott asked, causing a small smile to stretch Lena's lips as she internally laughed at her friend.

"It means that nobody can find him. So, now we have to wait for the on call to get here." Melissa explained. As Scott's mother went to run a hand through her hair, another hand clamped down onto her shoulder. Lena's eyes followed the quaking arm to a woman who looked to be in an immense amount of pain, and, judging by the woman's lack of ability to utter a sentence without crying out in pain, Lena presumed she was absolutely correct.

"Miss," the woman spoke, her eyes red and raw with tears as she clutched her abdomen in pain.

"Yes?"

"Excuse me, can I kind of please have something for the pain?"

A sympathetic look flashed through the nurse's eyes before she replied with a low tone; "Okay, I'm sorry. But, actually, giving you something could complicate things, so we really just need to wait for the doctors. Okay?"