To Be A Champion

Chapter 4: My Head and My Heart

I let out a groan when the nurse finishes patching up my shoulder. She shoves two pills into my hand-an antibiotic to keep the wound from getting infected and something for the pain. I take them down with a swig of water, exhaustion threatening to drag me under as the nurse walks away, heading to another room of the medical bay.

"Come here," Sam murmurs. Taking my hand, he leads me into a small room filled with cots. Jody, Tom and Nicole are all in there, looking just as tired as I feel.

I'm sure Janine is with Paula in another area of the med bay. It wouldn't surprise me if Paula insisted checking up on her with the other doctors here. This way the details of Janine's conditions can be discussed with them in case Paula is unavailable to treat her at some point. There's not much they can do, but it helps that they know.

Ellie will be buried first thing in the morning, after the storm's gone. The chief has told us repeatedly how sorry he is, but that doesn't mean the resentment isn't still there. Mistake or not, she's dead because of him. And I've got a stupid shoulder injury now as well. It's small compared to Ellie's fate, but it will make things harder as we go along, trying to get back what was taken from us.

I glance at Tom, who's sitting on a cot, bouncing his knee anxiously. Bluish-black circles cling to the underside of his eyes, but he barely allows himself to blink. Jody sits beside him and rubs his arm comfortingly. He's worried about Janine. I can understand why. She's his sister, and despite their... rocky relationship in the past, it's clear he cares for her very much.

I worry about him.

"You okay, Singer?" Nicole asks, and I glance over at her. She's tired, but as Janine said earlier, she looks the freshest out of all of us.

"I've been better," I reply flatly. "But I've also been worse."

I got lucky that only soft tissue was damaged and not nerves or bones. I should be healed in a few weeks, although I know I can't just sit around during this time, not when Janine's life is on the line. Nicole, of course, is my backup runner, but that was in case of the worst, if I died. If I'm still alive to do something, I'm damned sure going to do it.

"I can't believe you were able to keep it secret that you were immortal for so long," Jody says, and I shrug as casually as I can.

"It's easy to keep something hidden when no one's looking for it. I mean, a few people did get suspicious, but it never amounted to anything." I run my hand through my hair, still damp from the rain. "If I'd known this would have happened, though, I never would have gone to Sage."

"From what we've heard, Sage was already planning on making the nanites for Peter before you came to him with extra information," Tom pipes up. "The only difference is you wouldn't be used as a test subject and would have been stuck as an immortal. And then you'd be sitting in Abel with Peter right now."

I don't say anything, because I know he's right. There are many things I should have done differently, but not talking to Sage wouldn't have prevented the creation of these nanites. He traded them from the Hebrides and then refined them, making enough for me and Peter...

And I'm the only one who came out of it okay.

I hate that. If I could trade places with Peter, I would in a second. I think it would have been better if he were here with Janine, anyway. He's closer to her than I ever will be, and I'm sure he's been worrying himself sick ever since we left a mere few hours ago.

I suppose if the roles were reversed, if I were still immortal and was forced to stay in Abel, and he was mortal and here, I'd be worried sick about him, hoping he wouldn't forget he can't just heal up. Knowing him he would, offering himself up as a shield or who knows what else, and I'd just be in Abel, imagining every possible horrible scenario of what could happen to him out here.