Time to Survive

Morphine

Chris POV

I hurt all over.

I was lying on my stomach on something soft, though it didn’t exactly smell the greatest in the world.

And I didn’t have a shirt on, either, and it was kind of chilly wherever I was.

I cracked open my eyes, grimacing, and everything started to slowly come into focus.

We were in some kind of building, candles situated all about the room, and I could hear a female voice.

"Kelsey?" I mumbled, trying to focus, and I raised my head blearily.

"Chris!" A relieved voice burst, and Rickys face swam in front of my eyes.

"Hey," I said weakly, realizing we were in a doctors office of some sort, it looked like, and I was on a couch, a blanket with a dirty pillow under me, keeping my skin off the plastic cushioned couch. "Whats...?"

"You passed out," Devin was abruptly kneeling in front of me, his curly hair taking up my narrowed vision. "You lost too much blood and i'm pretty sure the pain didn't help. I stitched up your back, so you should be doing better in a couple days."

"A couple days?" I gasped, shaking my head immediately. "No, we ---."

"We've got this, man, don’t worry," Ricky told me quickly, hovering over Devins shoulder. "Don’t freak out. We got all we needed from that outpost, and we got the gear from the station. All we need is one more outpost, but we don't really need it, really. We just gotta get the food for Ryan."

The food... but we needed...

I was starting to feel woozy, and I glanced down, seeing Devin was injecting something into my arm.

I tried to pull away. "What...?"

"Just some morphine for the pain, don’t freak out," he grunted at me. "I've heard enough of your screams to last me, man."

Screams?

I didn’t remember screaming.

Huh.

I let my face drop back onto the pillow, unable to feel anything at all, and it was a nice feeling.
I heard the female voice again, and my eyes roved lazily in that direction, seeing a blonde talking to someone who looked a lot like me.

Hey, I had a twin.

I gave a chuckle, suddenly amused, and tried to shuffle, but I couldn’t seem to make any of my limbs move.

I could see Balz sitting on one of the other couches, his head in his hands, and I frowned, wondering what was wrong, other then he looked like he'd been rolling around in soot.

"What's wrong?" I slurred, seeing all of their worried faces.

"Nothin', man, don't worry," Ricky told me, giving me a strained smile.

"Nooo," I furrowed my brows. "What's.... what's....?"

My tongue felt thick.

I was starting to pass out again.

But I refused.

Something was wrong.

And if they didn’t tell me I was going to pass out anyway, I realized, unable to fight the effects of the drug any longer.

I went out like a light.

When I awoke the second time, I forced myself to sit up, not about to give them a chance to medicate me again. I was alone, it seemed like, the doctors office (I think this was a dentists office, actually), completely empty except for ---.

"Francesca?" I croaked, and she looked over at me from where she flipped through an old Cosmo, her blonde hair in a braid down her shoulder.

"Hey," she gave me a smile, sitting up from being sprawled across one of the other couches. She got to her feet and walked to where a water dispenser sat, pushing a cup under it and filling it up before handing it to me.

I chugged it, able to taste where it had been sitting in the plastic container for so long, but I didn’t care, it was the best thing in the world for my cotton mouth.

I crushed the cup, feeling my back burn.

"What're you doing here?" I mumbled, she helping me to my feet and guiding me to the bathroom; I had to piss so bad.

Why wouldn't my legs work right?

"I saw a fire in the distance and took off to find out what it was. Surprise, surprise, I found you idiots," she sighed, helping me to the toilet and then quickly stepping out of the room. "You guys are lucky too, you were out cold and they were panicking like a bunch of little ants."

"Huh," I grunted, twisting the handle on the sink to see if there was water.

Of course not.

So much for washing my hands.

I sighed, and stepped out of the bathroom, frowning.

"What about Kelsey and Ryan?"

She hesitated. "They're doing okay."

"Okay?" I huffed, sitting back down slowly.

"It's.... there's... they can't stay there too long. I've been trying to hold the doctors off, but they're getting really pushy about running tests and stuff."

Tests and stuff?

I cringed, twisting the wrong way.

"Hey, easy, Chris," Francesca chided. "Those are fucking fresh, asshat."

"Where is everyone?" I muttered as she tossed me a granola bar, my stomach rumbling.

"Finishing what you started. They all took off for one of the grocery stores, told me to babysit you until they get back. But they better hurry, because I had to get back to the hospital before Kelsey throws another bitch fit that riles the doctors."

"Kelsey, bitch fit?" I raised my brows.

"Ugh, you have no idea. The tantrum she threw yesterday put me to shame." She shook her head. "I was impressed; she really was a rich kid in her past life."

Huh.

She didnt seem the tantrum type.

"So how do you feel?"

"Like shit."

"I figured," she chuckled, coming to sit down beside me, making me lean forward a little bit so she could look at the jagged marks going down my back, and I saw her wince.

"That bad, huh?"

"It'll give you some badass scars," she sighed, her cold fingers lingering over my spine.

I raised a brow at her, and she quickly moved her hand away, flushing.

Was she embarrassed?

Francesca quickly hopped to her feet, moving to one of the windows quickly with her back to me, long blonde hair trailing down her back now.

Well.

Now it was awkward.

"How long has it been since the guys left?" I asked after a minute, letting my elbows rest on my knees; my hair was falling down around my face, longer then even what I liked to keep it, and it was suddenly the most irritating thing in the world.

"A couple hours; Devin gave you a little too much morphine and you've been out for a while," she explained, glancing at me over her shoulder. "You shouldn’t have long until they're back."

Good.

"You can head back to the hospital, yknow. I'm good from here."

"You can't fight," she pointed out to me, merciless. "You're kind of useless even to yourself right now, so no, I'm not going anywhere until Kuza and your guys get back, capiche? Now," she abruptly turned around, holding up some magazines. "Do you wanna read Cosmo with me or Sportmans Guide?"

Neither, preferably.