Horizon

Chapter 16

I guess I came-to pretty quickly. When my eyes opened, the only thing I could see in front of me was Thomas. He knelt over my face, and was pulling on my eyelids to check my pupils. I grabbed his wrist, and pushed it away from my eye as I blinked the tiredness out of my eyes.

"It was my back, Thomas," I slurred, still trying to wake up. "Did you check my back?"

Thomas let out a heavy sigh, and replied, "You really have a knack for going unconscious, don't you?"

I groaned, and moved my paw towards my back. Thomas stopped me, however. I looked at Thomas with a questioning glance, and he replied with one that looked a little grim. That wasn't very comforting to me.

"What happened to my back?" I asked. "Who stabbed me?"

"We don't know who stabbed you. There were too many people around to be completely sure of that. What you were feeling wasn't a knife, either. It was an injection needle. We couldn't find the needle, but judging by the reaction your kidneys made, I'd say that whatever was injected into you was lethal. Someone tried to kill you." Thomas explained.

"I guess Hank wasn't as welcome as I thought," added another voice.

I turned over to see that DJ was standing just a few feet away from me. He looked at me sympathetically, and waved lightly. Talon sat on a bench a little farther down. I shot them a tired glance, and rested my head back onto the soft dirt floor.

"Whoever it was that stuck me with the syringe, was a stranger. No one I knew was around me at the time that I felt the needle prick my back," I said weakly.

"That's why Thomas will be with you twenty-four-seven," Talon said with authority. "It will be harder to attack you in secret if there's always someone watching your back. If Thomas can't do it, then I'll have someone I trust do it. Sound good?"

I nodded positively at Talon. "What happens now?"

Talon gladly answered, "We will do our best to conduct an investigation. I can't say that it will be easy, however. Needles are easy to hide, and the one that attacked you may have already gotten rid of that piece of evidence. You don't have to worry, though. Thomas will keep an eye on you, and help you continue your training. Just make sure that you stay with him. If something happens again, we may not be around to get you fixed. Your kidneys were failing, and you were literally on the floor dying...let's not allow this to happen again."

All of us nodded our heads in agreement. Thomas then helped me to my feet, and we started to trudge towards our room.

"I think we're going to turn in for the night," Thomas said as he helped me hobble.

Talon patted me on the shoulder, and muttered, "Keep an eye on Thomas for me, Hank. He's been away from company for a while, and he...well...just keep an eye on him."

I looked back at Talon, who was stifling a laugh.

"Wait...Thomas?" I asked. "You're..."

Thomas sighed angrily, and glared at Talon. "Yes, I am. Can we not talk about this?"

Talon and DJ laughed up a storm as I stared at Thomas with surprise. They continued to shoot comments at Thomas until we were further into the hallway. I looked at Thomas, who was hanging his head.

Thomas and I stayed quiet until we reached our room. He let out a bunch of air as he opened the door, and helped me settle into my bed. Thomas looked really hurt by Talon's remarks. I didn't feel like Thomas was really offended; I felt like Thomas didn't really want me to know.