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Chapter 53

The next couple of weeks passed much faster. Luke still set aside a few hours to wait at the hospital every day. He hated seeing so many people he knew in bandages or strapped down onto beds, but waiting to hear the news second-hand felt worse somehow.

After a while they stopped letting Adam or Jess pass, making comments to one another discreetly about how strange it was for them to hang around a hospital for so long. Luke noticed very few of these comments were ever aimed at him.

Eventually the others had grudgingly agreed to hear the news from him instead, with Luke promising to keep looking for any other violations he could use against them, but until then he just had to wait it out,

Most days he wouldn't hear anything. He'd wait by the reception for hours, but even if anyone came to him, they generally wouldn't have anything else to say.

After a month or so, they'd started to sit security guards closer to where he stood in the waiting room. He realised he didn't have many more visits left before they declared him a threat too, but he forced himself not to care. He had to keep the others updated. It was the least he could do.

On this occasion, he'd sat a little further from the door, just to see if any security guards would follow him. They always did, usually not even trying to be discreet about it.

Sitting back, he tried to ignore them, feeling more and more uncomfortable the longer he waited.

He heard the door open and turned around to see who it was, and for a moment, he didn't recognise her. He looked her up and down, taking in her appearance.

She didn't look good.

Half of her body was bandaged, but what he could see of her skin was pale, causing the freckles on her arms, legs and face to look like scabs. Her tangled, red hair was loose for once, and she was moving slightly slower than she used to, as if every step hurt her.

She stared at him for a few long seconds, before quietly saying, "What happened to your face?"

"Yours is worse," he replied, guarding his expression.

"Thanks." She looked down at her left arm, which was heavily bandaged and hung oddly by her side, before straightening up slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, we had to see if you died or not."

"Well, I didn't." She smiled. It seemed painful for her. "So... Am I free to go, then?"

"Once we've taken the bandages off." The nurse touched her other arm and she flinched, but her expression didn't change. The nurse didn't seem to notice, and continued, "Although, quite frankly, I think some fresh air would do you good."

"It's February," Luke replied.

Quinn raised her eyebrows, looking almost impressed. "Damn, two months?"

"I'll give you an hour, then hopefully she'll be ready to leave." The nurse gave him a painfully fake smile. "A friend of hers?"

Quinn grimaced at him, before smiling. "Yeah, he's cool."

The nurse beamed at him, showing off perfectly straight, square teeth, before leading Quinn into a small corridor and out of view. When she did, Luke sat down and propped open a month-old newspaper, trying to focus only on the columns and not on anything else.

He read it from cover to cover without taking in anything. His mind was wandering. Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

With nothing else to do, he asked the receptionist for permission to use one of the computers which were laid out in the waiting room. The man nodded, warning him not to use any personal accounts. Luke had agreed and sat down at the desk, concentrating on that instead.