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Chapter 53

Just as he had finished printing off some documents, he heard someone call him. He looked up to see Quinn had re-emerged, looking slightly less exhausted, but still pale. The bandages had mostly been removed, but he could see purple bruises and scars lining her arms.

Standing up, he finished folding the document up and shoved it into his pocket. "What did they say?"

"I'm good to go. Finally." She glanced back at the nurse who was accompanying her, who nodded. "Why? Were you worried?"

Luke sighed. "Obviously I was," he replied. "Did they tell you that you were declared legally dead for ten minutes?"

"Oh yeah," she smiled reminiscently. "I went to hell those ten minutes."

Luke stopped for a moment. "Really?"

"Yeah. But I thought, what would my good friend Luke do, and I submitted a form to say that there had been an administrative error," her voice took on a stuffy register, "and before you know it, I was straight back down."

Luke stared at her for a few seconds, so she punched his shoulder lightly. "I'm kidding. Jesus Christ, what's the matter with you?"

"You almost died. I was worried," he replied.

"Aw, you were?" She laughed and patted his shoulder, over the fabric of his sleeve. He noticed she did it slightly awkwardly, and remembered she used to be left-handed. Her left arm was still hanging limp at her side, bandaged more heavily than any other part of her body. She didn't seem to notice anything. "Come on Michaels, don't get soft on me now."

He grinned. "Stop it, I have a reputation to keep."

The nurse opened the door and Quinn hurried out, inhaling deeply. "You see that?" She beamed. "Fresh air. God, I've missed it."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, air, good. Can you tell me what happened in there? I mean, the explosion didn't look too big."

She hesitated, taking a step back. "Okay, just so you know, I was panicking, right?"

"What did you do?"

Quinn frowned, evidently regretting saying anything. "I... Well, remember the guy you messaged on your clipboard, right before it got blown up? I met him. He gave me a gun."

Luke raised his eyebrows, but he didn't interrupt.

"He told me to shoot him, for some experiment thing. But... I don't think he wanted me to. I don't know what he wanted."

"What did you do with it?" Luke replied slowly.

"Well, I saw a fuse box and I shot the lock to make a hole, and then I..." She trailed off, glancing around her to check nobody was listening.

"You what?"

"I stuck my arm in and pulled the wires out by hand." She said loudly.

Luke stared at her for a few long seconds, not replying. Nothing really conveyed what he wanted to say short of a frustrated scream. Eventually he broke the silence. "While you were holding a gun?"

She shrugged.

"A gun which could have been used to shoot the wires," he continued.

Quinn shrugged again, evidently waiting for him to respond.

Luke kept his expression guarded, and dully replied, "Sometimes I wonder how you're able to walk and talk at the same time."

"Give me a break. A zombie guy gave me a gun and told me to blow his brains out, I panicked. Anyway, it was the fastest way to shut everything down."