Only Human

Chapter Seven

Liam gave up on trying to talk to me eventually. I arrived in the medical tent to see a few other patients.

"Masha!" Elissa shouted as she saw me.

"Hey, sweetheart," I walked over to her to look at her arm.

It was definitely too badly infected now.

"I don't feel very good," Elissa told me, looking away from her arm as I used more of the plant and bandaged her arm up again.

"You're gonna be just fine," I told her, "I just need to see some other people first."

Elissa nodded eagerly, "Okay!"

I swallowed my lingering fear for her and moved across the other three patients. One fractured their wrist, and I had to make a splint. The other two just had colds fixed with some herb tea.

"Masha?" Elissa asked, looking at her arm, "You said I wasn't supposed to look, but it looks bad."

I rushed over to her, "Sweetie, the plant I gave you can cause hallucinations. It's just a scratch."

"But it looked horrible," she whimpered.

"It got infected, but that's fixed now," I said, "I'll be back tomorrow-"

Elissa looked up at me with huge wide eyes, "I'm scared."

"It was just a hallucination," I told her, "Hey, this is a lullaby my mom used to sing to me."

Elissa looked up at me attentively.

Don't you dare look out your window,
darling everything's on fire.
The war outside our door keeps raging on.
Hold onto this lullaby,
even when the music's gone.
Gone.

Just close your eyes,
the sun is going down.
You'll be alright,
no one can hurt you now.
Come morning light,
you and I'll be safe and sound.

Elissa had closed her eyes and was now sound asleep. I stood up and left the tent.

"Masha, her arm-"

"It's infected too badly," I told him, "I'm going to need to remove it. But I can't have her awake during the procedure."

Liam frowned, "Then what-"

"I need to find a sedative," I told him, "You guys have none here, I already checked. There is one plant that might have the sedative I need."

"Great," Liam said, "Where can we find this plant?"

I sighed, "In my room. In the City."

"No," Liam said immediately, "Not a chance. We are not going to the city, let alone sending one of their own back to them with information-"

"One of their own," I laughed despite myself, "Are you kidding me?"

Liam frowned, "We don't know what side you're on."

"I'm not on a side," I snapped, "I want to heal people. This will help me heal a twelve-year-old girl who will die if I don't do this."

"How can they trust you?"

I rolled my eyes, "They don't."

"I can't let you do this," Liam told me, "Not-"

"I thought you'd trust me by now," I said, "I thought helping them would prove that I'm not just a killer."

When did the Greys become the killers?

When did I start calling them Greys?

"Masha-"