Chapter 18
River felt like she was floating on a cloud. Every so often she would surface enough to hear snatches of garbled conversation, but then she would feel a pull and gently drift away.
She surfaced once to feel someone hovering over her; if the white lab coat and stethoscope around his neck were any indication, he was probably a doctor. He kept calling her name and when she finally focused on him, he beamed a small instrument with a bright light into her eyes. She was so tired though, that he was gone in the blink of an eye.
Another time she surfaced and a very worried Dayden was holding her arms down on either side of her, begging her to calm down. He kept telling her she was safe now, and no one would hurt her. River would have been upset about the fact that he was physically restraining her, if she had not been so shocked to see tears in his eyes and such a worried look on his face. Before she could ask him what was wrong though, she was sucked back into the black void where nothing mattered.
One time she woke to total silence. It was so quiet that she almost wondered if everyone had given up on her and left. Worried, she slowly turned her head and searched the room. She recognized the room - it was hers. The only difference was, now it had some new age medical equipment surrounding her bed. As she slowly scanned the different machines, she was surprised to find Dayden slumped over asleep in the corner. He was sitting stretched out on her very uncomfortable wooden desk chair.
He looked rough, she thought, which was a look she had never seen on Dayden before. He had a bandage wrapped around his right hand and there were bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in a long time. His cheeks were sunken in and he was extremely pale. It also looked like he had not shaved in a couple of days and his hair was dull and messier than normal. His clothes too, were a rumpled mess, but what stood out the most, were the dark reddish brown stains that covered his shirt and jeans. She watched him in silence until she could no longer keep her eyes open.
An angry sounding voice woke her the next time. Randomly enough it was Master Sergeant Richards. He was standing at the foot of her bed. He had his hands crossed in front of his chest and he was glaring at Dayden. "If you weren't here and you weren't at the gym with the other Fly Boys and clearly you weren't studying with Scotty Adams as your note indicated, then where were you?"
Instead of being in his usual seat next to River's bed, Dayden was standing stiffly in front of it. He was frowning back at Sergeant Richards as he nervously ran one hand through his messy dark curls; a telltale sign that he was agitated. He stammered over his words, "Ahh... well I came back from class... ah... then intended to study with Scotty, ahh... but instead..."
"He was with me," a female voice cut in.
River's eyes followed the sound to the opposite side of her bed and standing there, looking simply gorgeous as usual, was Hailey McTague, Dayden's ex-girlfriend. What the heck was she doing here, River wondered. Hailey with her flawless complexion and long blonde, sun kissed hair, River couldn't help but feel resentment. She noticed Hailey had one of those sickeningly sweet heart shaped smiles too. How unfair was it that Hailey got to look so great when River felt so awful? Just as River was taking note of Hailey's beautiful catlike eyes, she spoke again.
"We met up at the library, then went for a walk together." Hailey's voice was soft yet confident. She almost sounded proud to have been the one who had been with Dayden.
River suddenly wanted to claw her beautiful eyes right out of her head.
"What about the two evenings prior to that?" Sergeant Richards asked keeping his eyes locked on Dayden. "Your alibi didn't hold up for those two nights either, according to Scotty Adams."
"He was with me both of those nights as well," Hailey cut in before Dayden could make a sound. "I'm sure you can understand why we were wanting to keep it private," she said clearly suggesting that there was something going on between her and Dayden.
The realization hit River hard: Dayden had been with Hailey. He had been with her all of the nights he had been late. He had even been with her the night River had been attacked. River suddenly felt like she couldn't get enough air. She must have gasped because all three visitors turned as one to stare down at her. She saw the surprise on Dayden's face when he realized that she had heard Hailey's confession. He immediately leaned in close and called her name. She didn't want to see the guilt that was written all over his face, so she closed her eyes and welcomed the darkness.
It could have been minutes later or hours later when she heard a voice calling her name. The doctor was back. "River, open your eyes for me," he instructed. She did as she was told. "That's a good girl... well hello there," he smiled. "I am Dr. Watkins and I have to say you look much better today." He shone his bright light into each of her eyes and then nodded his head. "Good. Looks very good," he mumbled to himself. "How are you feeling today River?"
River started to speak, but her lips were dry and her throat was parched. Her voice came out all scratchy, as she asked for some water. Dayden immediately popped up from the other side of her bed and left the room. She hadn't even known he was there. As they waited for Dayden to return with the water, the doctor gently lifted a bandage from her forehead and smiled at what he found below. He re-bandaged it just as Dayden returned with the water.
Dayden set the glass on her night table and then leaned in close to River. He spoke softly, explaining that he was just going to help her to sit up a little, so she could drink the water. He placed his bandaged hand under one of her arms and his other hand under her other arm. He started to slowly pull River forward when she groaned from a burst of pain in her chest. She startled Dayden so badly that he almost dropped her. Right away he started apologizing for hurting her. She could tell he was nervous, as he quickly slid a small pillow behind her back, which propped her up just enough to make it easier for her to drink the water. Once she was as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, Dayden picked up the glass of water and held it to her lips. He barely had to lift the glass in order for her to drink a couple of sips.
"River do you know what happened to you," the doctor asked, as Dayden set the glass back on her night table.
River wasn't sure how she should answer. She did remember, but she wished that she didn't. Thinking about it made her feel like she was having another one of those panic attacks, so she tried to avoid thinking about it. She knew one thing for sure though, that deep voiced guy had told her not to tell anyone except for Dayden. So, that's exactly what she planned to do, at least until she knew who she could trust and what was going on. "I don't remember," she said softly, playing it safe.
"What is the last thing you do remember," he asked studying her face intently.
She quickly glanced up at Dr. Watkins. She had never met him before. He seemed nice enough though, but how did she know for certain? "The last thing I remember was speaking with Scotty," she said determined to keep the truth to herself. The doctor made a motion for her to continue. She could see Dayden lean forward in his chair. He had his elbows on his knees and he too was listening intently.
"Ah.. Scotty had knocked on the door to tell me that he was running a little late," she said barely above a whisper. River looked at Dayden to see his reaction, but he had his head down. "Ahh... Scotty had asked me to go to dinner with him and he was running late, so he came by to say he needed a little more time to get ready. We agreed on a time, then said goodbye and I came back into the apartment. After that it's pretty much just a blur."
"River do you remember answering the door to someone else?"
She shook her head no. She decided to say as little as possible until she knew for sure who she could trust.
The doctor sighed and then carefully sat down beside River on the edge of her bed. "Someone came into your apartment sometime after you answered the door for Scotty," he began, his friendly manner taking on a more serious tone. "They came in and for some reason, that is still unknown to us, they beat you up pretty severely." River gasped. She already knew what he was telling her, but just his mentioning it, brought back the awful memories in full frightening color.
"You have a laceration on the side of your forehead that required skin fusing," he continued. "I am very pleased with how it is healing and if it continues like this, you should have minimal scarring." He put on his stethoscope and listened to her heart for a few seconds before continuing. "You also have cerebral contusions in both your frontal and temporal lobes, which simply means you have some bruising in the brain tissue. There was excessive swelling and mild intracranial bleeding in those areas, so we have been sedating you and watching you closely.
You also have a cracked rib, which is what is causing the pain in your chest when you move. You may find it painful to take a deep breath as well, at least for the next couple of days. The good news is that there was no skull fracture or any other broken bones for that matter. Now that you are awake River, I would like to carry out a quick neurological exam with you."
She nodded her permission, while at the same time she wondered how long they had been sedating her. "How long have I been out?" she asked tentatively.
"Well the incident happened on Thursday evening. It is now Sunday afternoon. So you have been out for just a little over two and a half days - long enough to allow the swelling to go down. That is the important thing."
River was shocked that she had been out of it for so long and then almost as if a switch had been pulled she felt the familiar pull and could feel herself beginning to fade. She could not hold back a yawn, which surprisingly caused pain in both her mouth and her chest. When her hand lifted to her lips, she felt how swollen and sore they were.
She struggled to stay alert as she let the doctor perform his neurological exam and when it was complete, he was only troubled by her lack of memory to do with the event itself. He did say though, that it wasn't uncommon in assault cases with this kind of trauma, to see a small amount of memory loss. He added that she might experience some mild headaches and maybe even some sensitivity to light over the next few days. He cautioned her to contact him immediately if she experienced any dizziness, fainting spells or severe headaches.
He prescribed two more days of total bed rest before she could get up and about and even then suggested she rest as much as possible. He told her it might take several days, even weeks before she was feeling completely back to normal and even then some symptoms might persist. She thanked him and then Dayden escorted him out. River was sound asleep before Dayden made it back to her bedside.
The distant sound of knocking startled River into an instantly wide-awake state, and immediately caused her heart to race. She felt relief when she recognized Dayden and Scotty's voices along with a couple of others. She heard some scuffling noises and then heard Dayden swearing. Again her heart began to thump until she heard Scotty telling Dayden to calm down. Scotty said he was doing whatever he was doing for Dayden's own good. She heard him tell Dayden that they would only let him go once he had showered and eaten. Dayden angrily protested and called Scotty, Danny and Cole every name in the book. He warned them each in turn what he would do to them if they did not let him go. His shouts only stopped once Scotty warned him that he would wake River if he didn't keep it down.
River heard the scuffling sounds getting louder as they apparently carried or forced Dayden into the washroom just across the hall, letting him know they would not let him out until he had washed his body from head to toe. River shivered when she heard Scotty tell him to make sure that he washed all of the blood off. Why was Dayden covered in blood, she wondered? Did Scotty and the guys hurt him?
After a few minutes of silence, Scotty walked quietly into River's room to check to see if she was awake. Seeing her eyes open, he walked closer to her bed and sat down in the chair that Dayden usually sat in. She watched his eyes grow big as he took in her appearance. "Did we wake you River?" he asked softly.
River shook her head slightly.
"I think maybe we did and you just aren't telling me the truth," he said narrowing his eyes at her in suspicion, yet smiling at the same time. "Well I'm sorry if we did and I'm also sorry that I haven't been here for you, but it's not for lack of trying," he said as he carefully picked up her hand and ran his thumb back and forth over the top of it. "Dayden wouldn't let anyone in to visit you except the doctor," he explained. River knew that wasn't entirely true. He had let Hailey in after all, and Sergeant Richards, though he may not have had much choice with the Sergeant.
"I understand that he wants you to have quiet while you are recovering, but he has gone too far. He wouldn't even let me in and I'm his best friend, not to mention your good friend as well. Cripes it was me that was trying to practically break down your door when you didn't answer at the time we had agreed to meet." River had wondered who had found her, so her ears perked up when she heard Scotty retelling the events from his perspective.
"I thought at first that maybe you had fallen back to sleep," he said squeezing her hand slightly. "But when you still didn't answer after twenty minutes of knocking, I sent out text messages for everyone to hunt Dayden down. Luckily he showed up with Hailey about ten minutes later. When I explained that you and I had made plans to meet at a certain time and you weren't answering the door, he didn't take it well at all."
"He thought you might have gone to the Rec Hall to play the piano. When I followed him into your apartment, we knew right away something was up by all the mess. Then when we found you taped to that chair, we both freaked out. We had to be careful because we didn't know how badly you were hurt. We called the emergency number and luckily the on call doctor lives right here in residence on the fourth floor, so he was able to get up here very quickly."
Scotty's hand moved to the back of his neck. He gave River a long look, shaking his head in anger at her battered appearance. "Who did this to you River?"
She shook her head to say she didn't know and felt tears running down her face at Scotty's concern. "Why is Dayden covered in blood? Was he hurt?" she asked so softly that Scotty had to lean in so he could hear her.
Scotty was surprised by her question. She could tell that he didn't know how to answer and she could see him struggling. "River it was your blood," he finally stated, and then he repeated it. "He was covered in your blood, not his."
River's eyes widened, surprised by Scotty's answer. "Why is his hand wrapped up then?"
"He hurt it when he punched the wall," he explained. Once again his thumb lightly caressed the back of her hand. "He did that after the doctor arrived and took over your care. Before the doctor arrived we cut off the tape... ah you were tied to a chair... did you know that?"
River shook her head, pretending that she didn't.
"Oh... ah well I'm going to wait and let the doctor tell you all the details then, because I don't want to upset you," Scotty said suddenly squirming in discomfort. "Ah.. look River we just want to make sure that Dayden showers and eats. We don't think it's good that he's gone so long without eating. It's been like three days straight now, plus the fact that he still had your blood all over him... well that's just plain creepy and can't be healthy. It's like he's trying to punish himself to make up for what happened to you."
Again River was floored. She never knew that Dayden hadn't eaten or taken the time to even just wash. Thinking about it now she wondered how much he had really slept in the past few days. She didn't think he had slept much at all. Thinking about sleeping, she was starting to feel tired again. They still had the intravenous in her arm and so she figured they still must be giving her something to make her feel so sleepy.
Seeing her eyes start to close, Scotty told her that they would look after Dayden and then let themselves out. He promised he would be back to check on her and he would not let Dayden keep him away this time. He reminded her also that they still had a dinner date they had to reschedule. She knew Scotty was just trying to cheer her up, but she was too tired to respond. Her eyes closed and just like that, she was floating again.
The next time she woke up, Dayden had pulled her desk chair up to her desk and he had one elbow leaning on top. His head was held up by his hand, while his other hand worked at spinning a pen around and around on the top of the desk. He looked like he was deep in thought. She didn't want to disturb him, but she was dying of thirst. She cleared her throat and the sound of it caused Dayden to jump. He spun around in his chair and seeing her eyes open, immediately came to her side. River was happy to see that he looked much better. His clothes were clean. His hair was shiny and curly again. He even had a little color back in his cheeks.
"Hey, you're awake," he said stating the obvious. She had never seen Dayden so nervous. Usually he carried his confidence like a badge of honor. She wasn't used to seeing him so off kilter.
She nodded her head slightly. Even that small movement caused her to flinch from pain, though it was not as bad as it had been.
"How are you feeling?" Dayden asked as he grabbed the glass of water from her night table.
"I feel better," she managed to say in a scratchy voice. She knew he felt guilty. It was written all over his face and though she wanted to be angry with him for lying to her, she still hated to see him so rattled.
He leaned down and with one arm lifted her just enough so she could drink some water. He then gently lowered her back to the pillow and replaced the glass of water on her night table. She noticed he no longer had a bandage on his hand. He walked over to her computer and clicked the keyboard a few times until some music played from her speakers. He turned it up uncomfortably loud and then walked back to the bed and picked up River's hand. Her heart started to race as she wondered what he was up to.
He leaned in right next to her ear so he could whisper, sending a chill down her spine as he did. "River I need to talk to you. Can I come closer?"
She wondered what he meant. After all he was pretty darn close already. How much closer could he get, she wondered? She nodded her head, not knowing what else to say.
Dayden very carefully moved the machines and wires that were attached to River as he gently sat down on the edge of her bed. He then lifted his legs up and turned until he was stretched out beside her. Right away River could smell his clean scent and it was so wonderful that she found herself closing her eyes and just breathing it in. Dayden shimmied a little closer until his lips were right next to her ear. He picked up her closest hand and held it between both of his as he began to speak.
"Can you tell me.." His words got caught, so he cleared his throat and then continued. "Can you tell me what happened?" The hand that held River's was warm and firm.
She moved to look at him and then leaned in so she could whisper into his ear. "There were two guys_"
Immediately Dayden pulled his head back and glared down at her. She could see he was vibrating with anger. He seemed shocked to find out there had been two guys. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He reopened his eyes and bit his bottom lip as he took a couple deep breaths. He nodded for her to go on and then placed his ear next to her lips.
"They were dressed all in black and had ski masks on, so I can't tell you what they looked like." Dayden nodded. "They asked where you were." She felt Dayden tense up, but he didn't move his ear. "I told them you were with Scotty studying." The memory of his lie made her angry and she wanted him to know how much it had hurt her, both mentally and physically. "They said I was lying and then hit me." Again she felt him tense up, but she ignored his reaction and continued. "I told them they could read the note you left me, which they did, but they said it was a lie. They said that all of the Fly Boys including Scotty were at the gym doing a training exercise." Her voice hitched with emotion as she strained to continue. Tears slid down her cheeks as she retold her nightmare. "They then asked me where you had been the two nights before and I told them you were with Scotty. Each time they hit me and said I was lying."
"They told me to give you a warning and said it came right from the Big Kahuna himself." River had lost all the anger from her voice. Just remembering what the two guys in black had done to her, drained her. "They said that if you continued to nose around into things that didn't concern you, they would be back to pay me another visit."
Dayden lifted his head and stared down at her. She could feel him shaking as once again he seemed lost in thought. River motioned for him to come closer. When she felt his ear next to her lips she continued, "They said that the Fly Boys were encouraged to bring a mate with them to Special Ops, so that they would have a way to blackmail each Fly Boy. They threaten the mate to get the Fly Boy to do whatever it is they want." River watched Dayden's face turn hard as he clenched both of his fists.
She heard him mumble, "Holy shit," as he sat up. He jumped to his feet while he clasped his hands behind his head. He paced back and forth in front of her bed, muttering every so often. River heard the occasional curse word. After a couple of minutes she motioned for him to come back to her.
"Dayden I don't know where you were those three nights_"
He stopped her right there. "River, I promise you that I was not with Hailey, if that is what you are thinking." That had been exactly what she had been thinking. Hailey herself had just admitted to it. Yet as she looked into Dayden's eyes, she knew he was telling her the truth. "I ran into Hailey the night you were... hurt." He could barely say the word. "Someone was chasing after me. I ducked into the library and literally ran into her. She agreed to be my alibi. She knew I was up to something, but she didn't know what.
She mentioned in passing that Scotty had been out the previous two nights doing stuff and said that was why she was at the library. I knew right then that my plan for using Scotty as my alibi wasn't going to work. Hailey agreed that if something happened and I needed her to vouch for me, then she would. I was really hoping it wouldn't be necessary, but unfortunately it was. I'm sorry about that River. I never meant to lie to you. I thought I was keeping you safe by not telling you. Instead I made things ten times worse." He lifted his head up and gave her a small smile.
She wanted to return his smile, but she had more she had to tell him. She pulled him back to her. "They think you were snooping into something you shouldn't have been. They didn't sound sure though, because they were fishing for information. Though they did say if they thought you were doing it again, they would come back to finish off what they started. They told me to tell you that, but they also told me not to tell anyone else. That's why I didn't tell the doctor. They said if we told anyone else, they would be back and the next time they wouldn't be so nice."
He sat up once more and she felt his whole body stiffen. Dayden was deep in thought. He probably didn't even notice the overloud music, River thought. Finally he laid back down. It was his turn to tell her what he had found out.
"Out of sixteen Fly Boys who have been brought here over the past two years, only six are still flying," he began. "Apparently four were killed in combat, four are presumed missing in action and two committed suicide. Not very encouraging stats," he stated bitterly. "Here's the strange thing, of the eight Fly Boys either missing in action or killed in combat, none of their planes crashed or went missing. How does a guy get killed in combat and yet his Arcane Fighter makes it home just fine? I mean if he landed and they killed him, they would take the Fighter or at the very least destroy it. If a Fly Boy goes missing in action, again how does his Arcane Fighter not go missing with him? It's strange. It's like these guys have disappeared into thin air, but the Arcane Fighters are all accounted for."
His hand moved to her hair and he gently ran his finger through a few strands as he continued, "They have built 8 Arcane Fighters in total. That's all, because that's all they've been able to afford. They cost like $200 million each to make. The regular air force pilots crashed two of them, because they were so different to fly. That's when they brought the Fly Boys in, because they had been trained on flying only the Arcane Fighters. So, six fighters were left - of those, one gets shot down by a missile and one gets confiscated by the Resistance, leaving just four Fighters. We have two in the air at all times in order to patrol the safe zones. That's pretty hard to do with only four Fighters. I believe the General wants more Fighters. The problem is that he has to come up with lots of money to pay for more. Makes me wonder where he's going to get that kind of money."
He lifted his head until he could look in River's eyes and she nodded her head in agreement with him. He dropped his head once more, "So we have missing Fly Boys, not enough Fighters and much more money needed than we have available. Four Fighters are not enough to protect our Region. Here is the last thing: of all of those ten Fly Boys who are missing or were killed, approximately half of them had mates, because as you know the first year they didn't bring mates. What happened to their mates?" He felt River shrug her shoulders. "You would think they would have sent them back home to their families, but they didn't. Instead they were sent to the closest safe zone. I find that very odd. Don't you?" This time he felt River nod her head. "Apparently their families aren't freaking out though, because they were told the girls were being placed in high ranking work positions. There's no doubt that something very strange is going on here and I have obviously not been as careful as I thought I was being."
Dayden lifted himself up on one elbow and stared down into River's eyes. She could see so many emotions cross his face. She saw guilt and sadness and yet there was also determination. He dropped his head back to the bed and whispered into her ear once more. This time as he spoke, he carefully brushed one finger down the side of her bruised face. "River, I promise you this, I will die before I let anyone harm you again." She felt another shiver run through her. The thought of him dying struck a fear in her heart unlike anything she had ever experienced before. "I will do whatever I have to do to keep you safe," he promised her. "I'm so sorry River. I wish I had... never forced... you to come," he choked out. River felt so bad for him that she reached up and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. "Somehow I am going to get you out of here," he said in a determined voice as he leaned his forehead against hers. They stayed that way for a long time, before he gently leaned in and kissed her forehead.
After a minute he carefully got up from her bed and walked over to her computer and turned off the music. The sudden quiet was a relief. He walked back to her bedside and once more sat on the edge of her bed. She watched as he removed his shoes and socks and then he surprised her by lying back down beside her. He gently wrapped his arms around her and laid his head right in close to hers. At first, River was very tense, not sure what Dayden was doing, but when she heard his deep breaths and realized that he had already fallen asleep, she relaxed. She breathed in his unique clean scent that held just a hint of men's cologne and within seconds she too drifted off, feeling warm and safe and loved for the first time in a very long time.