Chapter Regeneration?
We walked down the hallway, I couldn’t grab any handles, it either hurt, or I couldn’t wrap my fingers around it.
Jessica seemed worried. “Red, are you ok. I’m noticing you’re having issues using your hands?
I looked over at her. “It’s hard to move my fingers… I shouldn’t even have these so I can’t complain.”
She didn’t say anything. At least not for a while, we walked down corridors. I was just figuring out how to get around Base one and now this… We got to an office, it said Dr. Emilia Reckard… I guess this is Emilia then.
Jessica opened the door and the woman inside seemed surprised. “Oh, hello. Can I help you…? Oh, hi Jessica… Red! You’re awake, and moving around!”
Jessica had a weak laugh. “Yah, I brought her to you. She wanted to see who saved her life.”
Emilia paused for a moment, then she smiled. “Well you should have had me come to her. She shouldn’t be moving around so soon after waking up.”
Jessica scratched the back of her head nervously. “Sorry…”
She looked behind Jessica at me. “Red, can you come here? I need to check your bandages.” She wanted to see my hands? I walked up to her, she looked at them for a minute. “It looks like we need to change them out, this might sting a bit.” She started peeling back and the bandages, it did sting… I winced but it was fine.
After she got them off I saw my hands, they were pink and covered in scabs… It was nasty looking. It made me feel sick, she pulled out a bottle and a paper towel. She put the towel to the top of the bottle and flipped it over. I thought it was going to spill at first but it didn’t. Then she pressed it on certain spots on my hands, it burned every time she touched them.
She noticed me wincing and tried to get it done quickly. “Sorry, I’m sure this hurts. You’re lucky though. We combined your medical records with our findings here… you can regenerate, amazing isn’t it! Even if you lose all your limbs, if we can keep you alive; they’ll grow back. The issue is that you don’t regenerate quickly, but you do heal quickly. Of course, with a scenario such as loosing limbs you must remain within a controlled environment otherwise they’ll grow back deformed… We’ve spent quite a bit of time making sure your bones didn’t deform or break. The only thing left is your hands. The bones, muscles, and tendons are there, your bodies finishing up with the skin now. I’d give it another week or two before the scabs fall off and your all healed up…” That was a lot to take in. “Oh, sorry. I get caught up in the moment at times. I’m sure this is interesting but please refrain from harming yourself.”
Jessica interrupted her. “Emilia, she asked me if she died…”
Emilia looked at Jessica then at me, she sighed. “Is that what you're worried about Jessica… She doesn’t appear to be depressed so I don’t think that would be an issue.” It took me a minute but as she was talking I saw her sharp teeth, she was a NightTide then… “Hmm… Red, how do you feel?”
I think I was fine, she was wrapping up my hands with new bandages though and that stung. “I think I’m fine, this stings right now but not much else?”
She seemed pleased to hear that. “Good, why did you want to know if you died?”
Why did I want to know? “I’m not sure… Everything was black for a long time, I guess I’m just curious if that was death… I also heard a voice, they said Self-Sacrifice, Honorable.”
She looked down for a second, then she went back to wrapping my hands up. “If you want to know, yes you did die… three times to be precise. As for the voice I can’t say, if your religious you might be able to take a guess but if you’re not… maybe the answer will come to you later?” Religious? I’m not sure what that meant… “Either way, you’re here now. Alive and well.”
How did I die three times? “How did you save me, If I died three times it means you brought me back three times right?”
She finally finished wrapping my hands, she raised up her arms and I saw sparks jump between her fingers. “This is how… Well not exactly, in a sense I can be a portable defibrillator if needed, your heart stopped twice and I got it beating again. The third time it stopped I had to keep it beating manually, forcing electricity to it to keep the muscle moving. Let me just say, it’s hard to hook machines up to someone who currently has electricity coursing through them, but we managed to do it. I don’t recall how long you were in surgery, but they pulled out a lot of shrapnel and bone shards. Most of it was taken out but they couldn’t remove what made its way to your brain. Don’t worry though its benign, just inoperable… Given your ability to regenerate it might get absorbed into your body, though this would take a while.”
A NightTide doctor… “How old are you.”
I heard Jessica gasp but Emilia raised her hand. “It’s fine Jessica, I don’t blame her. NightTide doctors aren’t very common. I’ve been a NightTide for thirty years now… I had an opportunity to use my ability for good, and to help others instead of harm, so I took it. I don’t regret my decision, but it does get boring. It was hard at first, I’ll always look like I’m twenty so it catches people off guard… Speaking of which, Jessica have you stopped ageing yet?”
Jessica was caught off guard. “N-no, not yet…”
Emilia smiled at her. “Well it should be happening soon… I’d give it another three years at most. Let’s see here, Jessica can you please come here.” Jessica walked over, she moved me so that we were standing next to each other. “Hmm. Red looks a little younger then you Jessica. I’d say about sixteen or seventeen. So, you’ve stopped aging?” I was told at the other place I had, so I nodded. “I see, so then you’re both the same age but Red will always appear to be the younger one. Cute, it fits. Jessica is quite protective of you.” I guess she is…
Jessica seemed flustered. “H-hey I’m not that protective!”
Emilia gave her a devilish grin. “So, you’re saying that you leave her unattended and don’t try to protect her?”
Jessica sunk back. “That’s not what I meant and you know it!”
Emilia laughed. “Yes Jessica, I know. You’re really trying, but you haven’t been doing a very good job at keeping her from getting hurt. I’ve seen her twice now, once for shattered ribs and the second for being cut, beaten, stabbed, and blown up… I know you’re doing your best, but jeez, it’s a dam good thing she can handle this kind of treatment.” Jessica was rubbing the toe of her shoe on the ground… Emilia looked at us. “Now you two. Be on your way I have work to attend to. Jessica, if you want to take her anywhere make sure to check out first, but bring her back by the end of the day. Those bandages need changed daily.” She didn’t know about the incident at base one then… She shooed us out of the room.
The door was shut now, I looked at Jessica. “Why did they put so much effort into keeping me alive?”
Jessica was startled by that. “That, wasn’t a question I was expecting to get from you… You did that… You took out six soldiers, killed Keith… Thanks by the way, that fight was starting to wear me out. You also hurt their commander to the point he had to flee and injured another soldier, they both escaped though. When they fled the guns took out three of the choppers but the rest got away.” Injured two? Did she mean Owen… was he still alive? I hoped so. “You’re a dam good shot… I wanted to save you and the other three base leaders saw you as valuable now, it would have been cheaper to help you recover then to spend a few years training another sniper. They were even more on board when we found out your limbs were growing back.” So, it was money… I shouldn’t complain at least, I’m alive. “Come on, let’s go back to the room. Given past experiences, I shouldn’t have you out and about unless you’re ready to leave.” We headed back to my room I guess…