Page 30 of Not Your Hero

“Get her down, Nix!” The other man roars this time. The man in front of me sighs heavily before pulling a key from his pocketand kneeling in front of me. He undoes each of my ankles before standing and undoing the locks on my wrists. Immediately, I feel myself falling, but he’s there to catch me. He scoops me into his arms and carries me over to a small bed.

“You’re weak. You can’t stand on your own right now,” he says as I watch him.

“Lay her down and let me check her over,” the other man says. My eyes move from his to this man’s and back again, unsure what they’re doing.

“His name is Ron. He’s a doctor. You need to be checked,” the man explains. I nod my head as he lays me on to the soft bed below. I almost want to moan and cry at just how good it feels to be laying on something so soft.

The man steps out of the way and allows the doctor to start examining me. The fact I’m still naked isn’t lost on me, but at this point, and the way I feel, I don’t have it in me to care.

The other man, the one he called Nix, isn’t far away, and he isn’t taking his eyes off the doctor as he checks me over.

“Can you roll over? I need to check your back,” he says. I nod and attempt to roll, but like he said, I’m weak. Quickly, Nix steps up next to the bed and rolls me onto my side as a strangled cry leaves my lips. I can feel the doctor touching me gently, but it still hurts like hell. I’m not sure I have any strength left in me to keep crying.

“This is horrible, Nix. These are going to leave some nasty scars,” Ron tells him. I bite my lip to keep from trying to cry.

“Her shoulder?”

“I can stitch that, but I can tell you from listening to her that she has pneumonia,” he reports as I feel something cold on my back.

“Then fix her!” Nix roars. I stay on my side as I listen to the man rustling around behind me. Then I feel something cold as it’s gently rubbed onto my back. It hurts, but not as bad as it could, I suppose.

The doctor layers something on my back and then gently rolls me back over. The comfort I feel is causing me to zone out. My eyes are drooping, and I can feel sleep tugging at me.

“You can sleep. I plan on giving you something anyway.” I shake my head as he pulls out some other things from his bag, setting them on the edge of the bed.

“I need something to hold these bags, Nix.” I look up at the man, Nix, to see him staring at me intensely. He finally pulls his gaze from mine and moves through the room, only to come back with a hanger. He reaches up, pulls a photo off the wall, and tosses it to the side.

“This work?” he asks the doctor.

“That’ll do. She needs to be in a hospital.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I said no!” Nix snaps. I jolt a little from the thunder in his tone, but the doctor doesn’t even seem surprised by his outburst. He continues his ministrations, ignoring the man altogether.

“I’m going to start an IV. You need fluids, and you need antibiotics.” I shake my head. I don’t know what the hell he’s trying to pump into me. There’s no way in hell I’m letting thathappen. I attempt to sit up, but Nix pushes me back down. I try once more, and he does it again.

“You’re going to die if I don’t get these antibiotics in you. You understand that?” My eyes meet his, and I can tell he’s serious, but I still shake my head no. Nix smirks before he moves across the room and comes back. He grabs my arm and places a handcuff around my wrist and attaches it to the bed. Then he moves to the other side as I thrash and try to pull away a futile exercise as he’s stronger than I am. He easily grabs it and cuffs it to the other side of the bed before nodding to the doctor.

“You’re going to feel a stick,” he says before he inserts the needle. Tears start falling down my cheeks again.

“This isn’t to hurt you, Emerson.” Nix tries to reassure, his tone calmer than he seems.

The doctor gets everything hooked up and continues to look me over from head to toe.

“Did she run through glass?” he sarcastically asks when he looks at the bottom of my feet.

“Just fix her, Ron!”

“I’m doing the best I can. Let me do what I need to do,” he retorts. Nix crosses his arms over his chest and glares at the doctor while he gets to work on taking care of my feet. I let out a sigh and stare at the ceiling. I don’t know what the hell is going on. I don’t know where we are or why Nix got me out of there. I don’t know what’s happening to the other girls. No. I do know. None of them were getting out of there alive. More tears roll down my cheeks as I think about that.

“I need to stitch her shoulder.” The doctor’s voice breaks into my thoughts. Now, my eyes snap back to theirs.

“He can give you something,” Nix tells me, looking me in the eye.

“No,” I whisper hoarsely.

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