Kell woke up, staring at a bright white ceiling and hearing a soft, repetitive beeping noise to his right. He pulled himself up and instantly regretted it, his head spinning and nauseu returning as he did so.. He was in a bed, clean white sheets and an IV drip hooked up to his arm. He looked around and saw a young woman with pixie-cut brunette hair tending to a man in another bed. The man seemed to have lost most of his left leg up to the thigh and the foot of his right leg. The woman turned and saw Kell sitting up. She flashed a friendly, if tired, smile.
?Oh, Sergeant Kell. You?re awake. You should lie back down.?
Please don?t say it, please don?t say it, please don?t say it-
?You?re lucky to be alive.?
Dammit. Hate that cliché.
Kell tried to respond and was startled by his own mumbling.
?I was a bit worried that might be the case. Your speechis going to be a bit? ?jumbled? for the next few days. It should return to normal fairly soon.?
?Long been hur??
?Er?Do you mean ?how long?? Only around 7 hours or so. You were medivac-ed only a few minutes after your injury. Do you remember anything??
Kell nodded. He had drifted in and out of consciousness the entire time. Half formed memories of being pulled up the ramp of a Pegasus, a brief glimpse of stars through a viewport and then being pulled down steel hallways on a stretcher all danced around his mind. He was finding it strangely hard to focus on any one thought for very long. The fact that the fluorescent lights overhead seemed more like spotlights focusing directly onto his eyes wasn?t helping things.
?I still don?t know exactly what happened to you, command hasn?t told me. Do you know??
?Big gare?hit meh.? Kell?s words were slurred. Better than being completely incoherent but his tongue still felt as though it was too big for his mouth.
?It would have to have been. Your suit sensors picked up a 21 megapascal impact across your chest.?
?Tha? uh lot??
?I could say it would be like getting hit by a car but that would be an understatement. If it weren?t for your enhancements you wouldn?t have survived. I can go into detail if you like??
?Oh, pless do. Lurv to hur ?bout it.? Kell replied. Not even head trauma could stop his sarcasm.
?Well ok then, if you hadn?t been enhanced and didn?t have the small amount of protection your armor gave you your internal organs would?ve liquiefied and the bones around the actual impact point would?ve been little more than tiny shards. The shockwave from the hit alone might have broken bones in your arms and legs and I?m not certain but I think some of your arteries would have actually burst from the sudden massive increase in pressure to your chest, although that?s only a theory. Buuuuut you were enhanced so you were alright.? She finished up happily.
???you haf gret bedshid manner.?
?Oh, why thank you. You?re very sweet.?
Kell let his head fall back to the pillow.
Her thick skull is impenetrable to my sarcasm.
?Anyway, Sergeant,? She said, bending over him to check his IV drip, ?all you really ended up with is a bad concussion and one giant bruise. You?ll need to get lots of rest, that?s really the only treatment there is. Stay in bed, though if you get restless I can call an orderly to take you for a walk if you?d like.?
?Coud heh take meh to tha shootin? range??
?I don?t think we let patients with brain injuries use weapons, sergeant.? The doctor said, grinning.
?We let thum become docturs?
?Huh? What do you mean??
How do you miss that? Are you really that?oh, nevermind
?Nothin?, can ah resht no?
?Of course, I?ll go and check on my other patients.?
When she left Kell slowly lifted himself up from the bed and glanced around. ?Legs? over to his right had apparently fallen asleep. She?d probably been putting some cocktail of painkillers into his IV.
Have to ask if I can get some of those?
He paused in his thoughts. There was a mirror mounted on the inside of an open cabinet door across the room. If he could just?lean?a bit more?out of the bed he?d be able to see himself. He finally saw himself in the mirror took in the damage. His right arm was covered in bandages, most of them still patched with crimson where the wounds were still healing. Had she said ?One Giant Bruise?? He tugged the hospital gown to the side and got a good view of his chest.
?
Oh dear lord, I?m purple.
The area of his chest where he?d been hit, on the upper right side of his ribs, was an almost black Byzantium and the area surrounding it was a splotched with a mix of lighter purples, reds, yellows and in one or two places, blues. The bruise(s) covered nearly every inch from the the bottom of his neck to the top of his pelvis. He slumped back into the bed, his head still spinning. He thought for a moment.
Might as well make the best of this.
He called out, ?Nurse! Ned a spong bath!?
A man jogged into the room wearing the red-on-white uniform of Berlin medical personnel.
?Not you. Go fin' some-un cute, fem'ale and half ur age.?
The man smirked and walked back out.
