Kinetics (26 page)

I went up to my room.  I cleaned up as
quickly and gently as I could. 

~//~

I returned to Eastcoft.  I wanted to be
there when Ryder woke up.  I wanted to talk to him.  I just wanted to be near him.

Chuck drove me into town.  He was a much
safer driver then me, given that I had very little formal training. 

I met Hothead in the lobby where he
paced around the room.  Ronnie and Sandy were sitting, looking at the TV.  They
weren’t really watching it; they were just kind of staring in its general
direction.

  I walked up and patted Hothead on the
shoulder, “How is Vanish?” I asked.  It occurred to me that I did not know his
or Vanish’s real names.

“She was not feeling well so I made her
come and see the doctor.” He said, and like he just realized who he was talking
to, his face lit up and he grabbed me in a hug and squeezed.

I yelled in pain and he dropped me.

“I’m sorry.  I am just happy that you
found her. I owe you everything!”

“It’s alright, just a few broken ribs.”
I fell into a nearby chair.  “Hothead, what is your name and Vanish’s for that
matter.” I gently rubbed my ribs.

“My name is Gera.  If you wish to call
me Hothead I don’t mind it.  Vanish, her name is Liz.” He returned to pacing
around the room.

Sam came out of the back wearing a
surgical uniform.  He had some blood on his hands and shirt.  He took his
gloves off and disposed of them in a bin.

“What is going on back there?” I stood
just a little too fast.  I cringed at the pain.  My head spun with any sudden
movement.

“We had to operate on Ryder.  He is fine
now.” He pulled his mask off.

“Why did you have to operate?” I forced
myself to keep calm.

“The doctors that had him before didn’t
try and remove the bullet.  The bullet itself was secreting some kind of toxin
that was keeping his flesh from being able to heal.” He dropped into a chair.

“I came back to see him.  Will I be able
to today?”

“Soon enough Grace.” He said, trying to
keep from putting his arm in the blood on his shirt.

~//~

After hours of waiting I was finally
allowed to see Ryder.  He wasn’t awake yet but Doctor Z explained that he could
open his eyes at any moment.  He also thought I would be the best person for
Ryder to see when he awoke.

I brought in a chair and pushed it close
to the right side of the bed.  I sat down and propped my feet up. 

I took his hand.

I watched him breathe shallow for a
while until I couldn’t hold my head up anymore and it wasn’t long before I was
falling asleep.

~//~

“Wake up, I’m the sick one.” Ryder
squeezed my hand. 

I didn’t open my eyes, “I’m pretty
banged up myself.”

“What have you been up to?” Someone had
brought him some food that he was now woofing down. 

“Finding you.”

“What about your parents?”

“I haven’t looked into it yet; I was
more concerned with finding you first.” I pulled myself up in the chair. 

“Well I am here now; let’s get to work
finding your parents then.”

“Whoa, calm down.  You should rest.” I
took a sip of his iced tea.

There was a knock at the door.  We both
turned to Doctor Z standing in the doorway.

“What’s up?” Ryder smiled.

“Sam would like for everyone to meet in
the waiting room.”

“Are you sure that Ryder should be up
and about.” I stood.

Doctor Z pushed in a wheel chair.  “As
long as he stays in this for now, he will be fine.  With the bullet removed you
should heal much quicker.”

We worked together to help Ryder into
the chair and left the room to join the others in the waiting room.

We all sat in the lobby waiting for Sam.
 Every chair in the room was taken.  There were several people that I had not
yet met, who lived in Eastcroft.

Sam walked into the room.  He was
dressed in a business suit, tie and all.  He looked very official.  He looked
as if a huge weight was pressed down onto his shoulders.

He paced around the room.

“I have to go and see the Overseers. 
For those of you that don’t know, the Overseers are a government committee that
protects us from the outside world.  I am afraid that they are not going to be
happy with what happened on our last mission.  They have already warned me once
that we were ‘making too much noise’ on our missions.” He said making air
quotes.

“What is going to happen?” Sandy asked.

“For now I am going to assure that we
are suspending missions for the time being.” He scratched his head, “I wanted
everyone to hear it from me.  We are going on lock down.  Until further notice
there will be no missions or any kind of activity.”

I stood, “Is there anything else?”

“No, I think everyone should get some
rest.”

Everyone dispersed in a somewhat orderly
fashion.  I helped Ryder back to his room.  We got him into his bed.  Then I
pulled the chair back up to where it was and got comfortable.

“So what is the plan?” He cringed a
little as he tried to get comfortable in his bed.

“I’m going to have to find my parents
myself and my sister.” I sighed, “But I’m not worried about it.”

“You still didn’t answer my question.”

“I’ll start by looking for my sister,
she should be much easier to find.”

“And what will you do when you find
her?”

“I don’t know yet.” I admitted.

“We need to get started as soon as
possible.” He said.

“Maybe you should stay here.  Sam will
most likely insist.” I said. 

“Grace,” he said leaning up, but he
hissed in pain and laid back down.

“Calm down.” I said gently patting his
leg.

“Promise me something.” He said looking
particularly pitiful.

“What’s that?”

“Promise me that you will always be
mindful and you will always come back.”