Whispers

Chapter ten

Dom looks at me, and I sigh, "It's a long story," I run my hand through my matted hair.

"I've got all the time in the world," Dom says, leaning back in his seat. I clear my throat and think about where I should start. After a minute, I figure it out.

"I was in a really, really bad situation at home. I reported my dad for abuse, and the pack leader decided he was going to do an investigation into what was going on. I was being bullied heavily by another student, and one day I snapped and almost killed her. They moved me into the pack house. I was there for, I don't know, a week? My dad got into the room, and chased me down into the woods," I stop, thinking about the situation further.

Do I tell him about how my dad's eyes changed colors? 

"When he found me," I felt my voice shake, "His voice and eyes changed. I've been with my dad all my life, so I know what his eyes look like. His eyes turned yellow, and he was able to take blows that should have killed him, but he wouldn't stay down," I swallow the lump in my throat, "Anyway, the Alpha and his son found me, and by then whatever was influencing my dad had left. He was injured really badly, and the Alpha decided he needed to get the Council involved because of the color of my eyes." Dom nods along with my story.

"What color did your eyes turn?" He asks. I shake my head and look down at my injured leg. The bruises around the healed hole are yellowing, but I can feel the pain start to come back.

"Purple," Dom nods again.

"Continue," I sigh, gathering my thoughts. 

"The Alpha's son was my mate, but we had lied and said we weren't, which pissed the Alpha off. I was taken to the basement and put into a windowless room for a while until the Alpha came to get me. We went upstairs, where a Council member was told the situation, and he said he would be back the next day with the Council's decision on what to do with me. I was escorted back to the room, and the Alpha's son came and visited me, saying he was going to help me and I told him not to, but he ended up helping me a little, because he left the door unlocked and I was able to escape," 

"Tell me about what happened in the woods," Dom leans forward. 

"I got out of the house and ran to the woods. It was the only place I was actually comfortable, and I didn't really have a plan on where I was going to go. Someone followed me. He had red eyes and he was incredibly strong," My voice shook slightly while describing the person who attached me. I close my eyes and compose myself, "He knocked me into a tree, I broke my ankle, but still tried to fight. He said something about coming to get me for someone. He choked me, and then dropped me to the ground and before he could get a hold of me again, someone--Jason--tackled him to the ground and fought him," tears starts to well up in my eyes while recanting the experience. 

I take another deep breath, and continue, "Some how the guy with red eyes was able to get to me again, and that's when Jason shot me." 

Dom nods, "So he shot in your direction, but not at you,"

"Exactly. After the guy disappeared, Jason came right to me. He got the bullet out of my leg and did his best to fix me up as best as possible. I went in and out while he carried me, and the last time I passed out and came to I was in the car. Doc was fixing my leg, and Jason was holding onto me while someone else drove me here," I say, my voice almost a whisper. I don't want to talk about this anymore, but I'm sure Dom still has questions. 

"Do you remember anything else?" I let out a shaky breath.

"Yeah, Jason helped Doc fix me up the night, or day, they got me here. He refused to leave. Other than that, no. I don't remember anything else." 

Dom goes quiet, his face full of contemplation, "I have more questions, but I want to handle one situation at a time. The questions I have at the moment do not pertain to Jason, and that's what I am concerned about now. However," He sighs and smiles at me, "With your testimony, I think Jason will be fine,"

I bolt forward, my body screaming at me to stop, "If the Council wants to come talk to me, I am more than willing. I don't want to be the reason someone gets in trouble. He really didn't mean--,"

"I don't think it will come to that," Dom's voice is calm as he motions me to lay back down, "I will be speaking to the Council, and if they want to do follow ups then that is up to them. Right now, you need to heal and rest." Dom gets up and places the chair he used back to where he got it, "All I ask is that you don't share what you told me with anyone until after the investigation is over." I nod in agreement and smile as Dom leaves the room, allowing Doc and Jason in after him. 

Jason's eyes catch mine and his face lights up, "So?" 

"Can't tell you anything," I say, leaning my head down on the pillow. 

"Well, duh, I was just wondering how it went," he crosses his arms and smirks at me, which makes my heart flutter.

"It went fine, I guess." 

Doc runs around us, checking vitals and my injuries. He then leaves the room, and comes back with a file folder. He sits down by the sink, in the chair Dom used, and starts writing. 

"Whatcha got there, Doc?" Jason closes the door and leans against it. Doc shakes his head, ignoring Jason. 

"I have updated test results," He says while writing faster. I swallow, wondering what he found. Doc gets up, rereading his work, and then looked at me, "Just to make sure I have all the information available to me, what's your full name." 

I groan internally and roll my eyes, "Gillian Katherine Matthews."

"Age and date of birth?" 

"16, July 15th." 

"Weight and height?" 

"Um, I think like, 5'6', 105 pounds?" Doc erases something and rewrites. 

"Okay," he whispers to himself, "I have on here that you are biologically a female, is that how you identify?" 

"Yes," I play with the tube going to my IV. 

"Alright, are you comfortable talking about your s****l--,"

"No." 

"Alright then. That's all I needed," Doc came over to me to check my leg, and talks while he works, "As far as the test show, you have no current bacterial or viral infection, you are properly hydrated, and your healing is going as planned. We had to give you some blood when you came in because of how much you lost, oh, your blood type is O Positive by the way, just in case you were wondering," Doc went down to my ankle and gingerly moved it around. 

"Move your toes for me," I wiggle my toes, "Okay, now point your foot," I strain to point my foot, but the ankle itself was just sore, it doesn't hurt as bad as it did, "Good. Your ankle will, definitely, be fully healed soon. As for your leg," Doc looks at his file, "I see no reason why it shouldn't be healed in another couple of days. Of course, we will keep an eye on it and adjust where we need to, but, hopefully, you'll be out of here in a couple of days." He smiles at me, proud of himself. 

I nod at Doc, fighting off sleep. 

"I'll let you rest. Jason," Doc and I look to Jason, who is still leaning against the closed door, "You have to go. Dom said you can't be in here alone until after the investigation is over."

"Yeah yeah, I know already," Jason says, begrudgingly. I laugh slightly, which earns me a playful look from Jason, "You think they'll exile me?"

"Doubtful. Not like no one's been shot before," Doc covers me with a blanket, and I allow the warmth of the fabric soak into my skin. I didn't realize I was cold until this blanket was on me, and now I am happy, snuggled up underneath it.

The guys leave the room, and I fall peacefully to sleep. When I wake up, Doc is checking on my leg, his eyes full of sleep. 

"Hey, sorry," He says with a yawn, "Didn't mean to wake you." I bury myself further into the pillow and tell him that it's okay. 

"I don't think I've ever slept through the night," I say, blinking my eyes open. 

"They decided what they are going to do about Jason and you," Doc says, putting the blanket over my leg, satisfied with its healing. 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He gives me a smile. 

"Good news?" I ask, sleep taking over my brain again. Doc smiled and pats my shin. 

"Good news," is the last thing I hear from Doc before slipping back into sleep. 

This time, instead of a heavy and dreamless sleep, I find myself in the woods, on one side of a river, just like in the dreams I had with Luke. He was there, looking around, yelling out for me, but I couldn't hear me. He even looked right at me, but acted like he couldn't see me. I put my hand out, to see if I can reach across the river and over to Luke, but I am blocked by an invisible force. 

Luke puts his hands around his mouth, "Gill?!" He looks around, panicked. 

"Luke?" I say, but it did nothing. Luke can't hear me. He looks around, his face sad, before giving up and turning around to leave. His body dissipates into nothing, leaving me alone. 

The woods that surround me are quiet apart from the river in front of me. 

"Where is this place," I jump out of my skin, and turn around to see Jason standing behind me. We look at each other, confused, before I am launched out of the dream and back into the waking world. The room is dark. I look around for some sort of light and see nothing, so I put my head back down on the pillow and close my eyes. 

I am unable to sleep, and by the time I drift off into a light doze, Doc comes into the room, bringing me out of it.

"Morning," He says with a sigh, "How did you sleep?" I groan and roll my eyes. Doc scoffs, "I'll take that as not good?" I sigh at his question, and watch as he takes my vitals and checks my injuries. We go through the same routine as any other morning--move the hurt ankle, poke at the bullet wound, and check any information from the night that could be out of the ordinary. Just as Doc and I are done with my ankle, which is fully healed, Jason comes into the room with a huge smile on his face. 

"Did you tell her?" He whispers, excited. I look at Doc confused, but he just continues to roll my ankle to make sure that it has its full range of motion. 

"Haven't had a chance yet, Jay," He puts my ankle down and moves over to my leg, his face draining of color the second he lifts the blanket, "But I think we have bigger fish to fry," He throws the blanket off my leg, revealing a weird rash around the small scar that was my bullet wound. It looks more like a rash; the bruises range from being small to larger, and pepper my leg, around the scar.

Jason's face turns from excitement to shock, "What the hell happened?" He looks at me, his eyes questioning. 

"You haven't been walking around have you?" Doc asks. 

"What, no! You told me not to, I haven't left this bed since I got here," I feel my heart pound at the sight of it. Doc pokes it, and I almost jump from the pain. 

"That's not good," He checks my other leg to find that other leg is fine. He rubs his face, frustrated, "Are you sure you got all of the bullet out?" 

"What, yes, it didn't shatter in her leg," Jason feels around in his pocket and pulls out the bullet he pulled from my leg the night he found me. 

"You actually--I shouldn't be surprised," Doc takes the bullet and inspects it, which just makes him look more confused. He hands the bullet back to Jason, satisfied, "Alright. s**t," Doc puts his hands on his hips and sighs heavily, "This is either something really bad, or something not that bad," He walks back over to my bad leg and right up to me.

He feels my head, "How are you feeling?" 

I shrug, "I have a headache, I'm tired, and my leg is sore," Doc nods and sits me up to look at my back. Sitting up for the first time in a while felt weird, but amazing at the same time. 

"You have a rash on your back. It's not bad, and it could be from laying here if your own sweat. You could be having an allergic reaction or it could be an infection," Doc leaves my side, flips open my file and goes over the medication I've been given. He shakes his head, his body showing his frustration. 

"Doc--," 

"I've been giving her everything on this list for the entire time, but she is just now--," Doc takes a deep breath and lets it out, "You could have an infection. But I don't understand why it decided to show up now," he whispers.

Then the light bulb went off, and Doc looked at me, "I'm an i***t," he comes over with an empty vial and takes some blood, "Jason, run this. Check for any infection, and I mean any. Even if it sounds completely crazy." Doc then checks my heart rate. 

"Heart rate is elevated. You have a slight fever. Good thing is your breathing only sounds a little abnormal," 

"Is someone going to include me in on what exactly is happening?" I say as a chill goes down my spine. Doc turns his head, his eyes full of worry. 

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to be giving you an antibiotic. It's quite possible there was an underlying infection that I didn't get before, which is affecting your leg," Doc writes down the information he gathered from me and goes out of the room to check on Jason. He comes back twenty minutes later, grabs two vials and syringes and comes over to my IV port. 

"It is quite possible that you will feel sick because you haven't eaten anything, but I need to get this under control before I can give you food," He inserts the syringe and gives me the medication. The nausea isn't immediate, but my stomach gets upset about five minutes after. 

Jason comes back into the room, results in hand, "Doc," he hands the results over and Doc smiles. 

"I was right," He takes the paper and writes something down, "Underlying infection. I just gave you an antibiotic, so hopefully that will help clear up the infection." He goes over to my leg, which, even after only about 30 minutes, looked better. Doc sighed with relief, "Well, lesson learned there. Always test for, literally, everything. I think the wound itself is healed," he feels my leg, which is still tender, "The infection has probably made it tender, but as soon as that is cleared up, you should be able to walk."

"Which means I can shower," I say, punching the air. Doc and Jason laugh. 

"Yeah, I bet you are looking forward to that," Doc puts the blanket back over my leg and then puts his hands in his pockets. 

My stomach growls, catching me off guard. 

"I'm going to go get you some food, but I need you to remember that you have, literally, only been conscious for a short amount of time--you haven't actually eaten anything in a while. You may be starving, but your stomach is not used to actual food," I nod, patting my flatter than normal stomach. I've forgotten what it felt like to have food in my stomach, "Just, be careful. Don't overeat." I smile and add a nod as Doc leaves me alone in the room with Jason, who flashes me a smile. 

I chuckle at him, "What as the news you were going to tell me?" 

"Oh!" Jason comes over to me with a smile, "So Dom talked with the Council members after you told Dom about what happened. The Council said that, while my actions were dangerous, they did not warrant an harsh punishment because I used the gun, and aimed it towards someone who was trying to kill you," I nod, happy for Jason and that he wasn't going to be punished too hard. 

"But," He sighed, "I'm not allowed to go on missions for the rest of the year, for any reason, and I have to retake gun and other weapons safety," Jason shrugs, slight disappointment showing on his face. 

"Missions?" I readjust myself on the bed to get comfortable.

"Oh yeah," Jason rubs the back of his neck, "We were informed, well actually the Council was informed, of your status, officially, after the fight you had with that girl at your school," Figures that would happen, "But you had been on some sort of list in the Council for a while apparently, and I was assigned to make sure nothing came after you." 

"Why would they think anything would come after me?" I asked, confused, "Wait," I look up at Jason who is leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed, "Were you there on the night my dad beat me? Were you the one who chased me through the woods?" 

Jason looks at me, confused, "No. I didn't start learning those woods until I was told to," He shakes his head, "Which means that the thing I attacked in the woods that night was probably tracking you before you even knew you were a mutant." 

I sigh, "Alright," I close my eyes, and think, "Why would anything come after me?" I ask again.

"There are a couple of theories. The main one is that mutants give off a different aura, or something like that, that attracts different beings--both supernatural and natural. Another theory is that our blood is special and that stuff hunts us, but I think that's crap," He scoffs, "Regardless, for whatever reason, stuff likes to attack us, and the Council was afraid that running away could be a possibility for you as it is with a lot of other mutants, so they told me to find and follow you to make sure you were safe."

Doc comes back in with a small tray, "I have soup, and a small sandwich. Also got some water," I sit up gingerly as Doc puts the tray on my lap, "Again, eat slowly." I nod, and take the food from him, "I told Dom about what happened. So long as you stay stable, you've been cleared to leave. Dom is getting a room set up for you," 

I take a small bite out of the sandwich, ignoring the feeling to scarf the whole thing down in three bites. 

"Any idea what room she will be staying in?" Jason asks. Doc shrugs at us, "No idea. Dom just said he would set up a room." They watch me eat, trying to make sure that I don't inhale the food. I finish, slowly, and lay back, and Doc takes the tray. 

"We will start leg strengthening exercises as soon as the infection clears. I don't want to take any chances with anything," Doc sighs and leave Jason and I alone again.

I lean my head back, a small headache developing at the base of my skull. I don't want to go back to sleep--its all I've done since coming here, and I still don't know where I am. I look to Jason, "Where am I, exactly?" 

Jason looks at me weird, "No one's told you?" 

"Doc said he couldn't before I talked to Dom," I move my leg slightly and feel a sharp pain go up my hip, making me gasp audibly. Jason comes to my side, hearing my gasp, and looks at me, worried. 

"What was that?" He whispers as I continue to adjust. 

It comes on suddenly; I'm uncomfortable, and my leg hurts. The headache forming in the base of my skull has grown exponentially within the last couple of minutes. I close my eyes, hoping the darkness behind my eyes will help in taking away some of the pain. My stomach does a flip, making me nauseated. I clench my jaw shut so hard that I'm scared I will break my teeth. A cold sweat starts to form as I hear someone walk into the room. 

"I was gone for five minutes!" says the person as a flurry of movement ensues, "Jason, go see if those tests were done!" Yells the voice as they throw the blanket off my leg. The person, who I think is Doc, touches the wound causing me to cry out. 

"Doc!" I hear a flurry of foot falls run out of the room and then back into the room. 

At this point, the pain is unbearable. My jaw muscles hurt, but I can't stop it from clenching. My leg spasms again as my entire body goes tight. I feel my back arch as the pain courses through me. I am barely paying attention as something is placed into my IV port, "I'm an i***t, I gave her the wrong antibiotic," Said a voice, "Pass me that other syringe, Jason," I feel more pressure in my IV port as I slowly start to feel my body calm. 

Finally relaxed, I feel my head fall to the side of the pillow. The back of my neck is so sore that it can't hold the weight of my head. I swallow, the nausea subsiding as I felt my jaw relax. I take a deep breath and open my eyes to see the relieved gazes of Doc and Jason. 

"Tetanus. f*****g tet--," Doc rubs his face, "Why didn't I treat her for that?"

"Doc, she's fine, sometimes that kind of stuff happens," Jason covers my back up with the blanket and takes my hand. A calm washes over me and any other pains or discomfort I feel goes away. 

"It's a good thing we caught it when we did, and it's also a good thing that werewolves have an extraordinary healing ability," Doc mumbles. I close my eyes, finally able to relax. 

"I'm going to sleep now," I whisper, letting my eyes close. 

"Get some rest, Gill. We'll take care of you," Was the last thing I heard before falling into a dreamless sleep.