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“OPEN THE GATES, OPEN THE BLOODY GATES.” All Five could hear was Sam screaming to open the gates. She focused on the narrow slit of light that shone through, getting wider all the time. And then she was through, and collapsed just after the defence tower, falling forward. All she felt was cool hands lifting her up onto something solid, before she lost conciousness.
There was a faint beeping coming from around her, and she was in a lot of pain. Her hip was on fire, her ribs hurt. Five knew that if she moved, she'd end up in even more pain, so she kept her eyes closed and stayed quiet, praying that she would fall asleep. It mercifully came quickly.
Sam shuffled into the infirmary, before stopping at the end of Five's bed.
“How is she, Maxine?” Sam asked, his voice low.
“She's alright. She wasn't bitten, which is probably the best of the good news. Sam, she was badly injured. I'm not sure how much blood she lost before she got back to Abel, but it was a lot. It's going to take a few weeks before she'll be able to bear a lot of weight on her hip, and more than a month before she can run again. That's if she wakes up.”
“What do you mean by “if she wakes up”?” Sam kept his voice low, but there was terror in it.
“Sam...the amount of blood she lost...and her heart stopped once, because of the lack of blood. I can't be sure how much brain function she has. If it wasn't for the defibrillator, she wouldn't even be here. I cracked her rib trying to give her CPR...one of my best friends. I don't know what will happen. If this was before the outbreak, I'd say she'd probably make a full recovery. But I don't know.” Maxine started sobbing at this point, which caused tears to make their way through Sam's face.
“She's going to be fine, Maxine. She has to be. She's breathing on her own.” Sam's voice cracked, but he stayed where he was.
“I hope so, Sam. I hope so.” Maxine's voice trailed off. “Aren't you meant to be on comms duty now?”
“Yeah. I told Janine she was giving me the day off. She feels bad about what happened. Not bad enough, mind, but she agreed to give me the day off to stay with Five.”
“She does care, you know.”
“If she cared at all, she wouldn't have agreed for Five to do this. We knew that New Canton didn't want us working together, and we knew that New Canton would probably do anything to avoid helping us. They set us up, and they nearly killed Five. I can't lose another one, Maxine. She's my fourth. And I don't even know her name, and she nearly died. I don't know her damn name.” Sam's anger bubbled over, and he was shouting by the end.
“I know, Sam. I fucking know it. Janine wants to look like she can control Abel, we know this. We know that she's made a mistake, and I know that you're angry that Five got caught up in it. But don't you dare start taking this out on everyone else. The woman you love is lying in that bed, and you haven't even touched her since you came in for this visit, dammit.”
Sam stared at Maxine in silent horror. She wasn't supposed to know about his feelings for Five. Nobody was supposed to know how much he cared about her. Not even Five.
“What the hell are you talking about, Maxine?”
“Sam, Eugene and Jack are taking bets on how long it will take you to get your head out of your ass and admit it. Everyone's noticed that if Five's on a run, you stay on longer than you're supposed to. You hang around with her as often as possible. You're like a fifteen year old with your first crush. Were you just going to try forget about her? Try to stop yourself from falling for her?” Maxine's voice softened, realising that the tall man-child in front of her was about to start crying.
“I feel so guilty. I couldn't keep Alice safe, I couldn't help her...how can I help Five? The night before Alice went to the hospital, we said the 'L' word for the first time. And then I hear her telling me to turn off her headset, that she didn't want me to hear her turn. I listened until she stopped breathing, though. Her last words were “I'm sorry”. I didn't want...I didn't want to have to hear that again. Because I can't deal with hearing that again.” Sam walked over to Five's mattress and sat down crosslegged, putting his hand over hers. “I couldn't admit it because I didn't want to deal with losing someone again.”
They stayed silent, and Maxine squeezed Sam's shoulder before going back to her inventory work. Sam sat there, unmoving, staring at Five's far too pale face. The only things stopping him from sobbing were the beeps of her heart monitor, and the rising and falling of her chest. He stayed looking at her, until a groan left her lips.
“Maxine! Come here!” He called, getting on his knees. “Come on, Five. Wake up. You can do it.” He watched as she swallowed, grimaced, and her eyes blinked open slowly.
“S...Sam? What happened?” She looked up at him, her eyes darkening with pain as she moved.
“It's a really long story. Let the Doc check you over, then I'll explain.” He went to move away to let Maxine move into his place.
“No. Stay with me?” She hated how pitiful her voice sounded, but Sam stayed where he was. Maxine took her vitals, smiling at the results. She checked the stitches on Five's hip, and pushed some pain medication into her IV.
“You'll be fine, Five. It'll take a while for you to recover, but it looks a lot better than I thought it would.” Maxine smiled at the two looking up at her. A grin had broken over Sam's face. “I'm going to go back, call me if you're in a lot of pain, Five. I'll give you something for it. You've put most of the stock in here, you deserve to use it when needed.” She slipped away, leaving them there.
“What happened? I remember the mission...and New Canton shooting...and then...were you talking about failing Uni or something?”
“Yeah. We didn't think you could hear us. Janine thought you were dead or a zom, the scanners were down. I was about to go to bed, and one of the guys on night watch saw you running in. You were shot in the hip, and lost a lot of blood. Maxine, the genius that she is, fixed you up though. You'll have to do some rehab, but you're really lucky. The township's really lucky.”
“Oh...I thought...I thought she'd set me up.”
“Janine?” Five nodded at the question. “So did I. I screamed at her, it took Jack to stop me from hitting her. I'm still not convinced that she's totally innocent, mind. But she said she was sorry, so I'll have to accept it. Regardless of what I think.” His brown eyes had grown hard, but they softened looking at Five. “You're going to need some help, though. Maxine's offered to let you stay here for a week or so, provided there isn't a flu outbreak. You can't get up and around yet, and you'll need help washing and stuff.”
“I'll deal with it. You know me.” Five reached out for Sam's hand, and wriggled hers underneath it. He clasped hers and they sat silently. Despite everything that had gone on, and everything that would go on, they'd be fine.
Because what's a Sam without a Five?