Chapter 50
Liz wakes to the sounds of something steadily beeping.
She lays there, listening to the strange sounds, trying to figure out if she’s dead or not, wondering if it was all a dream.
She tries to open her eyes but the pain radiating through her body quickly stops her.
She takes a deep breath, wincing at the sharp pain in her chest. Then she feels it, a warm hand wrapping around hers.
Something scrapes across the floor, a familiar, wrong smell filling her lungs.
She takes a breath, dread rising in her chest.
She tries to open her eyes again, but everything is fuzzy and out of focus.
Liz moves her arms under her, trying to sit up and get her bearings, but the hand on hers stops her from moving.
She smells it again, like someone has been drinking in the woods.
She blinks, eyes stinging in the bright light, trying to force her brain to focus.
Liz turns her head, looking at the strong hand on hers, following his arm until finally, she lays her eyes on Mikey.
She can’t stop the panic that floods her body.
The beeping on the monitors starts to get faster, but she can’t stop it.
Her eyes dart around the room, looking for the one who should be there. Why isn’t he there?
“What happened? Where are we?” Liz asks, almost silently, knowing she doesn’t want to know the answer.
“You got yourself blown up, darlin,” he says with sadness in his voice.
“More,” is all Liz can bring herself to say.
Mikey takes a deep breath, knowing what he needs to tell her could very well send her over the edge.
He takes a minute, trying to figure out how to explain everything that happened without making her too overwhelmed.
There is no way for him to tell her everything that happened to her, to Riley, without it killing her.
“You begged the General to blow up the bar… we all thought you were screaming at us to stop Riley, everyone was too focused on you two… no one saw Scott give you what you asked. I don’t know why he didn't blow up the bar, it's like he couldn't decide between Riley and Dmitri so he went between them in the road.. Me and Riley got to you, got you bandaged up the best we could in the middle of the shit show. Riley… he uh… made me bring you here, said he needed to make sure Dmitri was dead,” he says, sadness in his eyes.
“Why isn’t he here?” she chokes out.
“Darlin, maybe we should talk about this later, when you’re feeling a little better,” he says, squeezing her hand.
“Where is he?” Liz says, barely above a whisper. “Is he alive?”
“We don’t know. No one has seen him since that day. He’s just… gone,” he says, unable to meet her eyes.
Panic grabs hold of her and refuses to let go. Tears spring to her eyes. She doesn’t bother trying to hold them back. He can’t be gone. She remembers an explosion and talking to Riley.
He told her he loved her. She doesn’t know what to think anymore, maybe this is just a way of Riley leaving her behind without having to do it himself.
“We are all trying to figure out what the fuck happened. When the general fired that rocket, all hell broke loose, and apparently it got worse while we were here. Tyler said Dmitri had more men that came out of nowhere. They started to get overrun and that’s when they lost eyes on Riley,” he says, noting every change in her as he explains what he knows.
“How long?” Liz asks, knowing the answer is going to break her.
“Six days, darlin. You had some minor internal bleeding so the doctor has kept you sedated to heal. You’ve been in and out the past two days. I didn’t want you to wake up alone, so I’ve been here. Tyler and Alex are doing everything they can to find Riley.”
Six days.
Six days he has been missing and she’s just been laying in a hospital bed. Her thoughts race. Liz gets her arms under her, pulling on the wires and tubes connected all over her body, and she pushes herself up. Mikey reaches for her, trying to get her to lay back down, but she bats his hand away.
“Liz, stop!” Mikey shouts. He jumps from his seat and grabs her hands, stopping her from ripping anything else from her bleeding arms.
“I can’t! He’s out there somewhere. I need to get out of this fucking bed and help. He saved me, Mikey, he saved me and now he needs me to save him,” she screams, a steady stream of tears running down her cheeks. Mikey sits on the bed next to her, pulling her into him.
“I know, darlin,” he says, rubbing her back, doing his best to comfort her. “I need to know that you are going to make it, then we’re bringing Riley home.”