Chapter Nineteen
Sawyer
When Sawyer awoke, he didn’t open his eyes at first. It was as if he was trying to make himself fall unconscious again.
It was far less painful when he was. But in the back of his mind, he knew that he couldn’t.
His hands flexed beneath him and he was expecting to feel the gritty gravel beneath them but he didn’t.
He felt a cushion. That was enough to finally get him to open his eyes.
It took him a few moments to blink away the blurriness but once he had, he figured out where he was.
The med bay.
How the fuck did he get there? Sawyer distinctly remembered he was outside by that bonfire.
It would surely be something he wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.
He recognized the abuse he had just endured but the aftermath of it was something else entirely.
His back and shoulders felt like a boulder had crushed him.
He could barely move his hand. He was just happy Milo didn’t ruin the monarch tattoo he had.
It was such a silly thing, but it meant the world to Sawyer.
“Well, if it isn’t Sleeping Beauty?” A voice asked from the doorway.
He turned his head and spotted the bunker’s medic and his only friend, Cole.
He was an older man, probably in his late fifties, but time (and years of drug abuse) had not done him well and he looked like was in his seventies.
His hair was all grey with one small tuft of black that was still somehow hanging on.
He was missing an eye and was left with one brown one.
Sawyer knew the guy fairly well since he had been working at the bunker for a long time.
He started shortly after Milo took over.
When Sawyer was sixteen, he had caught mono and Cole kept an eye on him.
They had been cool ever since. Cole was truly the only person in the bunker he cared about.
He was always nice to him and he helped him more than often than not.
Cole was a good guy. He was lucky to have him around.
“How long was I out?” He asked and cringed from the soreness of his throat.
Cole seemed to catch that he walked over towards a mini fridge to grab him a bottle of water.
Sawyer graciously accepted it but when he went to open it, he quickly gave up when his hand and shoulders screamed in protest. Cole chuckled and twisted off the cap for him.
Sawyer flashed him a look of sorrow and thanks then took a sip.
“You’ve been out for a while, boyo. Probably most of the day. ”
“Ugh, fuck,” he groaned then took another drink of the water. “Did you find me?”
“Yep. Heard someone mention Milo took you out back and not gonna lie to you, thought he was gonna Old Yeller your ass,” he scoffed, “Didn’t wanna have to clean that up.”
Sawyer rolled his eyes. “Glad I wasn’t an inconvenience to your day.”
The man snorted. “I had to drag you back in here when Milo was in a meeting. I mean, I figured he’d know you’d get back in here some way or another but…just to be safe.”
“Yeah,” he sighed, “Thanks, Cole.”
He nodded. “Is it fucking stupid to ask how you’re feeling?”
“It is.”
“Well, gonna ask anyway. How you feeling?”
Sawyer released a shaky breath and stared down at his heavily bandaged hand. He felt lucky that he could still feel it and use it in some way. “Bad.”
Cole clicked his tongue. “Yeah, thought so. I got a couple spare Percocet’s you can take. It’ll help.”
“N-No, it’s fine. I can manage.”
“Sawyer…”
“I’m fine, Cole. I swear. It’s bad but it’s not…it’s not that bad.”
“You don’t gotta be a hero to me, boyo. I’ve seen all kinds of shit. Them beatings on your back? Some of the worst yet.”
Sawyer squeezed his eyes shut as a random wave of pain hit him.
He just took the time to breathe through it before he finally looked back at Cole.
The man was just sitting there with his arms crossed against his chest, giving him a look.
“Fine. I’ll take them. One now, one for later.
I’m not letting you get me addicted to that shit. ”
“I would never.” Cole stood up from his seat and walked over towards the medicine that he kept locked in the med bay cabinet and opened it up.
He grabbed out a couple of tablets and dropped them into Sawyer’s hand.
He swallowed one down with a gulp of water while he slipped the other into his pocket for safe keeping.
“You might wanna lay down for the rest of the day. Maybe even tomorrow too.”
“Can’t,” he said simply, “Got a job to do.”
“Like that?”
“Like this.”
Cole shook his head. “Can’t say that’s a good idea but you’re not gonna listen to me anyway.
” It was true. Sawyer was only stubborn about a handful of things.
And it seemed that Benji was one of them.
Not that he would ever say that out loud to anyone in that bunker.
“You’re on watch duty again, yeah?” He nodded once. “Well, at least it isn’t too intense.”
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. I’ll just lay down there.”
“Fine,” Cole grumbled, “Do you want me to check on you tomorrow?”
“Nah, I can find you if I need you.” Pushing himself from the makeshift bed, his whole body was telling him to sit the fuck back down but he ignored it. “You got anything to eat in here?”
The man’s brow raised for just a quick second but he didn’t argue. He simply opened up a drawer in his desk and pulled out a handful of protein bars before shoving them at Sawyer. “Grab a couple bottles of water before you go.”
Once again, his eyes flashed with thanks and he did just that. Sawyer glanced back at Cole and he smiled, a bit sadly towards him. “Thank you. For everything.”
“Yeah, no problem. Just take it easy. Don’t wanna hear you died in that basement or something.”
Sawyer was going to try his best to do so. As quickly as he could, he exited the med bay and headed back downstairs to Benji.