After Days - Chapter 17

By the time Zayn reached the Private Medical Unit, Leon was already awake, staring blankly into space, literally. It was the only medical ward with a view of the outside world, or more accurately, the distance world outside. The white of the Moon’s surface bloomed a crisp white, while the darkened image of the Earth barely shone at all.

He lay still with the sheet tucked up to his collar, his arms resting on top. Zayn could see the scars and burns that dotted across his shoulders and down to his wrists For the most part they had been treated, but injuries like these wouldn’t be simple to heal. Tessa and her team didn’t have time to be gentle when they ripped the power lines out of his body, back at the station.

Leon’s breaths were short and shallow, breathing quickly to compensate. Pain was clearly wrapped over him, but his eyes didn’t so much as hint at that fact. “Are you going to talk to me? Or have you just come to stare like all the others?”

Zayn walked passed that guards, dismissing them before closing the clear, soundproof door. His face was pale as he walked closer to the casualty, as though recognising a ghost as a cocktail of emotions flushed over him. Some good, some bad.

He grabbed the small, white stool in the large, white room and pulled it over to the bedside, leaving enough distance so he didn’t seem intruding. His elbows fell to his knees as he sat, struggle to hold himself straight due to his own exhaustion. “Do you know who I am? Do you know where you are?”

“The last man who asked me questions like that tortured me.” Leon said bitterly, his gaze fixed on his visitor’s reflection in the window. Something about the battered soldier made Leon want to trust him, but he couldn’t shake the thought that trust would get him killed.

“I’m sorry about all that.” Zayn sighed. “I’d hoped to be there to help but I was…delayed.”

“Well, you’re here now. What do you want?” A tense jerk filled his ribs as he breathed too deeply, the pain reminding him that all this was very real.

“My name is Zayn Harris, I’m the Commander and Chief of this station and its personnel. You can just call me Zayn.” He said kindly with a nodding smile.

“I don’t care.” His eyes grew narrow as his gripped at the sheet. “Just tell me why I’m here.”

Shock threw Zayn back on his stool, perhaps this wasn’t a ghost he recognised, just another stranger. He took a moment to compose his answer carefully, wanting to avoid any unnecessary shouting match. “We need your help.” He admitted with an almost shamed sadness over his sandy face.

Leon lashed out, sending the tray of readied medicines splattering across the stocked cabinets. “Fuck you!” He cried with a distinct sense of nostalgia boiling his blood. The covers had fallen down to his waist as he sprung up, revealing tightly wrapped bandages from his sternum to his hips. The blood on them was dark but dry, and the bandages seemed almost brand new.

Even after days of rest and medical attention, the marks left by Icarus were still tormenting him as he buckled, cupping a hand over the bloody patch. Agony and anger spurred his breathing as he panted heavily, choking back tears. “Where…” He winced again. “Where is my brother?” Demand and concern filled his words as he looked to Zayn directly for the first time.

The question caught Zayn off guard, still oblivious to the details of the reports. Perhaps Tessa should have encouraged him to read it as opposed to giving him the quick version. Thankfully, as he opened his mouth to bluff around the question, Tessa stepped into the room. The door didn’t unlatch, she must have been standing with it ajar, listening in.

“You tried, Leon.” She said softly as she stood by the exit.

That was all she had to say. Anyone with a hint of common sense could see that the only news was bad news, and for Leon, it pierced him like an icy blade. His now stubbled jaw slacked as he gripped his wound tighter, his eyes glossing over with empty despair.

“We thought you’d died you were under water for so long. The rig dragged you down with it and we, we couldn’t help you.”

The silent heartbreak erupted into a chilling scream of tears and regret. Leon threw himself back into the bed, ignoring the stabbing pain that rushed from his wounds as he slapped his hands over his eyes, fingertips digging at his hair. Shaking and thrashing in the bed, wailing the whole time, he wished the vacuum outside would swallow him and be done with it.

After a few moments of intensity, the screams died away, leaving only helpless whimpering. The officers looked to one another with the same unsettled look, having grown oddly distant to the true sound of loss.

“What do you want from me?” Leon sobbed, his hands slipping from his bloodshot eyes.

Tessa took the invitation to answer, not wishing for Zayn to dig himself a deeper trench. “I’m not going to pretend its straightforward ‘cause it’s not, but here at Warden we are the shield for the remainder of humanity. Until now we have managed to cope but we can’t hold out like this for much longer. We need you to help us, Leon. If you don’t, everyone here will die. The lives that the people have built, the normal lives that have taken us so long to secure will all fall apart. We need you.”

Leon was silent. Normality, now there was something that he only ever expected to find when he was dead and gone. “Why should I trust you?” His doubt was understandable, Tessa didn’t judge him though Zayn had wished he had gotten up to speed before paying the patient a visit.

The patting of tiny footsteps hurried excitedly behind Tessa as they scooched under her arm. “You’re awake.” A happy voice belted.

Scrunching his brow, Leon shuffled his head in the soft pillow so that he could look down from the ceiling. And there she was, Vicky grinning with delight, unmarked and a lollipop gripped tightly in her fist. She was alright, safe, but it was more than that. Her tattered rags had been replaced with fitting clothes for a nine year old girl. A denim jacket over a pink t-shirt and a wildly summery dress that flared with all the energy that she did. Her feet were still bare though, perhaps shoes weren’t her thing. Leon’s eyes softened as he saw her for the little, happy girl that she was, and not just an unfortunate survivor.

“We don’t expect you to trust us right off the bat.” Zayn said, regarding the young girl as he slapped the stick back in her mouth. “But at least give us a chance.”

Vicky was safe, happy, healthy, and Elliott was at the bottom of an ocean, put there by his oldest brother. The tangled knot of the situation made Leon’s heart ache. He had failed to react when Ueda had been killed, and he had failed yet again to save his younger brother. In the days that he had been out of the picture, Vicky seemed happier than ever. Truly happy, not a distant happy as usual.

“Normal lives.” He started. “How are they normal?”

A smile wiped over Zayn’s serious, pleading look as he prepared to give the run down on Warden society. “We have been sure to build a community here, just like the ones on Earth before the war. Here, children can go to school, men and women can get regular jobs like housekeeping- or even farming in our purpose built eco-stations.” He interrupted himself excitedly, pitching the base more like a holiday package than a military stronghold. “While you’re out there saving the world, Vicky will be able to get an education and make new friends, maybe even meet a nice boy.” He teased with a wink.

“Yak!” Vicky protested.

“And at the end of the day, everyone can go back to their own home and relax with the people they love. My point is, you can have lives here, a family and a home. Surely that’s something you’d want for yourself.”

“I’d like a bath.” Leon suddenly requested out of nowhere, casting surprise over the officers’ faces.

“That can be arranged.” Tessa shrugged, still puzzled that of all the things Warden could offer, a bath was at the top of Leon’s list. Still, after a life of living in the dirt, it wasn’t the craziest thing to ask for.

“Thank you.” He said sweetly as he turned to look back out the window with Vicky resting her sticky hand in his. He squeezed it tightly, glad that no one could see the tears rolling across his cheeks.