Chapter 34 - The End

At the hospital they checked me over and I was immediately shipped upstairs to surgery. My right leg was more than just hurt, it had nearly been blown off. When I became conscious again I was in a room with a lot of machines on the wall. As I looked around a nurse came in to see me and I asked her for some water. My throat was even drier than it had been earlier but she only gave me a couple of sips and then removed the glass. I was demanding that she either give me more water or I would get up and get it myself. I didn't care about all the wires, tubes and other things they had me hooked up to. As you might have figured out by now I'm not the best patient in the world.

While I was still protesting Blake and Dane were escorted in by another nurse. "Stick around if they want you to. It'll make you feel better," Blake said.

When I agreed to stay the nurses left the room and left my visitors alone.

Blake had his right arm in a sling and Dane was standing kind of stiff. After I had them give me some more water I asked, "Ok, so what happened? I heard a loudspeaker and then an explosion. That's the last I remember. I talked a little with Helen after the fight but she didn't really know much more than I did. Is it over? Can we go home now?"

"It's over. We paid a price for it but it's over. Hirohito Nogumi was in that last helo that we fought. When he went in that took the heart out of a lot of them. Their paycheck had just been killed. Others didn't realize that he had been killed so they continued. When the FBI got there they withdrew tossing grenades behind them. It must have been one of them that got you and Helen."

"You nearly lost that leg. It was chewed up pretty bad. The bone was exposed from the knee down to the ankle. They replaced some of the muscle and made as many repairs as they could without making more drastic replacements. When it heals your right leg is going to be stiff for the rest of your life unless you do something about it."

"I'm not worried about me, what about the others? I saw Cain but they said it was just exhaustion, that he'd be ok after he rested some. Anyone else?"

"Yeah, Cain's ok, he's in another room resting himself. He had been very busy. At the end he even called up an Elemental that stomped around taking out a lot of the reinforcements that were moving up. If they had been able to get there we might not be here! The hospital's releasing him today. Thunder and Jojo got banged up a bit. You already saw Helen. Scrag's beat up but going to make it, Brutus didn't." Blake wasn't as chatty as he was the last time he had visited me in the hospital. God, that seemed like years ago. He looked at Dane with a funny expression on his face. It was a cross between guilt and sorrow.

Dane cleared her voice, "Smokey didn't make it either 'Coon. It was towards the last after they entered the warehouse and the FBI arrived. Someone tossed a couple of grenades into the nest, both she and Toad were killed. They were still firing the remaining guns when the explosion went off. They stuck it out 'til the very end. We lost six all together and I think all of us took damage of one kind or another. I'm sorry, I know she meant a lot to you."

They said something else but it was just noise. I didn't hear much after she said that Smokey had been killed. If I hadn't asked her to come along she would still be alive. It was all my fault. Suddenly my head nearly exploded. Dane had slapped me!

"Don't you dare start blaming yourself," Dane said glaring at me. "Don't you dare! She was there because she wanted to be there. We talked before the attack remember and she was having a ball. She was enjoying herself and enjoying sharing the run with you. She wanted to be with you and she was. Don't spoil it all now. Don't start feeling guilty because she was able to share something with you that was risky. She was where she wanted to be. It might not have been a Matrix run but she was with you and sharing all that you were doing and she was having the time of her life."

Her words sunk in and she was right. Smokey had been enjoying what we were doing. She had been enjoying herself. It helped with some of the guilt but not all of it.

"Ok, maybe you're right, just don't hit me anymore. My head hurts, my leg hurts and I feel bad enough as it is. I won't sulk and I won't grieve over it but I need to be alone for a while, ok?"

Dane just squeezed my arm and Blake waved. As the door shut behind them I heard Dane tell someone that now wouldn't be a good time to go in.

A short time later a nurse came in with a sleeping pill. Before she gave it to me she checked over the machine leads that I was attached to and made certain that none of the sensors had shifted. What's with hospitals and sleeping pills? That's all they give me.

When I finally woke up it was morning and Dane was there again. She slowly made her way out of the chair where she had been sitting and looked me over. It was obvious from the way she moved that she had taken some wounds also and that they were bothering her. The catlike glide was gone for the moment.

"Ringing gone? How you doing this morning?"

"I don't know yet. Is there any water around here? Don't get too close, my mouth tastes awful again."

She gave me some water and helped me sit up in bed. The ringing was only a slight buzz now and other than stiff I felt pretty good everywhere but my leg. It was completely dead. They had put a nerve block on it so I couldn't feel any pain, couldn't feel the leg either, it was just there! Dane was just taking the water away when the nurse walked in.