Awaiting
Emmy had done her best to make sure that they weren’t too close behind, that she had led them in enough convoluted circles — which was hard to do with this stinging pain in her back — before making a final run for the closest safe house. She hoped Simone was alright, at least. This was Em’s attempt to lead their pursuers away from her mission partner so she could finish up her task, but now she had to throw them off her own trail.
The wound felt pretty bad at this point. Hopefully she wasn’t leaving a literal blood trail in the snow. She was pretty sure Sylus wouldn’t want her inviting too many unwelcome guests over at once.
Thank god for him, though, even if he got on her every last nerve sometimes. He had a few different safe houses between Linkon and the N-109 Zone, and he allowed Em to use them as needed, seeing as they were allies now. With the heightened risk levels of these missions lately, she could’ve been dead a few times over by now if it weren’t for his…generosity? Was that the word? Ugh.
Starting to feel woozy, Em nearly dropped her phone while frantically searching for the code to the cabin’s back door lock. The longer it took, the more her hands shook and froze. She punched in the code wrong twice—was it her trembling fingers, or did she have the wrong passcode written down?
In a fit of desperation, Em slammed the butt of her gun down on the lock system, causing it to short out. She’d pay to get it fixed, she reasoned with herself as she finally slipped inside. She was probably even doing Sylus a favor, since a flimsy lock like this couldn’t even keep out a little hunter like her. She shut the door just as she heard whispers and snow-crunching footsteps in the distance, engaging the door’s heavy-duty manual locks from the inside.
Only the dim evening light filtered through the windows, but it was enough for Em to make out the tall, broad shadow figure in the doorway of the bedroom making its way toward her. She immediately raised her handgun, making the figure stop in its tracks.
“You welcome this house’s owner by pointing a gun at his head?” Sylus scoffs. “Okay, then.”
Emmy blew out a heavy sigh of relief, lowered her handgun and tucking it back in its holster under her skirt, almost collapsing to the floor before Sylus caught her. “I didn’t know you were here,” she panted. “I thought you were someone—” Sylus practically yanked her into the bedroom, causing a pained yelp to escape her lips.
“Shh, they might still be listening in,” he warned quietly, closing the door behind them and holding Em upright against the wall. “Keep it down.”
Em pushed him away weakly to give herself some space. “Why didn’t you let me in?” she whisper-yelled. “I struggled with the door code for like, two minutes!”
“How was I supposed to know you were here?” he countered.
“We both know you have eyes everywhere,” Em grumbled in frustration.
Sylus gave her a slight nod. “Look up. To your right,” he directed her, and her eyes followed his. “See that black spot? It’s a surveillance camera.” He held up his phone to her, where she could see a real-time view of the cabin’s entryway, kitchen, front porch….
“So you do have them absolutely everywhere,” Em accused, “except for a blind spot outside your back freaking door?”
“The system notified me as soon as the door lock was broken,” he informed her, releasing his hold on her and examining his hand. The bloodstain on it was not small.
Sylus quickly turned her back to him, making her grunt. He stiffened when he laid eyes on the sizable wound where the knife had sliced straight through layers of clothing to reach her flesh.
“Does it hurt?” Sylus asked, a rare tinge of concern sneaking into his voice.
“Could be worse,” Em replied nonchalantly. It was true—she’d had to pull some advanced moves to escape the grasp of her targets, maneuvers she had never done before (and needed to practice), but here she was to tell the tale. And she wasn’t about to look weak in front of Sylus of all people. But of course, he saw right through her.
“You’re still acting tough, huh?” he muttered, furrowing his brow in disapproval. “Sit. On the bed.” She hesitated, but did as he said while he turned on the lights, washed his hands in the bathroom and retrieved a first aid kit from under the sink. The windows in this room were blacked out, so thankfully the light couldn’t be seen from the outside.
“No need to make a fuss,” Emmy told him, watching him pull out multiple rolls of gauze, cotton pads and a big bottle of isopropyl alcohol. “I don’t think I need all that.”
“Now’s not the time for you to be a big girl,” Sylus scolded. “Well, unless you have arms on your back to treat your injury.” Em blew out an uncomfortable puff of air as he sat down next to her on the bed. “Turn around. Take off your jacket.”
With his help she managed to slowly remove her jacket, revealing the true size of the knife wound through her uniform’s white shirt...which was now predominantly red. Sylus’s eyes widened a bit at the sight, but he refrained from reacting further as not to alarm her. He carefully unstuck her torn shirt from the drying blood little by little, dabbing and cleaning the area with the alcohol as he went.
The cleaning stung quite a bit, making Em hiss through her teeth, but she’d had enough wounds treated to be familiar with the feeling. But then she watched him open an unmarked tube of something.
“It’s medicine,” Sylus assured her. “Hold on.”
That was barely enough of a warning, because as soon as the mystery ointment touched her wound, the burning sensation made her want to cry.
Just as Em let out a groan she couldn’t hold back, Sylus clamped a hand over her mouth. “Quiet,” he whispered, continuing to work on her. “I know it hurts. But if I have to keep my hand over your mouth, I won’t be able to treat your wound.”
Emmy suppressed the strong urge to bite him. She tugged his hand away from her face before she could do just that. “What the hell is in that stuff?” she hissed, tears coming to her eyes. “It’s something illegal, isn’t it? Are you poisoning me? Finishing the job? Oh my god, you’re trying to kill me.”
Sylus covered her mouth once more and leaned into her. “If you really can’t bear it…I have some canned meat,” he offered. “The slices should be thick enough for you to sink your teeth into.”
Em turned her head to deliver him the most disgusted death glare she could muster. “Gross,” she said beneath his palm before turning back around and hugging her knees, lowering her head so that her face was hidden.
“It was just a suggestion,” he insisted. “You don’t need to look at me like that.” She could hear the smirk in his voice.
“Yeah, thanks, but I think I’ll do without,” she muttered, making sure her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“Isn’t it better than being spotted because you’re too loud?” he teased.
Em continued hiding her face, ignoring him and trying her best to keep quiet. If those goons came looking for her here, she was sure they’d do a lot worse to her the second time around. But her whimpers were impossible to hold back. It was like he was smearing molten lava all over her open flesh. The pain almost made her want to vomit.
“Do you want to bite down on the gauze pad?” Sylus suggested, reaching around to hold a wrapped, thick piece of gauze out in front of her. “That works, too.”
She took it from him, ripping the pack open and stuffing the mass of gauze into her mouth.
“Bear with me a moment,” Sylus said, adjusting her ruined shirt further upwards to see the entirety of her wound and preparing the suture kit. “Okay, let’s continue.”
Em sobbed quietly into her arms as Sylus carefully stitched her wound closed. She didn’t know exactly how big her injury was, but it now seemed bigger than she originally thought, judging by how long he was taking. But his soft, even breathing near her ear was having an oddly calming effect on her…or maybe it was the sting of the medicine rapidly subsiding. It actually left behind a pleasant, cooling sensation.
“I’m almost done,” he promised as he cleaned the area once more. “One last—”
There was a sudden bang on the front door. Then another, and another, getting louder each time. Muffled orders and shouts came from outside as the intruders tried to shoot and kick the door in. It sounded like they were surrounding the place.
“Where’s your weapon?” Sylus whispered into Em’s ear. He was still holding something in place on her back, likely some of the gauze.
“Here,” she replied, her heart suddenly in her throat. She went to reach for her thigh, wincing at the movement.
“It’s on your right leg? Don’t move,” Sylus stopped her, putting his big hand over hers and squeezing. It was a reassuring gesture. “Your wound will open up. I’ll get it.” He slipped the gun out of its holster on her thigh, placing it into Em’s trembling hands. “Load the gun for me.”
Em quickly did as he said as he secured her final gauze patch in place with medical tape. “You have better bedside manner than I thought you would,” she mumbled to him.
Sylus chuckled behind her, taking the gun back from her. “We make a good team.” He stood up from the bed as silently as possible, listening carefully to the aggressive break-in taking place. She could tell he was visualizing the enemies’ movements in his head and planning their next move. Lucky for her because her head was swimming…perhaps from blood loss. “Give me your hand.”
Sylus helped Emmy return to a standing position, positioning her behind him as he focused on the closed door. “Wait. It’s my mission, Sylus, so I need to take them out,” she insisted. “I shouldn’t have gotten you involved.”
“You want to do it yourself?” he inquired patronizingly. “But I have your gun.” He held it out of reach as Em grabbed for it, but she quickly realized her range of motion was severely limited when pain radiated from between her shoulder blades. “There’s also no place for you to take cover,” Sylus reasoned, protectively grasping her hand tighter and edging her closer to him. “Just don’t let go if you want to stay out of the crossfire. I’d rather not bandage more wounds in the next few minutes.”
Although her heart continued to pound forcefully, Em was surprised that she didn’t really feel scared. It was because Sylus had her back—literally.
