Chapter 8. Awakening

Love drifted and she burned. She didn't know for how long. She felt as though she were screaming inside of her head, but couldn't find her lungs through the crushing weight of the blackness pushing on her chest.

She dreamt of sharp teeth, glowing eyes, and a dark pool of blood; but also of strange and unfamiliar voices. She cried for help but she couldn't tell if she had made a sound. Mixed in with these strange and painful sensations she occasionally heard a soothing voice, and thought that she could feel warm hands against her face and neck.

The sounds of their voices kept her body grounded. So she pushed forcefully against the black veil, chasing the sound.

A chair scraped back, and she flinched, feeling her fingers twitch.

"I think she's waking up." A woman's voice came from her left side.

Love's eyes fluttered open as she turned her head towards the voice. Slowly her vision cleared, to almost startling clarity. Had her eyesight always been this good?

The woman who had spoken before smiled at her softly, she was clearly a nurse and appeared to be in her fifties, old for an Outerzone area. She had a kind smile and warm brown eyes that crinkled slightly. Her brown hair was streaked with silver and tied back into a low bun at the nape of her neck. 

"What happened?" Love asked, her voice a little rough and slightly groggy. Her head was pounding uncomfortably. 

"Good morning dear. It's ok. You're currently inside of the medical facility for one of the military bases in Zone 2. Captain Hunter here found you passed out in the back alley near our compound." She spoke slowly and softly but her words were causing Love to frown in confusion.

The nurse had looked towards the other side of the bed as she spoke, and Love turned her head in the direction she had indicated when mentioning Captain Hunter. 

The Captain in question smiled slightly and inclined his head towards her. 

Love stared back.

'Ah, well he's - rather cute.'

Her heart stuttered slightly. He was lean but muscled with longer hair than he should have for military personnel. It was a beautiful shade of golden blonde hair and had been pulled back behind his head into a small knot. The sleeves of his black t-shirt were rolled up revealing his bronzed skin, slightly weathered as though he spent the majority of his time bathed in sunlight.

As for his face. He had a strong jaw lightly covered in gold stubble and a perfectly symmetrical mouth with a bottom lip that was almost imperceptibly larger than the one above. His round eyes were two different shades of brown, one dark and warm and the other almost hazel.

It was as though warring features of softness and hard edges came together to form a face that became perfect in its imperfections.

But whilst Love certainly admired the attractive view, her face was a mask of indifference as she slowly sat up. She was just a standard recruit in her small military force of an outskirt zone to boot. This man was a Captain of what sounded like a specialist unit within an inner zone. 

She saluted the man beside her. 

"I am Private Love Aikawa of unit 4-7, Captain. Thank you for assisting me." Her voice rang out like the clear sound of a bell in the bright room, and she almost raised her eyebrows slightly in reaction to the sound.

'Did my voice always sound like this?' She thought.

It was most definitely her voice, but it sounded just slightly different as if it had been run through an audio editor and cleaned of all imperfections in the pitch and tonality. 

"At ease Private, no need to stand on formalities with me, our unit is a little more - relaxed than what you may be used to." The Captain smiled softly as Love lowered her hand and nodded once in response. 

"I'm Kit Hunter. It's nice to meet you." He nodded back. 

"But I do have a few questions. I suppose you have answered my first one already, regarding who you are…but I wonder if you can explain what led to you being passed out in an alleyway outside of our base." He questioned, his tone now adopting a more professional stance. 

Love opened her mouth to respond straight away but then paused. Wait. Why was I there? What happened? 

'El and I…We went to the club, After Dark - and then…Then what?' 

The harder she thought the more her head began to pound. The only image she managed to pull from the murky haze of her mind was that of an inhumanly perfect face of alabaster white, with shining emerald eyes and inky black hair. 

"Argh!" Love yelped slightly and grabbed at her head with her hands. 

"Take it slow, Miss…that's it, just settle back down and rest for a moment." The nurse kindly supported her arms and moved her back against the pillows, straightening them up comfortably behind her. 

"Captain, I wonder if you should question the girl later on, once she's had a little time to rest up." She said in a disapproving tone, frowning at the young Captain. 

"Ah yes, you're quite right. I should think the Head General will want a word anyway." Kit pondered. 

Love winced a little at this, she had little experience meeting with those of a higher rank, let alone in the context of a possible interrogation for trespassing on another military base with no memory of how or why she had gotten there. Her finger tapped against the bed sheets.

"Ha! Don't worry too much. The General is a reasonable woman" Kit winked. 

"Just rest up for now and I'll pass on your name and rank so we can let your unit know where you are. You don't seem like you were where you were for nefarious reasons, so I'm sure we'll have this sorted out in no time." An easy smile crept onto his face and eyes appeared warm and friendly. 

Love found herself relaxing involuntarily, and gave a small smile back, nodding politely towards the handsome Captain as he stood to leave. 

Just as he reached the white double doors however he paused and turned back to where Love was staring after him. 

"Oh and before I forget, Private Aikawa. Welcome to the Helsing unit."

**