Consciousness

David heard them before he saw them.

"...me that he's the new recruit from the Force?"

That was the first start of the voices that he could hear, and it felt vaguely familiar, like he had heard it once before, but had yet to be acquainted with the person formerly.

"Yeah, apparently he was kicked out for 'insubordination' or whatever qualifies as such in the ZSF," came the first voice he could put a face to—Andre's.

"Ah, so you mean to tell me he didn't willfully hurtle to his death? To think someone with a sense of self-preservation could still be in a place like the Zombie Subjugation Force."

This statement brought David to full wakefulness, bleary eyes opening to see an eye-achingly white ceiling above him and soft grey curtains on either side of him. It was warm under the blanket in the comfortable bed, and the tranquil sound of water running somewhere was a relief to his ears after the sounds of the battle.

Either he was in heaven or in the infirmary, and he bet it was the infirmary based on the conversation—he doubted zombies were in heaven.

Or at least, he hoped they were not there; he was sick of them being here on Earth, the last thing he wanted was to meet more of those monsters in the afterlife.

"We certain he's on our side, one hundred percent?" came the voice of the familiar stranger through the curtain on his left.

His eye sluggishly moved to the origin of the words, his head beginning to move with it before he froze with a groan as pain seared through his neck, head and eye; he felt that relaxing his head was the best he could do if moving his body was going to be this painful.

However, his small sound had unintentional consequences, as the conversation between Andre and the stranger stopped, before the curtain was swiftly opened.

The sound the curtain made as it was pulled made the pain in his head grow, his thoughts becoming resentful towards whoever in their right mind would pull aside a curtain so quickly and so loudly next to a person with recent head trauma.

"What the f—"

"Breaking CC guidelines as soon as you wake up I see, Mr. Allister."

The vaguely familiar voice gained a face, and though David felt he knew him to some degree, in his addled mind it took a bit of time to place where he had seen it before:

It was a young man with what seemed to be heart shaped face, with a strong jawline but cheeks that still held baby fat. He stared down at him with large, double-lidded eyes that were a dark brown color with a hint of silver; it was a face that was handsome, but came off as a bit girly in David's eyes, maybe because he was not used to seeing too many Asian people.

The last time he had seen this face, he had blacked out.

When he finally did place it, his eyes widened as he said with surprise, "Oh, you're that kid who appeared at the end of the clean up!"

Somehow, he managed to make it seem like the boy who ended the battle, appeared when everything was over instead with his poor choice of words.

The boy's expression understandably turned frightening in David's sight, a frostiness to his gaze as he countered, "Yes, I was the one who ended the clean up, as am I your SRO, Private."

Andre held in a snort of laughter as the panic appeared in David's unbandaged eye; he was unable to decide on whether or not David simply had a talent for pissing people off, or if he was simply an idiot, considering he had annoyed two of his superiors in one day alone.

Either way, considering David's current predicament, he would be doomed without intervention on Andre's part. Seeing as how David kept opening and closing his mouth like a fool as he tried to find a reasonable excuse where there was none, Andre chose to help him—their squad had lost enough people as it was, and people who were willing to join the CC these days were scarce.

The last thing he needed to deal with was the temper of the young Vice-Commander scaring away a recruit fresh out of training on a mission gone wrong.

"Alright, alright, let him be Joon Woo; the man has a concussion and suffered a highly traumatic experience both physically and mentally. I think we can excuse a few mishaps from him during this time, right? Besides, I doubt a certain someone would like it if you harmed her patient."

The boy, Joon Woo, froze a little at the last bit before crossing his arms and looking away with a huff.

"It's not like I was gonna hurt him..." he mumbled mutinously, as if disliking being associated with such a thought.

"Yeah, but you were probably going to assign him to chores around the base after barely waking up."

"...I wasn't—"

"The falseness of that next statement is right up with me saying my eyes are green," intervened Andre as he rolled his very decidedly grey eyes.

Joon Woo simply turned his head away in response, as if to pout.

'No matter how mature he is, he's still just a kid in the end...' thought Andre before deciding to break the awkward atmosphere that settled over the three of them.

"So, what are you doing in New York City like this Joon Woo? Usually you're in the East training or cleaning over there—what are you doing halfway across the world? Will things be okay for you back home if you're not there?"

Joon Woo slowly turned his head back towards Andre, his youthful face now unprecedently serious and mature.

"I've been assigned an... investigation, of a sort. Well, more like a check up on the regulations and trainings instituted here, along with the transfer of materials for further study; that's why Xiu Jing is here with me."

Andre, however, remained uneasy despite the confidence that Joon Woo spoke with.

He hesitated before asking, "Still, is it alright to have two of our most skilled people here when the East is a lot more... well, unstable? Even if it is the Commander, it's still risky losing both a combat and a healing asset..."

Surprisingly, Joon Woo snorted at that before muttering lazily, "Well, be that as it may, the old lady is stupidly strong—she's not called 'Humanity's Strongest' for nothing, right? Insane though she is, she'll keep things in order there."

"Um... Joon Woo, referring to the Commander as 'the old lady' is a bit... well, no matter how close you are to her, or decorated you are a soldier, isn't that a bit far? She is your superior..."

"I could say the same about you, Coronel Harris."

Andre coughed a bit at that, as if embarrassed at being called out on the behavior he was criticizing.

"Well, moving on from that, why're you in this specific hospital room?"

Joon Woo looked away at that, seemingly a bit nervous despite his relatively blank face as he murmured, "I was just... checking up on her..."

He paused before continuing, his eyes trailing back to the tired and almost dazed seeming person on the hospital bed, who tensed under his scrutiny.

"She got a new scar again today because of this guy right her along with the other infected."

This snapped David back to reality, leaving him curious as to how someone was able to cure him despite the lack of a proper medical cure; the solution that Andre sprayed on his eye then had been just a temporary fix, and by the sounds of it, he still ended up being infected.

"But... sir, there is no cure, so how—"

"You're right, there is no cure," he cut off sharply, glaring at David a bit. "And yet, you're still here."

"Calm down," muttered Andre, his eyes wary at the brightening silver in the boy's brown eyes, "It wasn't his fault. And we need all the recruits we can get, reluctant or otherwise, so calm down."

The only hint of repression that was seen on Joon Woo's face was his tightened jaw and his narrowed eyes before he turned around decisively, striding towards the door. He opened it, and paused, before turning over his shoulder again to look at David's weak figure.

"...You're alive as a human because of a miracle someone—your caretaker—performed. Keep in mind that one of the scars she carries is due to you, and treat her with better manners and respect than you treated me. If I hear otherwise, keep in mind my rank and yours."

That was all he said before leaving the two older men in silence, with one feeling nervous, and the other feeling somewhat exasperated at the troubled words of the youth.