Trauma's Poison

It was late. Maybe around 3 in the morning. The lights had been turned off except at the nurses station where some guys were supposed to be stationed. Smoke break maybe. I had a surge of stabbing pain in my chest. My eyes saw a man with a knife swing at me and I flipped over to the other side of the bed and stumbled backwards off the bed. 

I smacked on the floor and forced myself to my feet as he began to lunge towards me. My fingertips stumbled on my iv line and I tore it from my arm.

I held the inside of my elbow firmly. My feet slipping up from underneath me as I dodged around him. My body couldn't keep up with my legs. I could hear his breaths burst from his lungs. One thing you learn in training is to never look over your shoulder. I relied on my ears to roughly estimate how near me he was and he was too close. I smashed through the back door to outside where three guys had been standing smoking. 

"WHOA! HEY!" They all scrambled after me. My brain couldn't understand why they weren't going after my man behind me. I screamed out choking in panic.

One guy threw his arms around me and I struggled shouting. He was firm and impossible to fight against.

"BREATHE!!" 

The man who had been chasing me walked up to me and knelt in front of us. I was paralyzed with terror as he carefully drew out a blade. He drove it into my stomach. I had coughed up blood from my mouth. I watched it drip to the ground. 

The man holding me slowly began lowering me to the ground. 

"SOMEONE CALL THE FUCKING MEDIC! CALL AS MANY AS YOU CAN."

I lifted my heavy head decrepit. I watched the man who had buried the blade into me turn to leave. His face had been covered by his hood and handkerchief with a skull imprinted on the front. 

A second guy crouched in front of me as the other held me tightly. 

"He was. Right there." My voice came out almost inaudible even to me. 

"What did she say?" The guy holding me up asked the guy in front of me who had a bald head and bold jawline like Christian. He had a tattoo going up his neck that I couldn't make out in the dark. 

"She said someone was right there," 

My head fell forward. I was unable to keep it up. 

Blood dripped to the concrete. Before I knew it Chris had appeared in front of me. 

"She's hallucinating," the guy holding me whispered under his breath. 

Christian had rubbed a hand down his face. He placed a hand on the back of my neck and another one under my chin so there was no strain on my neck. 

"Alright...sit tight…"

Hallucinations, I had heard of them but I didn't expect to feel them. How can one tell what is real and what is fake? My wrists were bound to the sides of my bed. 

"This is not necessary-" 

"-don't even think about finishing that sentence," he interrupted while holding his hand up as he stood at the edge of my bed. 

I clenched my fists and looked away, "this is humiliating-" 

"-for now." He agreed. 

"There has to be better options-" 

"-absolutely not." 

"Can you stop interrupting me everytime I say something?" I shot him an irritable expression. 

He returned my expression with those excruciatingly dominant eyes. He had his arms crossed. He was tall. I don't know...around 6 foot 3. He had well trimmed and neat scruff and a clean short cut with a tribal tattoo on the back of his neck that wrapped around the left side of his neck.

"Why are you doing that," he furrowed his brow slightly confused. 

"Doing what??" I felt just as lost as him when he questioned me, " I didn't do anything." 

He had piercings on his ears. Just black round tiny circles. It was simple but a flattering accessory on him. He had a black ring on his right hand. 

"What-really?" He rubbed his chin with his arms still crossed. 

"What," I shot back frustrated. 

"I need sleep. I haven't slept yet and I need sleep-" he had turned his back for a split second. 

"Your ring?" 

He tilted his head back and his eyes darted studying the plain white ceiling. 

"I'm genuinely curious." 

He released a quiet sigh and quietly and slowly walked to the right of my bed. His eyes darted over my face. He slipped it off his finger and placed it in the palm of my hand speechless. 

It was surprisingly heavy. 

"Tungsten carbide. The hardest metal in the world." 

I looked on the inside of the ring where his name was imprinted along with the word Eternity.

 "That's your last name, it is an impressive name." 

"Needs to be if it's on this metal..." he chuckled as I gave it back to him. He slipped it back on. "You need to be a hard person in this syndicate. It's a reminder not to weaken even when you want to," with that he slowly turned around and started to leave me in the dark. 

"Creating this organization...this ring of people is like this ring of tungsten...It takes time but when it's solid it is hard to cut. Start by making that lock I mentioned before...and I'll make you a ring just like this when you've earned it."