Wastelands Chapter 8

"So what are we going to do with her until she comes to?" Jahnoy asked opening the door to the last available room. "Well I guess all we can do is keep an eye on her until she get's better and then figure out what the hell happened to her." He replied as they laid her down on the bed. "Most importantly we can't let anyone find out she's a slaver they'll just end up killing her. You keep an eye on her I'm going to see what the others are up to." As he stepped out of the room and began walking the halls, after a short while Josiah found him "So who was that woman you and Jahnoy were taking upstairs, if you don't mind me asking?" Josiah asked as he walked beside Sean "Well to be honest I do mind…however for what you're doing for me I could give you an answer. Let's just say she is an acquaintance of mine and she is also the reason I'm here now." Sean explained a bit hesitant to answer him. "Oh I see, well any way I could really use your help around here." Sean stopped and turned on his heels to face Josiah. "I'm sorry but I won't be aiding you, in fact you can consider me retired from this establishment. From this point forward I will only be working on our new guest and Cassy. I'm sure nurse Winston will be more than happy to help and Mike as well as Jahnoy will help also if they are not aiding me." Josiah was dumbfounded by what he heard "Sean you can't be serious." "I am serious I've run this place for the past six months, rebuilt it from the ground up and have worked essentially by myself that entire time, I believe I'm entitled to some rest. If you need anything the patient files and chems are in the basement by the way. Now if you'll excuse me." Sean turned his back to him and continued on his way to Cassy and Mike's rooms but found Mike standing on the stairwell. "So I guess you heard all that then." Sean said as they both headed up to the top floor "Yup." Mike replied "Good so I don't have to repeat myself." "I guess not, and for the record I don't blame you for what you said to him, also I thank you for still wanting to work on Cassy." "Think nothing of it, I don't think there's too much I'll be needing to work with on her any way." Once they got to Cassy's room Sean opened the door to find her sleeping in her bed. "She asleep?" Mike asked as Sean gently closed the door. "Yes but that's probably best for the time being, I should be getting to work on our newest arrival." Sean said turning back towards the stairs "I'll go see if Josiah needs help with anything or at least get myself something to eat."

Sean was soon back in the room he'd left Jahnoy and Elba in. He pulled up a chair to her bedside and pulled out the glasses he'd worn when he operated on Cassy to replace the ones he was wearing. "Has she shown any signs of improvement while I was gone?" He asked flicking two lenses of on the left side of his glasses and shined a flashlight in her right eye then left one. "No I didn't notice any changes." Jahnoy told him as Sean stood back up. "Well I can't say that I'm surprised by that, any way I'll be right back I need to go grab my clipboard and an I.V. for her, so stay with her until I get back." Jahnoy nodded as Sean left the room and leaned back against the wall with a sigh. He looked over at Elba his arms crossed as he said out loud "So you're the gal that started all this trouble, you don't seem like much of a trouble maker…but I guess I should be thanking ya if it weren't for him finding me I'd probably be dead…I still might have my eye though." Jahnoy finished with a sigh as he looked at his feet. He looked back up as the door opened and Mike was carrying an I.V. kit as Sean walked behind him writing a few things on a clipboard muttering to himself as he did. "Just set that down beside the bed if you would Michael." "You know I could have gotten that for you." Jahnoy said as Mike set the kit on the bedside table. "Yes but I needed someone to keep an eye on her incase she showed any signs of change, speaking of which…" "No she hasn't so much as blinked." Jahnoy said cutting him off "Hmm too bad, thank you Mike I'll be sure to come find  you if I need anything." "Right, well if you need me I'm gonna  go check up on Cassy." Mike said as he left the room. "So what are we going to do until she gets back up on her feet?" Jahnoy asked as Sean began setting up the I.V. "Well I'm afraid the anything we can do is hope that she gets better before Cassandra's leg heals, if not I fear we might have to stay here until she dose and that'll give Shawn more time to find out where we've been these past few months." Jahnoy nodded "You've got a good point there if we're lucky he hasn't got a clue where we're hiding out." "Yeah let's hope, but for now we have to keep an eye on her…and while I hate to put the burden on you I think I'm going to spend a lot of time sleeping." Jahnoy stood and placed a shoulder "I understand you've spent so much time helping people, you are a good man and deserve your rest." Sean smiled taking his glasses off as he left the room "No Jahnoy I am only a man, a very tired man." Jahnoy smiled and closed the door behind him.

Over the next few days things Josiah served as the head doctor while Sean split his time between sleeping and watching Elba. Cassy had eventually lost need for her crutch and was able to walk on her own with out too much struggle. Meanwhile Elba had been showing little sign of improvement until one night while Jahnoy was keeping an eye on her when without warning sprang up from her cover. "Where where am I?" she asked a bit dazed "You're somewhere safe." He assured her. "Wait where is Sean I saw him he's here isn't he?" She asked trying to stand but finding her legs too weak. "Don't worry he is here, he and I have been keeping a close eye on you. Now if you just lie back down I'd be happy to go get him for you." Elba laid back down as Jahnoy hurried through the hallways to Sean's room and burst through the door which made him jump. "Jesus man, come in any faster and I may've cut my own throat." Sean said with a straight razor in hand that he'd just used to shave his beard that had been growing for sometime. "I'm sorry but it's Elba she's just woken up and…" Sean didn't let him finish and was already heading down the hall to her room. "Sean it's really you." She said weakly as he stepped inside. "Elba…" he began as he sat beside her bedside "what the hell happened to you? You were helping run the slavers last time I saw you." Elba turned her head away from him "Tch what happened to you? Last time I saw you, you were a weasely little runt full of piss and vinegar." "Yeah well shit happens, so what shit happened to you?" "So you really wanna know?" She asked turning back to him "Fine then, it started after I let you go. I guess our leader wasn't too happy about someone who gives us so much trouble just leaving a slaver camp like he was never there. I got demoted and after a few more fuck ups I landed myself right out of the slavers. I was lost in the wastes with no place to go I remembered you I knew you couldn't turn me away after all that feel good bullshit you were talking about. So now here I am."

"Fascinating story, your right though I wouldn't have turned you away, right now you still need rest I'll have my assistant Jahnoy bring you something to eat." Sean said standing back up. "I knew he looked familiar." Elba said under her breath. "What was that?" "Oh nothing." Sean left the room to find Jahnoy standing right beside the doorway "So how is she?" he asked "Well it looks like she'll pull through she could use a good meal though if you can get on that." He nodded and headed downstairs while Sean went in the other direction up to Mike's room. Sean knocked on the door "Mike?" "Come on in." Sean stepped in to see Cassy in Mike's room as well "Well no surprise there." Sean said already expecting to be hit by Cassy or for her to make a snarky remark but instead heard her say "You know you clean up pretty nice." "Thank you, but I'm afraid that flattery, Miss Cassandra, will get you no where." He only had to wait a fraction of a second for her to throw the closest object at him and shrilly call him a stupid jerk. Luckily for Sean the closest object was only a pillow. "Well joking aside I'm here to tell you that now that Elba is seeming to make a recovery we'll be on our way in a day or two." Cassy sighed "She's coming with us?" "No actually it's quite the other way around she'll probably stay here and help the rest of Josiah's team once they get here." Mike chimed in "How do you know Josiah so well, what makes you trust him so much." Sean sat in silence for a few moments "Well I guess since we'll all be traveling together you should know how I got where I am now…and who Elba really is."