Chapter 61: Survival (2)
Kestrel remembered something her friend Priscilla had once told her.
"When do I smile?" Kestrel once asked. Priscilla, a bit confused, ran her fingers through her hair and replied, "Kestrel, people smile when they’re happy."
"When you’re really happy, the laughter just comes out naturally."
Kestrel felt her mouth curl into a smile as she looked at Ren, who had somehow cheated death.
"I’m really cold," Ren murmured, his ears turning a bit pink.
Quickly, Kestrel took off her jacket and wrapped it around Ren’s bare waist.
"Hang in there, I’ll get you to a doctor right away," she reassured him cheerfully.
Close to Polluted Zone Five, there was a small outpost. It was messy and looked empty, but Kestrel managed to find a clinic with a healing pod.
The doctor on duty was excited to see a patient. He showed off the old healing pod, the only one in the clinic.
"Great, great. Any alpha hurt in Zone Five gets treated here," he boasted.
Ren was put into a half-glass healing pod. A light green healing liquid poured out, slowly covering his whole body.
As a soldier used to pain, Ren didn’t expect this much hurt. Even though he was floating in warm healing liquid, it felt like he was being stabbed over and over with hot iron rods. His bones seemed to be melting, and even breathing hurt.
Ren tried to control his shaking arms. This was the payback for pushing his body too hard, but he was ready to bear it.
He was happy, because he was still alive, and he hadn’t put anyone else in hard positions. He hadn’t died, and so Kestrel wouldn’t have to feel the pain of losing someone again.
Ren bit his lip, refusing to let out any sign of his pain.
"This alpha is badly hurt," the doctor with glasses said, looking at the alpha in the healing pod while skillfully changing the data on the control panel. "It’s a miracle he got out of the Polluted Zone alive."
"But don’t worry, any wounds can be healed as long as they’re in my healing pod," he quickly showed the new data to Kestrel, pointing at the price, "I’ll give you a discount. I promise I’ll give you back a healthy alpha."
Kestrel’s face was blank, which made the excited doctor a bit sad.
"Where’s the painkiller?" Kestrel asked after looking at the data.
"A...painkiller?" The doctor was surprised, "You should know, he’s an alpha, regular painkillers don’t work."
Normal painkillers didn’t affect the sharp senses of an alpha, and specialized alpha painkillers were really expensive. Most alphas at the outpost couldn’t afford such a thing.
Besides, the doctor didn’t see the need. Alphas were strong with amazing healing powers. They could handle a little pain.
"But what if he’s hurting now?" Kestrel asked, her voice calm.
Inside the healing pod, Ren opened his eyes.
"Are you sure? That’s going to cost a lot more," the doctor grumbled. "The cost will almost double the normal treatment. It’s a waste. A little pain won’t kill him."
The doctor opened his safe, took out a thin needle, and after getting Kestrel’s approval, put it into the medicine tube of the healing pod.
In the healing liquid, Ren finally relaxed his tense shoulders. He sighed in relief, like being pulled out of an endless hell of burning pain and dropped into a warm sea. No one could understand this feeling, because no one knew how much pain he had been in.
"No, she knows," Ren thought, remembering Kestrel’s recent words–"Give him the painkiller. He’s in a lot of pain now."
Ren didn’t look at Kestrel, who was talking with the doctor outside the glass. He stared at the top of the healing pod. The floating green healing liquid seemed beautiful, a bit like the sea in his psychic world.
Kestrel was talking with the doctor. She didn’t realize that someone was hearing every word she said, saving it carefully as precious pearls bubbles, putting them deep inside his psychic sea.
"He has a lot of old injuries," the doctor told Kestrel. "You might want to use this chance to treat them all at once. This would make things a lot easier for the patient in the future."
"Like the chronic problem in his leg, we could fix it now. And his elbow, knuckles, even his lungs have some problems..." The doctor looked at the growing bill in his hand, and even he thought it was really high. Even if he cut his profit, the cost still seemed scary. He nervously looked up at Kestrel.
"Of course," Kestrel said, her face blank. "Give him the best treatment."
Inside the healing pod, Ren closed his eyes, his hand curled up a little.
"Change this U55 to U96, and the healing fluid, do you have the No. 233 healing fluid? Change it with the best one."
"We have it, are you sure?" The doctor took a deep breath, added up the total, and gave the digital pad to her. "This is a lot of money."
The conversation outside the healing pod went on. Floating in the pod, Ren felt a bit dizzy. He remembered when he was still in the alpha academy, a young him got badly hurt in a contest, trying to win for the school. To fully heal, he had to use a healing pod.
He remembered how Cass looked worried in front of him, saying, "Ren, the academy really can’t pay for this. We’ll have to make do."
Years later, he found out it wasn’t about being able to pay, but about worth. In Cass’s view, a disobedient pawn like him wasn’t worth the cost of treatment.
"Use the best medicine, heal him completely. No matter the cost."
Kestrel’s voice came through.
She didn’t know that Ren could hear all of it.
Ren didn’t want to sleep at that moment, but with the pain gone, his body tired, and his heart so calm, he couldn’t fight the sleepiness. Floating in the healing liquid, he finally fell into a deep sleep.
When he opened his eyes again, the horrible pain that once tore his body apart was much less. His once broken legs, and his lungs that had been hurting him for years, felt much better. He felt like he had truly come back to life.
Floating in the healing pod’s green fluid, everything outside seemed unreal.
The lights in the treatment room were dim, the doctor had already left, and everything was quiet. Through the green glass, he could see Kestrel sleeping on a couch not far from him. She still has beach sand on her face, and she was half lying on the table next to the couch, sleeping deeply.
A warm, yellow light from a ceiling lamp lit up Kestrel’s sleeping face, reaching her bare shoulder, softening her features.
Ren couldn’t help but wonder how such delicate shoulders bore his weight, how such gentle hands broke the locks around his neck, and saved him from a terrible fate.
A small orca appeared out of nowhere, picked up a wet and crumpled jacket that was lying on the edge of the couch, and gently put it over Kestrel’s shoulder.
Kestrel moved a little in her sleep.
A hidden tendril had woken up at some point, and when it saw the little orca, it wrapped around it excitedly.
Using the chance, the playful tendril thoroughly rubbed the little orca’s head and back fin, not forgetting the soft belly.
The little orca stiffened, not running away or making a noise, just looking a bit sad at Kestrel’s feet, putting up with the tendril’s actions. Kestrel kept sleeping peacefully, a small smile appearing on her face in her dreams.
The tendril wrapped around the orca’s tail, finding a serious injury. It gently touched the wound, then started to carefully soothe the exposed white bones, over and over.
The little orca let out a quiet whimper, and its back fin and tail sagged, lying flat on the floor. The hole in its tail, from the serious injury, slowly began to heal under the gentle touch of the tendril, a change that was visible.
If the doctor walked in right now, he would see that the data on the control panel outside the healing pod was acting weird. The heart-shaped red light was blinking non-stop, showing that the patient lying in the liquid was experiencing an unusual increase in heart rate.
