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Crew nodded and put it in his pocket. “But it feels like something from another life. Come on, let’s get to that ship. We’ll fix those hands.”
“There are things in that cabin that might be useful to you,” I told him as he lifted me up as though I weighed nothing at all. I was tiny, compared to him, but not weightless. It was impressive and although I’d spent my life with people like him, I’d never been carried around before.
My hands throbbed and I closed my eyes, leaning my head against his chest.
“You got hurt trying to save a stranger from someone who could have broken you in half with one hand. You were smart and creative about it. I’ll send someone up here to go through the house. Ransom gets wanderlust sometimes. It’ll be great for him, and it doesn’t have to be this very second. Stop thinking about everyone else and try to just rest until I can take care of you.”
Stop thinking of others? That might be next to impossible. I liked thinking of others. First, because I liked knowing I helped them and second because it was easier than thinking about myself. I wasn’t going to explain my logic to Crew, though, not when my hands burned like I still held onto the bowl.
“Good job getting him to click the device like that. It got us to you even faster, although we would have found you anyway. The baby being born was enough of a noise for us to hear, so we tracked you. I can’t believe how completely egotistical that was of him.” He laughed. “But then again, it seems he’s gotten away with doing things all over the universe that he shouldn’t have.”
I could hear his heartbeat. Despite carrying me and walking faster than I could, his heart sounded slow and steady, as if it didn’t exert him at all. I thought about what he said, imagining people like him scattered across the universe. “It’s almost like they need people to police the enhanced— sorry, Super Soldiers— to keep others safe.”
“Call us whatever you want. We’re just glad you found us. You’re ours.”
I would dwell on what his possessive tone meant another time. Ours. I liked the sound of it but had no idea if I should or not. I knew they talked about going off the machine. I liked the thought of that too, which surprised me more than anything. Still, I had no idea if it would be one of the things that wound up being bad for me despite me wanting them.
The pain throbbed, so I forced my mind to focus on something else. Instead, I thought about Raine. She would need cloth to make diapers for the baby. She also needed time and a safe place to rest and get better. Time to just be with her baby. Could any of that happen?
“Gunnar? Grey? Panther? Wolf?” I hadn’t let myself think about them, but fear for them had my hands shaking again.
“All recovering. The lightning puts us down hard, but they’re all going to be okay.”
I don’t know if I fainted from the pain, but I jerked awake as another stab of pain sliced through me. A lot of time must have passed, based on our surroundings, because we were suddenly at the ship.
“Raven.” Crew ran a hand through my hair. “We’re here.”
The ship buzzed nearby, an almost insect- like hum that wasn’t quite noise, but it vibrated my skull nonetheless. I tried to clear my mind and focus. It had to be…what was his name…Gator. He likely started the ship, because Crew still held me. Unless Raine knew how to work a ship. Or perhaps the baby?
I giggled at the ridiculous notion despite the pain. Then I blinked. Damn. My head was foggy. I wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Crew…?”
He touched the side of my cheek. “You have an infection. Fuck.”
How did he know?
“I can hear the strain,” he answered as if he could hear my thoughts, too. More likely, he probably guessed, but maybe he could hear me…
“There’s a broken med machine,” Gator—yes, that was for certain his name—called out. “And I might be able to fix it.”
The baby cried, a tiny plaintive wail that gave voice to the sound of the pain still flaming up my arms. What was she going to call the baby? Did they have a custom here regarding naming children? Some cultures did…
There was a lot of scrambling, and eventually I was set down on a bed. Raine dipped onto the small mattress next to me.
“It feels different in here,” she said in a low voice. “Sounds stupid, but it’s like the energy of the ship knows he’s dead, so I can breathe in here again.” She shook her head, her baby asleep on her shoulder. “You can’t care very much about any of this right now, huh? The pain must be awful.”
A loud buzz suddenly filled the space, louder than anything else. Raine gasped, and I jerked then cried out from the pain. Raine settled her hand on my thigh in a comforting touch. “They fixed it.”
“Easy fix.” Gator said then shook his head. “Asshat must not have wanted to do it. He wanted to make you suffer, Raine.”
I lifted my head. “We have a working med machine?”
Crew came over and lifted me. “We do, and you’re getting into it. I’m not a doctor. So we’re just going to hit power, and let it fix you. When you wake up, we should have made it back to town. See you in a little bit. Try not to worry for five minutes.”
That was, as I was quickly realizing more and more, easier said than done.
He placed me in the bed of a machine. I hardly remembered my first trip through a med machine to get sterilized, and I never warranted another visit. I didn’t earn enough to garner time in one even if I got sick. As Clarke had let my brother die, it became clear none of us mattered to him outside of what we could bring him financially. I swallowed. Why did I deserve to use a med machine, when so many others who needed one went without? I wasn’t special. Tears leaked from my eyes as I thought about all of the people who had loved ones waiting for them, yet didn’t have access to a machine, while I didn’t have anyone waiting for me.
