To Die For

"Ms. Suna? Ms. Suna?" Ares heard a voice calling.

She bolted awake and found her hand around the throat of the person who had been calling her, ready to choke the life out of them. It was the doctor.

"Shit, I'm sorry Doc," Ares said jerking her hand away from his throat.

"It's alright," the doctor said. "Your friend asked me to tell you that he left."

Ares chuckled, "You didn't wonder why he didn't do it himself? This is always how I react when someone wakes me up. I don't know why, it's just a reflex. He's scared to do it now because the last time he woke me up, I almost killed him before I realized it was him and he meant me no harm."

"That explains why he asked me to tell you. I simply assumed he was in a hurry," the doctor said. "He left this, I figured I'd give it to you to make sure that he gets it back and it doesn't get lost j n the hospital's laundry."

The doctor handed Ares a piece of cloth. When she looked at it closer, she realized it was the shirt Cain had been wearing the night of the football game. She then realized that it was brownish color. The color of dried blood. The shirt had been soaked with blood.

'That little arsehole. He must have grabbed me when I collapsed and carried me quite a ways, considering how much blood is on this shirt,' Ares thought.

She turned her head to look at the doctor, "Doc, how'd I get here?"

"He carried you in. He said you had been mugged and that you had been shot, then continued to kill the mugger in self-defense," the doctor answered. "You must have had quite the adrenaline rush for you to snap someone's neck with a bullet hole like that in you."

Ares looked down, whether in shame, embarrassment, or pride, the doctor couldn't tell. She looked back up at him after a moment. "Doc, when can I go home?"

"With the kind of condition you were in when you got here, you'll be here for another day at least."

"What kind of condition was I in?" Ares asked looking slightly confused.

"You had lost quite a bit of blood and the bullet was a quarter of an inch from your spine. We almost couldn't get it out. If he had gotten here any later, the bullet would have moved closer to your spine and we wouldn't have been able to get it out without damaging your spine, possibly paralyzing you for the rest of your life," the doctor replied.

Ares looked at him with a sharp gaze. "Did you tell him that?"

"Yes of course we did. He was so concerned that we could barely convince him to stay out of the operating room. Of course we told him that his haste had probably saved your life, or at the very least, your ability to walk."

"That little arsehole, who does he think he is, going and saving my life and then not telling me he saved my life," Ares said, only slightly irritated.

"He probably didn't want to make you feel indebted to him. From what I understand, you saved his life as well. He probably feel as though he is more in your debt than you are in his and doesn't wish to bring it up," the doctor told her.

"Perhaps," Ares said. "Can I go back to sleep now Doc?"

"Sure Ms. Suna, sure."