The Mulligan Planet by Zachariah Dracoulis Page A

off, good luck.” I
nodded expressionlessly at him as he left, my fingertips were
tingling and I couldn’t feel my feet. I really don’t like getting
stabbed, getting shot sucks but the bullet tears through or it gets
pushed out from my body, not like getting knifed, which just plain
stings, it’s kind of like a sound at first entry, it’s difficult to
explain but it’s a very specific sensation. Normally though I would
start to heal by that point, something about this was different, “I
think I’ll go to med station.” I stood, took two steps, had tunnel
vision, blinked and was in a stiff bed surrounded by curtains. I
was in soft patient robes, a drip in my arm and a soft pillow
cradling my head. “Hello?” Kate came in through the curtains, “Hey,
how are you feeling?” how was I feeling? The wooziness was
gone, my back felt good and healed, for me I’d just gone from
unbelievable pain and dizziness to completely fine in an instant
“Yeah, good, what happened?” I pulled the drip out and hung it up
on the heart monitor, must be linked with the OLHUD I thought when
I couldn’t find the finger tab. Kate was now sitting in a chair
next to me, “That knife that you got stabbed with was laced with a
cyanide-calcium compound, the hunters must’ve engineered it.
Luckily all it did was slow your healing temporarily and knock you
out. Now, we need to get you something to eat, it’s almost time to
ship out, we were almost going to leave you behind, take one of the
others on hand.” I sat up and stretched, I’d slept for the whole
day, missed final briefing, the feast, everything. A nurse came in
holding a tray with a blood bag on one side and a plate with a
large steak and chips. She placed it on my lap and left mutely with
a face of pure distaste. I really wasn’t in the mood to reassert
her comfort with vampires and their eating habits, I carved the
steak up and began eating, “Are you ok?” Kate looked somewhat
shocked at the question, to be fair I’d be shocked if she were in a
hospital bed asking if I was the one who was alright, “Yeah, I’m
ok, some of the bullets were laced with something as well, but I’m
fine now.” I sunk my teeth into the blood bag and let its contents
flush through my mouth. “How long until we leave?” Kate stuck her
head out of the curtains then came back in, “Two hours.” I wiped my
mouth with the napkin under my plate, the steak gone and the blood
bag drained. I felt the strength that I didn’t notice had faded
returning, I could physically feel it tingling through my body,
binding with my being; it felt good. I shot up, “Then let’s go. I
need to grab some stuff from my room; I’ll meet you at plane.” Her
eyes still red from the crying before she came in but she managed a
smile for me, “Do you know where it is?” I could’ve found my way to
them with the way-point system, she knew that, but what she wanted
was company, “I’d get hopelessly lost before I started, come on.” I
grabbed her hand and we ran for my room, dodging others moving
around in the attempt to fix the damage from Wednesday night's
attack, my patient drapes billowing behind me, we leaped down the
stairs after discovering that the elevator was out of order, my
door still wasn’t fixed, didn’t stress me though, there were more
important jobs to do. When I stepped through the door I turned to
see Kate looking out into the street her hand on her mouth, tears
welling up, I took a light grip of her arm and she immediately shot
into my chest, her arms wrapped around my mid-section, sobbing. I
embraced her and rested my head on hers, “I’m sorry I couldn’t save
them Kate.” She shook her head as she began to tremble.
    I brought her over to the couch,
“Take a seat, I’ll be right back, I promise.” I kissed her forehead
before running into my room, grabbed my backpack and started
filling it, my backup blood bottle, a canteen and the rest of the
stuff that was normally in there,