Where We Go | Book Three

22. It's Only You

Julia lay on a bed in the corner of the room. Her eyes were closed, darting beneath her lids and her chest rose and fell in slow, steady breaths. At her side, an IV was taped to her arm with the bag half full on a stand beside her. It was the most peaceful I'd ever seen her.

The wall opposite was lined with shelves of medical supplies, neatly organised into their plastic boxes, and labelled with handwritten tags. Bandages, plasters, tweezers, some of them even overflowed into two boxes.

"What brings you in here?" a quiet voice spoke behind me.

I turned to where Julia now lay awake, watching me. I smiled and stepped over to her, gently squeezing her hand. "I came to see how you were doing."

Her lashes flickered as she blinked sleep from her eyes. "I should be asking the same about you," she said.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, avoiding her statement.

"A lot better," she said, adjusting herself on the pillow. "You'd be surprised what proper bandages and painkillers can do.

"You look better," I agreed. "You don't look like you're dying anymore."

She laughed and then winced, slowly sitting up. "I'm glad you didn't say that to me a few days ago."

"I didn't think you would've taken it too well."

"They did tell me it would've been a lot worse if you hadn't got the bullet out."

I pressed a hand to my chest. "You're telling me I really did save your life?"

She smirked. "Don't look too proud of yourself."

I rolled my eyes with a laugh. "Have they said anything about when you'll be allowed out of here?"

She shook her head. "They said I'm making good progress, so I'm hoping tomorrow if I take it easy. I feel like I'm missing out on all the fun in here."

I raised a brow, casting a gaze across her makeshift hospital room. "Yeah, the gathering at the bonfire last night was definitely something." 

I poked the lid of one of the boxes in the corner of the room, peeking inside at its contents. A full, clear bag of freshly packed syringes sat at the bottom.

Julia cocked her head, watching my investigation from a distance as I closed the lid of the box. "Speaking of gatherings," she said, bringing my attention back. "Where's Ben? I thought he'd be here too."

"So did I," I shrugged, moving to straighten her blankets at the foot of the bed. "He left at breakfast saying he had an idea about how to find Will and this Doctor, and I haven't seen him since." When the blankets had been smoothed to perfection, I sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Oh, Em," she exhaled. "What about everything else? Did you take your serum?"

I nodded, rubbing my thumb against her hand. "Yeah," I replied. "Ben sorted my dose last night."

She shifted her head and kept her eyes set on me. They wandered my face and the way my fingers began to pick at the loose threads of the sheets beneath her. "Is something else bothering you?" she asked.

"This place," I whispered. "It's a lot of people to hide it from. More than I've ever been around, even before I was this... I can't help but feel like it's all going to go wrong."

"I know," she murmured. "But if there's anyone who can pull this off, it's you. You're the toughest person I've met. Inside and out..." Her voice lowered further. "These people are all scared of the same thing, Em. The same thing you've beaten and have no reason to fear anymore. We're all with you."