Inizio (COMPLETED)

33. Not Good Enough

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"

I awoke to my shoulder being popped back in place. By instinct, I lunged at whoever had performed the action. Hands grabbed me and pushed me back onto the bed.

"You're okay. You're okay," said Stephan from behind me. He walked around what appeared to be the hospital bed and gave me a small smile. I winced as the doctor put my arm in a sling. I observed him, noticing his rough demeanor. His gun was outlined in his lab coat.

Not your average doc..

I looked around the room, trying to get familiar with my surroundings. Stephan replaced the doctors position at my side.

"Zhara, damn, thought we'd lost you for a minute— or rather, for a few days," he said. I blinked. I wanted to speak, but I couldn't. My mouth was dry as hell. I smacked my lips, trying to get rid of the dry sensation. Stephan got the memo and grabbed a glass of water. I gulped it down within seconds.

I sat up slowly. Flashbacks from what had gotten me in this predicament played in my mind.

"A few days," I said. The heart monitor by my bed started beeping rapidly. "Marco! Where's— did you find him?" Stephan's eyes became somber. He shook his head.

No. There's no way. He-he can't be dead. Stephan noticed my expression.

"I'm sure he's alright. The guards are on it. We flew back as soon as you were stable. Natalia and I had stayed back with you, but the others came here...to L.A."

"We're in L.A," I stated, more than asked. I hadn't found Marco. For all we knew he could've been dead. The monitor went off again. I have to find him. I struggled to take out the IV in my arm.

"No, don't do that," said a startled Stephan. He went for my arm, but I shoved it away. "Seriously, Zhara, don't-." I'd already gotten up. My stomach churred and my head spun. I regained my composure and slowly walked to the door. I felt Stephan's presence behind me as I pushed the door open.

"I need my clothes," I grumbled. The cool floor of the hallway gave me a spritz of energy and the smell of antiseptics filling my nose gave me an odd sense of vitality.

"You can't leave yet. You have two days left. We need to get you back to bed. There's really nothing more you can do in your state," he said. Something about the way he said "there's nothing more I can do" made me feel as though I'd outrageously failed. There's no one I could blame. Obviously the explosions and the attack were none of my doing. But if I'd been with Marco at the time, the only thing that had to be done was to get the whole family to safety. Now, on top of finding Pietro, stopping his plan, and making him pay, we had to find Marco.

Only one of those was a priority at this point: finding Marco. The rest would have to wait, which was a huge setback because who knew what Pietro would do next.

The large exit sign drew me out of my thoughts. I knew immediately where I was once I stepped out the double doors of the "hospital". I was in Vita Alta. The sound of people training confirmed that. I turned to Stephan.

"May I have my clothes," I asked. He hesitated before handing over the clear bag.

"Zhara, there's really no rush. You can relax for the last couple days. The guards over there will deal with it. They got a really good lead and.. AND they're really close so.." His rambling was setting off warning signs in my head but I dismissed them, desperately trying to focus on  subsiding the pain in my gut.

The bathroom wasn't too for from the ward. My reflection was the first thing that caught my attention.

"Oh my gosh." I looked like I'd been through hell and back. My eyes looked heavy and my naturally tan skin looked as if it'd been drained. One side of my hair was matted while the other was frizzy. I licked my cracked lips and got in a stall. A normally quick process turned into a sluggish one. I pulled up my sweats with my one hand and grabbed the shirt from inside the bag.