Caspian floated above a sea of darkness. Looking around he tried to move but found his body wouldn’t respond. Opening his mouth, no words came out. All he could do was lay there with his thoughts and wait.

Bright white light filtered through his eyelids, causing him to turn his head away. Opening his eyes, black specs covered his vision. Lifting a hand to try and rub them, something seemed to be off. His movements were sluggish like his body was covered in honey. “Am I dreaming,” he thought, pinching his arm. He barely felt it, his arm numb.

Confused, he looked around trying to work out what was going on. He was in an immaculately clean room, soft white linens covering him up. Pulling the covers off, a chill brushed over him. His legs were completely bare, a simple gown the only thing keeping him from being completely naked. Around one of them, a pristine bandage was tied off. Poking it curiously, he felt the light sensation of pain, but nothing more. Another bandage was around his left arm as well.

“This is, a hospital?” he said, trying to put it all together. His mind was all hazy. The last thing he remembered was the walls of New Broome illuminated in the night, his body feeling like it would give out at any moment. “I made it then?” He felt he should be happy about that, but all that pervaded him was a dreary tiredness.

Shuffling to the edge of the bed, he swung his legs out. Stepping on the cold floor, he tested his bad leg, seeing if it could sustain his weight. His leg gave out, but he managed to hold himself up with his arms. A slight tugging sensation on the back of his right hand drew his attention. Turning it over multiple small tubes snaked out of his skin, trailing back to an IV stand. Drop by drop, the mysterious liquids dripped down, flowing into his body.

Grabbing the stand, he stood up using it to support himself. Shakily, he made for the door, his bare feet sliding over the spotless floor. Fumbling with the door handle, he peered out into a brightly lit hallway. The harsh glare of the LED lights reflected off the tile floor, causing him to squint.

“Hello?” he called out, his voice echoing throughout the halls. “Is there anyone there?”

He waited for a reply, but none came. Stumbling forward with his stand, he wandered from door to door, but all of the rooms were empty.

“Helllloooo?” he called out, raising his voice. He wanted to know what had happened to him. He didn’t even know if it was still the same day.

Rounding a corner, he spotted a nurses station a few metres away, a nurse head-down in some paperwork. Walking up to it, he noticed that she was an older woman, maybe in her mid-50s. Clearing his throat he tried to get her attention.

“Um hello,” he said.

“Hello, how can I help yo-,” she started, looking up. As soon as she saw him, she stood up immediately, alarm on her face. “What do you think you’re doing young man,” she said in a high-pitched voice.

“I jus,” he said before getting cut off.

“Why are you out of your bed, you could reopen your wounds,” she said, coming around to him. “Come on, let's get you back to your room,” she said, trying to shepherd him back the way he came.

“Where am I? What happened to me?” he asked as he was pushed along. “Also what time is it?” he added, his brow creased.

“I’ll tell you when you get back in your bed love. Come on now,” she said with a motherly smile. “That’s it.” Holding open the door, he walked past her. His leg was starting to hurt now, all the movement aggravating it. He flopped onto the bed before his leg failed him, causing the nurse to gasp.

“Up you get,” she said, helping him into the bed. “Careful not to tangle your tubes, yep that's right. Legs under the covers, thank you very much.” She leveled him a disapproving look, as she made sure his IV bags were still flowing properly. “Now Caspian, you can’t just go wandering off whenever you feel like it. You need to heal up, and you won’t do that by making your injuries worse.”

“I know I know, sorry,” he murmured sheepishly. “About my questions?” he trailed off, hoping she would answer him.

“Oh yes, what were you asking again?”

“Well, I just wanted to know what happened to me and how long I’ve been asleep?” Caspian said laying back, looking at her. “I assume this is a hospital.”

“Right, you are. Let’s see,” she said, grabbing the chart hanging off the end of the bed. How had he missed that? Humming to herself, she flicked through the pages. “You presented with a swollen ankle, and tears throughout your leg muscles. Two bites, one on your left forearm. The other was on your leg. Neither hit any important veins or arteries.”

“Oh is that all,” Caspian muttered nervously. He’d never injured himself to end up in hospital before. The odd cold was the worst he ever got.

“You’re quite lucky young man you know. We currently have you on antibiotics to avoid infection and saline. So again, please don’t go walking about. I don’t want you ripping out your tubes,” she said putting the chart back down. “What else did you want to know? Oh, that's right, you arrived early this morning, around 5 or 6 I think.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“This morning,” he whispered, relief flowing through him. He hadn’t missed anything important. “The trial would have only finished recently,” he thought. “WAIT!” his thoughts screamed, “I PASSED, I PASSED.” Grinning ear to ear, elation filled his weary body. The nurse noticed, frowning slightly. Uncaring he gave her a big smile. “I did it, I passed the trial,” he cheered.

“Ok…”

“Did anyone stop by for me?” he asked.

“Hmmmm. Yes, I think there was someone. Right as I started my shift, a woman was hanging about. I didn’t catch her name, but she had fiery red hair,” she said.

“Valorie,” Caspian breathed. “Did she say anything or leave anything?”

“I think she said she had to take care of something. Oh what was it,” she said scratching her head. “Something about a trial. I’m sure you can ask her when she comes back.”

“Comes back. Do you have any idea when that will be?”

“Later she said, quite dismissive if I do say so. Who is she? Not a girlfriend, maybe a boss?” the nurse said, fishing for gossip. When he didn’t reply, she just smiled at him and patted his good leg. “You must be tired, try and get some rest. Dinner will be served in a little bit ok,” moving to the door, she looked over her shoulder. Her mouth opened for a second before she turned away and left.

Letting out a sigh, Caspian closed his eyes. He’d finally achieved his goal, but there was so much up in the air. What if they didn’t want him because he was injured? Why had Valorie been hanging around? He just had so many questions and no way of getting answers. “Confined to a bed,” he lamented. With nothing to do, he tried to go back to sleep, facing away from the hallway and its bright lights.

He managed to fall into a restless sleep, not fully able to shut off the outside world. It wasn’t until a few hours later that he heard a knock on the door. The same nurse as before was there, this time pushing a cart full of trays.

“Dinner’s here,” she said, opening the door. “Do you have any dietary requirements dear?”

“Uh no, anything fine,” he replied, a little groggy.

Nodding her head, she grabbed a tray off of the cart and placed it on the table. Wheeling it over the bed, she flicked the light switch that was just by his head. “Here you are, a camel steak sandwich. Hope you enjoy it,” she said. Before leaving, she paused to refill his water pitcher.

“Thank you,” he said watching her leave. The aroma of cooked meat made his stomach growl, his mouth drooling at the thought of it. Picking it up, he peered under the bread, lettuce and onion on top of the meat. A thin yellow sauce was spread over the bread as well. Dipping his pinkie in it, he realised it was mustard. Opening his mouth, he took a huge bite, savouring it.

The rich camel steak mixed perfectly with the freshness of the lettuce, the mustard cutting through with its bold aftertaste. The last thing he could remember eating was that MRE, and while it had done the job, the taste had left a lot to be desired. Taking another bike, he sighed with contentment. Fully engrossed in his meal, he didn’t notice the door open again and a figure slip in.

“There he is,” a voice said right next to him, causing him to drop his sandwich. “Didn’t mean to startle ya hahaha.”

Caspian turned to see Valorie standing next to him, her eyes sparkling as she examined him. Gulping, he wiped his face. “Hey, Valorie.”

“How’s my little warrior doing? You know you caused quite the commotion,” she said with a toothy smile.

“I did? I didn’t cause any problems did I?” he said worried.

“Problem, no. But you are the talk of the town. Turning up at gates like you did, it certainly made the rounds.”

“So then, I passed?” Caspian asked slowly.

“What?” Valorie said confused. “Of course you passed ya dolt. You were the first to finish by a mile.” Giving him a big thumbs up, she threw herself onto a chair. “I knew I picked right with ya Cas.”

“Really. HELL YEAH,” Caspian cheered, throwing his hands up. The rapid movement threatened to rip the tubes out of his hand, the IV stand wobbling. “Whoops. But thank you so much Valorie, you don’t know how much this means to me. When do I start?”

“No need to thank me kid, It was all you. I’m not quite sure how or why you decided to go with a mad sprint to the finish, we gave you a day and a half for a reason, but I can’t help but respect it,” Valorie said, twirling her hair. “What was with the bites though?”

“Oh that hahaha,” Caspian chuckled rubbing his head. “It’s all a bit blurry, but I think I was attacked by a pack of dingoes. And I finished so quickly because I ran into some problems, and lost my food and most of my water,” he said embarrassed.

“Dingoes huh, odd. Must of thought you were easy prey hahaha,” Valorie said.

“I managed to get a few good hits on them and drove them off. I definitely wouldn’t want to do that again.” His body shivered as he remembered scenes from the night before. “How many people managed to pass by the way?”

“Besides you, there were four others. Not as many as we would have liked, but we can only make do with what we get,” Valorie said. “You’ll get to meet them when you get discharged, which should be tomorrow at some point.”

“What really?” he interrupted.

Raising an eyebrow at him, she continued. “Yeah, the bites are mostly surface wounds apparently. Your body was just completely exhausted, so make sure to get your rest and everything will be peachy.”

“That’s great to hear,” he said sighing with relief. “Sorry for interrupting.”

“It’s whatever, where was I. Oh yeah, the others are dying to meet you. Really threw a wrench in their betting, Rich has been moaning about it all day,” Valorie said getting up. “I gotta get outta here now, just wanted to inform you of what was happening. Good job Caspian, I'm looking forward to seeing what you pull off next.”

Waving goodbye, Caspian laid back, his appetite gone. He couldn’t stop smiling, as he laughed to himself.

“I’m finally in.”