“What’s wrong with his skin? Why is it so wet?”

“I told you to get back. Somebody get her out of here. We need concentration or he may lose that arm.”

“NO, he’s my captain, I’m not leaving him!”

“Ugh. Fine, just stay back, behind that table. Laurel’s backside, when did we start letting kids on the battlefield? Are we that desperate?”

“Hey buddy I’m not a kid! I graduated two weeks ago!”

Who's yelling so much? Ugh, just let me sleep already. My eyes were closed, trying to let the gentle embrace of slumber envelop me. It evaded me on the whole trip on the stretcher thanks to that awful music Tutor kept playing. I spent who knows how long dancing between the line of consciousness and void. Why wouldn’t she let me sleep?

All the pain would be gone after a good sleep. That and a good meal. God, what I wouldn’t give for some of Mrs. Warbler’s food right now. Hell, I’d take some of the vegetables. I wonder if that bear that fell on me would have tasted good. Maybe that was the answer to getting free all along. Just eat my way out in base form, no need for fancy bologna with other forms. Just good old fashioned mimic snacking. I wouldn’t have needed to eat the whole thing, just the bits that held me down. Though with my current hunger level, I probably could have finished the whole carcass. Sound plan all things considered. Hehe yep. I’m a genius.

As I congratulated myself for finding a stupid solution to an already solved problem, something sharp pricked at my arm, making me flinch.

Quit jabbing me. It hurts like a sonuvabitch. God, I’m hungry. Where did Tutor go? Does her office in my head get cable? Would she let me watch? Ehh, IDK, she prolly likes soaps. Lame.

Thoughts flew through my head like a whirlwind, one after another, each one becoming less and less coherent. And I was hot. Really hot. Sweating like a pig in a slaughterhouse hot. I tried to talk, to protest this undue treatment, but my tongue wasn’t listening to my brain. The haze in my head blocked most of my basic functions. Then the prodding started again.

“And you're sure it was a Beruang that fell on him? Not a Salamandra. We’ve had plenty injured by them come through here already.”

“Yes I’m sure, I was one of the ones who carried him here. It was definitely a Beruang. Big bastard at that, shocked he wasn’t hurt worse. High CON I bet.”

“Then why is he absolutely covered in their mucus? It's ruining all of my tools. Look, these shears are worthless now.” I heard metal clang across the ground.

“I’m not sure, Sir.”

“Huff, I swear it's multiplying too. See, the second I remove it from his injured arm it covers it back up. I can’t get an accurate assessment of the damage. From what you said it was bad.”

“Yes Sir, broken in no less than three places.”

“Does he have a Salamandran gene or something along those lines? The mucus is acting as some sort of auto-defense ability.”

Mucus? Auto-defense? What is he talking about? I didn’t get any mucus on me after I fought that stupid overgrown lizard. It froze before touching me. Mmm. Cold would be nice right now. UGH! FINE. I will get up.

My eyes fluttered open as I willed my body to move. I told my arms and legs to swing off whatever I was lying on, but the neurons just weren’t firing off. Only my head was capable of any sort of movement.

“LOOK, look! He’s awake!” It sounded like Tawny.

“Yes, girl. My eyes work perfectly fine. It’s not a good thing. He doesn't want to be awake for this. Advanced Healing can be…messy. Jenns, bring me another bottle of Laurel’s Rest. I don’t know why the first two bottles didn’t work.”

I looked around, my head sluggishly rolling around. Everything was just a blur of movement. People ran around in the background, hustling around to and fro. The only unmoving thing was the person who stood above me. I think it was a man, that’s what I gathered from his voice. Another walked up to him, handing over a small clay vessel. A strange yellow liquid bubbled out of the top. Pretty. I bet it tastes like Sunny D. Yummy.

“Liam! Don’t drink that! Your body is already healing.” Tutor yelled out in my brain.

“But, muh Sunny D,” I mumbled, my lips fully numb.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Idiot, just check your health. And no, it's not that overly sugary synthetic orange juice.”

Following the meanie’s words, I looked up at my status bars. They were all kind of blurry, but my health was nearly full. Stamina was a little low, around 40%, but that was nothing new. It was never full during a fight.

But then, even in my scuffed state, I noticed something. The green bar was draining. Why? I wasn’t using any abilities. I was in base form. I never used stamina in base form.

“Stam…ugh…stamina. Why?” I asked.

“You are using an ability. You need to let it finish. You’ll be as good as new. Moist, but good as new.”

The man brought the clay cup to my mouth. I turned my head at the last second, trusting in my tutorial’s decision. Warm liquid flowed down my face, a little getting into my ear. I heard a weird sizzling sound. It kind of tickled.

“No, no sleepy juice.” The statement sounded far better in my head. It was supposed to be an intense command, not a child’s plea.

“Damnit! We can’t afford to be wasting supplies like this, the third wave hasn’t even started yet. Jenns, hold his head steady.”

Fingers wrapped around my cheeks, recoiling before they got a good grip.

“Eww, why is he so sticky?”

“You were just elbow deep in that other patient’s back as we pulled the rot covered tusk out of him. But the sticky face, that’s what gets you.”

“Blood and poison I can handle, not whatever that is.”

“Hold him!”

The fingers were much more reluctant this time around, their owner applying much less force as they hesitated in grabbing my cheeks. “Oh, it's awful.”

“Shtap.” I protested.

“Now massage the cheeks while you bring his chin down.”

They obeyed, rubbing my cheeks and pulling them open. It was actually quite pleasant all things considered. Then a drop of bitter yellow liquid fell on my tongue. I spewed it out as best as I could, sputtering spit at my caretakers. The fingers released me again.

“Ow, it’s in my eyes. Oh, that burns. Water! WATER!”

“Bloody biscuits! Why am I cursed to deal with morons every single day!” The man holding the liquid backed away, rubbing his face while his assistant ran off. I heard the cup shatter on the ground. My head rolled around once more as I tried to get a better look at my surroundings.

I stopped once I recognized someone who stood a few feet away. Tawny stood behind a table. I opened my mouth. “Stop them.” The first words to come out of my mouth with any sense of comprehension. She nodded and ran to my side. Just in time, because the man returned with an assortment of leather straps. “Spit on me. How dare you.” He spat. “Fine, if the nice way won’t work, the hard way will.”

“Girl, out of the way. Now.”

“No, Cap said to stop you. I’m only following orders.” Tawny said arms spread out wide. She looked so small compared to the medic who practically towered over her. My vision cleared up more, allowing me to take note of the rather cute fox ears that sat atop the pissed off man’s head.

He snapped the leather across his hands, right next to Tawny’s face. Yet she didn’t flinch. The young lightning mage stood her ground, making me wonder what I did to deserve such a loyal friend.

“Move. I don’t know who this jackass is, but he’s been labeled a priority case. Orders came straight from a Commander too. That means if you don’t move and let me do my job, I lose my job.” He snapped the leathers again, this time hitting Tawny’s arm. But she stood tall.

Fury abounded in my chest. I wanted to get up, to show this asshole who the hell he was messing with, but my limbs still wouldn’t listen. All I could do was move my head. As he berated Tawny with more harsh words, an urge grew from that anger. I desired nothing more than to spit on the man. Heavy goop-like saliva formed in my mouth, nearly filling up my cheek.

The man raised the leather straps again. “I promise you, girl, I won’t be the one sent North for this.” Tawny stared at the man dead in his eyes. “Do it, wuss.”

The man’s eye twitched. The straps flew through the air, heading for Tawny’s face. But before they landed, all the spit accumulated in my mouth shot out. I aimed for the man’s arm, I wasn’t sure why, it just felt right. I missed. The goop I spit out landed on the straps instead, veering them off course and away from my subordinate.

The medic dropped the straps on the ground, holding the hand that held them close to his chest. He cried out in pain, grasping his hand as he knelt on the ground.

Tawny and I looked down at the leather straps that hit the ground. A gentle hiss came from them. The once brown leather was covered in thick viscous orange goop, then melted. After a couple of seconds, only scraps were left in the puddle of darkening saliva.

Tawny turned over to me, her eyes wide.

“Since when could you do that?”

A small dollop of spit ran down my still open mouth. I shook my head. “No clue.”

“GUARDS!” The man yelled out from his spot on the ground.

A soldier geared up in metal armor ran over to us. “What’s going on?”

“Arrest this maggot. She’s stopping me from treating a priority patient. After that, hold this patient’s mouth shut.”

Tawny readjusted her spot, defending me again, this time, arcs of electricity circled her wrists. “Tawny…don’t fight.”

“I got you Liam, don’t worry.” She said with a wink.

But the guard didn’t seem to care what she thought, nor did his buddy who snuck up behind her and pulled her away, wrapping her up in his arms.

“GET OFF ME!” Tawny squirmed and bit at the man.

I saw more yellow electricity spawn from her hands. She was really about to hurt this guy. I had to stop her. I felt my body react to my commands again, far too slowly. There was no way I was going to be able to stop her in time. I opened my mouth to tell her to stand down.

But before the words got out, a wall of fire burst from the ground between Tawny and the guard. Then another stood between me, the first guard, and the medic who caused all these problems to begin with.

Len’s voice boomed. “Liam, what did you do?”