File 3.8 - Problems Compounding

The hours passed in awkward silence. The clinic staff continued on, but watched the two seated in their lobby waiting. Uncertainty and tension for being within enemy territory came out mistaken as worry and concern. They both worried about their Commander, but during the operation, their minds continued to fall back to the idea that they sat in the middle of an enemy city hoping nothing went wrong. Their mission still needed them and a single mistake would cost everything that hundreds of people worked tirelessly to achieve.

Luck stayed with them however, the operation finished with none of the staff having any problems with them. Their identity remained safe and the doctor came walking out, still wearing the mask around his neck. He carried a hard plastic board with an electronic screen built into the thick material. His fingers tapped along the surface.

Rinn stood up first, slowly followed by Elle. “Doc? Is everything going to be alright?”

The doctor lowered the pad to speak with them unimpeded. “Yes, the operation was a success. He did sustain a few broken ribs that were pressing against his lung, but there was no damage to the lung. I did find a lot of internal bruises and ruptures, but we were able to tend to everything. He’ll be out of intensive care soon and able to rest. It’ll be a few hours until he wakes up.”

Genuine relief showed on Rinn. “Thank you, doc.”

“Umm…” The doctor began to look a little uncomfortable with his voice changing pitch. “This is never easy, but I do need to talk about payment. I understand that you don’t have any insurance.”

“Er…yeah, can we talk about this later, doc? I promise we’ll pay you for your troubles. This is just a difficult time right now for us.”

“Oh of course, I understand. We’ll keep him in our care for at least a week.”

“…a week!” whispered Elle, thinking about the dangers.

The man looked a little confused by her reaction. Rinn put his arm around her shoulder looking to be providing comfort. “Sorry, she’s just worried about being away from him for so long.”

“You can visit anytime during normal visiting hours, naturally.”

“Thank you, doc. If you’ll excuse me.”

“Yes, of course.”

Rinn helped her back out of the building and around to the truck. He pounded on the passenger door to wake up Wells. “Hey! Make room!”

“Eh? Oh, how’s Cal?”

“He’s fine, they say. We’ll be able to see him soon.” He helped Lellecausua up to the front cab of the truck to share with Wells. Afterward, he quickly moved around to the drive side and jumped in. He kept the engine off. His hands rested on the steering wheel as he leaned forward, staring at nothing. “They want payment. I thought we had found a free clinic, but I guess a major operation like that can’t be free.”

Wells turned his head over to Rinn a little bothered by the casual tone he had about their Commander. “We don’t have any money! Not like I’d pay those demons, anyway.”

“Yeah, I know…means at some point we’ll need to plan an escape with the Commander.” Rinn pulled back against the seat and pushed the button to turn the engine on. He set the truck into gear and started to back out. “We still need to figure out our supply problem with the transport and do our actual mission too. So we should have some time.”