File 9.8 - Phantom Pains

Leaning up against the wall, Shizuka found Ed waiting on her. He stood back up once she arrived and slid in next to her. “Ya good?”

“Slight headache and my shoulder feels like it’s been ripped off and then rammed back in with spikes attached.”

“Colorful,” he squeaked out while wincing at the imagery that she conjured up. “Feelin’ a lil’ outta body myself.”

“That too…” She made it to the infirmary and found several doctors and nurses waiting for her. They wanted to examine her wound and do a full physical on her. Ed waved to her as he got pulled to the other half of the room behind curtains.

“Please remove all your clothes, Petty Officer. We’re going to be doing a full body scan after your crash as well as a routine brain scan due to the activation.”

“Alright…” She started to pull off her shirt, but found her left arm not moving as well. A second attempt did no better than the first. Her arm dropped to the side as she worked with only her right.

The doctor lifted up her arm testing it and peeled back the bandage that Schir put together for her. “How much pain are you in, Petty Officer?”

“A lot…like an eight.”

He poked around her arm and wound a lot making her wince repeated as he hummed the whole time. Whatever sounds he made she could not really tell if they were good or bad. It didn’t seem to matter based on her reactions, the tone remained the same. “The wound is very shallow, not even muscle damage.”

“Then why does it hurt so much?”

“Did it always hurt with the same intensity?”

“Not until after the activation.”

“I see. Your nervous system’s sensitivity is higher right now. So everything is heightened.”

“Well it hurts like hell! Can you do anything about it?”

“The sensitivity should return to normal by the morning. I can give you something to dull the pain, but I can’t give you anything too strong as you have the test in the morning.”

“Fine, give me whatever you can. Anything’s better than this.”