Huntsman by Cambria Hebert
5
Earth
“I’ve hadtime to compare my own findings with the results of the previous specialists who have also studied your medical history,” said the stiff dude in the white jacket, glancing once again in my direction.
I gave him a bored look. It was quite obvious he wasn’t particularly thrilled to be discussing this in front of me.
I didn’t particularly give a flying fuck. It wasn’t his decision, and he could give me all the side-eye he wanted. It wouldn’t change the fact I was staying.
She asked me to stay. That alone would make me fight to the death if anyone tried to boot me out.
Sensing my willingness to wage war, the doctor shifted, leveling his steady gaze back on V. “I’m afraid I don’t have anything new to add.”
The words weren’t particularly special, yet they settled heavily in the room, and even though I wasn’t looking at her, I saw the way Virginia sort of slumped in on herself.
“I realize this is not at all what you and your brother were hoping for, but it’s my professional opinion that the previous three specialists who also ran tests and gave diagnoses are accurate.”
Wait. What?
I sat up a little straighter. This was the fourth specialist Virginia had seen? For what? To walk again? Neo had made it seem like it was just a matter of time, so why did that suddenly seem like the furthest from the truth?
The office was suffocating with silence. The doctor cleared his throat and clasped his hands. “I wish I had better news. I—”
“I understand, Dr. Marks.” V cut him off politely and with a strong, clear voice. She even offered him a smile. “I honestly didn’t expect anything else.”
“Well, your brother—”
“My brother will understand as well.”
“The location of your injury makes it very difficult to correct. The spine has been severely damaged, and while technology has advanced a great deal in the last few years, I can’t in good conscience recommend this surgery. The success rate is good, but for someone with your particular injury, I just can’t make any guarantees. And the risk of—”
“Me becoming more injured or staying as I am now is high. The recovery time of a surgery of this nature is very long and grueling, and to go through all of that even after a failed attempt to restore my spine seems like a cruel fate.” Virginia’s voice was clear and matter-of-fact. Almost as if she were reciting something from a textbook she’d been forced to memorize.
The man nodded. “Correct. And you also run the risk of losing some of the muscle you’ve worked to maintain with such a recovery.”
“Doctor Marks,” Virginia said, suddenly very intent. Both her hands steadied on either side of the chair, her upper body leaning toward him. “My brother isn’t here. I would appreciate it if you level with me.”
He nodded, sliding a quick glance at me.
Suddenly, the fact he found me intrusive oddly bothered me. “V,” I spoke quietly. “Should I wait outside?”
Her fingers curled a little tighter. “Please, stay.”
The doctor didn’t seem placated by her reply, but I wasn’t here to placate him, so I got more comfortable in the uncomfortable chair.
“I will never walk again, will I?”
I was a cold, stoic man. I plotted murder like some wrote a grocery list. I killed without blinking. I washed people’s lifeblood from my hands like it was just ordinary dirt.
But this… Hearing her boldly ask this with no emotion in her voice, with what seemed like grim acceptance I didn’t even know she had inside her… I didn’t fucking like it.
The doctor glanced at me for help.
I lifted an eyebrow. “Why do you keep looking over here? I’m not leaving.”
“Neo isn’t as… blunt as I am,” V said to me, but her eyes remained on the doctor.
I grunted, understanding. Then to the doc, I said, “I’m not helping you out. Answer the questions she’s asking. It’s your job.”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “The odds… are not good.”
I was so used to being the one wielding the knife, but suddenly, it felt like someone had turned the blade on me. The receiving end is much different than the delivery.
“I see.” Her voice was strong, but emotion welled behind those two words regardless.
“As I said earlier, technology advances every day by leaps and bounds. In five years, there may be a solution to your specific injury, so I cannot say that you will never walk again. It’s just my opinion that it won’t be anytime soon.”
Virginia said nothing. I sat there stunned.
I really had no idea things were this grim. Neo never once said there was a possibility V would never walk again. He only said it was a matter of time and that she needed the right doctors, the right specialists, and the money.
Was all of that a lie?
I’d never heard Virginia speak so frankly. Gone was the girl who was usually giggling and smiling wide. In her place sat a woman much older than her age, a woman who had been through hell. A woman who’s been on the receiving end far more than she deserves.
“Thank you for your honestly today,” she said calmly, not even a hint of tears in her eyes or voice.
“My recommendation for you is to stay the course. Continue with all the therapies and current medications you are on. Meet with the advanced PT I’ve brought with me today. Allow him to evaluate you. He can also offer ideas and therapies that you aren’t currently doing that may help improve things.”
Improve things. But not make her legs work again. My stare cut to her, and it felt like I was looking at her for the very first time.
What was it like sitting in that chair? Being confined? Never being able to run when you wanted to. When you needed to. What was it like to live in a care facility, to go to doctor after doctor only to hear the same grim reply again and again?
This is the most sun I’ve soaked up in months.
Yet she bloomed anyway. A flower growing in impossible conditions.
Anger was no stranger to me. It lived inside me all my life, for anger, to me, was like salt to the sea. But what swelled up inside me went beyond that. Beyond the poison contaminating my veins. Those things were almost grounding to me, making me who I was.
But this? This was precarious and wild, threatening to blow the lid off the cool, calculated way I lived my life. This, I did not know how to handle.
Kill it. Remove it. Wipe it from your life.
“I’d like to see you back in a year. We can reevaluate and, if nothing else, keep a steady record of your condition.”
“Of course.” Her reply was gracious.
The doctor closed the folder before him, folding his hands on top. It was as if he were closing a door so not even the slightest possibility of hope could enter. “There are many paraplegics that live complete, satisfying lives.”
I stood. The swift, stiff movement startled the doctor but merely drew Virginia’s eye. Usually bubbling with emotion, switching from laughter to sarcasm and then to warmth, now she was still. Nonreactive in a situation in which I found it extremely difficult to be my usual stoic self.
How fucking offensive. A complete, satisfying life. She deserved so much more. What about happiness? What about sunlight?
“Thank you so much, doctor. I understand how valuable your time is, and I appreciate that you have spent some of it to look over my condition.”
“Well, of course. When Ms. White called, I was more than happy to make room in my schedule.”
A rude sound reverberated around the room. “Of course,” I muttered.
“I beg your pardon?” the doctor quipped, sounding and looking like he had a giant stick shoved up his ass.
He probably wore it there because the New York Elite paid him to.
“Oh, nothing.” Virginia was quick to cover.
“Yeah, it’s nothing that the only reason you agreed to even treat her is that someone with money and connections called in a favor. Does that make you a doctor or a pimp?”
The doctor’s chair hit against the wall with the force of his stand. “How dare you!” He gasped, the tops of his cheekbones turning scarlet. “I’m very respected in my field, and I’ve helped countless patients to walk again!”
“Right. And you did it all out of the goodness of your heart and not the notoriety it’s given you.”
“Earth!” Virginia gasped, her face finally, finally flooding with familiar emotion.
I don’t know why, but the anger inside me calmed to a simmer.
“I apologize, Dr. Marks. I’m sure this appointment was a shock for… for my brother.”
“I’m not your brother,” I spat.
“My brother’s best friend.” She corrected. “He wasn’t aware of some aspects of my condition, and this was probably a lot to take in.”
“Yes. Well. Next time, bring Neo with you.”
“He’d like it better if you brought Ivory,” I retorted.
Virginia made a choked sound, rotating her head to give me a full-on death stare.
I wasn’t scared.
“I do not have to subject myself to this,” Dr. Marks declared, straightening his lab coat. “I’m very sorry, Miss Virginia, but I won’t see you again if he is with you.”
Doc stormed out of the room, leaving the door wide open. Virginia’s arms worked quickly, spinning her chair around to pin me with an incredulous stare.
“I cannot believe you said that!” she hissed.
“What?” I said, mild.
“You called my doctor a pimp.”
“He was acting like one.”
A giggle bubbled out of her. Her eyes went so wide I saw all the whites around the walnut-colored centers. Offended at her own behavior, she slapped a hand over her mouth. The hand might have covered the sound of her laugh, but it didn’t disguise the way her shoulders shook.
“Are you laughing right now?” I wasn’t trying to be funny. That man was a pompous asshat.
Her hand lowered, the sparks of humor dimming until they could no longer be seen. “Would you rather I cry?”
My God, this woman would give me whiplash. Yelling one minute. Laughing the next. Then looking at me like… well, like that.
“Fuck,” I muttered, instantly starting forward. I had no clue why I was going to her. I had no clue what I was going to do.
“Miss Virginia?” The nurse who’d escorted us to this room reappeared in the open doorway. She was wearing hot-pink scrubs with Mickey Mouse all over them. “Philip is ready for you. Can I show you the way?”
“Who’s Philip?” I asked, drawing the woman’s stare.
Her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip before she answered. “The physical therapist she has an appointment with.”
“Please lead the way,” V said graciously, rolling her chair forward.
“I’ll do that—” I offered, starting toward the wheelchair once more.
Suddenly, heavy pressure rolled over my shoe, pushing my boot down into the bones of my foot.
“Ow!” I hollered while shooting pain sizzled through my toes.
“Oops!” V called as she kept right on going. “I really am not a very good driver.”
“You just ran over me,” I deadpanned as she continued forward, leaving me in her wake.
In the doorway, her chair stopped, and she gazed over her shoulder, looking very much like the little spirited sprite she was. “And if you speak to any more of my doctors like that, I’ll do way worse!”
I laughed. “Is that a threat?”
“Yes.”
Cute.
Before I could even reply, she was out of the doorway, rolling herself down the hall after the nurse. I jogged to catch up, reaching out for the back of the chair.
“I can do it myself,” she stated before my hands even closed around the handles.
I let her have her way.