Page 12 of Kings & Carnage

Rock moved toward the cabinet against one wall of the hospital room. “Fuck yeah,” he said, reaching inside. He held up his wallet and looked from Neo to Oscar. “Want to go back for yours?”

“Not worth the risk,” Oscar said. “You have access to everything anyway.”

I didn’t know what it meant but it seemed to satisfy Rock, who nodded and slipped his wallet into one of the pockets of his scrubs.

He stuck his head back into the cabinet and emerged holding his shoes.

“They kept my shoes!” he said, slipping them on.

“Congratulations,” Neo said, moving toward the door of Rock’s room. He cracked it open to look in the hall.

“Are you sure we can’t just sign ourselves out?” I asked no one in particular. I didn’t like how clandestine it all felt, like we were criminals when we were the victims. “It’s not like they can force us to stay.”

“Can’t afford the time,” Oscar said. “They’ll want Rock to stay, and even after we make it clear we’re leaving, the discharge papers will take forever. It’s too risky to wait.”

“Fine,” I grumbled. “It just seems dumb to leave without our clothes and our things when they’re right in the next room.”

“They probably cut our clothes off our bodies,” Rock said, “but you can take what you find when we go for your choker.”

“All clear,” Neo said, glancing back at us. “Act like you belong.”

“Why are you looking at me?” I asked.

Neo rolled his eyes. “Because you’re the one who wants to sign out like a good little girl.”

Why did it sound hot when he was basically calling me a nerd?

We slipped into the hallway, Neo in front, me behind him, then Rock and Oscar. They were like a military unit, changing formation depending on the circumstances, and I knew Neo and Oscar were protecting not only me but Rock, who was more compromised than the rest of us even if he wouldn’t admit it.

The hall was quiet and we passed the three rooms between mine and Rock’s without seeing anyone, although the background of beeping machines and murmuring voices made me feel like someone was going to stumble upon us any second.

I told myself it didn’t matter — we were allowed to leave — but I knew the Kings were right: having to explain ourselves would take time and draw attention and I had a sinking feeling we couldn’t afford either.

Back in my room, I moved to the cabinet against the wall and found a plastic drawstring bag labeled with my name. My clothes weren’t there, but I found the choker and — bonus — my purse and the lug-soled boots I’d been wearing when we’d left the island.

“Yes!” I said, removing the bag from the cabinet. I started to reach inside for the choker but Neo stopped me with a terse command.

“Bring the bag.”

Right. We were in a hurry.

“I’m putting on my shoes,” I said, bending to slip my boots onto my feet. “I’ll be able to move faster.”

I slipped my wrist through the strings on the bag and we made our way back into the hall.

We were halfway toward the elevator at one end when a voice sounded behind us.

“Excuse me.”

I froze, then turned on instinct toward the commanding female voice. She was young, and her white lab coat told me she was a doctor. She looked at Rock with recognition tinged with disapproval. “You shouldn’t be out of bed.”

“Yeah…” Oscar began. "We kind of have somewhere to be, Doctor.”

She frowned and started toward us, her footsteps brisk. "The only place this one needs to be," she said, gesturing at Rock, “is in his bed, recovering from his head injury and waiting for the results of his CT scan.”

"That sounds nice and all," Rock said, "but my friend here is right, we have someplace we have to be."

"There's nowhere you could be that's more important than— ”

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