Page 55 of Marc
I focused on Colbie lying on a second stretcher in front of me. She was happily chatting with North and Jess. She looked okay. Her father was on the other side of the stretcher, holding her hand.
Zeke stood beside my stretcher. He hadn’t said much, but he also hadn’t left my side.
I was pretty good at reading my twin. I knew he was relieved, but feeling overprotective.
“I’m all right,” I said.
Zeke’s mouth tightened and he nodded.
The doors to the infirmary whooshed open.
The first thing I saw was my mom, wearing her white lab coat. As she strode toward us, her ash-blonde hair brushed her jaw line.
“There they are. Tabitha, get Colbie set up with nano-meds, and please clean those burns.” She touched Colbie’s shoulder. “Glad you’re okay, sweetheart.”
“All thanks to your son.”
Now Mom looked at me. I saw relief, love, and pride on her face. “Hello, my darling. Let’s get you healed up, too.”
“Hi, Mom. Take care of Colbie first. Those burns are bad.”
“She’ll get taken care of.” She ran a hand over my hair. “I’ll be taking care of my boy.”
It didn’t matter that I was taller than her, a soldier, and an adult. She still treated me like I was a boy.
Dad appeared from Mom’s office. His face was impassive, but I saw the lines bracketing his mouth relax as he took us in.
“Got yourself into some trouble,” he said.
“Nah, fought some monsters and rescued a pretty girl.”
“And took a shot of thirty-year-old nano-meds that he found in Blue Mountain Base,” North added.
My mom gasped. “Marcus Gabriel Jackson. You could’ve killed yourself.”
“I was bleeding out, Mom. It worked fine. Colbie took care of me. I might’ve rescued her, but she rescued me right back.”
My mom turned and looked at Colbie, now resting on a bunk. “Thank you.”
Colbie smiled, looking so small on that giant bed. “I wasn’t going to let the big lug die.”
“Right.” Mom straightened her shoulders. “Let’s set that arm, and give you a large dose of nano-meds to mend the bone. Nano-meds that won’t kill you. Then we’ll scan you to check what the old nanos did to you.”
“I feel fine.”
She snorted. “You know I’m married to your father. I’m well versed in alpha-male BS. I’ve lost count of how many times he was carried to me, bleeding, insisting that he was just fine.”
Dad just grunted.
As mom and her team worked on me, I kept glancing over Colbie. I missed having her to myself.
“She’ll be fine and can leave soon.” Mom checked the screen. “You, however, will need to stay overnight for monitoring.”
I groaned. “No?—”
“You’ll do as your doctor orders.”
“Seriously, I’m?—”
