Beneath the Waves

Hospitals and Knives

Brock woke up slowly, his body stiff and oddly floaty. "Brock? Hey, you awake?" He heard and he grimaced, turning his head as he blinked slowly.

Tyler sat next to him in an arm sling, bruising and burns all across his neck, shoulders and arms. Brock realised they were in a hospital, himself hooked up to several monitors and an IV in his arm.

"What happened?" He whispered, his throat extremely dry. "The rig exploded. Apparently the lighting rod had broken during the last storm and no one bothered saying anything, which is why it went for the drills. We lost 5 workers, Mike one of them," he said calmly, his jaw clenched as he helped Brock take a drink of water.

"Mike's dead?" Brock whispered horrified, Tyler nodding as he sat back with a wince. "It's been about 6 days, you hit your head really hard and they had to medically induce a coma to see if the swelling on your brain would go down. About 60% of your body is covered with burns, and your hands are fucked from the electrical shock," Tyler said, his voice gentle even as his words were blunt.

"How- how fucked?" Brock asked, looking down at the bandages thick around his fingers. "Your fingers and palms were nearly shredded with third degree burns, they had to do a skin graft. You probably won't have any feeling in your palms for a while," he said quietly and Brock gritted his teeth.

"So, that's it. I can't ever work the drill again," he said quietly and Tyler shook his head. "No, the bosses are impressed actually. They said because of you, the fatalities were next to non existent. The control guys explained everything they'd seen, and the bosses want you to come back, even if only as supervision," he said and Brock clenched his jaw.

"I like the physical work. I like being able to do things with my hands, to be able to help," he said quietly and Tyler shrugged, looking down. "It's better than nothing," he said and Brock nodded with a sigh.

"The others want to see you. Jon was admitted too, he broke his arm and some ribs when he was flung off the boat, one nearly piercing his lung, but everyone else mostly just had burns, bruising or a few superficial cuts," Tyler said and Brock nodded.

"And- and our other friends? Have you seen them?" He asked and Tyler shook his head. "Chrissy did, she got ahold of Scotty and let him know what had happened. She said it took a lot of convincing to make sure Brian didn't storm up in here, you really made an impression on him," Tyler teased and Brock flushed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, he's just my friend," he mumbled and Tyler smirked. Brock rolled his eyes at him and shifted a bit uncomfortably, his body aching.

"The others will be coming soon, I'll call the doctor," Tyler said, Brock nodding as he leaned his head back. "Oh, check your bag," he said, gesturing at the items bag next to Brock on the table.

Brock reached over and hooked the bag handles over his fingers, wincing at the ache as he pulled it to him. He carefully dug through it, sorting through his clothes, which were destroyed, his phone, wallet, and oh!

"You saved them?" Brock said brightly, carefully picking up the sand dollar and the dry braided seaweed pendant with one of Brian's scales he'd had given him to let him know when Brock was at the beach.

"I did, I know that's why you went to your locker, and it's good to have," Tyler said with a nod and Brock smiled faintly at him, carefully putting them into the bag again and setting it aside.

The doctor walked in, clipboard in his hand. He smiled brightly at Brock, the latter nodding at him.

"It's nice to see you awake Mr. Barrus, how are you feeling?" He asked and Brock shrugged with a wince. "Sore, bit dizzy, but everything clear and works fine that I know of," he answered and the doctor nodded.