Predator: Survivor

Chapter 25

Bor was right. She did like taking care of things. She liked feeling needed. She liked the sense of satisfaction it gave her to clean and patch up the patients put in front of her. She knew deep down it was rooted in selfishness and that in some way she wanted and hoped to be cared for in return someday.

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It felt as if she had seen this scene a dozen times. Opening her eyes, Izara tiredly stared out the med pod window. Instantly, her eyes were drawn to the huge figure sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. Just like it was when she last woke up from the drug-induced sleep that steadily clawed at her senses trying to pull her back into its lethargy, the three beds that had taken up the far side of the curving room were gone. And just like last time pain pierced her heart at the sight of it.

As if sensing her, Bor looked up from the blade in his lap. His hand holding the wet stone paused as he stared back at her.

Izara's heart tightened as she returned the hunter's stare. His face was unreadable as ever. Was he really going to leave her in here? Knowing it was useless to try and talk to him through the glass, something she had tried doing when he first put her in, Izara silently implored him with her eyes to let her out.

Bor looked away and her heart sank.

Tears formed in her eyes as she looked down. She had been right! He never planned on taking her out. Unable to move her hands to wipe at the falling tears on her face, she closed her eyes and turned her head on the hard cushioned mat she was laying on. She may as well give in to the drugs and let herself be lost in sleep.

A beep sounded above her. Snapping her eyes open, she turned to see Bor's bare chest inches from the glass. Tilting her head up, Izara watched him as he typed on the glass dome's screen. With a few input commands the medpod began to move.

Relief stung at her eyes washing away the betrayal with more tears. The medpod was completely horizontal when the glass dome opened. Fresh air whooshed around her, dispersing the medicated air inside the pod trying to keep her asleep.

"Bor," she croaked out, her throat suddenly dry feeling.

Bor reached for her and for the first time, Izara realized what she was wearing. As Bor's clawed hands slipped under her back and legs, she could see the white bandage-like underwear barely covering her breasts and crotch. Izara wanted to let out a mortified groan but kept it at bay as Bor lifted her out of the medpod. The bandages were just thin strips of cloth wrapped around her breasts and over and between her thighs. Technically, they gave her a shred of modesty while at the same time giving her none at all.

She wanted to say something, to tell him she could walk on her own or that he could put her down. Anything to not seem so pathetic right now in front of a creature whose whole identity was built on strength. But the words escaped her as her head spun, and Izara found her arms winding desperately over his broad shoulders and wrapping around the strong column of his neck.

Walking with her to the kitchenette, Bor grabbed her water thermos in one hand before walking to the empty sleep area. In his guttural, growling language that shook through his thick chest and directly into her Bor spoke to the computer. Immediately the AI dinged and the wall moved as one large bed descended and settled before them.

Bor turned and sat with her in his arms at the edge of the bed. Silently, he gave her the thermos. If every limb on her body didn't feel twenty pounds heavier Izara would have pouted. She felt like a child being given a bottle being held like this in his arms. She wanted to sit up and appear stronger. She wanted to look him directly in his eyes with confidence. But she couldn't muster up the strength for any of that. All she could do was lay against his warm, firm chest and drink from the straw of her thermos while avoiding his gaze in shame.