“Finally. That girl is such a busybody.” The doctor spoke as he rummaged around a counter. “You were shot in the stomach, right?” He looked over his shoulder. 

“Yeah. I think so.” Ever spoke, watching as he pulled a couple baskets down off the self and began rummaging through them. ‘Am I really going to trust this quack?’ Ever watched as he let out a triumphant sound. ‘I suppose I don’t have much choice at this point.’

“Pull your shirt off.” He spoke and Ever compiled pulling arms into the shirt and pulling it over their head, wincing slightly as they did so. They set it to the side and watched as the doctor turned around and walked toward the exam table. He set some medical items next to Ever and took a close look at the wound in their stomach. “You're lucky you're wearing that.” He gestured to their binder. “Probably saved your life.” Ever looked down at the beige binder, which was now stained dark red on the side. 

“Oh.” Ever had completely forgotten that they were still wearing it, but upon remembering, they found their chest feeling unbearably tight. They went to remove it, only for the doctor to bat their hand away. 

“Leave it. I’ll take it off when I’m ready.” Ever let their hand fall limp and watched as he picked up a roll of gauze and a pair of medical tweezers. “Okay. Go ahead and take that off.” He jabbed his finger at their binder and Ever reached up undoing the clips on the side letting the binder fall to the table. The doctor used the tweezers to examine the hole, causing Ever to wince and pull away from the doctor, who grabbed their shoulder to keep steady. “I need you to keep still for me.” 

“Sorry. I don’t do well with pain.” Ever winced as they tried to keep from moving as the doctor continued to examine the bullet hole. 

“The scars on your arm say otherwise.” The doctor snapped as he placed the tweezers to the side and began threading a suture needle through the front bullet hole, causing Ever to wince and squirm every time the needle pierced their flesh. “Don’t move. You're lucky that the bullet went through a good place. No major arteries were torn, or you might not have been so lucky.” The doctor said gruffly, and Ever squeezed their eyes shut as he pulled the suture toward him, closing the hole in their side. He snipped the thread free and proceeded to sew the exit wound shut before wrapping the wound in gauze. 

Ever avoided eye contact as the doctor finished wrapping their stomach and began to put the items used away. “You can go ahead and put your shirt back on. I’ll call your escort over.” Ever pulled the green tunic over their head, letting it fall over the freshly stitched and wrapped stomach, and pushed themselves off the examination table, pressing a hand to their side as the doctor talked to someone over a radio. “No, tell agent King that the asset she brought in is good–” 

Ever turned around and left the exam room without another word, heading back the way they had come. They came to a stop in front of the exit door, grabbing the handle they yanked the door open before slipping out, letting it fall closed behind them. 

Ever quickly began walking back toward the bazaar, keeping a hand pressed to her side when someone called out to them.  

“Hey wait!” Ever stopped, turning to see Cia standing near the entrance of the hideout. “Where are you going?” 

Cia walked forward and Ever stepped backward. ‘Stop. Stay away.’ They tried to put as much distance between them and the woman as possible. “I’m leaving.” Ever eyed Cia as she moved closer, far too close for comfort. “You helped me, so I’m leaving.” Cia moved closer. ‘Dammit. Read the goddamn room.’

“You can leave tomorrow if you want, but for tonight, let me give you a place to sleep.” Ever looked back over their shoulder and then back at Cia. They could run, but with a hole in their stomach, how far would they get? How far into the desert would they get with just the clothes on their back and food in their stomach and no water? “Trust me, you don’t want to spend the night outside.” 

Hesitantly, having slowly realized that this was a battle that they weren’t going to win, they followed Cia back into the base and through the halls until they came to a stop in front of another metal door. “Here. You can sleep here.” Ever reached for the handle when Cia grabbed their wrist. “Come check in with me before leaving, okay?”

Ever let out a sigh, realizing that this wasn’t something worth fighting against. “Fine.” Cia let their wrist go and Ever watched as she walked down the hall, disappearing around the corner. They turned back to the door, shoulders heaving as they let out a heavy sigh as they turned the handle, pushing it open. 

Ever entered the room which was bare with only a bed against the left wall and a desk against the back wall. Walking over to the bed, they collapsed under the strain of the day's events and felt the pull of sleep tug at their mind almost immediately. Ever tried to keep their eyes open, but it was a losing battle, they were finding themselves engaged in a lot of those lately, and reluctantly closed their eyes and let sleep claim them.

The sound of metal scraping against metal caused Ever to jerk into unwelcome awareness. They jerked their head up, noticing the outline of a person moving through the room. Ever watched as the outline moved to set something on the desk. “Wh-who's there?” They pushed themselves up, squinting into the darkness. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I wake you? I was just bringing you some breakfast.” Ever didn’t recognize the voice, it sounded like it belonged to a boy in his late teens. “Staff Sergeant King would like to see you after you finish eating.” They watched as the boy exited the room, leaving Ever alone once again. The door closed behind the teen, and the smell of the food left on the desk caused Ever’s mouth to begin to water and their stomach to grumble. They pushed themselves up, swinging their legs over the side of the bed, pushing themselves up off the bed. 

Ever stumbled over to the desk, where they pulled out the chair and sat down. They inhaled deeply, letting the rich cinnamony scent of the substance emanating from the bowl coat their nostrils. They picked up the utensil at the side of the bowl, using it to spoon the food into their mouth. 

Ever slowly chewed and swallowed the gruel, letting the food fill their so very empty stomach. Licking their lips, they took a half second to breathe before they began to blindly shovel food into their mouth, barely chewing before swallowing and shoving another spoonful into their mouth. 

Ever wiped their mouth on the back of their hand when some of the gruel dribbled down their chin before continuing to shove food into their mouth. Tears pricked at their eyes as Ever’s spoon scraped against the bottom of the bowl. ‘No! No! No! That can’t be it!’

 Ever picked up the bowl, scraped desperately at the sides, determined to get the rest of the gruel into their mouth. As much as possible to try and satiate the gnawing hunger that still made its presence known. Ever spooned the last of the gruel into their mouth, reluctantly setting the spoon to the side and picking up what felt like a muffin, biting into it before using it to soak up the rest of the gruel. Shoving the now soggy pastry into their mouth, Ever pushed the chair back and stood up. Stretching their arms over their head, they winced before letting them fall to their side. 

 Ever moved toward the door, they opened it and exited out into the hallway and began wandering through the halls, dragging the tips of the fingers of their right hand along the wall. “Hello?” They turned a corner, calling out again. “Hello? Is anyone there?” Ever continued forward, coming to a sudden stop when a door swung open, nearly hitting them in the face. They stumbled backward, barely managing to catch themselves as the door swung closed, revealing Cia wearing what looked like a military uniform made of black and gold fabric and a peaked hat pulled slightly to the left. Cia caught Ever’s eyes, a smile pulling at her lips. “You're awake. Listen, I have a meeting but once I’m done I’ll show you off the base, okay?” 

Ever watched Cia move down the hallway, and they turned on their heel, moving back through the halls until they came to the front door of the base. No way in hell were they going to wait. They’d held up their end of the agreement, and now they wanted to leave. 

They exited the base and began making their way through the twisting and turning alleyway heading toward the marketplace which was just as bustling as the day before if not more so. Ever exited the alleyway, entering back into the bazaar, which was loud with music and chatter and people living life to the fullest. The smell of food and incense filled Ever’s nose as they moved through the spaces between the stalls, catching bits and pieces of conversations.

“How much for-”

Do you have-”

Can I see-”

Ever turned a corner into a lane smelling of herbs and spices. They moved down the lane, exiting the bazaar and coming to a stop at the edge of the desert. They stared out at the ocean of sand, slowly sitting down. What now? They could try and cross it, but it was more than definitely a death sentence given their lack of supplies. So what were they doing here? What were they doing here? Running away from people trying to help them when they had nowhere else to go? 

“Fuck.” Ever let out a breath as they watched the sun creep over the sky, casting shadows over the shifting sand. They let out a sigh as the wind picked up, causing sand to blow across the desert. “What am I doing?”