I woke up and felt like an eternity later in a hospital bed, feeling high off my eyeballs

on painkillers.

Nothing ached anymore, nothing even tingled.

Compared to the ball of pain and bend in when I was in the tank, this was heaven.

The room was small with four white walls and a machine that beeped every time my heart

thumped in my chest.

The sun shone through a window on my right, just peeking through the clouds.

It must have been out all night.

Regardless, I was glad just to be alive.

Then everything that had transpired in the past 24 hours came rushing back to me.

Disturbing images of a gigantic insect munching on me with jagged teeth flashed through

my mind, it's wiry legs sliding over my limbs.

I tried to shake the thought from my head, blinking my eyes a couple of times to bring

back the present.

That was when I noticed the person slumped over on the chair next to me.

Her head was resting on her shoulder.

Her whole body, leaning to the left, strands of a red hair were hanging over her face

while a pile of comic books lay on her lap.

The smile kept across my face.

She really was determined not to leave me again.

Hey, I croaked.

My dry throat mangled the words as it came out of my mouth, Emily stirred but didn't wake

...