Theme 009 - Drowning (about 1,189 words)

It was a bad night. It was rainy and hard to see. Not a good time to go swimming. The small thirteen year old boy didn't mean to get caught up in a storm. He had just wanted some fresh air. Then the storm rolled in and it got too dark to see anything. He ended up getting his foot stuck , with an old rope wrapped around him. The water got rough and soon dragged him under. It was cold. It was dark. He was being pulled down ans couldn't get free. His lungs yearned for air. Air that never came. He inhaled deeply. Only to suck in the salty and dirty abyss that was the lake water. It burned. It hurt. Bad. His lungs burned. The back of his throat felt as if it was on fire. He chocked and coughed trying to get the liquid out from his lungs. He only succeed in taking in more water. He was drowning and he knew it. The thought frightened him. What if the nanites didn't help him? He's going to die. Nothing could save him now. Not even the nanites. He was way too far down and all alone in the middle of no where. He was sure no one knew where he even was. Who knew if they had even figured out he had gone missing yet? He struggled and fought one last time to untangle himself from the ropes that he got himself caught in. He was such an idiot for letting this happen. His vision went dark. He could no longer see the murky waters that had him in their hold. His mind went blank as his body relaxed and went limp. He sunk to the bottom with no struggle. It was over. it was done. He was done. His life over.

He was too late. He didn't get to the lake in time. He failed and broke his promise. Six didn't save Rex. Not this time.  Six had no problems with dead bodies most of the time. He did have to deal with them a lot in his current and previous lines of work...but this time he couldn't force himself to see Rex's body just yet. So Six ordered the providence grunts to fish out Rex's body and bring it back to providence. To everyone's surprise the boy still had a heartbeat. He was still alive! He was only unconscious. His nanite levers were off the charts high. It must have been the nanites. What a miracle that was! What a miracle they were. They might have been seen as a plague to the rest of the world but for Rex they were a wonderful gift. No one had realized just how much so until now. He was drowned and under water for at least half an hour or so they figured,and his lungs were filled with muddy lake water. By all means he should have been dead. It was impossible not to be. Well apparently almost impossible. There was no way he could have survived without his nanites. Looks like the nanites inside him held more secrets then he or anyone else at providence ever realized.

The room was cold. Not as cold as the water but still enough to give his systems a good shock. He shivered as he slowly opened his eyes. Only to be met with a blinding light. He quickly shut his eyes tight. The light was too bright for him. It sent a wave of pain piercing though his eyes. He lay there on what he figured must have been a bed. A hard and uncomfortable bed. That didn't matter to him at the moment. He hardly noticed how uncomfortable it was. He was trying to figure out what had happen. To recall how he got here...where ever here was. He wasn't going to open his eyes anytime soon to try and figure out where he was. He needed to remember what had happened. What did happen? It suddenly came to him as he was recalling the events of his day. The dark water. The icy grips that dragged him under. That's right he drowned. Or should have. The last thing he remembered was right before he blacked out. Had someone been near by after all? had they pulled him out in time? Did that mean he was in a hospital? Or maybe...was it providence? He was too sore to think on it too much, he eventually gave up and shrugged it off. He'll find out eventually wouldn't he? His chest-lungs most likely hurt. His head ached and strangely his arm was also sore. The chest and even head soreness Rex could understand but when on Earth his arm hurt was a mystery to him. Maybe something from when he was recursed. Rex tried one more time to open his eyes, more slowly this time being cautious of the lights. He heard footsteps. He wanted to see who there were.

"Good to see that you're awake Rex" It was Doctor Holiday. Rex smiled.

"Good to see you too Doc."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah! I almost drowned!"

"Not almost. You actually did. No heartbeat for a minute and at the bottom of the lake for almost half an hour."

Rex's eyes widened in shock. "H-h..how...? How is that possible..I..I should be dead!"

"Your nanites kept you alive. Did their job and jump started your heart. Though even with a heartbeat how you survived with water in your lungs and no air to breath is beyond me. According to both your Nanite and blood tests it appears the Nanites did something for that too, what I can only guess."

He blinked in surprise wow his nanites..revived him? That was totally awesome. Rex rubbed at his sore arm well that explained why that hurt. He let out a chuckle which was difficult with how sore his whole chest area was."Whoa...guess the little guys are better then I thought." Rex grinned.

Holiday smiled back. "They really are, makes you think what the world would be like if all the nanites were like yours...Anyway I need to run some test to make sure you're fine before I can let you leave..."

"I'm all yours Doc" Rex said holding his arms out with a smirk. To his surprise he was rushed by Holiday who quickly embraced him in a hug.

"I'm so happy you're alive and okay Rex..."

"Yeah Doc me too, me too. Also drowning? No so fun."

Holiday chuckled as she released him. "Let's get started on the tests so you can get out of here."

"Lay it on me!" Rex said as he laid back to allow the Doctor to work. She ran the tests and all was good. he was in the clear.

"You're good to go Rex." Holiday said.

"As if I wouldn't? This is me you're talking about." Rex smiled as he left, heading to his room to change out off the patient threads and bathrobe and into some actual clothing. It was a long night for him. Defiantly something he didn't want to happen again. But at least he knew now that his Nanites protected against drowning.