Awkward Silence
No.10 brings No.4 and No.1 to the medical bay, where injured soldiers are being treated. The medical bay is not like some fancy hospital, it doesn't have an air conditioner or any futuristic equipment, it's just a giant white tent.
But the moment they entered the tent, they felt lighter and refreshed.
A notification screen showing they receive a buff called rejuvenate pops up.
[Rejuvenate - Increase recovery rate by 100%]
No.10 saw thousands of injured soldiers inside the tent. Many of them are missing something like an arm, a leg, or an eye. Some of the worst cases are even missing half of their body.
No.10 feel indifferent seeing all of this and continue walking towards the medical personnel.
Unlike No.10 however, No.4 felt sick and angry at the same time. He remembers everything that happens, how No.5 saves him, and how those monsters slaughter his squad.
'Those bastards will pay'
No.10 felt No.4 emotion. She looks at him and hits him at the back of his head knocking him out.
...
No.10 arrived in front of medical personnel but it was busy treating someone in a critical condition and didn't spare her any attention.
Seeing this, she tries looking for other medical personnel that can treat her comrade.
But every personnel she sees are busy treating others.
Some of them spare glances at No.1 and No.4 but upon noticing that their lives are not in any sort of danger, they spared them no further attention.
After the tenth person, she walked up to. A woman on a doctor's uniform wearing glasses walks up to her.
She was surprised. The woman is beautiful, she has fair skin, blue eyes, and yellow hair, a true western beauty but No.10 is not surprised by her appearance, what surprises her is her presence. She has the same kind of pressure as the man who killed those orcs from before.
"Two-tier one and a peak tier 0, your squad must have been through a lot," The woman said.
No.10 looked at the woman but didn't say anything. She readies herself to run at any given moment.
"No need to be so alarmed. My name is Alice, you and you're comrade are safe here" Alice said trying to comfort No.10
No.10 quickly notices something wrong about Alice's voice, It easily calms her. The moment she hears it, she easily relaxes her guard.
She can't help nodding her head to her.
Her body moves and follows Alice, where the latter leads her to three open beds. She laid No.4 and No.1 per her instruction.
"You look pretty beat, you should also lay down, " Alice said
Hearing this No.10 can't help but comply.
She lays down on one of the free beds and then Alice injects her with some kind of purple chemical.
She fell unconscious thereafter.
....
An unknown period of time passed.
No.10 woke up, she recalled everything that happened up to the point she fell unconscious. She remembers being injected by something but she did not know what it was.
She didn't know what but Alice did something to her. Something that makes her feel familiar to her, a way to make her feel comfortable causing her to let her guard down.
'That Alice is dangerous' She examines herself but found nothing wrong.
She looks around and finds out that No.4 is already awake.
No.4 saw that No.10 is looking at him. He notices that No.10 doesn't really talk much so he decided to be the one to speak to her first.
"You finally awake, I like to thank you for what you did back then if it wasn't for you that man probably killed No.1" No.10 just looked at No.4 indifferently and didn't reply.
No.4 felt awkward.
"We've been through hell together already so there's probably no reason for us to keep using aliases. My name is Emmanuel. Can you tell me yours?" He's not really optimistic that No.10 will reply. He's just making small talk.
No.10 looks at Emmanuel awkwardly long contemplating if she should say anything.
About a minute of awkward silence she finally spoke.
"Aleria" Emmanuel is shocked 'What a beautiful voice'.
"You have a beautiful voice, you should talk more" Aleria ignores Emmanuel. She stands up and makes her way outside.
Seeing this No.4 stops her.
"Sorry I would not bother you anymore but you can't go. When you are sleeping we received an order. We have to wait for No.1. When he wakes up we are to report to the commanding outpost near the wall together."
"I don't know what's really happening but apparently we're being assigned to a new squad." Aleria didn't bother herself to listen to what Emmanuel was saying and continue walking outside.
"Please wait, Dr. Alice said that No.1 will wake up soon so please wait until then." He grabs Aleria by the hand to try and stop her.
Aleria stops and pulls her hand out of Emmanuel's grasp. She glared at Emmanuel and returned to her bed.
"Thank you," Emmanuel said, seeing Aleria return to her bed.
.....
A minute passed and all he could hear was silence.
Emmanuel didn't know how much longer of this he could take. He felt awkward, he looked at Aleria a couple of times trying to strike a conversation but she just sits there motionless.
Every second passed feels like an eternity.
'No.1 please wake up already, you bastard'