Nakazaniye

No, I didn't die. Not completely, anyway. I know. I found it to be frustrating, as well.

When I woke up just about whenever, a low but constant beeping snapped me back into the real world within the course of a few minutes or so. One by one, my senses came flowing back to me. The numbness in my limbs grew weaker, and after a while, I could at least feel my legs again. I even dared to open my eyes just a bit, but squeezed then shut again, right after. The bright neon light that shone into them almost got me killed...again. Why was I still alive in the first place? And what had happened, anyway?

Oh, right. Traffic accident, and all that. The sudden realization brought me out of my stupor, and I tried to leap out of the oncoming carriage's way. Which didn't work at all, but I couldn't have known so at the time. Instead of grinding against the street's hard surface then, my legs kicked up into the air without ever facing much resistance. There was something soft, which I managed to kick off of myself. It felt like a blanket, but I really couldn't tell. Only that it didn't offer the sort of friction I was hoping for. Instead of leaping aside, I hardly moved at all.

The sudden surge of panic that came with my immovability decreased only gradually, as I gradually realized what had happened. First of all, I wasn't out on the street anymore, and I wasn't on my hooves, either. The rain must have stopped a while ago, I figured. And whatever it was I was lying on sure felt like a mattress, though I couldn't say for sure.

A bed, probably. That explained a few things, like, the blanket. But I didn't feel at all reassured about how I got here. Also, none of this felt familiar, and it certainly didn't feel like a hotel room. The scent that hung in the air around me was much too sterile, and there was a distant, but stinging pain in my left foreleg that I didn't have any explanation for. Telling myself not to panic times and again, I gradually calmed my breathing, then tried to slowly open my eyes again and see whether I could make any sense of this.

My vision needed to readjust itself first, of course. This way, all I was able to make out in the beginning looked like a blurry mess of white and light gray. Only in time, I managed to recognize some more distinguishable shapes. As it turned out, I really was lying in a bed. A noticeably white bed, but somehow most of this room was either white or a very bright shade of something else. The blankets which probably used to be rolled up above myself somewhat neatly now lay to my hindlegs all tossed and tangled. There was a window to my right, and I could recognize three more beds in this strange room, all of them somewhat similar to mine. I think there even were ponies in each of them, but I wasn't able to make out as much, just yet.

My gaze wandered down to something more closer, that is, my throbbing foreleg. To my distaste, I noticed a needle sticking out of it just above the knee. From here, I spotted a thin, transparent tube running attached to it. Said tube then continued upward, and connected to a package dangling a few inches above my head. Apparently, it contained some transparent liquid of for infusions of sorts. It was only then that the gears in my head finally connected. And with them, another surge of panic started washing across my mind.

Was this a hospital? I couldn't be in a hospital, I wasn't even able to afford that! The revelation by itself freaked me out a good deal. I immediately closed my eyes again, trying to focus my thoughts. Panicking about my situation wouldn't get me anywhere, I slowly started telling myself. I just needed someone who could explain to me what was going on, is all...

With my breath calming, I still kept my eyes clenched shut. Even though the more reasonable part of my mind protested against the thought, I told myself it might all just be a dream. But with each second that I kept lying there, my hopes became more irrational and the dream all the more real. Slowly but steadily, the memories of what brought me here also came flowing back.

It obviously was real then, and not just my imagination. As much as I hated facing the truth, I wouldn't get around it this time. Because no matter where I was and how grave my condition, there wasn't a hospital bill in the world that I'd be able to pay. Unless I wanted to go to jail or something, I needed to get out of here, pronto. After all, getting thrown into some lone and cold prison cell was among the last thing I wanted to do. Of course, I had no perspective on what else to do next, either. But that didn't mean I had to give up, now.

But first things first. Carefully, I opened my eyes, and let the bright neon lights get to me, again. Their simple presence made my forehead ache with pain, they really did. But there was nothing I could do about that, now. At least, it wouldn't be among my priorities. One eyelid twitching, I slowly looked down towards my leg.

The syringe wasn't fixated in any special way, so that was something. Apparently, no-one expected me to do any rapid motions or anything while...well, however long I'd been out. I don't know. But I still couldn't run around with a darn needle stuck in my leg. I wasn't exactly schooled in medicine or anything, but I could imagine a good three dozen muscles or so not liking that at all. I bent my head towards it, until the lowest possible bit of the tube attached to it got entangled between my jaws. I squeezed my eyes shut, and pulled.

A stinging pain shot through my leg, right as the needle shot out of it. I let loose a low yelp in surprise, my jaws releasing the syringe that scattered onto the floor right after. Some of the weird liquid kept running out of it, too. But I didn't mind it that much. What caused me a little more concern was the blood that started trickling out of the tiny wound left on my leg. It wasn't too much, but still a minor disturbance. And of course, it hurt. A lot.

It didn't matter; it really didn't. I ignored the pain at the best of my abilities, then leaped out of bed, and landed on three of my for legs. I kept the one with the needle slightly restrained, since it didn't feel like it could use a lot of additional pressure, right now.

My saddlebags were hung over the top rail of a nearby chair. As far as I could tell, all of their former ingredients were still inside. In one of them, anyway. And I sort of expected someone to have removed the spoiled newspaper that was probably outdated in any case. Probably.

Without much hestiation, I threw both bags over my back, then strapped them around tightly. Along with some confused looks from my fellow patients, I stumbled across the room and made for the door. While the three mares whom I'd never seen before didn't dare speak up at any time, I shot them a number of hostile looks to keep it that way. It wasn't very nice of me, sure. But the sooner I left this place behind, the better.

Outside of the shared bedroom, I came into a long, empty hallway. Its walls were as white and sterile as it had been in the other room, and even the neon lights were the same. If working here didn't get a pony depressed, I really wouldn't know what did. As quickly as my three legs would carry me, I turned and made for the next-best staircase.

Lucky me, there were signs posted on the walls every now and again, and who knows where I'd have ended up if it weren't for them. Probably the head nurse's locker or something. But I didn't want that. And it didn't happen. Given the right amount of information about my surroundings, I can very much maneuver through them without any accidents...more or less. And I ought to have had even more luck than that, seeing how I never met anypony else all the way down. Nopony who could ever question me about anything, that was. To a certain degree it felt almost unreal, and I wondered if I really wasn't dreaming this, after all.

The main entrance was three floors down, or so the sign above the landing told me. Given my immobilities of sorts, it took me a bit longer than usual to get them all behind me. And still, I never met anyone crossing my path or coming along down. At some point, it got almost freaky, it really did.

I arrived downstairs, and found myself ending up in a rather vast foyer. The room spanned over a hundred feet in each direction, and even the roof seemed a good deal higher than it was in the rest of the building. A number of gray, square-shaped concrete columns supported it in regular intervals. There also were several groups of ponies scattered across the room, a few dozen I'd presume. Some were huddled up in groups and chatting, others rushed on and about in whatever hurry they might be in. A few of them just sat down in one of the corners or something.

I didn't really mind the details. What mattered mostly was that none of them seemed to pay any attention to me. Even when I entered the room with a trot that was all but graceful, no-one really seemed to care. Whatever conversations there had been resumed as usual, and whoever hurried throughout the room kept running for the lives of ponies, who were gonna die anyway. Sooner or later, that is. I couldn't really tell about anything beyond that. And I didn't even want to.

Since nopony seemed to be very interested in stopping me, I eventually proceeded to do what I did best. And the thing I did best was take one step forward after another, then keep wobbling through the lobby with one leg hanging limply in mid-air. At the moment, anyway. The grand door on the room's far end looked very much like an exit, so I figured I might as well go for that. About halfway there, I came past a counter, behind which I spotted an elderly mare of about sixty or so. Noticing my approach, she immediately eyed me with a sense of skepticism. Which only made me walk faster. A bit, at least.

I admit, stumbling about as fast as my remaining limbs would carry me must have looked utterly ridiculous. Even worse, it made for a pretty pathetic display, and might possibly hint towards me not being restored to full health, just yet. In other words, I shouldn't have been all that surprised, when the nurse from behind the counter called out after me, as I almost made it to the exit.

"Excuse me, Miss Punch?" she yelled clear across the room. "May I ask where you are headed?"

Those concerns were probably justified, given her position and all. Still, why did everyone always have to go for the name?

I turned around and tried to force a smile. It didn't go very well, I think.

"Me? Oh, uh...never mind me. I'm just catching some fresh air, is all."

She arched an eyebrow. "What about the bags, then? I didn't know you were able to go outside, yet."

"It's...it's all according to plan," I stuttered, nervously. Beads of sweat started to form on my forehead. "Your colleagues upstairs told me I'd need something like this. Somehow. Get me re-adapted into the normality of life. You know...after I was out for so long."

Practically, I suppose I didn't only look pathetic. Same terminology could also apply to my search for excuses. The nurse seemed to agree with me on that part.

"Really?" she asked. "The records say you've only been here for two days. And you spent most of that time being unconscious. And received three broken ribs from a traffic accident...excuse me, but this doesn't seem very credible. Say, would you mind getting me some sort of confirmation about what you've been told upstairs? I'm sure the nurses had a good reason for what they decided on."

I scowled. At least one mystery cleared up, that was. But it didn't make the situation any easier. Slowly and carefully, I brought my fourth hoof back onto the ground, eyeing it with all the care I could muster. When it touched down, and even after I put the pressure back on it, my leg hurt considerably less than I expected. Nodding off the mare's request, I had my head hang low, and trotted back to where I came from.

Of course, the foot of the staircase was also where my obedience to her self-proclaimed authority ended. Instead of marching back upstairs, I noticed a narrow window only about four or five feet high, on the adjacent wall. Fate had it that the door frame back to the foyer actually managed to completely cover it from the reception's point of view. After another moment of checking for anyone coming up or down the stairs, I pulled open the window, and climbed outside.

Now naturally, the streak of luck I kept having couldn't possibly last all day. And it didn't, in fact. When most of my torso and forelegs had already made their way outside, I suddenly noticed the ground being a bit further away than I had expected. It was only a few feet down, but that still made for a pretty unnecessary fall. Seeing it as it were, I lost my balance on the window's frame, and dropped face-first onto the metaled ground. Quickly, another wave of pain exploded inside my head.

I think I kept lying around on the floor wincing for another two minutes or so. When I finally managed to get back up, on all fours this time, I shook my head in an effort to get rid of my dizziness. Blinking once or twice, I then looked around to get an approximate idea of where I ended up.

It was some sort of narrow side-lane, which connected two of the larger streets, I think. My vision was a bit narrowed, given the two brick walls to either side of me. They stood extremely close to each other; I didn't expect even a simple carriage to fit between the two. I can't really remember how everything looked like beyond that, but I think I headed for the main street that appeared to be a bit closer than its opposite. I don't know. It probably wasn't, but I still thought so at the time.

For now, I only needed to get away from the hospital. I had no idea how much they wanted to charge me, but I was one-hundred and twenty percent positive the final numbers would be far above whatever amount of cash I had left in my bags. But if nopony would catch me now, they wouldn't be able to track me down later. I wasn't so sure where they learned about my name, but still. I didn't even have a fixed address or anything, so good luck with that.

When I reached the nearby street, I found it to be particularly busy at this time of day. Without giving the other pedestrians much thought however, I turned left and galloped straight ahead at full pace. I think I didn't slow down until I put at least three or four blocks between myself and that goodness-forsaken place. Only then could I hope to breathe freely again, even though my lungs were going at it pretty ragged, once again.

With a sigh, I fell back onto my haunches and paused for a moment. Much to my personal pleasure, I heard several small coins ringing inside the one saddlebag that was still intact, as I did so. With at least a bit of money at hoof, I probably wasn't as lost as I first thought. Now, I only needed something reasonable to invest it in. My first idea naturally came back to covering my hospital bill, but I dismissed it without a second thought. That wouldn't work, ever. And it didn't really matter, now. There needed to be some way to make better use of the narrow resources available.

My eyes turned towards a nearby liquor store.