The Royal Contract

"We found him at the side of the road unconscious." He heard a female say to a man asking her some questions.

He could hardly open his eyes. When he managed to, he was only blinded by the bright light. He had no choice but to close them again.

He could hear a lot of noises coming from different directions. He also felt the stiff mattress on his back as he felt his body being wheeled to another room.

"Did he manage to say his name?" The man questioned her again, trying to learn more information about him.

"I was not able to get his name. He was unconscious when my son found him. He also had no identification on his body. I already checked when I applied the first aid." The woman responded to his query. 

He tried to recall his memories, checking if he even remembered his name. Fortunately, he did, and the rest of what happened slowly came back to his drug-induced brain.

He would have said Ben, but every part of his muscles seemed to fail him. "Fuck that kid." He would have shouted, but he could not move his lips, not even his fingers or his toes.

He was reminded of the boy who stuck a needle in him behind a pickup truck. Then, the boy mentioned his mother was bringing him to the hospital.

He dug deeper into his memory, trying to get a grasp of what else occurred before he ended up in their care. For now, all he saw were figments of his memories that were not making any sense yet.

"I kind of given him some dose of sedative." She finally confessed to the medical practitioner. "I think it might have been more than necessary." 

She felt she miscalculated his weight and must have given him a bit more than necessary. But she only gave a minor sedative, so it might wear off a bit longer than she planned.

In her defense, she was just a veterinarian. She only knew how to treat animals, just the most common diseases of domesticated pets. Still, she felt responsible for him.

"What kind and how much? Maybe we should discuss this outside." The man suggested, guiding the woman out the door of the room. 

She was only taking precautions when she asked his son to give it to him if he suddenly woke up. She was not even convinced he was an innocent man. 

For all she knew, he might be a criminal. Although, she should not judge him based on his gunshot wound. It would be the role of the police to investigate and for the court to decide, definitely not hers.

"Hey, I also want to hear what she had to say." He protested in his mind, wanting to hear what they would discuss regarding his condition.

He kept his ears strained to the conversation around him as he tried to gather more information. It was the only thing he could do anyway until the drug finally wore off.

He could only surmise that he might be in a hospital, basing it on his observation so far. The one conversing beside him might be the one who saved him earlier and the other one, a health worker.

Finally, he succumbed again to dreamless sleep, allowing the drug to take over his body once more. He would worry about his situation when he woke up again.

"Sir, you are in a hospital being treated with a gunshot wound." A female voice spoke to him gently as if she did not want to spook him, but the tone was unfamiliar.

She was wearing a colored uniform and a face mask around her face. Her hair color was not the same as the woman who brought him to the hospital. At least in his recollection.

"Sir, how are you feeling?" The woman continued questioning him, seeing that he was now wide awake.

More or less, he could now open his eyes with little difficulty. He could see the woman who must be treating his wound. He finally remembered that he was shot earlier or probably yesterday. 

He had no idea since he was barely awake most of the time. But 

he remembered the abduction and everything related to the incident.

"I am feeling much better." He finally answered, but it was still a croaky voice that was barely understandable.

He found his lips moving again and his voice muscles cooperating with him. He could even move his hand just a bit. He also tried his toes for good measure.

"Glad to hear that. You are lucky that the bullet went through and did not hit any major organs." The doctor explained his condition. "By the way, can you remember your name and who shot you?"

The doctor moved closer to check on his eyes. And then observed the screen on the machine beside him as she waited for him to answer.

"Ben." He said, but it came out more of a whisper. "Uhmmm." Clearing his voice, he tried again. "They call me Ben." It sounded better this time.

Several wires were attached to his body, some for fluid intake, while the others were for monitoring. But, it was the last of his concern. He was breathing and thinking that was all that mattered.

"It is a nice name, Ben." She said but noticed that he did not answer her other question. "We did not see any contact details in you. Do you want us to contact anybody?" The doctor offered instead.

"Please, can you get me in touch with the authorities right away?" He requested, needing to seek their assistance in the urgency of his situation.

He would have run out of here if he could, but that did not seem to be an option. He had tried to move, but the pain was just too much.

He would have to settle for the next best thing he could think of. He just hoped that the police he would be talking to would not be on their enemy's payroll.

"I am sure I can manage that." She was a bit relieved that the man was not running from the law. So, he might not be the bad guy after all. "Anything else?" She asked.

She remembered asking an intern earlier to place a report with the authorities about this situation. It was in their standard procedure for gunshot wound victims.

"Can I also borrow your phone? I just want to call my family." He asked for a favor, hoping that she would agree. "How long was I was out anyway?" He finally asked.

He still could not simply trust anybody after all that was happening to him. Besides, he had no idea of where he was until now. 

"Just a few hours. The operation did not take long since we did not encounter any complications." The doctor answered his last question.

Then, she took out her phone from her pocket and asked. "What is the number?" She positioned her fingers on the screen as she waited for him.

"Thank you so much." He replied and then dictated the number that he had memorized to heart.

Once the phone rang, the doctor placed the unit into his uninjured hand and helped him hold it to his ears. Then, she left him to give him some privacy while asking one of the nurses to search for the authorities.

"This is Ben." He answered when he heard the familiar voice. "I need your help." Then the line was dead, not needing to say more.

He would be tracking him down and sending a team to get him out of there.. One thing great about his family, they would leave no man behind.