and Iron were stripping her. She tried to fight but she didn’t have the strength. Doc leaned over her, frowning.

“Calm down, Mira. We’re getting you out of your clothes. It’s all right. I need to check you over. You have an infection somewhere and it’s not your damaged wrists. I inspected them first. You need a stronger antibiotic but I need to figure out which one to give you. Do you know of any other injuries on your body?”

She couldn’t remember any. She shook her head and then groaned in pain as Iron pulled her boots from her feet. She looked down her body as large hands touched her hips. Iron glanced at her as he unfastened her pants. He shot Doc a look.

“I never thought I’d get the chance to take her pants off, considering how possessive Flint is of her.”

Doc looked pissed off. “Just strip her or get the hell out of my med bay. She’s a patient right now.

Where is Flint? Has he been informed?”

Iron opened her pants and hooked an arm under Mira’s knees. He lifted her ass off the table and hooked his other hand at the waistband of her pants. He jerked them down, exposing her to their sight.

She was too weak and sick to be embarrassed that she didn’t have underwear and that both men were seeing her naked.

“He was informed.”

“So where the hell is he?” Doc sliced open the front of her shirt, tearing it away from her once he’d sliced down each sleeve.

“He is in Control.” Iron stared openly at her na**d body. “I don’t see any injuries.”

“Let’s flip her,” Doc said.

Mira didn’t fight as the men gripped her to flip her na**d body. Then Doc cursed. “They scratched her.

Those are fingernail marks. Damn mutants.”

“What’s wrong with me?” Mira’s teeth chattered. “I’m so cold.”

A firm hand landed on her back. “Hold still. Were you raped, Mira?”

“No.”

She heard two men sigh in relief. “One of the mutants clawed your lower back. Did they touch you at all? Try to remove your pants?”

She nodded. “I offered them ransom money to stop. They did.”

“One of them scratched you. The thing about mutants is they are dirty bastards who carry all kinds of nasty infections and they broke your skin.” Doc sounded pissed. “Hand me the red injector,” he ordered Iron.

“Is she going to survive?” Iron sounded worried.

“If she responds to the hyperantibiotic then she will recover. If she is septic then she might not make it. I don’t think the infection has gone that far but we have to get it under control. If her fever spikes too high, she’ll be in danger of convulsions and brain damage. We’ll know in a few hours. If we caught it early enough and the meds kick in, she’ll be a little weak but she’ll recover quickly.

“I guess the bastards hadn’t had a woman in a long time. She’s too pretty and would fetch a good price as a sex slave. They had to know they were carrying infection and that raping her would kill her in a matter of days just from them touching her.”

Iron cursed. “What are her chances?”

“It’s up to how strong she is,” Doc sighed. “She’s a little thing.” Mira flinched in pain when Doc injected the hyperantibiotic . He covered her with a blanket and reached up to pat her shoulder. “Hang in there, honey,” Doc said softly. “You’re tough.”

“I’ll go report to Flint and tell him how serious this is.” Iron sighed. “I’m sure he’ll be down immediately.”

“I’m going to put her out. She needs to rest to fight the infection.”

Doc leaned down so Mira could see his face and smiled. “Flint will come down and hold your hand, okay? I’m going to put you to sleep now.”

“I’m so co-cold.”

“I know, honey. You just sleep so you get better.” He lifted the sheet at her hip and gave her another injection.

Mira drifted to sleep.

* * * * *

Over the next few days, every time she opened her eyes, Doc was sitting on the med bed next to her.

He’d walk over to her to tell her she was doing great. She moved her arm once and realized he had hooked her up to liquid nourishment.

“Flint?”

Doc looked pissed. “He’s not here, Mira. He came once. He’s worried about you.”

He looked away when he said it. Pain hit Mira. She was deathly sick and Flint didn’t care. He was too angry at her for fleeing the Star and him. She blinked back tears.

“He’ll never