It was a dark and stormy night.
The power flickered and Elliot seemed to glitch on every floor. The dancing phlupps hadn't made an appearance yet, but who knew what would happen during the freakish storm. Various people rushed around. Each had their own tasks needed to be completed ASAP, before the power really did crash. Asche went through the lobby, not saying a word to anyone but she, herself, it seemed. Marshall was in command of the ER.
There were also people from the outside world coming in for protection. So the place was very busy despite the time of night. Lightning struck the dilapidated building next door.
Teagen Quiterie, Union medic, went wandering through the lobby pushing a cart of supplies into the ER. Thunder crashed.
"Supply drop off." Teag was tired, that was clear on her face.
"Oh, hey, Teags. Thanks alot. Put it over there, then catch some zzz's," Marshall Demoss, Union Doctor and ER head man said, "Ya look like hell,"
Teags shoved the cart to where he indicated. "Thanks, just what I wanted to hear."
"Just like old times, eh?" Marshall grinned and waved. The two shared a past of sorts. Both were once medics in the Legion of Freemen.
"Nah, nobody is shooting at us." She took up a lean against a wall while she grabbed her cane off the cart.
He raised a brow. "Yanno? You're right. I like this better."
"I'm staying off the main living units. A002, I think. No Elliot speaker in the room so if I'm needed you'll have to send a living person after me," she said.
"I know where yer stayin', Teags." Marshall grinned. "S'where Doc stays." Marshall seemed pretty happy-go-lucky tonight, despite the weather.
"No, Doc isn't staying there. He's in his room as far as I know." Teags pulled herself from the wall, leaning on the cane.
"What's that? You kick him out?"
"Haven't seen him to throw him anywhere." She started on her way out of the ER. "I'm only staying in A002 until I get my old unit back."
"I thought you guys were gettin' a quad?" Marshall scratched his head, which was ineffective because of the rubber gloves he wore.
"So did I." There was a mild shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know."
"All right then. I'll send a nurse up if we need ya." There was something more going on. This Marshall knew.
"Make sure the nurse knocks loud cause the door will be locked. It has a lot of locks." Teagen had the look of one depressed and tired. So very tired.
"Yeah, sure, Teags. I'll make sure." Marshall had no time to make further inquiries. More people were filling up the ER and someone yelled his name. He frowned and moved off to the medic yelling for him. Whatever was said between the pair was lost to a big BOOM!
---
Her vision was going to the Abyss, Erin knew it. She squinted at the textbook resting in her lap, and then closed her eyes. She opened them again. Better. The lobby floor she sat on was cold and the thunder distracted her. But it wasn't just the thunder that was distracting. Coffee. She needed coffee but the thought of that gave her odd shivers.
Lightning reached with skeletal fingers across the sky.
What Erin needed was someone to talk to. Someone to tell her simply that she wasn't crazy. On the other hand, she didn't know that she wanted to talk about it either. She sighed as Derakk walked into the lobby. He was hesitant and his face was obscured by the dark jacket hood pulled over his head.
Erin shut her textbook with a thump. If she didn't know the info now, she never would. One more exam. One and then, she'd be a nurse. If it turned out she'd passed all the tests. She looked up and gazed around at her fellow lobby occupants. There were people all over the lobby trying to escape the electrical storm. She zeroed in on Derakk, who weaved through the crowd and avoided some gangers.
"Derakk!" From her spot on the floor in the corner, she waved a bit. Then jumped at the sound of thunder. It was more than thunder. The building across the way began to collapse.
Derakk turned, and jumped a bit as well. He and the thunder were perfectly in sync. Except the thunder was a loud prolonged sound. Too long to be thunder, wasn't it? Erin frowned.
"Hey there," Derakk said, returning the way. He gave a hint of an awkward smile.
"Hey there yourself." She got up and stretched. Grinned. Amongst the noise, she could hear Asche's and Teagan's voices. Her gaze wandered over towards them and then she swallowed hard and looked back to Derakk.
"Enjoy your vacation in Y'tallish?" Derakk asked. "Y'tallishh."
"Yeah. It was over pretty quick though." She knew what he meant. "Much too fast, you know?"
"Yes. Then back to...here."
She nodded emphatically. That said it all. "Here. Yes. All of...this." She swept her hand about, meaning the hospital, the city a lot. "But it's good too in a way. I had things to get done here."
Derakk nodded. "Yeah, I had things to do."
"Like what?" She bent and picked up her book, then jerked her head towards the cafeteria. Going for coffee she was, he was welcome to come too.
Mara exited the cafe, grumbling.
"It's been nothing but trouble for the past couple weeks." Derakk glanced at Mara, coolly.
The boom brought a flinch. "This storm is creepy," Erin whispered and then she saw Mara. She smiled and greeted her friend.
Mara glanced at Derakk with a shrug and then smiled at Erin. "'ello there."
"Have you seen my bro? He left the cafe a little while ago. Supposed to be celebrating my birthday." Mara looked to the stairs, silently complaining.
"No. Haven't seen him. Not in a while actually." Erin noted the look between Derakk and Mara. "It's your birthday? Hey, happy birthday Mara!"
---
Teags moved through the lobby like one of Asche's ghosts only she hoped not to be seen or heard by anyone. No luck. Asche spied the former Legion Medic and rushed toward her. "Teagen! Hey, Teags!"
"What?" Teagan asked and stopped.
"I need ya to get up to ICU. Damn storm surges are more than our protectors can handle and Elliot's been hollaring that everyone's goin' into arrest. Give the gal's a hand up there, will ya?"
"Yeah sure. Didn't need sleep anyway," Teagen said and switched directions. She headed for the stairs.
"Thanks, Teags!" Despite Asche's seeming good cheer, a trail of ghosts whisked behind her as she rushed to the next trouble spot. There was a small, but contained fire in one of the janitor's closets.
Teagen hated the stairs but given the state of the power taking the elevator would be foolish. Teag's pulled open the stairwell door, grumbling under her breath. As soon as she opened the door, there was Doc.
Teags yelped, startled, and jumped backwards. It was movement Teagen was no longer designed for. Her cane slipped, and down she went on her butt.
"Tea." Doc moved through the door and went down on one knee. He looked like a man just awakening from sleep. His hand was wrapped in gauze as he reached out to her. "Ya awrigh'?"
"Just startled, Doc," She said, hurting. "Didn't expect anyone to be right in the doorway like that."
"Too quiet upstairs, what with Elliott's eyes and ears out," Doc said. He went to offer Teagan his hand, but the one was bandaged, seeping blood and the other was still hurting from the injury in the street. "Uhm..."
"What happened to you?" Teagen was able to get up without Doc's help. It was awkward, climbing to her feet, but she managed it. Doc managed to get his hands around her without getting any of his blood on her and didn't wince as he did his best to help her finish rising. "ICU is really loud from what Asche just said."
"Ah ... think Ah broke a bottle." Doc frowned. His accent came out thick tonight. "Don' remembah clearly."
"Maybe you should have Marshall take a look at it, he's in the E.R. Can't be a doctor without hands, hon," Teagen said and tried for a smile. Doc knew Teagen meant when things slowed down.
"Thought Ah ought ta get cleaned up properly 'fore Ah went on back up." Doc frowned a little more. "Felt kindah hungry."
"You hit your head recently, Doc?" Teagen asked. Things were off a bit too much for her. She found her footing, straightening and softly thanked him for his help.
"Mighta. Mighta when that fella in the street Ah tried ta help threw me up against a brick wall. Told ya 'bout that didn't Ah?" He acted as if nothing amiss had been said between them, ever.
"No, Doc, you didn't tell me about it," Teagen said with her head tilted slightly to the side. "I haven't see you in better then a week. Heard you got scuffed but..." This was her first sight of him.
"Ah'm sorry Tea. So busy." He shook his head and patted his pants pocket absently, leaving a stain of blood from his palm. "Tripped in the stairwell comin' down. Where were you headed?"
"ICU," she answered, her voice barely a whisper. She hurt in places she didn't think could be hurt anymore. "Did you lose something?"
"F'Ah come up with ya, think ya can take a look at this?" His hazel eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at her. He gestured with his hand.
"Yeah, I think I can fix ya up." She rubbed a hand over her eyes.
"Ya look tired Tea. Ah think a snack can wait. Let's get ya upstairs. What did you have ta do in ICU?"
"Keep people alive," she said and started her hobble towards the stairs. "Apparently the power outages are causing havok with the machines keeping people alive."
"Keeping people alive... why ma'am, that's mah specialty. Sure you can make it up the stairs?"
"Don't have much choice, hon. Elevator isn't an option."
"Then Ah'll just have to help you up each one," Doc said and held the door open for her.
"Sorry to hear you've been so busy. I've missed your company." Teagen meant what she said even if she didn't know what was going on with him. She stepped through the door unable to shake the wary feeling that had settled over her. In the stairwell there was a distant, almost indiscernible 'plink-plink' that died and was lost in the normal sounds of the hospital.
"Ah'm sorry too, Tea. Ah know Ah haven't been there for you," Doc said, but made no promises to change.
"You're a busy fellow, Doc. I don't expect that to change," she said, taking one stair at a time.
"Not the only one, Tea." Doc he grinned as he walked just a step behind her, to make sure she wouldn't fall.
"I'm going to have the surgery done on my leg as soon as I can schedule it," she said, all in one breath. The decision to tell him right then was instant.
"You are? Who's doing it?" He asked.
"Axtmeyerr and Levitzz. I was going to discuss it with you but you didn't come back so I decided on my own."
"Good choices. I'd trust them. How soon do you think it'll be?" Doc knew better than to ask to be in the OR with how he felt about her.
"I haven't had a chance to discuss time off with Asche yet. Maybe next week." She paused on a landing to catch her breath. She spoke softly. The sooner the better...sooner the cut the sooner I'll be on the road of rehab."
"Ah'll help as much as possible, if you like, Tea."
"Nothing I like more then your company, Doc, you know that." Teagen gave him the first true smile of the evening. "I'll try not to run over you foot with my chair."
"Ah know ya will." Doc caught her hand in his dry one and didn't wince with the elbow twinge. "After this Ah'll have to go do the med rounds on the fifth. But Ah'll put ya ta bed first."
---
Derakk congratulated Mara. That he acknowledged her birthday at all was a surprise and she thanked him with a beaming smile.
"Is..." Derakk paused, uncertain. "She here?"
Mara knew Derakk asked of Aya, a woman with whom he worked with and shared a lot of history. Aya recently was seen hanging out with Mara's brother Shin.
"Okay, what's going on, huh?" Erin asked and put her hands on her hips. This mystery was a nice distraction from my worries, Erin thought.
"She's a friend of mine. I'm concerned about her," Derakk said.
"Why? She all right?" Erin asked.
"She's doing fine," Mara said. Mara and Derakk tap danced around over who would actually do the explaining. Erin watched the banter. Her eyes darted from one to the other. She knew the whole hem and haw routine involved Shin. Shin wasn't the man Erin knew and cared for anymore.
"We all go back," Derakk finally said. "A while back something happened and everything changed.
Aya and I became mercenaries. We've worked together since then and have watched each other's backs as a team."
Erin leaned up against the wall and nodded.
"Recently, we had a disagreement with our employer, and she left, staying with Shin and Mara," Derakk said.
"Did you stay? Or leave too?" Erin asked.
"I stay loyal," Derakk said, glancing to Mara.
"No matter what, huh?" Erin asked.
"Yeah, always to my friends and associates," Derakk said.
"Rare quality lately," Mara observed.
"Do your employers deserve it?" Erin folded her arms and asked herself why she was so curious and concerned. Derakk gave Erin the thousand-yard stare.
"Don't have to tell. Just have to make sure you know for your own sake, you know?" Erin said.
"You're right," Derakk agreed.
"Of course I am." Erin smiled, and poked him in the arm lightly. "I always am. After all, in ... well, shortly, I'll officially be a nurse."
"Really? You'll be much needed," Derakk said. "Shame more aren't going for it."
"Good to be needed too. But yeah, more are needed. Many more."
"I try to do my part," Mara said.
"When you're not contributing to the problem," Derakk quipped.
Erin persuaded Derakk to join her for coffee while she waited for her nurse's exam to begin. Outside the storm raged and dropped not a single drop of rain.
---
Up in the ICU, the man known as Slick opened his eyes. The machines attached to him were going crazy, beeping and sparking as he clawed out of a drug-induced haze. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. He tested his breath. He could breathe. The beeping was incessant and annoying. It prodded him into thinking more clearly. Into questioning. Where the hell was he?
KABOOM! The loudest pounding of thunder rattled the walls. He figured he was in the hospital. It helped that a nurse rushed and checked the pinging machines and him. He watched her best he could, but felt to lethargic to keep track of her. Once the machines settled down, sleep seemed a good prospect. The nurse smiled at him as he closed his eyes. She moved on to the next unit.
Yes, sleep was good only there was something moving on his chest. The weight was insignificant, but something was moving beneath the light blanket that covered him. He opened his eyes and came face-to-face with.... "Yee-aughhhhhh!" He screamed.
He sat bolt upright and tore out things like IVs inadvertently. The phlupp that had been rolling around on him tumbled to the side. He felt like he was hung over, but he was awake. He began to pull things off of him, out of him. Lying in bed was not an option.
The phlupp's appearence was puzzling. It worried his brain. His heart, so recently attacked, thumped hard in his chest. The phlupp waited for him though it didn't know why. All it wanted was to eat and maybe catch some sleep. Instead, it was compelled to wait for the slow moving big scary thing to move.
He moved slowly. One bare foot placed on the cold tile and another. He braced himself and rose. That the phlupp waited for him told him many things that the drugs were desperately trying to screw with. The phlupp scurried away from him and he was bound to follow. He lurched down the all, past the busy nurses.
The phlupp scratched at the stairwell door and did so till Slick got here and leaned his body against the push bar. The phlupp went up and so did Slick, hospital gown flapping open in the back. Much like Teags it was one step at a time. But for him, each step represented strength. He felt better the higher he rose within the building. The phlupp waited for him at the door to the fifth floor.
The phlupp raced ahead. Slick's newfound health paled against the sudden dread he felt.
The thunder was getting to another patient, restrained, in the hospital on the psyche ward floor. Her green eyes were a bit wild and she was having half a conversation. In her room, Kynslea Rolarn, a patient admitted by the Union's Doc Hollidayy, strained against the bonds that held her. She was lost in a delusion brought on by a strong smell in the air. She was shouting orders to invisible people.
"No! I gave you an order Lieutenant!" Her wrists were raw and bleeding from the way she pulled and pushed at her restraints "Those are women and children!"
The phlupp vanished into Chi'anall's room. The door was open. The door was open. Just hair, but Slick could see light peeking through the crack. Someone, a woman whose voice was vaguely familiar yelled. Her cries mixed with the thunder.
Kyn's scream echoed through the fifth floor. "CEASE fire!"
The command made him drop his hand from Chi'anall's door. The scream seemed to echo from elsewhere nearby.
Backed by bright lightning flashes and rolling thunder that echoed into silence, Slick chided himself for superstition and pushed the door open just as the lightning glowed. Everything ceased then. His heart, his head, everything but his eyes. He could SEE on many levels and all he saw told him one thing. The thing on the bed was not Chi'anall. Could not be Chi'anall. No one had that much blood in them to spill. He'd cut enough people to know.
