STASIS: Part 3: Restart

by E. W. Osborne

  “No kidding,” she replied, her voice trembling. He arranged a few pillows behind her and gestured for her to lay back. She extended her legs, knees pinned together as if they were tightly tied.

  “I’ve always wondered what the insides looked like. I bet you have really good soundproofing in here, huh?”

  She knew what he was doing. He was distracting her with conversation while he performed the exam. Recognizing the tactic didn’t make it any less effective, however, especially when she gave into it.

  He continued this line of casual conversation as he probed the flesh between her hipbones, his fingers searching for any spots of tenderness. He met her eye as they talked, appearing to be engaged in her answers but also watching for any physical reactions.

  She did her best to ignore Christopher pacing behind the doctor. If she wasn’t looking at the doctor, she was staring at the the ceiling.

  “I love these units,” she replied, her jaw set out of discomfort, not pain. He probed inside, pressing on her stomach lightly from the outside. “Though I suppose we’ll be moving soon.”

  “Ah, are they not for families then?”

  “No. No one here wants a crying baby around,” she replied with a short laugh before she realized her gaff. “Shit, I mean…”

  The doctor gave her a pained nod and patted her leg. “We’re all set,” he said as he snapped off the gloves.

  “And?” Christopher jumped in, suddenly at her side.

  The doctor looked between them, obvious relief in his eyes. “I’m happy to report, everything seems fine. I’d like to get you in for an ultrasound to make absolutely sure, but if you haven’t experienced any bleeding or pain…”

  “None whatsoever,” she breathed.

  “Then I think you’re perfectly healthy.”

  “Really?”

  The doctor nodded as he packed up. Christopher threw his arms around Kristine’s shoulders, squeezing her as tightly as if she’d just been pulled from the edge of a cliff.

  “Thank you. Thank you so much!”

  “Yes, thank you, doctor,” Kristine repeated, her voice sounding distant and numb.

  It was an odd kind of joy. Guilty, shameful. It was like standing at the scene of a horrible accident you walked away from unscathed, watching as bodies were pulled from the wreckage.

  She watched as Christopher pressed a wad of money into the doctor’s palm as he led him back to the door. He paused at the threshold and called back.

  “You get yourself to your regular doctor. They’re going to want to closely monitor you. Whatever’s happened, you might have the cure.”

  “Of course, thank you,” Christopher said, practically shoving the man out of the door.

  Kristine pulled her knees up to her chin and pressed her mouth against them. How did I not think of that? I’ve been so caught up in protecting myself that I didn’t even consider that idea that…

  Christopher leaned against the door and released another loud sigh. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved in my life. Are you okay? You aren’t in any pain?”

  “No, I’m… what he said just now. About me going to the doctor.”

  He stared at his feet as he walked over, as if taking the distance for an opportunity to collect his thoughts. It was the first time she’d seen how much this new job had changed him, matured him. Or maybe it was life.

  “I think we can both agree that isn’t the best idea right now.”

  “But why? I hadn’t thought of it that way, but maybe there’s something with my Seed that’s different. Maybe they can test it and figure out what went…”

  He let out a frustrated, patronizing sigh. “How could you possibly still think this has anything to do with Seeds? It’s not like they put them in people’s wombs.”

  “You think none of this is related?” She wasn’t angry. She was completely flummoxed. It was as if he said to her he doubted the moon landing and that the planet was round. How could he be so perfectly dense?

  “I think weird things happen. Sometimes they happen all at once. It’s human nature to try and find order and reason in it, but sometimes… there just isn’t any.” He sat down at the foot of the bed, hands clasped. “I’m afraid of what might happen to you if people find out. So many people lost their babies. What if someone took it out on you? Or even tried to take ours?”

  Kristine wanted to rage and curl up and hide all at the same time. Although it was at the forefront of her mind during nearly every waking hour, there were times when the reality of it would fade to a dull roar. All those women, all those babies. They were out there dealing with a new reality while her baby continued to grow. Her heart ached as if she too had lost her child.

  Christopher’s voice dropped to a whisper. He reached across the bed for her, hand drawing up just short of her foot. “We’re going to have to think about leaving the city. Going somewhere to hide for a little bit. At least until things calm down.”

  “Where?”

  She watched him, a strange sense telling her he was leading her down a path of reasoning, manipulating her for some reason. He gave a half-hearted shrug and pretended to answer casually, flippantly. In reality, she knew he was picking his words carefully.

  “Uh, I don’t know. We could go upstate maybe. Lots of space. My brother has a house up there, maybe we could stay with him until this blows over.”

  Kristine did her best to mask her inner thoughts. “That sounds like a possibility.”

  Chapter Three

  Near Poughkeepsie, NY

  “When do you think they’re gonna let me out of here?” Maggie groaned in frustration, pulling the thin white sheet over her head.

  Neil shook his head, too tired and clueless to even venture a guess. He stared at the ceiling tiles and wondered if it’d be a good use of his time to count them… again. Maybe he was wrong the first two times.

  “How long do you think we’ve been in here?” she asked.

  He rocked his head to the side, the minimalist padding of the chair providing little comfort. “If I didn’t know that before, how do you expect me to know now?”

  She grunted again and slammed her hands down at her sides, wincing. “I keep forgetting I’m hooked up to these fucking…” With a determined expression, she made a move to rip the needles from her elbow and the back of her hand.

  “No!” Neil jumped to his feet and was half way to her bed before he realized it. “You can’t do that.”

  “It’s my body,” she glared. “I’m sick of not being able to piss without someone’s help.” Her right hand closed around the thin cable running into her left hand.

  The idea of her just ripping the things out made Neil woozy. The world swayed beneath him. He reached out for a grip on the hospital bed, catching himself just as his knees buckled.

  Maggie’s voice came to him as if at the far end of a tunnel. “What the hell is your problem?”

  He roughly swallowed the abundance of saliva suddenly in his mouth. He hoisted his ass up on the foot of the bed, the ringing in his ears receding. “Could you please not do that? Of at least wait for me to leave?”

  She leveled a pitiful look at him, making him feel less man and more boy. He didn’t care a fraction of an ounce. Besides, with the dark circles under her eyes and pale skin, she wasn’t nearly as threatening as usual.

  “And when would that be? You’re trapped in here just as much as I am.”

  Neil sighed and wiped the fresh sweat coating his face. He had to admit, the room had started to feel claustrophobic hours ago. Windowless, square, sterile. Light at the top of the high walls splashed upward across the ceiling, providing the sensation of dusk. It was relaxing now, but he knew those lights could burn bright when needed. He thought he’d never forget how white and tiny Maggie had looked as they worked to save her.

  “Are you feeling any better?”

  “I feel fine,” she snapped.

  He pressed his lips together and swung his legs over the other side of the bed,
no longer facing her. He couldn’t blame her for being upset, but he was tired of her taking it entirely out on him. She seemed to sense his quiet frustration and softened her tone.

  “It’s like my batteries run out quicker, that’s all. Sitting here right now, I feel fine. I feel like me. But when I try to walk to the bathroom or whatever, I feel like I’m walking through waist-high water.”

  “That’s alright. You’ll get better. You lost a lot of…” He glanced to the bag hanging over her head. Clear fluids now, but when they’d first hooked her up, he couldn’t stand to look at the dark red bag.

  “You’re gonna have to eventually tell me what happened, you know,” she prodded gently. “And it’s not like we’re doing anything else, so now’s as good a time as any.”

  Neil shifted again, putting more weight on his legs as if testing their load-bearing ability. He hadn’t even sorted through the events in his own mind. For a moment, he considered putting her off again. It’d buy him time to think if there were any details he should hold back, but his mouth started running before he had a chance.

  “What do you last remember?”

  The look in her eyes drew distant. With her messy hair, she looked just how he remembered from when they were kids. “I remember everyone running through the woods, the fence. There were lights and you took off ahead of us. And I remember them taking me away and calling out for you. Ian looked…” Her expression dropped as if she were about to cry.

  Neil picked up the story, hoping to distract her. They’d been friends long enough, he knew how much she loathed showing emotion. “So they let me come in with you. They put us in a little golf cart thing and we zipped along a bunch of different paths. Wherever we are, this place is huge. It’s like a little city with roads everywhere.”

  “But it’s not a hospital?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “But it has all this stuff?” she asked, wiggling the wires and IVs in a way that made his stomach churn.

  “Apparently,” he swallowed. “They were talking into their radios as we drove. When we stopped, a couple people in white jackets came out to meet us. I was terrified they were going to separate us, that I might not ever see you again. But…” Instead, they made me sit here and watch, he thought. And I wish they had put us in different rooms. Neil knew he couldn’t say that out loud.

  Maggie rubbed his thigh with her foot, the scratchy, starchy sheet scraping against her broken toenails. It was a little gesture, but enough for him to go on.

  “They put you here, made me sit over there. While the doctors were working on you, I had two people in my face asking me questions like I was a murder suspect.” She seemed to fold up into herself. A stab of guilt held his tongue. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop if you…”

  “No, go on. I want to know. It’s just weird hearing someone else tell me what happened to me. What were they asking you?”

  Neil glanced around the room, knowing they were being watched or listened to. At least, he was going to behave as though they were.

  “Normal stuff, things you’d expect. Who we were. Where we came from. I tried to explain we’d gotten lost on a hike, but they didn’t seem to believe me for some reason. They kept asking the same questions over and over in different ways, I think to see if they could trip me up or something.”

  “How long was I out of it?”

  “I have no way of knowing. They took everything off us. A long time.”

  Maggie’s hair hung like a shroud around her face, bobbing slightly as she nodded. The guilt surprised him, twisting in his chest. It’s not like he was the one who got her pregnant.

  Neil continued, hoping to make her feel a bit better. “You lost a lot of blood, but they didn’t seem worried about you after they hooked up the…” He pressed the back of his hand to his mouth to suppress a gag.

  She peered up through her hair with a smirk. “I never realized the depths of your pussiness,” she said with a playful look.

  It warmed his heart to hear her sounding more like the sarcastic, caustic friend he’d known forever. “It’s a good thing I’m not pre-med like you then, huh?”

  A silence stretched between them. Neil picked at the blue thermal blanket at the bottom of the bed. It was his turn to ask a question he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to know the answer to. He also wasn’t positive of the socially polite way to go about doing it. If there was anything he’d learned about women, or at least Maggie, it’s that an apology can go a long way to smoothing things over.

  “I’m really sorry, by the way,” he said softly.

  “Why? It’s not your fault we’re stuck in this place.”

  “No, I mean…” He trailed off, his eyes darting to her stomach and then away.

  Maggie’s hand rose to her mid-section for a moment, her mouth forming a silent oh.

  “Were you going to… I mean, were you and Ian going to…”

  “I didn’t even know I was pregnant, you doof,” she sighed.

  “They said it wouldn’t have probably lasted. Said it was an atypical pregnancy, or something,” he offered, hoping that it’d make her feel better. What he didn’t expect was a sharp crack of laughter.

  “Ectopic,” she snickered. “It means it was in my fallopian tube, not uterus. Christ man, you learn anything in school?”

  “Well alright! We’ve already established I’m not going to be a doctor any time soon,” he snapped. In a huff, he jumped off the bed and paced the room. On one pass, he tested the metal door handle knowing it was going to be locked. But it wasn’t. It moved.

  He froze, his hand still gripping the depressed handle. With wide eyes, he looked to Maggie who had shot straight up in bed. Her hands were already flying to the IVs in her skin.

  “I assumed it locked automatically.”

  He could hear the IVs drop and ding against the metal bed frame. In his mind, he pictured her squirting blood like she’d been attacked, so when she appeared at his side, he shied away.

  “There’s no blood,” she whispered, hand rising to touch the handle. “The last nurse must’ve forgotten to lock it.” She gave the door a little push.

  Neil yanked it back. “We can’t just walk out.”

  “I’m not waiting to find out what other plans they might have for us. We’re leaving. Now.”

  He wasn’t proud of it, but he put himself between her and door, physically blocking her exit. “We don’t even know where we are. You didn’t see this place. It’s huge. Besides, it’s not like you can run down the hall in that and not be noticed.” He gestured to the blue medical gown cinched around her body.

  She gritted her teeth, a flash of frustration in her eyes when she realized he was right. She spun in place, looking for the clothes she’d been wearing when she’d come in. “Where are they?”

  “You couldn’t have worn those either. They were covered in blood,” Neil replied absently. He carefully pulled the door open a crack, just enough he could peer outside. Before he could get a good look, Maggie breathed in his ear.

  “Give me your shirt.”

  He jumped back and nearly slammed the door shut out of fright. “What the hell?”

  “Your shirt. Gimme your shirt. You’re wearing two. Please. I can tie this around my waist or something. We just need to get out of here.”

  Neil wanted to point out that wearing a hospital gown as a skirt was no better than as a dress, but he agreed time was of the essence. The longer they stood debating what they should do, the less chance they had getting out. The behavior of the nurses and staff told him they weren’t used to having unsecured guests in their building.

  “It this completely insane? Maybe we should wait and see what they do. They did save your life…”

  “And kept us locked in a room for a couple days.”

  “True.”

  “We have to at least try,” she urged, butting against his reluctance. “Don’t be such a pussy, man.”

  He gave her a long look before pulling her in tightly ag
ainst him in a brisk hug. “It’s good to have you back.” He pulled the long-sleeved shirt up over his head and offered it to her.

  Without missing a beat, she tugged it over her head, scanned the room for anything important, and nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Neil opened the door again, this time pressing his ear against the gap. Voices echoed far away, wordless mumbles that didn’t present any immediate danger. There weren’t any audible footfalls either, so he risked opening the door a little wider.

  The hallway was a stark, almost metallic white and completely windowless. He had no way of knowing for sure, but he suspected they were underground. It felt subterranean.

  He intertwined his fingers with Maggie’s and took a step out, head swiveling back and forth. She tugged him once.

  “I don’t have any shoes.”

  He glanced at her bare feet and swallowed a lump of annoyance. It’s not her fault she’s lost everything. “You want me to give you one of my shoes now?”

  “No, dumbass. Just your socks. If we have to run for it, I can’t risk…”

  He pushed her back inside and softly shut the door. In a rush, he tugged off his shoes and practically threw his warm, sweaty socks at her face. To her credit, she didn’t complain about the smell.

  “Anything else? Want me to carry you on my back?” He wanted it to sound playful, but the tension and anxiety turned his voice bitter. He realized it was a good thing her sense of humor was as acidic as it was.

  She grinned. “Yeah, could you?”

  They ventured out into the hall again. There weren’t any signs to give them a sense of direction. They had to move fast and deliberately, otherwise they’d get caught wandering around like rats in a maze.

  “Any exit, it doesn’t matter where.”

  Maggie nodded beside him. They weren’t holding hands anymore, but her shoulder was pressed reassuringly against his arm.

  He kicked himself for not paying better attention when they came in, but he definitely remembered turning right into the room, which meant he had to turn left to leave. After a few confident decisions, he had to quickly admit he was guessing.