by J. X. Evans
17. HOSPITAL BREAK
After the surgery was successfully over without any kind of complication, Mark was taken to a dead end hallway somewhere in the hospital so that he could rest. Seeing no reason not to take that chance, he got comfortable and wavered off to sleep. He woke up suddenly but he did not open his eyes right away. Not much time could have passed and he was still feeling a bit tired. His chain and gems were still inside his boot, he could feel the hard rocks against his toes. They were bothering him a bit. He was feeling a cold pressure around his wrists… handcuffs. He was handcuffed to the hollow metal bars on each side of the gurney, but two of them seemed a little bit excessive. Officer Kong and the surgeon were having a conversation a bit farther down the hallway and Mark opened his eyes only a little, and tried to listen to their conversation. He could hear them, but he also focused on reading their lips so as to not misjudge a word.
“It is not my place to tell you how to do your job officer. What I can ask of you though is not to disturb my patient further. Resting is of utmost importance, especially during this early stage of healing.” The surgeon was saying sternly, moving his index finger back and forth as if to make his point clearer.
“That little shit lying down there all carefree and cozy is the prime suspect for murdering two people earlier today, along with destroying private property. And I am using the word suspect and murder as a formality in this case. The sick bastard beat one of them to death and he burned the other one alive along with half a wedding boutique, and all that in a Monday afternoon in a busy street. He is dangerous and unstable and he needs to be locked away as fast as possible, for the sake of justice and the sake of society.” The cop was saying, his face a mask of passion and rage; his voice not as gentle now as earlier in the emergency room. ‘Well…when somebody presents their argument like that… two pairs of handcuffs start to make a little more sense than one.’
“Ah, I told you, he cannot leave the hospital just yet. When he is able to be safely transported I will let you know. Do what you must, just don’t wake him up and let him rest, please, the better he rests the quicker he will be out of here and into a cell… Trust me I don’t like it either.” The surgeon said mildly with a sigh, before walking back to Mark’s side to check his shoulder. He seemed a bit perplexed with what he saw, and justifiably so. He frowned upon the injury, that according to Mark’s judgement should have been almost healed, and he walked away.
“Don’t worry officer. By the look of things he might be able to leave here faster than anticipated.” The doctor smiled at officer Kong.
‘What should I do? Should I just get up and leave? The whole point of pretending to be grievously injured was all about not getting arrested at the spot. Damn it all! Kong seemed certain of Mark’s involvement… they had probably retrieved the video from the cameras and more cops could be coming over to hang out any minute now. If more of them show up I will be once again in the same situation as before. Only now with more bystanders in my way.’ The handcuffs were too tough to break easily. But he could just rip the hollow rattling bars they were attached to off easily enough. And officer Kong would most likely need to receive a minor beating if Mark wanted to escape without exiting the building with more bullet holes than those he entered with. ‘Something tells me that he won’t simply get out of the way if I ask him nicely…Plus he looks like he is itching to give me a beating himself.’ Mark slowly grabbed the bars on either side of the gurney, gently rubbing his hand around each one and got ready to apply pressure and twist the metal bars off the rest of the gurney. He strengthened his grip and flexed his fingers and he felt the metal getting squeezed and giving way.
‘That’s it. It must be done unfortunately.’
Just before the point of no return he heard steps quickly approaching. He stopped and waited for them to pass. The steps got louder and Orpheus appeared around the corner. Mark had almost forgotten about him. He had actually thought that the surgeon had not even called him…apparently he had… and it was about time for him to show up really. He was alone and he was wearing a freshly ironed white robe. Mark had not seen him in a while…he looked good, maybe a bit winded from hurrying to find Mark. Officer Kong rose from his chair, scowled and raised an open palm to stop Orpheus from coming any closer.
“Excuse me sir but I would have to ask you to turn back. Unless you are this man’s physician I cannot let you approach. He could potentially be dangerous.” Officer Kong said, pointing at Mark with a long wide finger that ended to a short, clean pinkish fingernail.
“I happen to be this man’s cardiologist Officer. I believe my colleague informed you that I would be stopping by to check on the condition of my patient.” Orpheus said in a cordial, yet at the same time formal manner. Hands resting at the small of his back, the points of the fingers of his right hand unconsciously rubbing against his palm, while his left hand was holding a fat yellow file.
“He did say something about it,” officer Kong said in a low voice, crossing his arms at his chest and holding his left palm out, “could I see an identification please?”
Orpheus took his time getting his wallet out of the left pocket of his brown slacks, every movement projecting authority and confidence. Mark believed it to be due to the mustache… he called it ‘The mustache effect’. The brute took the blue ID card, holding it between his thick heavy fingers, looking at it from the front side, and then the back side, and then from the front again before handing it back to Orpheus.
“Pleasure to meet you.” Officer Kong said, clasping Orpheus’ hand with his own. And then he gave his name to Orpheus, or a false name that is since ‘officer Kong’ was not the pair of words that left his hard apish mouth.
“What did we say was wrong with him again?” the cop asked as he moved to the side to let Orpheus past him.
“That would be, Takamori disease…” Orpheus said with a wry smile on his lips, shaking his head left and right a little while moving towards Mark, his back turned to the policeman.
“And you are some kind of expert?” the cop said.
“No one is an expert on Takamori. There are just not enough knowledge or studies on the topic for anyone to claim such a thing. There are not even that many cases recorded.” Orpheus said, standing over Mark’s head while opening the yellow folder and getting some paper’s out.
“How are you feeling Mark?” Orpheus asked while seemingly studying some test results.
“Good enough I guess, considering the circumstances,” and he made a show of the handcuffs around his wrists, “how are you doc?” Mark continued in a cheery manner.
“I am good too. I see that we all are in pretty good condition. That’s comforting to know.” Orpheus said, and Officer Kong lifted a large hairy eyebrow over his thick, heavy brow. Mark understood Orpheus’ meaning quite plainly. He was saying that Rob and Perry were fine as well after all, and Mark physically felt the shadow of a worry lifting off of him.
Orpheus kept looking at papers a bit longer ‘What the hell? Did he grab a pack of random test results or something?’ and then he spoke, “I am sorry for disturbing you so recently after your surgery but I believe that your disease might be acting up again. Maybe the stress of the injury, no one can be certain though. We will need to run some tests.”
“Oh, what tests?” Mark asked.
Orpheus opened his eyes wide, staring at him in disbelief for half a second, then he composed himself “An ECG and heart ultrasound for starters and maybe a stress echocardiogram. We will see about anything else.” Mark had to dig his nails into his palms and bite the inside of his cheeks to stop himself from chuckling at Orpheus’s expression.
“OK, then…” Mark started saying, but he was rudely cut off by officer Kong.
“Can they not wait for about fifteen to twenty more minutes?” officer Kong said to Orpheus in a mildly frustrated manner.
“Well…well, if there is something wrong with the boy’s heart we would have to act on the issue as soon as possible.” Orp
heus answered inquisitively and then added “Why, this particular time frame if I may ask?”
“My shift ends.” officer Kong replied easily, slightly lifting his boulder shoulders “Two colleagues will be here to take over.”
“Well sir, I believe that we can all appreciate the predicament we are currently facing. Besides if it isn’t you, it will be your fellow officers.” Orpheus said to the cop with a smile.
“Hmm, very well then. Lead the way doctor.” Officer Kong said in a mildly annoyed manner.
Orpheus freed the gurney’s breaks with his foot and started rolling it down the hallway. It was late, only a few doctors and nurses roaming the hallways and even fewer patients or relatives, apart from those few sleeping in the hallway. Most of them seemed tired, some were holding steaming cups of coffee or tea and were holding books or tablets. It would be uncomfortable sleeping in a hospital, like sleeping in a hotel or a new house…only worse, a weird feeling. When Mark was in training at the academy sleep did not come easy. He was bothered by random sighs and snores and sneezes and coughs and even though most of them got used to it in time, Mark never quite managed to do so. A hospital sounded a lot less calm and quiet than the academy. A lot of the people they encountered seemed to stare at him, probably for being handcuffed like a dangerous criminal, and if he met their gaze they would immediately shift their eyes as if they were focused on something else entirely the whole while, probably because they figured him to actually be a psychotic or dangerous. He did not much care for the assumptions, but he could not blame them. Well they were technically right on the possibly dangerous part but still. And that was only a technicality. He decided that staring cause they found him handsome was not a farfetched possibility.
The cardiology clinic was not in the same building they were in at the moment, and they had to walk in the cold dim light ‘yard’ (a small rectangular space with grass and trees and four benches) of the hospital to reach the place they were headed for. A young woman was standing under one of the few light posts in the middle of the way between them and their destination. She seemed attractive, well if you could call a pair of muscular legs and tight glutes displayed by a pair of black sports tights attractive, then she was a freaking top model. She was standing straight, her chin high and she was thin with wide shoulders and tall, but not too tall. She wore a pair of old purple sports shoes with a matching purple jacket and she was holding a small black handbag. Her hair was short, less than shoulder length but not in a manly style and black like the night. Mark could not see her face, since she was facing in the opposite direction, speaking at her cell in a low voice, her breath visible against the dim yellow light of the lamp as it condensed at the cold air.
A man, big as a truck and dressed in black, darted past them. He was moving faster than his size should allow him to and he seemed intent on a target. Mark reflexively made to move, flexing his abs and grabbing hold of the slightly bent handles of the gurney, until Orpheus put a hand on his tense shoulder. Mark relaxed, slightly at first, and then completely. Of course, this could only be one man, and the girl would probably be Catherine, Orpheus’s daughter. She remembered Catherine to be a bit shorter, with long dyed blonde hair and not as thin, but he had not seen her since last Christmas. And something more than a year is closer to an eternity for girls Catherine’s age.
Rob grabbed the small purse from the girl’s hand as he passed her by, he nudged her a bit too hard with his shoulder and body and tossed her on the ground at the base of the light post. Mark winced and turned his head to look at Orpheus who mimicked his reaction. But their reactions were nothing compared to that of officer Kong who went absolutely, apeshit crazy. His bulging eyes bulged even harder and the veins on his temples swelled to an incredible size, like a dry river after the first heavy rain of the year. His lips peeled back and his lower teeth strained against his upper so much, they seemed like breaking, a little froth actually started forming in the left corner of his mouth. His muscular chest rose up to almost meet his pointy chin and his fists clenched awfully hard as he yelled “FREEEZE” before sprinting after Rob who was visibly, to Mark’s eyes at least, not running to the best of his abilities so that he would encourage officer Kong to chase after him.
“Cool.” Mark said in a low voice, smiling at Orpheus.
The girl promptly got up from the ground and turned towards them. She was definitely not Catherine. Unless Catherine had gone through some sort of extreme makeover face edition. She had a longer and more slender face than Catherine’s round one, with a short symmetrical nose and easy to look characteristics, someone could definitely call her pretty but this implies an undertone of delicacy, which in turn could suggest a measure of fragility. Despite her thin frame, fragile would be the last thing someone would call this woman, her eyes were set hard and confident, her expression cold and distant, her facial muscles seemingly indifferent about doing their job of creating the tiniest crease or line that would paint some sort of thought or emotion on the rosy-pale skin of her face. Mark got a bit taken aback from the unfamiliar face, and then he thought he might have seen that face somewhere before. She approached him promptly and grabbed one handcuff in her left hand. A white light shone faintly from under the sleeve of her purple jacket. Mark felt the steel of the handcuff getting rapidly colder, freezing around his skin, and the steel circlet on his wrist was engulfed in ice and promptly shattered half a second later by the woman’s clenching fist. ‘She is a fellow Knight then. This explains why she seems familiar. I must have met her before, at the HQ or somewhere.’ She walked around the gurney to give the other handcuff the same treatment and two seconds later, Mark was free.
Officer Kong and Rob had already ran around a corner and out of their sight, but Mark could still hear the officer’s heavy footfalls in the calmness of the night. At that moment, a police car, probably officer Kong’s replacements, turned its sirens on as it sped past the hospital’s entrance, where the lone guard was taking in the spectacle while calmly enjoying a steaming hot beverage.
“Okay, you guys should probably go. I will stay here and talk to the police when they get back.” Orpheus said in a conspiratorial fashion, a mischievous smile with an undertone of small worry painted on his face
“What about Rob?” Mark asked, getting off the gurney, carefully stretching his muscles so as to make the soreness go away without tearing the stitches out.
“I will pick him up when I am done with the police. Now scat.” Orpheus said, shooing them with his hands as if they were a pair of bothersome stray cats.
18. CAN’T REALLY TELL
The woman turned around and started walking towards a small thicket, located on the far side of the hospital grounds. Mark hurriedly waved a hand at Orpheus and ran after her. The both of them walked in silence for a bit.
“So, thanks for coming to my rescue.” Mark said, in the Order’s official language.
“No big deal.” She responded.
A brief pause ensued, after which Mark continued. “My name is Mark.”
“Zora.” She tossed at him apathetically.
Not in the mood for much talk then…for some reason. “Cool name, its Slavic right? Does it mean anything?” Mark asked, trying to keep the conversation going, while maneuvering through the small bushes and the medium height trees of the small forest like segment at the side of the hospital’s ‘yard’.
She sighed, “Dawn. It means dawn.” She never thought it fitting, dusk would have been better.
“Cool… hey, have we by any chance ever met before?” Her face reminded him of someone, and it isn’t like you could not really tell it was one of these faces, the ones that The Genome hands out to people when it is bored or fresh out of inspiration juice.
“Maybe.” His face on the other hand did not ring any bells at all.
“When did you graduate from training?” Mark kept up the questioning in a cheery, and hopefully unobtrusive manner.
“Ten months ago… and thirteen days.” She took two qu
ick steps and jumped over the medium height wall that enclosed the hospital grounds as a fence, landing softly as a cat onto the sidewalk on the opposite side. She heard Mark following her moments later.
She seemed to have uttered out the precise numbers with an undercurrent of bile, but Mark thought it best not to go there just yet, still far too early in their acquaintance. “I graduated around two years earlier. I guess we could have probably seen each other in the Academy a couple of times.” ‘Sixteen times a hundred and twelve makes for a relatively large number of faces under the same building. But not that large.’
Zora did not respond, and Mark accepted the fact that she was probably no great enthusiast of conversation. He was right about having seen her before though, they were staying under the same large roof for a period of time, or under the same streets to be exact. The training school of the Order, the Academy, was located under the catacombs of modern day Paris. There are, on average, a hundred and twelve seven-year-olds each year finding their growth curve rising at an exponential rate, and sometimes even more rapidly than that, getting visibly taller, heavier and stronger than their friends in the span of a couple of weeks. Beating them more easily at chase and hide and seek and most other games, be they mental or physical. They are miraculously outgrowing childhood diseases that might have bothered them in the past, like asthma and such in even less time than a couple of weeks. Although what most people usually realize first from that set of rapidly changing traits would be the change of eye color, the pigment of the iris turning paler and paler, and sometimes overnight even, their kid would find itself with a pair of bright pale violet irises. Most of these children are lucky enough to have at least one parent as a member of the Order. That parent would notice and he would take the kid under their wing, explain the situation as best it can be explained to a seven year old and after that they would send it to the Order to learn and train and grow and become a Knight.
