Will. Time. Fate.

by Andrew Yake

  “Ya big baby.” The man says at last and sits off to the side. “You’ll be fine.” His voice doesn’t sound completely sure, but then again this is not my best body and tone reading right now. I must have missed the sound of a door opening while I was vomiting from the pain.

  There is another person in the room with us now. His face is covered with a medical mask and he has scrubs on along with gloves. I am suddenly very aware that I am not wearing pants. I must have been taken after taking my pants off in that room. He walks over with a needle filled with something. I want to stop him. I want to stay in control, but I have no strength to stop whatever is going to happen now. I feel the pinch of the needle and close my eyes. I feel… better… I feel like a great weight has been taken off of me. I giggle. I hear muffled voices and do not care that my body is exposed to a classroom of empty seats.

  ******

  “What the hell happened John?” The man in scrubs addressed the gray-haired man.

  “Things went sideways Max.” John spoke unapologetically and did not seem moved by the concern in Max’s voice. John walked over so that he was looking down at JJ. “Hell, I thought she was dead and gone months ago. Then the base came under attack and she was in the thick of it. I didn’t see her again for two days after that. I heard one of our trucks being moved and tracked the thief to our infirmary. That is where I found her, bleeding out.”

  Max looked at John and then down at his patient. “I guess she is tougher and smarter than you thought she would be. I am surprised that you misjudged her after all this time.” Max started to work on her. “This is infected, but not as infected as it should be after this much open exposure. Did you give her something?”

  John shook his head. “I found this on her.” He showed the bottle of penicillin. “Like you said. She is smart.”

  Max smiled beneath his mask and exhaled. “Looks like she saved her own life, well her leg anyway.” Max took out a unit of AB negative blood and hooked it up to his patient. “Now it is time for me to get her out of the woods so to speak.” He turned his concentration to the leg and started working.

  “I could have left her.”

  “Yeah, I know you two did not get along, but you did the right thing.”

  “When I saw her before she disappeared she did not seem right in the head. Just know that if she gets up and starts attacking us, I will kill her. I don’t care what you say.” John crossed his massive arms.

  Max did not even look up as he worked. “Why did you save her in the first place then.”

  “I saw her with Val. I need to know what she knows.” John shifted uncomfortably for only a moment.

  “And…?”

  “She risked her life to save me and Alex before. She has proven herself, but she started to change and when she turned. I thought she would kill Alex and me for sure. Instead she pinned us and made those things that we were attacking disappear with her.” John looked down, his earlier macho reservations about this girl now gone. Then he looked back up at Max who had looked over at John during his revelation. “Get her better so I can ask her about what I want to know. I want to know what she was doing with Val and if she is working with those things. I want to know why she stopped us from killing their leader. And, I want to know why she came back and I want to know what she’s been doing.” John thought long and hard about how his relationship with JJ had been so similar to that of his relationship with Val right before she left. A pained expression crossed his face and then was gone as he returned to himself.

  “Do you hear yourself John?” Max turned back to the operation that he was doing. “That sounds insane. Do you really think that…”?

  “She is crazy!” John cut him off. “Yeah, I think that she is just bat-shit insane enough to pull any manner of stunts that could end our lives. It bothers me more that I don’t know what she wants and why she is back. I mean, first Val, and now this?” John walked out of the room as he spoke. His gravel voice carried with it the tone of someone who would not stop until he knew all of the tactical reasons behind any given act of aggression. As John walked out of the room he pulled an older boxy looking flip-phone out and made a call. He spoke low into the receiver. “She lives.” He ended the call, dismantled the phone, separated the battery from the rest of the phone, discarded the phone and battery into a garbage shoot and continued walking down the hall.

  ******

  My vision returns. Where am I. I look around the non-descript room and see that I am hooked up to an IV bag of clear fluid and another that is blood. I am not restrained. I look at my arms and see that they are clean. I am wearing a hospital gown, but I hear no sounds like what I would expect in a high traffic area of a hospital. My room is dimly lit. My eyes adjust and I can make out the size of the room.

  It is a private room. There is a door off to my left. There is a sink off to my right. There are no windows. It looks like an older room. The wall-paper seems to be coming off around the top edges and at the corners of the room. There are a few chairs and table that appear to have been shoved against the wall and covered with a thin plastic sheet.

  I pull up my gown to inspect my leg. It is bandaged and I can see a small spot of red fading through the cloth. I also take note that I am not wearing any underwear. All of my clothes are gone. I look around the room again to see if there was anything other than hospital gowns available. I see a drawer under the placement of an empty TV rack. I sit up and move my legs so that they are over the side of the bed that has my IV bags and holder. I hold onto the stand with the bags and attempt to stand up. I feel the cool air across my naked back side.

  I feel slightly dizzy. I must have been drugged. I force myself to get past the feeling. I shuffle over to the drawers while rolling the stand with me for stability. I open them. There are purple and pink scrubs with a cartoon pattern. They are close enough to my size that I decide that these would be better than nothing. I dawn my new apparel and look for something to put on my feet. I find nothing at first. Then I see some slippers, rubber slippers, crocks I think, in the last drawer. I sigh at the ugliness of what I am wearing.

  If I am in a hospital I may actually be able to blend in in this outfit. On the other hand, if I am not in a hospital I could die from embarrassment. I may not know who I am, but I am sure that this look is not for me. I feel naked in this outfit, partially because I am not wearing anything under it and partially because during my last moments of true awareness I had a gun, my dog, and small arsenal in the back of a truck.

  I feel very alone here and decide not to stay. I unhook myself from the IV bags. Well, at least I am alive. I can figure out the rest as I go along. I move cautiously toward the door hoping that whoever put me here was not waiting outside the door. I had enough surprises for one day. I open the door to an empty hallway. There are signs up and down the corridor that suggest that I am in the bowels of a hospital. I hear footsteps coming from my right. I look, but I see no one there and decide that I would not be here when whomever was about to turn the corner came back.

  I moved quickly and quietly across the hall to an abandoned nurse’s station and duck down. My leg is better, but I do not feel like testing out my ability to run just yet. I hear the footsteps get louder and stop in front of the room I had just been in. I hear the door to the room open, but the footsteps do not go inside.

  “Damn it.” I hear a man’s voice. I recognize it, at least I think I do. I think it is the voice of the masked man who drugged me. I remain still under the cover of the nurse’s station desk. I hold my breath and wait. I hear the footsteps come closer. He, whoever he is, is right on the other side of the desk now. Undoubtedly looking to see if there is anyone hiding there. He does not come around the desk. Instead, I hear him take out a phone and hit one button.

  “Nope…” he starts to walk back down the hall the way he came. “I have no idea why she left. I will check the hospital to see if she is on another floor.” His voice starts trailing off as he continues down the hall. It is abruptl
y cut off as he goes through a set of doors.

  I decide to move now from my hiding spot. My leg is stiff, but I know that I can move. I just hope that I do not rip any stitches. I go to an elevator and take note that I am on sub level 2. I get into the elevator silently wishing that I knew who I was hiding from and why. Wishing that I had my dog and gun, but most of all I find myself wishing I knew what to do next. I push the button for level 2. I assume that they would look for me first on the ground floor, but I also hoped that I would be able to find some sort of emergency exit on the second floor that would allow for a quiet escape.

  The elevator hums into movement. I feel the pressure of the upward thrust. I also notice that the elevator appears to have openings on either side. I stand close to the wall so that when either door open I will be able to look out the door first and hopefully not look too suspicious doing so. The elevator comes to a stop. I look up as the elevator chimes and the number 2 lights up. The doors open to a relatively busy hallway. I see a sign that reads psychiatric unit. I sigh and exit the elevator moving slowly to hide my limp. I am immediately hailed by a person in a lab coat standing next to an unconscious female laying on a stretcher. “Excuse me nurse. I need you to take this one down to observation please.” I smile and nod as I walk toward her as smoothly as I can without limping and take hold of the stretcher and start wheeling her down the direction that the woman, doctor, in the lab coat had motioned toward. Then she stopped me almost as soon as I had started. “Wait a minute. Where is your badge?” I looked down at my empty lapel. The doctor points to her own badge hanging from her lapel. It has her name, picture, and a bar code along the side.

  “I’m sorry I must have forgotten it in my locker. I will go get it after I take this one to observation.” I shrug as if I have been caught doing something that I shouldn’t have. This is not entirely false.

  The doctor, I look at her name badge, Sandi Johnston, does not look totally convinced and before she can scrutinize me further I speak up. “This is my first day here and I am nervous. I really am sorry Doctor Johnston.”

  I hear the intercom chirp to life and call some code that apparently gets this doctor’s attention. “Whatever, get it fixed and don’t let it happen again. Understand?!” I nod and start walking again.

  I look down at the chart before me. It is attached to the stretcher that is holding a young girl. She is in a gown and I feel bad for her, well… not that bad. I see a bandage on her left arm. Wow, you must have been serious about killing yourself I don’t envy you. I look again at the chart and read her name. Allison Morgan.

  I continue to wheel this little girl down the hall. I see her starting to stir a bit and hope that she does not open her eyes just yet. I don’t need to be slowed down by a basket case. There are plenty of people around that I could probably get to take her, but that may lead to a similar conversation that I just had with the good doctor. I would rather not have that kind of attention brought to myself at this juncture. I keep my head down and continue walking. Allison stirs again and her eyes begin to open. Damn.

  8

  Unlikely Alliance

  My eyes flutter open. There is a nurse, without a name badge, moving me down a hall. She is beautiful, tall, with extremely, basically buzzed, short red hair, and fair skin. She looks like she has a Scottish heritage. She has strikingly beautiful features that include intense pale blue eyes. I can tell that I hate her already just because she is everything I am not in the looks department. I can tell from her movements that she has been hurt recently. I want to look her over more, but my angle of sight is that of a person laying on a bed. This is not conducive to a proper inventory of my surroundings. I look down and see that I am in a hospital gown. Crap. They are sending me to get examined by a shrink. I know that I am not crazy. I think over the events that have happened and do it quickly.

  I quickly realize that the craziness of today could be linked to my breakthrough with my books the night before. It does not take me long to snap back to my current reality. Alright, no problem. I think to myself nervously. I just have to convince this nice lady that I need to be let go and not to turn me in. Yeah, piece of cake. I do my best to turn on the charm and get ready for a medical discussion as to why I am not in the right area. “Excuse me ma’am.” I am met with an icy glair that softens to a contemplative sweet, albeit fake, smile.

  “Don’t you worry about a thing Allison. We are just taking you down to the observation area.” The young woman returns her gaze to the direction that she is pushing me.

  “No. I don’t think you understand. I am not supposed to be here.”

  “Sure, whatever you say.” Her voice is strained like she is trying to fight back pain. It is slight, but it is there. Well, so much for a medical discussion about me. Maybe a medical discussion about her is in order.

  “I am a doctor. I can help you.” This results in a chuckle from the red-haired nurse.

  “Right, you are a doctor.” She continues walking, but she returns her gaze momentarily to me.

  “My name is…” I start, but she cuts me off.

  “I know what your name is. I already used it remember.”

  “Then you know my father is the chief of Neurology here. Do you really think that I belong here?”

  “Listen kid, I don’t care who you are or who your dad is. I am just taking you down here and…” Her voice trails off and we take an immediate left turn. I see her wince in pain at the sudden change in direction.

  ******

  Jane looked up during the conversation and saw the only man that she recognized from what had just happened to her. She immediately took a left down the next hallway. She glanced at a placard that had the general layout of the hospital. She committed it to memory as she wheeled Allison down the hall. Jane realized that she may be committing a much bigger felony, namely kidnapping, now and thought about ditching her new companion and continuing down the hall. She would have at that moment, had there not been other eyes around.

  Allison looked around her and realized very quickly that they were no longer headed in the direction of the psychiatric unit. She also took note of how her “nurse” had looked at the hospital diagram and seemed to study it quickly. This pleased her from the standpoint that she would not be going to a psychiatric unit, at least not right away. This gave her time to think.

  “What is your name?” Alison spoke softly, but with enough forcefulness to demand attention. “I know that you are not a nurse and I am betting that you are not even employed here.”

  Jane thought about her options and answered. “Call me Jane.”

  “Alright,” Allison spoke slower, “well, Jane, where are we going now?”

  “Away.” The short abrupt reply told Allison all that she needed to know about her companion in that moment. She was in trouble and needed to find a way out of the hospital by means that would not attract unwanted attention. Allison knew the feeling.

  “Take your next right and head to the service elevator down on your left. You are taking me with you.”

  “Like hell I am.” Jane took the right as instructed and flinched again from the pain.

  “You can try to ditch me, but I will start yelling that you’re kidnapping me.” Allison spoke defiantly and almost immediately regretted it.

  Jane looked down at her with cruel intent and smiled. “Good. I might need a hostage or a meat shield.” They got up to the elevator that Allison had said would be there. “Damn it! This requires a key.”

  “Exactly, that is why I suggested it. Check behind the potted plant over there.” Allison pointed next to where they were standing. There were several potted plants, obviously fake, but they made the hallway look less sterile. She reached behind and found the key.

  Jane looked at Allison questioningly. Allison smiled and said, “I know one of the janitors and lets me meet him for lunch on the roof sometimes.”

  Jane said nothing and put the key into the lock. It turned and the elevator came to life. She took the k
ey out of the lock and used it again once they were inside the elevator. Allison got up from the bed and looked at herself in the chrome platting along the wall of the elevator. “Go to sub level 1. I need to get some different clothes and my things.”

  “Sure thing.” Jane pushed the button and pushed herself up against the wall due to the double openings.

  Allison smiled and pointed at the side opposite from where they had entered. “It opens on that side. Who are you running from?”

  “Don’t know.” Jane focused her attention on the door and braced herself. Her leg hurt, but she could feel the tenseness in her muscles all over her body and knew that she could handle herself if need be. She did not know how she knew this, but she seemed to reassure herself momentarily before the elevator stopped on the first floor and a janitor entered. He wore earphones and a blue jumpsuit. He kept his head down and was humming an old tune by REM that Allison recognized as “It’s the end of the world as we know it”. He pushed a mop and bucket into the elevator seemingly oblivious to Jane and Allison. He pushed the sub level 2 button and was about to place the key into the lock to make it start moving. “Hey, jackass!” Jane took a step forward and the man turned to face them. He pulled his earphones down.