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Cain

Chapter 27

“The clinic isn’t the same without you. Melanie is doing her best, but you have big shoes to fill,” a man’s voice pricks my ear. Is there consciousness in death? Can we really be with others as we are on earth?

“Is it just the two of you?” The soft voice of an angel made just for me, my Violet. I try to open my eyes, but my lids stay shut, as if weighed down by sandbags.

“Dr. Frolov comes in sometimes… But he’s not well when he does.”

“Not well?”

“He’s either stressed or still drunk from the night before.”

“You two can always call on me, any time. Give it no mind that I quit. After last night, I’ve lost whatever shred of respect I had left for that man.”

Last night…

The boy who set off the bomb, the ride, the infirmary. Violet really was with me… She’s here now.

I may not be able to see her, but I can take solace in her voice.

“Had you ever done that before?”

“Once… It was my first emersion trip. The campsite was the only area that had been cleared. I was getting a glass of water when the bomb went off. I watched a boy around my age fall to the ground, crying out. I performed the procedure under Dr. Frolov’s supervision.” I swallow, my chest tightening when I think of Aria. “They don’t always make it… On my second immersion, a mother out with her baby tripped a landmine. The baby survived, protected by her mother’s arms. But she didn’t… She was the first patient that I watched die on the table.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah… That’s when it really hit me that it wasn’t just rumors, that there really were bombs left over from the annihilation. I was heavily considering running away from home at that time. Witnessing those bombs stopped me.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Honestly, even if Dr. Frolov had been here, I would have done it myself. I don’t know that I would have trusted Cain’s life with anyone else.”

“It should be you running this operation.”

“I agree… Do you have my back?”

“I’ll follow you through fire, boss.”

“Good… I’m going to talk to Dr. Frolov. If he doesn’t have anything good to say about what I’ve found, I’m going to take over the Medical Authority.”

I’m freezing. Did we make it to the infirmary? Are we still at the campsite? I shiver and quake, yet I can’t lift my lids or open my mouth.

“We would be better off with you… What you did was amazing. I want to be able to do that.”

“You can. Any of you can sign up for Field Immersion. You have to go away for several weeks, and it can be scary at times. But you get to raid the libraries first.” My heart thuds an extra beat. I took her to the library.

“No… I want you to teach me; I want to learn from you.”

“I’ll teach you… I need you to know something, okay?”

“What is it?”

“I’ve been… suspicious for a while. In the back of my locker there’s a locked box filled with syringes. The blue labels are a strong sedative; the red labels are lethal. I’ll give you the code later, okay?”

“Sure thing… Hey Violet? You’re only four years older than me… How do you know so much?”

“Well, I didn’t go to school like everyone else. Since I was twelve, I spent my days in the infirmary with Dr. Frolov. Looking after my mom. I started assisting the nurses with little things, or reading all of the books on their reference shelves… I’ve spent the past ten years studying medicine. You started last year; you have time before you’re ready to take over.”