A spark
Prologue
Name: Doctor Emery Stantony
Date: August 14th 2053
Test cure #: 176
Subject #: 143
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Classifications: Orange
Recent camps: Thurmond
Notes: Subject seems to be reacting to serum by twitching and shivering. She screams occasionally and seems to mutter things. I believe that if it weren't for the shackles she'd be walking out of here. Surgery will take approximately three hours and recovery time will be estimated to be a couple of days.
My mind raced. This was going to be a complicated surgery. The cold, white room was mostly empty except for the few nurses and the patient. The nurses that walked beside me handed me my mask and white lab coat.
"Dr. should we put her under first?" they asked holding up the syringe full of clear liquid.
"No, I do believe that this will go better if it is awake." I slipped on my rubber gloves, ignoring the shocked faces of the nurses.
"What about the pain, she may receive severe trauma." One of the young nurses exclaimed. Everyone else knew that once I had decided on something I didn't change.
"Monique is it?" I asked but didn't give her enough time to respond. "If you are going to criticize my work, I would be pleased to escort you to the door." I said dryly. All I wanted was to see my boy, his little cheery face and watch him play his piano again. If only I could figure this cure out.
It was a plague that killed most kids and turned the rest into monster, therefore there should be a cure to save them. I looked up at Monique, but she had already looked back down and was fiddling with a scalpel.
"Can we carry on now?" My voice seemed to float all around the room. As soon as the words left my mouth, everyone started running around doing things, even if they didn't have a job.
My gloves were full of blood. The surgery was almost done; I stitched up the small opening I had made at the base of her skull. We had given her quite a large dose of FRP009Y to keep her from passing out. She screamed and kicked, but nothing was going to stop me.
"Needle." I said with my arm outstretched. Someone passed me the syringe full of the last part of the antidote. I injected it right near the incision.
"Done." She kicked more violently and screamed as if her life depended on it. Maybe it did.
Had my most recent batch of the antidote failed? It seemed it had. We all stared at her in horror. It was no shock that the surgery had failed. I couldn't even remember all the other test subjects we've had.
All the nurses looked at me wondering if I was going to give the signal. I nodded. One nurse stepped forward with a syringe meant to end the misery of the young girl.
Suddenly, as if she knew that if she yelled once more she'd be dead, she stopped. I stopped the nurse, rushing to the girl's side. I checked her pulse once, then again. She was alive. Not even the FRP009Y could keep her from passing out.
A spark lit inside my chest. For the first time my attempts could possibly have worked. I could finally see my little boy.
The nurses buzzed around me but I pushed them back.
"No one touches." My voice was small compared to the chaos in the room. Soon Psi soldiers were being rushed into the room. One of them stopped by me. I stared in awe over his shoulder. He shook me and asked the question that I'd been asking myself.
"Did it work?" they needed to know, everyone needed to know. I shook my head and smiled.
"I- I think so." my stomach fluttered, how many kids had died since I started my research. Thousands, millions?
I watched still awe struck as the guards gently lifted the girl and brought her someplace safe. I caught one guard by his arm.
"What about my son." I needed him. My eyes swelled. "I need to save him." The Psi looked back at me with pity.
"You are authorized to report this, and continue research for an easier way to cure the children. We can't put thousands of kids through this surgery that took you well over four hours." What, four hours, I had only thought it to take us three hours at max. they weren't going to let me have my son back.
Sadness washed over me. My joy, my little ray of sun, how could they put him right under my nose and then snatch him back. The soldier pulled away and marched out of the room, leaving me and a whole bunch of blood.
I sat down at my computer staring at the screen. I looked to its right to the only picture I had left of my son and wife. He looked so much like her, of course this had been quite a few years back. I stared for a moment longer, before I couldn't take it anymore.
I looked back at the screen and began typing my research.
Name: Doctor Emery Stantony
Date: August 14th 2053
Test cure #: 176
Subject #: 143
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Classification: orange
Resent camps: Thurmond
Notes: Subject was given quite a large dose of FRP009Y to prevent it from passing out. It continued to scream. The surgery took well over four hours. After surgery subject seemed to scream more. We had been ready to end it, when she stopped. She passed out, it seemed that even the FRP009Y could not keep her from passing out. I will sadly continue research for a simpler way to cure the children.
I shut my eyes as the last bit of hope withered away. The spark that had occupied my chest before, now seemed to burn. It burned my hope, my joy and all other things that kept me searching.
Without thinking I got up and walked over to wear the needle that the nurse had been about to give the girl had fallen. This would have put her out of her misery; it could certainly do the same for me.
I took in a breath and without looking injected the syringe into my arm. Pain hissed up my veins. I screamed and fell to my knees. The burning was gone, but it was now replaced by something much worse. My vision was fuzzy and my brain was slurred. Then nothing. The sound of my heart filled my ears.
Thump thump…..thump thump…thump….thump….th….
