Greetings! This story takes place in the past, during the Purge of the DHARMA Initiative, depicting what happened at the Hydra Station during that time. This is the first of nine chapters, which I'll continue posting in the next few days. As always, feel free to post any questions/comments/issues/concerns/compliments/constructive criticisms/suggestions/etc. I love hearing from the readers! Enjoy:
Time of Death
Chapter One:
"Time of Death: four o'clock."
"That's it?"
"What else do you want me to do? Face it, Harold: he's gone."
Dr. Harold Milton hung his head and nodded slowly. He knew that Dr. Amy Occam had done her best to save their patient, but in cases like this, it always seemed like there was something more they could've done.
"I'll miss him," stated Harold, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.
Amy turned around and returned the paddles to the crash cart. "As will I."
Harold looked up at the love of his life and smiled. "You loved him, didn't you?"
She smirked at the comment and, seeing her beautiful smile, Harold couldn't help but smile too. "Don't pretend like you're any different," she said.
Harold reached out and ran his fingers through the deceased's short white hair. "I was there the day he was born, you know. It was just a few weeks after I arrived, but I remember it like it was yesterday."
"Fifteen years sure go by fast, don't they?"
"Sixteen," he corrected. "I got here a year before you, remember?"
"And that," Amy said as she began to wash the blood off her hands, "is the only reason you're the senior doctor instead of me."
Harold joined her at the sink. "That, and the fact that my medical experience and expertise is far greater than yours."
Amy laughed and splashed him with water. "You wish. The only reason DHARMA brought me here is because you couldn't tell the difference between a shark and a dolphin."
Harold dried off his hands on a nearby towel. "Hey, it was an honest mistake. I was tired from all the revolutionary work I was spearheading."
Once again eying the deceased patient, Amy commented, "We've come a long way, haven't we?"
Harold nodded nostalgically. "We sure have. He was the first cub not to need any human assistance to survive here."
"But not the last."
"But not the last," he agreed.
The third occupant of the room, a research assistant named Terry, interrupted their trip down memory lane. "If you two are ready, should I… uh… dispose of Snowy?"
Amy looked at Harold to make sure it was okay with him, then turned and said, "Give him the usual treatment."
"I'll leave the lock in your room."
Terry was referring to Amy's strange habit of keeping a small lock of hair from every polar bear that had ever been under her care, something that secretly made Harold a bit uneasy. But he loved Amy no matter how many little quirks she had, and with this in mind he grabbed her hand and the two left the Hydra's main operating room together.
They had barely taken two steps into the next room when Amy stated calmly, "Enemies ahead."
Harold quickly saw them, a few dozen large black ants crawling in and out of a small hole in the corner. Almost reflexively, the can of bug spray was in his hand, and the colony of ants was dead a few seconds later. Carrying a bottle of bug poison in his pocket at all waking moments was one of Harold's little quirks.
"I hate those things."
"I know, Harold."
"Why can't they just stay outside where they belong? Everything would be so much simpler that way. Invaders, that's what they are. Every time we set up a new building, they find some way into it."
"Well, it looks like you took care of them, honey."
"They deserved it," he reminded her. "And let's pray that every other trespasser suffers the same fate as those ants."