A/N: All characters are Steph's, personalities are mine ;)

3: Circles

We all joined at the same times in our lives. I was about nine was I was thrown into this life of medicine without any kind of medical training. They said to do what I was told, and if I did it right, I would be able to tell others what to do someday. That's when I began my internship. Internships run over the course of four years, and it where you learn all the basic medical training. IV's, bandaging, identifying diseases, injury awareness, and anatomy. It's the only thing you know for four years. It's what you eat, breathe, and sleep. Medical term after medical injury after spontaneous test, day or night, and if you're good, and show your good on multiple occasions, the internship only lasts three years, maybe three-and-a-half. Interns are lucky if they see the room where all the chaos happens. Sure, they peek around the corner, and through the window we have, but they are quickly shooed away. If you're lucky, you might get to stand and watch the resident give the speech about what is wrong with the human. But, when a human is dying, it's all hands on deck.

After the four grueling years, you move to your residency. Your residency lasts for five years—sometimes four if you're just that good—and it's where you begin to take on your own humans. You figure out their injuries or diseases without any help from the attending's or fellows, memorize it, fill it out on one of the few charts if you're lucky, and grab the correct attending to assess your work. If you're correct, great. There's no hug or prize, because it you're job. It's on you to figure out what the hell is wrong with these humans. The attending's take it from there, and you go double check your chart before officially giving it to the attending, and you better be damned sure it's correctly written. The resident never sees the inside of the Carrier's. Their job is to make sure the attending's are set to role. There really isn't much to it.

After that comes fellows. Fellows are basically baby attending's; they can do anything and everything an attending can do, except hands on activity. Minor things like CPR, IV's, and splinting, are the same thing as breaking bones and skulls in this place. No one is allowed to touch the human, for safety precautions. They are allowed to observe the hands on activity, and are asked questions of how and why things are done the way they are—kind of like a Spont Test for an intern, except it actually matters now. When a fellow is asked a question of how to proceed, it is rule for the attending to do exactly as the fellow says, no questions asked, even if what the fellow said was wrong. It's how they learn right from wrong and how the body functions. This is the most stressful part of this job. The two, horrific years are filled with joy, loss, anger, guilt, and so much more. You're guilty for human's deaths. You're the one who saved the humans life. You blanked. You stuttered. Are you ready?

Finally, after an insane life filled with tests and reviewing and stress, you reach an attending. Attending's are set for life. Unlike a fellow and resident, you can never drop back down to the level below you. You are the one who touches the human, decides the prognosis, and does what is needed. You're the one we try to impress. You're the boss. You don't even see the interns until the reach residency. You are quick, both with humans and to the point, because now this all rests on you.

Congratulations.

All the levels stay together in their own circles. The interns, the bottom of the food chain, don't dare talk to anyone above them. The residents are too proud to talk to anyone besides an attending, or even the fellows, and when they do, in that small window of time they believe they can change the world when they're right. They believe they're the top dogs because they're still alive even with all the infection running around and they survived the internships. The fellows are too worried about killing someone to talk to anyone but themselves, and the attending's are simply too busy to talk to anyone besides each other. We keep to each other because that's all we know, it the only communication we have. The only friendships we have.

If they don't die first, of course.

"I'm supposed to watch Cullen's Assessment today," Alice breathed. She was sitting in the aisle with her head against the wall with her eyes closed, he knees up, and her hands on her knees. "We all know how well that went last time," I could tell she was rolling her eyes underneath her eyelids. She chuckled lightly.

"Shut up it wasn't that bad," Emmett said, rolling his eyes visibly, while simultaneously turning his head to face Alice. "Try my last time with . Now, that's what you call a disaster."

Alice shook her head rapidly, and her eyes flashed open. Her head raised to Emmett she glowered, "Emmett, my human died. I blanked. At least you we're able to revive yours." She sighed, closed her eyes and rested her head back against the brick, "It's not even close to the same thing."

"Yes it is. A death by Cullen is better than almost losing one to Dwyer. That bitch is scary. And besides, that one was annoying. It's fine." he said. She glowered at him again and he quickly went silent.

It was true, though. Ask any fellow, or even a resident. A death by any other attending is smooth sailing compared to Dwyer. She's a freak show. She was a bomb, ready to explode any minute—as you know from the intern that died because of her. She was the actual top dog in this place, overseeing everyone, including her two peers of attending's. She was ruthless and raw—perfect for this place.

But she was also like a weird mom to us all. She made sure we—somehow—were not malnourished and she made sure we knew whom we were. She never gave us all more than we could handle, because she wasn't trying to break us. She was trying to keep us together as a unit and together as our own. She started this place when she was thirteen, and she took in everyone and anyone that would be willing. She may have strict rules, but that's because she was just doing her job, a job that no one else could handle.

She took me in as her own when I was just days old. Apparently when she thought I was ready, she was going to tell me about my birth parents. She had spoken to them when she found them at her doorstep nineteen years ago. She said that everything was going to be okay, and she was going to teach me how to help people who were sick. She was my mom for the next nineteen years, probably more so than anyone else here. No, she didn't give me special treatment, but she asked me about myself, when she just took care of everyone else's basic needs. She would sit with me when I was younger and hold my hand until I fell asleep, and she would sit with me when we would sometimes be able to get ice cream to eat. She would tuck me in when I was young, and whisper goodnight to me when she thought I was asleep when I was older. She was there for all the tears and the anger bursts and the episodes. She helped me through it all, and I owe everything to her.

She said she would give the details of my parents when I turned twenty. That was in another couple months, but I could wait. It was worth it.

We heard footsteps down the aisle. The lights were currently out in the aisle so we couldn't see who it was. We all straightened ourselves just in case it was either of the attending's. They came into view and sat with us.

"I can't stand it anymore. I'm leaving." She said. I recognized the voice, because it was from earlier. She was the one who helped me with taking the humans to the dumpster. I never learned her name. "I just can't do it,"

"Excuse me, who are you?" Alice said. I was too busy staring at the thin red head, trying to come up with a name for her. Carly? Morgan? Olga? I knew I had seen her around the place before, I just didn't know what level she belonged to or anything.

She spoke, "Doesn't matter," she said walking by us, "I'm leaving. Now."

Emmett bellowed a laugh, "'Cause that'll go over well. You can't leave."

She smirked at him, stopping, and turning around so I lost visual of her face. Angelica? Marie? "And how would you know?"

Emmett stood, and smirked back, "I tried before. The whole area is surrounded by electric barbed wire. You physically cannot get out without dying."

Grace? Jenna? Blanched. "You tried?" she was so white I could start to see her full outline of her face. Susie? Jenny?

"Damn right. Third year intern. Almost had a panic attack." He folded his arms and his smirk got deeper, "What's you're excuse?"

She gulped, turned to face me again, looked ahead and then back at me. We stared at each other for a long time before she finally broke it. She stared at Emmett for a while, gulped again, and then back to me, then Alice. We all looked at her with the same expression of pity and confusion of as to why she wanted to leave so bad. Alice then whispered, "If you're done now go back to whatever you have to do."

She turned and left, tears running down her cheeks. He footsteps echoed in the distance and we all watched after her.

She never showed up again. It turns out she was a second year resident, who suffered from depression. She was fifteen years old, and came here on her own free will. Her parents were apart of the take over, and her depression spiraled from them and their corruption. She ran away from her home and ended up here and decided to join. She was one of the smart ones and only did three years of an internship. She didn't mesh well with the other residents being younger than them, and that added to her depression.

She was found dead next to the wire, death by electrocution, time of death at nine-thirteen.

Her name was Jessica.

Review! :)