Chapter 4

The room they were in now was much bigger. The rooms were better as they went further up. Hige was the only one in his room. The other bed was open, but no one was there. Everyone had moved the chairs to the foot of Hige's bed as they waited for the nurse to return with the breathing machine and what ever else she said she had to get. No one had been paying attention to her.

They did like this room much better. Hardly any one was around. It was a sort of eerie silence, but silence none the less, and that calmed them down some. The only real sound that could be heard was the still heavy breathing of Hige. Now the sun was setting, the swirling colors of red, orange, and shades of pink mixing in the sky. The pink slowly faded into the deep blue of the night sky that was coming.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" Toboe asked as he peered out the window, enjoying the colors.

"I'm not sure. I guess until Hige is better," Kiba shrugged, which caused Cheza, who was asleep on his shoulder, to stir around. He was careful not to move anymore. While Cheza slept on Kiba's shoulder, it appeared that Tsume had also fallen asleep in his chair. Toboe and Kiba were the only ones awake.

"Do you think Hige will get better soon?" Toboe asked, turning to face Kiba. He didn't answer at first, he just stared into the emptiness of the room.

"Well I hope he does," Kiba said. "Why don't you just calm down. As long as we're here, we should rest some, because as soon as we get out, we're going straight to Paradise," Kiba smiled. Toboe didn't see Kiba smile very much, but every time he did, he felt better. Since they could be calm, so could he. "I'm going to get some sleep," he paused. "Since it looks like everyone else is," Kiba said as he gently placed his head on top of Cheza's. Toboe nodded. Kiba drifted into sleep quickly.

Toboe looked out the window again. The sun was lower, and the midnight blue of evening was finally setting in. He could see the moon, slowly starting to rise, it's glow even stronger than the night before, it seemed. He cast a quick glance at the others, sleeping soundly. As tired as he might be, Toboe didn't want to go to sleep. He just stared out the window again, waiting for the nurse to come back. A sudden noise grabbed his attention. Toboe turned around and saw Hige stirring in his bed.

"Hige? Are you awake?" Toboe asked, getting out of his chair and going to the side of his bed. He looked down to see Hige's eyes were half open and searching the room. Hige saw Toboe looking down on him.

"When did we get here?" his voice was quiet still, but louder since they weren't in the busy outdoors of the town.

"We're at the hospital, they're going to take care of you. The nurse should be coming back soon," Toboe replied. Hige mumbled something, but his face was hidden by the blankets. Toboe gave him an odd stare, but he didn't notice. "What did you say?" he asked, curiosity in his voice.

"Don't worry about it kid," Hige rolled over on his side. Toboe cocked his head in confusion. Toboe went to the other side of the bed to face Hige again. He bent down so he could look at Hige's face directly. "What's wrong?" Hige mumbled from under the blankets.

"Do you feel any better?" Toboe asked. Hige took a breath like he was going to respond, but that breath triggered another coughing fit. His cough was worse and it lasted longer than usual. When he finally gained control again, he answered.

"I feel the same, but at least I'm more comfortable here than I was out there," he forced a smile. It was true that a bed would feel better than the ground, but that didn't do much to help. Toboe gave a nod of his head. He began to say something else as the nurse finally walked in. She pulled the breathing machine behind, along with something else.

"Sorry that took so long, we've been rearranging things and I couldn't find it," she laughed slightly. It was obvious she was trying to lighten the mood in the room. Hige glanced at her and rolled over again, seemingly drifting back to sleep. "Why don't you and you're friends go and get some food at the café, it's just down the hall," she smiled gently at Toboe.

"Uh . . . we don't really have any money," Toboe looked at the ground.

"Oh, that's right. Well go ahead and go there, basically everyone knows about the people who managed free treatment, and besides, they're all really nice down there," she smiled again. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of him for you."

"All right," Toboe said as he walked over to Kiba and shook his shoulder lightly. Toboe decided to wake Kiba first because he knew Tsume would yell at him. He nearly jolted out of his seat, but then remembered he had Cheza on his other shoulder. He looked at Toboe. "She said we should go get something to eat, and not to worry about paying," Toboe headed for the door, when the doctor came in suddenly.

Kiba saw her, but had no reaction. He woke Cheza and Tsume and told them about getting food. All though all Cheza would be getting was a lot of water. But Tsume looked like he was hungry, since he had no objection to it. Toboe told them it was just down the hall. As they began out the door, another person, this time a man, walked in. They weren't sure why all these people were coming in, but they would ask later. They went down the hall to the café.

Dr. Reynolds went over to Hige's bed as saw that he was asleep. The nurse had managed to put the breathing mask over his face, despite the fact he was on his side. Dr. Reynolds gently pushed him on his back and pulled one of his arms out from the covers and some how didn't wake him. She rolled up his sleeve and wiped the area above his vein with an alcohol swab. She motioned for the nurse to come over with the iv. Dr. Reynolds carefully put the iv in Hige's arm and made sure it was secure.

"You can leave now, Mr. Hunt and I have something to talk about," she said in a serious tone of voice. The nurse nodded and left, closing the door behind her. Dr. Reynolds walked to the empty bed and pulled the curtain around it. Mr. Hunt joined her. Though Hige had appeared asleep, he wasn't. He looked at his arm and frowned. He hated needles, he wasn't sure why, but he did. He listened close as they began to talk.

"Now what's wrong with this boy again?" a strong male voice came from behind the curtain. Hige knew that must be Mr. Hunt.

"They came from Magus City, don't you know what that means?" she asked, her voice harsh. Mr. Hunt didn't answer. "Don't you remember? Genesis Factory is in Magus City," it was clear she was trying to hold back from yelling.

"So, what does Genesis have to do with this?" he stopped. "Wait, you don't think it's . . ." his voice drifted.

"Exactly. It had to be C-5. Nothing else causes serious illness like this," Dr. Reynolds said. Hige was now confused and wanting to hear more. He was careful not to make any noise with his blanket and tried as hard as he could to hold back coughing.

"Just how was he able to get a hold of C-5? Didn't they stop producing that years ago?" Mr. Hunt asked.

"They were supposed to, but so many people had been using that as a fuel for certain things, that they just continued making it in secret," she answered.

"So what's so bad about this kid possibly having C-5 poisoning?" Mr. Hunt questioned. Dr. Reynolds didn't answer. "I would like an answer today Ms. Reynolds, being director of the hospital calls for something other than some kid," he snapped.

"Yes I know, but, don't you remember? Genesis Factory supplies us with some of the medicines we need, if words get out that some one has C-5 poisoning, that's it. It's gone for good! That would be the end of that factory and we would have to find a new one, which will be impossible!" she finally began to yell. Hige became worried now. What's going on? He asked himself. What do they plan to do with me?

"So, why don't we just go after the antidote?" Mr. Hunt asked.

"Because sir, that's entirely too dangerous, they don't keep the antidote stored in any place, and I might add that also is nearly impossible to find," Dr. Reynolds stopped.

"OK, then why don't we wait for him just to get better, I mean with constant monitoring and medicine, he would get better eventually," he said.

"That's true, but after a day or so, they would want to know what's wrong and if they find, we can't be sure that they'll keep their mouths shut and even if we could keep it from them, people still might get suspicious of it. I'm not the only that knows C-5 poisoning," she said. Hige heard her sit down on the bed.

"What else can we do then?" Mr. Hunt's voice grew louder. He was getting agitated.

"Well there is one way, and I'm sure we can pull it off without being questioned or causing anyone to begin to wander about any of this," she said.

"And just what would that be?" Mr. Hunt snapped again.

"That would be to kill the boy," she stopped. Hige felt his heart skip a beat. She had to be kidding, right? She couldn't really plan to do this? He wondered.

"Are you insane!? That would cause as much trouble as just leaving him the way he is!" Mr. Hunt broke into a yell.

"No, we can make it seem like he was too sick, and any papers we should have to fill out we can do that and just make a story up. I know it's risky, but it's not as risky as just not doing anything," Dr. Reynolds stood up. Hige was still in shock. She really is going to do it! They're going to kill me! His mind screamed. Dr. Reynolds opened the curtain. Hige thought for a split second on what to do, and quickly closed his eyes. Luckily he was good at faking sleep. He heard them walk to the door.

"Fine, but how do we do it with all of his little friends around?" Mr. Hunt asked.

"We give them some reason about them not being able to stay in the room and put them some where else to sleep, then we come in and take care of it, simple as that. But we don't have to worry about that for a while. Let them come back from eating so it all seems normal," she finished.

"I still don't agree completely, but if it means us staying in business and not causing serious trouble, then I suppose I have no choice," Mr. Hunt opened the door. Hige heard Dr. Reynolds say something as they walked out.

"Don't worry, everything will work out fine."

AHAHAHA!!!! I felt like being mean and stopping there!! OK, now everyone is going to hate me! I'm sorry, but I just like doing that . . . hehe ;; Please don't hate me for it! OK, well . . . yea . . . I keep updating as fast as I can so, you shouldn't have to wait too long for the next, chapter, and it should be done by sometime this weekend! I haven't had any school cuz of all the flooding here in Marietta. Stupid hurricane. Well any way, PLEASE ENJOY!!!! And keep the reviews up! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!! Ok I'm sure I just scared a lot of you, but I really do like all this, I've never had this many reviews before! Ja ne!

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