The intern was shocked to see such a magnitude of grave looking teenagers,
all sitting solemnly at the foot of the hall, as she pushed a cart full of
her patient rations past them. For that's how D-tent appeared to almost
everyone in the Intensive Care ward: stone cold youths all staring silently
at the shiny tiles beneath them, not a nerve in their bodies even feeling
willing enough to twitch. Magnet and Magnetic had joined the assemblage
some hours before, and both sat separately due to the unannounced events of
that evening. According to Magnetic, Magnet had broken into her room and
had tried to harass her about how she was so rude as to not love him.
Magnet, however, begged to differ, saying that when he woke up from his
afternoon rest, he'd found Magnetic all cuddled up beside him. No-one knew
the real story yet at the moment, no-one had the heart to find out.
X-ray had also dared to venture up to the Intensive Care hall, with news that Rogue was still being treated for second degree starvation, and now sat forlorn against the wall. Apparently, Rogue was doing well but was now recovering from the lack of oxygen to her lungs. According to X-ray, the nurse had informed him that Rogue had gone into shock as soon as the doctors had tried to cart her away on the night of their arrival.
But at least her state seemed to be fairing better then that of D-tent, all of whom had been laying about the hall in silence for about eight hours now without a word of consent or reassurance from anyone. The only thing anyone in the ward would give them was a pitiful stare as they hurried past, leaving the quiet teens in a manner of near-furry. It made some of them sick to see such people rush past without any real care at all as they did their job of giving people phony looks of concern. Why wouldn't they just stay the hell away if they weren't going to embrace the members of D-tent, smile down at them, and tell them everything was going to be okay? Of what use were they to anyone in the entire freaking hospital if they didn't even care? Wasn't it part of their jobs to at least shed one tear?
The door to room 644 opened slowly as it had many times that evening, taunting the members of D-tent into false excitement every time. A young man peeling blue, plastic gloves off his hands, stepped out and paused at the site of D-tent.
"Are you the friends of Allie's?" he asked, addressing them politely.
They nodded in a robotic fashion, to grave to make the muscles in their necks work properly.
"Well," the young man continued. "We've finished the operation."
"Is she okay?" Twitch croaked, speaking for the first time since he'd stated what medication they had Fidget on, hours before.
"Well her level of cardiac stress exceeded her respiratory systems strength and she did experience an increased heart rate for a moment there, but we were able to reduce the pressure caused to her lungs."
Twitch slowly cocked his head to one side as he tried to comprehend what the doctor had just said.
"We were able to save her," the young man completed at the sight of D- tent's confusion. "She's going to be all right."
Nobody moved at the doctor's last words, but they all sat silently in cerebration as they began to understand what was going on.
"Can we see her?" Lei asked urgently, her eyes nearly bulging out of her face.
"I'm afraid not," the doctor replied solemnly. "After an operation like that, she'll need lots of rest. You can visit her later. But now, I think you should all return to your own rooms and get some sleep. It's already six o'clock in the morning and you've been here all night. Janet here will escort you all back to your floors."
D-tent filed out of the Intensive Care ward behind a curly-haired woman wearing a stethoscope about her neck. It wasn't until they were all settled back into their individual rooms that they all exhaled their long awaiting breaths.
* * *
"How are the guys all doing?"
"They're doing great. They nearly had heart attacks a couple days ago when your heart stopped working right but they're all fine now."
"We should invite them up sometime. I've been told they came to visit me yesterday but I must have been asleep or something cause I really don't remember."
Fidget's voice was frail behind the respiratory mask she had to wear, and it was constantly interrupted by the rigid sound of her irregular breaths, but to the girls of D-tent, she looked better then she had in months.
It had been two days since the night they'd nearly lost their dear friend and since then they'd visited her twice, both times being almost pointless as Fidget hadn't opened her eyes once the entire time. But now, on the third day of her recovery, the D-tent girls had crept into her room to find her wide awake and restless, and now they all sat sprawled on her bed or kneeling on the floor.
"How's Twitch?" Fidget asked wearily. "Did he have to be given medicine?"
Static, who was laying beside Fidget on the bed, Fidget's hand in hers, nodded. "But not as much as you."
"Ooh, I can't wait to show him my stitches!" Fidget said, smiling meekly. "They had to cut into me with these little knives and now I have scars all across my ribcage. Isn't that cool?"
Lei giggled. "We definitely got our ol' Fidget back," she said, stroking Fidget's hair.
Fidget grinned. "Well what'd you expect?" she asked nodding. "An ugly girl with a beard?" She shifted in her bed so that she was propped back against her pillows and could see everyone more easily. "So what else happened while I was stuck in this crap house? Anything exciting?" she smiled.
"Well, Twitch told us about how he had to sleep in the same room as some guy with yellow skin," Zippy announced.
"I wanna see someone with hot pink skin," Fidget said thoughtfully. "That would be SO cool!"
"And Magnet found Magnetic sleeping in his bed!" Zippy chortled.
"WHAT?" Magnetic cried. "Don't tell me you believe that slime ball!?" Then she turned to Fidget and said softly, "Don't believe them: they've been having crazed hallucinations over the past few days."
"I'll bet they have," Fidget said, nodding her head.
"I met this little boy named Tober," Chase said. "You have to come down and meet him sometime Fidget, you'd LOVE him!"
"I didn't do nothin' but pray for you, Fidget," Rogue said softly. She'd been released the day before and she still didn't seem quite steady on her feet. Whenever she walked or talked she was always really slow, but on the day when she'd been released she'd been showered with hugs and kisses from her friends—including X-ray!
Fidget smiled. "So, how's Zigzag?" she asked.
"Well Zigzag tried burning down the front lobby the other day before they took his lighter away," Static said. "He was pretty upset about that but he seemed to enjoy talking to some of the patients who had first degree burns—under the close surveillance of a police officer."
Fidget laughed. "Awe, I missed Zigzag: he always made me laugh. So what about Squid?" she pondered, winking at Chase.
Chase shrugged her shoulders. "He seems fine," she replied. "We haven't talked much: he looks really tired these days."
"Awe poor Squid!" Zippy cried dramatically. "You should go love your lover Chase!"
"Shut up," Chase said, blushing.
"Well at least I still love MY man!" Zippy stated proudly. "We ate breakfast together yesterday and we talked A LOT! Even though the hospital food tasted like shit and it stuck to the roof of my mouth for the rest of the day, I'd have to say that that was one of the BEST breakfasts I've had in a LONG time!" Zippy gave a final sharp bow of her head before she curled up at the foot of Fidget's bed again, her face buried behind her knees.
"Well alright then," Magnetic said a little awkwardly as everyone stared wide-eyed at Zippy.
Lei sighed. "I'm so happy you're with us again Fidget. I'll be able to sleep easier now," she said.
"'Lost' is not a term defined by 'forever'," Rogue said.
"What was that?" Chase asked. "It was beautiful."
Rogue shrugged her shoulders. "Just something I heard in a poem a long time ago."
"Well amen to that," Fidget said sleepily. "Even though I don't know what it means."
Static smiled. "That's okay," she said softly. "You just sleep now. You've had a rough time and you need all the rest you can get. We'll leave this hospital soon enough. You'll see."
Fidget was still smiling when her eyes closed and her breath became heavy.
* * *
"Alan?" the female doctor asked, stepping inside Squid's room.
"Yeah?" Squid replied. He was laying in his bed staring up at the ceiling as he'd done everyday at this time in the afternoon.
"A few days ago when you children first arrived here, we were questioning your friend Brian," she said, taking a step towards Squid's bed. "He was in such a state of hysterics that day that we were worried we wouldn't get a straight answer out of him but he mentioned that you all had come from a juvenile delinquent facility in northern Texas called Camp Green Lake. Is that right?"
Squid stopped trying to count the tiles on the ceiling and his mouth began to feel dry.
When he failed to answer the doctor's question, she continued. "Well we called that facility to verify what Brian told us and they agreed that you did belong there. Now I don't know the whole story but the Warden of your camp said that you all needed to be returned safely to camp and they'll be coming down here to pick you up tomorrow. Alright?"
After waiting a few more seconds for Squid to answer, the doctor retired and turned to leave his room, closing the door behind her.
* * *
"How is your friend?" Tober asked.
Chase was kneeling at the side of his bed, stroking his sandy colored hair back from his forehead as he gave her his usual interview of the day.
"She's doing really, really good," Chase said quietly. "She can talk and everything now!"
"That's good," Tober said, a little distractedly. "My mommy saw me yesterday."
"Really?" Chase said with an animated excitement. "What'd she say?"
"She said that, that I can leave here soon," Tober replied, nodding his head happily. "She also said that I can see me friends again."
"That's wonderful Tober!" Chase cried happily.
"Won't you miss me though?" Tober asked, pouting.
"Awe," Chase cried, wrapping her arms around the little boy's shoulders and hugging him tightly. "I'll miss you every single day!" she said. "Will you miss me?"
Tober nodded sleepily before yawning widely. "Mmmmhuh," he said, smiling.
Chase stood up and tucked him beneath his covers before kissing his forehead. "Goodnight," she whispered.
Tober was all ready fast asleep.
The next second, Tober was struck awake by the door to their room being thrown open and Squid storming in.
"Squid! What the heck are you doing?" Chase cried as Squid hurried towards her. "Tober was trying to-"
Squid grabbed her and stifled her yells with his hand placed firmly over her mouth.
"Shh!" he hushed. "We've got to get out of here. People from camp, they're gonna be here tomorrow to take us back there," he whispered quickly.
"What?" Chase asked, her voice muffled by Squid's grasp.
"We have to leave," Squid repeated. Slowly, he let his hand fall away from Chase's face. "Do you understand?" he asked her.
She nodded slowly.
"Okay, good," Squid said. Turning, he grabbed a plastic bag that he'd brought along. "Here," he said, tossing Chase one of the white lab coats that the doctors were always wearing. "Put this on. I got it out of the staff room. You know where everyone's rooms are?"
Chase nodded again.
"Good. Go to all their rooms and tell them to go up to room 301 on the second floor. "That's the only room with a window that's closest to the ground. I'm gonna go get Fidget and take her up there where I'll tell you all what to do next. Got that?"
Chase looked down at the white coat in her hands that she was to wear as she stole everyone from their beds and told them to go to room 301 on the second floor.
"Did you get that?" Squid asked again.
"Yes," Chase said slowly.
"Alright, I'll meet you in room 301," Squid said before turning and hurrying from her room.
"Do you have to go now?" Tober asked, startling Chase as she'd forgotten he was even there behind her.
Chase turned and looked sorely at the little boy that she'd grown to love. "I guess so," she said sadly.
"I'll miss you," Tober said.
"I'll miss you too," Chase said as she stepped out the door and turned to blow Tober a kiss.
"I love you," Tober said, just as Chase was about to close the door behind her.
"I love you too Tober," Chase said, taking one last look at the little boy before closing the door and turning to follow through with Squid's plan. "Bye, bye," she whispered.
Chase walked quickly down the halls, feeling that at any moment someone would grab her and cry, "You're not a doctor! How'd you get this coat?" She nodded shortly to the different nurses and doctors she passed along the way, but mostly she tried to be as invisible as she could possibly make herself . At last she found herself before a recognizable door and stepped quickly inside.
Zigzag tumbled off the side of Static's bed when Chase entered, both of them looking like a deer caught in the headlights at Chase's arrival.
"I swear doctor!" Zigzag cried. "We were just talking!"
"I don't care what you were doing!" Chase cried. "We've just gotta get out of here!"
"You're a gracious doctor," Zigzag said, scratching the side of his head. "And you look kind'a young to be a doctor too."
"You moron," Static cried. "It's Chase in a lab coat."
Zigzag looked dumbfounded.
"Yeah, whatever," Chase said. "Anyway, we've got to leave the hospital. Squid heard that the Warden knew about us being here and she sent people to pick us up tomorrow and he's devised this whole plan for us to escape. We have to go to room 301 on the second floor—that's where Squid'll be waiting for us. Will you two help me tell everyone to get up there as soon as possible?"
Static nodded. "Of coarse," she said.
"Wait a second," Zigzag said. "So you're really just Chase in a doctor suit and you won't get us in trouble for making out in here?"
Chase nearly punched herself in the face.
After slowly informing Zigzag of the situation a couple more times, the three split up to go recruit the other D-tent members. Chase hurried down the hall towards Zero's room which was only a corridor away from Static's, when she was just about there.
"Hey you!"
Chase's heart began to pound in her chest as she quickened her pace, hoping the man hadn't been addressing her.
"Hey you!" he called again. "Excuse me!"
Zero's room was just around the corner-
Chase's arm was grabbed from behind and she was stopped short in her tracks.
"Excuse me," a short, balding man asked, irritated. "I just wanted to ask you where the cafeteria was!"
"Oh-erm-that way," Chase said, pointing off down the hall.
"Thanks," the man said before turning away and hurrying off down the hall muttering himself, "Those damn interns: always so jittery!"
"That was close," Chase sighed under her breath before she turned the corner and hurried into Zero's room.
"Hurry up!" she cried a few minutes later, dragging Zero from his bed. "We have to leave!"
"I am so confused right now," Zero cried as Chase whisked down the hall and up a flight of stairs.
"We have to get to room 301," Chase said in his ear as they past a group of nurses. As soon as they had turned another corner and were out of the nurse's sight, Chase took up at a run again.
"There it is!" Zero said pointing to a door at the end of the hall with the faint numbers 301 plastered to the front of it. "Now will you tell me what is going on here?"
Chase burst into the room with Zero on her heels to find Magnetic, Lei, Static, Rogue, Zippy, and Fidget hung limply in Squid's arms, all waiting for them.
"Where's everybody else?" Chase asked.
Static shrugged. "Zigzag was supposed to get them," she said.
About five minutes later Magnet, Twitch, X-ray, Armpit and Zigzag all came lumbering into the room.
"Hey wait a second," Armpit cried, staring about the room in utter confusion. "I thought you said there'd be free doughnuts in here Zigzag?"
Zigzag smiled maliciously.
"Okay," Squid said. "You all know why you're here right?"
"No," Armpit replied grumpily.
"The Warden knows we're here," Zippy explained shortly.
"Oh," Armpit said.
"But why'd we have to come all the way up to this particular room?" Magnetic asked. "Aren't their plenty of other rooms with windows?"
"No," Squid said. "Not in the sick ward anyway. This is the pregnancy ward."
"Really?" Magnet asked excitedly.
Rogue stared at him in disgust. "Ewe," she said.
"Okay," Squid continued. "Now we have to leave quickly and efficiently. We're gonna climb out this window here and then steal a car from the parking lot down there. Understood?"
Everyone agreed.
"Alright, hold Fidget and I'll climb down first," Squid said, handing Fidget to Zigzag and sliding out the open window, down into the night.
The rest of D-tent waited with baited breaths as they listened closely to Squid's procession down the rain spout until finally, they heard a soft thud as he jumped down onto the ground.
"Is it safe?" Static called as discreetly as she could.
"Yeah," Squid called back. "Come on down."
Static had been about to turn and slide through the window just as Squid had when all of a sudden, all of D-tent heard a loud, unrecognizable voice from down below call out:
"FREEZE! Put your hands up where I can see them!"
X-ray had also dared to venture up to the Intensive Care hall, with news that Rogue was still being treated for second degree starvation, and now sat forlorn against the wall. Apparently, Rogue was doing well but was now recovering from the lack of oxygen to her lungs. According to X-ray, the nurse had informed him that Rogue had gone into shock as soon as the doctors had tried to cart her away on the night of their arrival.
But at least her state seemed to be fairing better then that of D-tent, all of whom had been laying about the hall in silence for about eight hours now without a word of consent or reassurance from anyone. The only thing anyone in the ward would give them was a pitiful stare as they hurried past, leaving the quiet teens in a manner of near-furry. It made some of them sick to see such people rush past without any real care at all as they did their job of giving people phony looks of concern. Why wouldn't they just stay the hell away if they weren't going to embrace the members of D-tent, smile down at them, and tell them everything was going to be okay? Of what use were they to anyone in the entire freaking hospital if they didn't even care? Wasn't it part of their jobs to at least shed one tear?
The door to room 644 opened slowly as it had many times that evening, taunting the members of D-tent into false excitement every time. A young man peeling blue, plastic gloves off his hands, stepped out and paused at the site of D-tent.
"Are you the friends of Allie's?" he asked, addressing them politely.
They nodded in a robotic fashion, to grave to make the muscles in their necks work properly.
"Well," the young man continued. "We've finished the operation."
"Is she okay?" Twitch croaked, speaking for the first time since he'd stated what medication they had Fidget on, hours before.
"Well her level of cardiac stress exceeded her respiratory systems strength and she did experience an increased heart rate for a moment there, but we were able to reduce the pressure caused to her lungs."
Twitch slowly cocked his head to one side as he tried to comprehend what the doctor had just said.
"We were able to save her," the young man completed at the sight of D- tent's confusion. "She's going to be all right."
Nobody moved at the doctor's last words, but they all sat silently in cerebration as they began to understand what was going on.
"Can we see her?" Lei asked urgently, her eyes nearly bulging out of her face.
"I'm afraid not," the doctor replied solemnly. "After an operation like that, she'll need lots of rest. You can visit her later. But now, I think you should all return to your own rooms and get some sleep. It's already six o'clock in the morning and you've been here all night. Janet here will escort you all back to your floors."
D-tent filed out of the Intensive Care ward behind a curly-haired woman wearing a stethoscope about her neck. It wasn't until they were all settled back into their individual rooms that they all exhaled their long awaiting breaths.
* * *
"How are the guys all doing?"
"They're doing great. They nearly had heart attacks a couple days ago when your heart stopped working right but they're all fine now."
"We should invite them up sometime. I've been told they came to visit me yesterday but I must have been asleep or something cause I really don't remember."
Fidget's voice was frail behind the respiratory mask she had to wear, and it was constantly interrupted by the rigid sound of her irregular breaths, but to the girls of D-tent, she looked better then she had in months.
It had been two days since the night they'd nearly lost their dear friend and since then they'd visited her twice, both times being almost pointless as Fidget hadn't opened her eyes once the entire time. But now, on the third day of her recovery, the D-tent girls had crept into her room to find her wide awake and restless, and now they all sat sprawled on her bed or kneeling on the floor.
"How's Twitch?" Fidget asked wearily. "Did he have to be given medicine?"
Static, who was laying beside Fidget on the bed, Fidget's hand in hers, nodded. "But not as much as you."
"Ooh, I can't wait to show him my stitches!" Fidget said, smiling meekly. "They had to cut into me with these little knives and now I have scars all across my ribcage. Isn't that cool?"
Lei giggled. "We definitely got our ol' Fidget back," she said, stroking Fidget's hair.
Fidget grinned. "Well what'd you expect?" she asked nodding. "An ugly girl with a beard?" She shifted in her bed so that she was propped back against her pillows and could see everyone more easily. "So what else happened while I was stuck in this crap house? Anything exciting?" she smiled.
"Well, Twitch told us about how he had to sleep in the same room as some guy with yellow skin," Zippy announced.
"I wanna see someone with hot pink skin," Fidget said thoughtfully. "That would be SO cool!"
"And Magnet found Magnetic sleeping in his bed!" Zippy chortled.
"WHAT?" Magnetic cried. "Don't tell me you believe that slime ball!?" Then she turned to Fidget and said softly, "Don't believe them: they've been having crazed hallucinations over the past few days."
"I'll bet they have," Fidget said, nodding her head.
"I met this little boy named Tober," Chase said. "You have to come down and meet him sometime Fidget, you'd LOVE him!"
"I didn't do nothin' but pray for you, Fidget," Rogue said softly. She'd been released the day before and she still didn't seem quite steady on her feet. Whenever she walked or talked she was always really slow, but on the day when she'd been released she'd been showered with hugs and kisses from her friends—including X-ray!
Fidget smiled. "So, how's Zigzag?" she asked.
"Well Zigzag tried burning down the front lobby the other day before they took his lighter away," Static said. "He was pretty upset about that but he seemed to enjoy talking to some of the patients who had first degree burns—under the close surveillance of a police officer."
Fidget laughed. "Awe, I missed Zigzag: he always made me laugh. So what about Squid?" she pondered, winking at Chase.
Chase shrugged her shoulders. "He seems fine," she replied. "We haven't talked much: he looks really tired these days."
"Awe poor Squid!" Zippy cried dramatically. "You should go love your lover Chase!"
"Shut up," Chase said, blushing.
"Well at least I still love MY man!" Zippy stated proudly. "We ate breakfast together yesterday and we talked A LOT! Even though the hospital food tasted like shit and it stuck to the roof of my mouth for the rest of the day, I'd have to say that that was one of the BEST breakfasts I've had in a LONG time!" Zippy gave a final sharp bow of her head before she curled up at the foot of Fidget's bed again, her face buried behind her knees.
"Well alright then," Magnetic said a little awkwardly as everyone stared wide-eyed at Zippy.
Lei sighed. "I'm so happy you're with us again Fidget. I'll be able to sleep easier now," she said.
"'Lost' is not a term defined by 'forever'," Rogue said.
"What was that?" Chase asked. "It was beautiful."
Rogue shrugged her shoulders. "Just something I heard in a poem a long time ago."
"Well amen to that," Fidget said sleepily. "Even though I don't know what it means."
Static smiled. "That's okay," she said softly. "You just sleep now. You've had a rough time and you need all the rest you can get. We'll leave this hospital soon enough. You'll see."
Fidget was still smiling when her eyes closed and her breath became heavy.
* * *
"Alan?" the female doctor asked, stepping inside Squid's room.
"Yeah?" Squid replied. He was laying in his bed staring up at the ceiling as he'd done everyday at this time in the afternoon.
"A few days ago when you children first arrived here, we were questioning your friend Brian," she said, taking a step towards Squid's bed. "He was in such a state of hysterics that day that we were worried we wouldn't get a straight answer out of him but he mentioned that you all had come from a juvenile delinquent facility in northern Texas called Camp Green Lake. Is that right?"
Squid stopped trying to count the tiles on the ceiling and his mouth began to feel dry.
When he failed to answer the doctor's question, she continued. "Well we called that facility to verify what Brian told us and they agreed that you did belong there. Now I don't know the whole story but the Warden of your camp said that you all needed to be returned safely to camp and they'll be coming down here to pick you up tomorrow. Alright?"
After waiting a few more seconds for Squid to answer, the doctor retired and turned to leave his room, closing the door behind her.
* * *
"How is your friend?" Tober asked.
Chase was kneeling at the side of his bed, stroking his sandy colored hair back from his forehead as he gave her his usual interview of the day.
"She's doing really, really good," Chase said quietly. "She can talk and everything now!"
"That's good," Tober said, a little distractedly. "My mommy saw me yesterday."
"Really?" Chase said with an animated excitement. "What'd she say?"
"She said that, that I can leave here soon," Tober replied, nodding his head happily. "She also said that I can see me friends again."
"That's wonderful Tober!" Chase cried happily.
"Won't you miss me though?" Tober asked, pouting.
"Awe," Chase cried, wrapping her arms around the little boy's shoulders and hugging him tightly. "I'll miss you every single day!" she said. "Will you miss me?"
Tober nodded sleepily before yawning widely. "Mmmmhuh," he said, smiling.
Chase stood up and tucked him beneath his covers before kissing his forehead. "Goodnight," she whispered.
Tober was all ready fast asleep.
The next second, Tober was struck awake by the door to their room being thrown open and Squid storming in.
"Squid! What the heck are you doing?" Chase cried as Squid hurried towards her. "Tober was trying to-"
Squid grabbed her and stifled her yells with his hand placed firmly over her mouth.
"Shh!" he hushed. "We've got to get out of here. People from camp, they're gonna be here tomorrow to take us back there," he whispered quickly.
"What?" Chase asked, her voice muffled by Squid's grasp.
"We have to leave," Squid repeated. Slowly, he let his hand fall away from Chase's face. "Do you understand?" he asked her.
She nodded slowly.
"Okay, good," Squid said. Turning, he grabbed a plastic bag that he'd brought along. "Here," he said, tossing Chase one of the white lab coats that the doctors were always wearing. "Put this on. I got it out of the staff room. You know where everyone's rooms are?"
Chase nodded again.
"Good. Go to all their rooms and tell them to go up to room 301 on the second floor. "That's the only room with a window that's closest to the ground. I'm gonna go get Fidget and take her up there where I'll tell you all what to do next. Got that?"
Chase looked down at the white coat in her hands that she was to wear as she stole everyone from their beds and told them to go to room 301 on the second floor.
"Did you get that?" Squid asked again.
"Yes," Chase said slowly.
"Alright, I'll meet you in room 301," Squid said before turning and hurrying from her room.
"Do you have to go now?" Tober asked, startling Chase as she'd forgotten he was even there behind her.
Chase turned and looked sorely at the little boy that she'd grown to love. "I guess so," she said sadly.
"I'll miss you," Tober said.
"I'll miss you too," Chase said as she stepped out the door and turned to blow Tober a kiss.
"I love you," Tober said, just as Chase was about to close the door behind her.
"I love you too Tober," Chase said, taking one last look at the little boy before closing the door and turning to follow through with Squid's plan. "Bye, bye," she whispered.
Chase walked quickly down the halls, feeling that at any moment someone would grab her and cry, "You're not a doctor! How'd you get this coat?" She nodded shortly to the different nurses and doctors she passed along the way, but mostly she tried to be as invisible as she could possibly make herself . At last she found herself before a recognizable door and stepped quickly inside.
Zigzag tumbled off the side of Static's bed when Chase entered, both of them looking like a deer caught in the headlights at Chase's arrival.
"I swear doctor!" Zigzag cried. "We were just talking!"
"I don't care what you were doing!" Chase cried. "We've just gotta get out of here!"
"You're a gracious doctor," Zigzag said, scratching the side of his head. "And you look kind'a young to be a doctor too."
"You moron," Static cried. "It's Chase in a lab coat."
Zigzag looked dumbfounded.
"Yeah, whatever," Chase said. "Anyway, we've got to leave the hospital. Squid heard that the Warden knew about us being here and she sent people to pick us up tomorrow and he's devised this whole plan for us to escape. We have to go to room 301 on the second floor—that's where Squid'll be waiting for us. Will you two help me tell everyone to get up there as soon as possible?"
Static nodded. "Of coarse," she said.
"Wait a second," Zigzag said. "So you're really just Chase in a doctor suit and you won't get us in trouble for making out in here?"
Chase nearly punched herself in the face.
After slowly informing Zigzag of the situation a couple more times, the three split up to go recruit the other D-tent members. Chase hurried down the hall towards Zero's room which was only a corridor away from Static's, when she was just about there.
"Hey you!"
Chase's heart began to pound in her chest as she quickened her pace, hoping the man hadn't been addressing her.
"Hey you!" he called again. "Excuse me!"
Zero's room was just around the corner-
Chase's arm was grabbed from behind and she was stopped short in her tracks.
"Excuse me," a short, balding man asked, irritated. "I just wanted to ask you where the cafeteria was!"
"Oh-erm-that way," Chase said, pointing off down the hall.
"Thanks," the man said before turning away and hurrying off down the hall muttering himself, "Those damn interns: always so jittery!"
"That was close," Chase sighed under her breath before she turned the corner and hurried into Zero's room.
"Hurry up!" she cried a few minutes later, dragging Zero from his bed. "We have to leave!"
"I am so confused right now," Zero cried as Chase whisked down the hall and up a flight of stairs.
"We have to get to room 301," Chase said in his ear as they past a group of nurses. As soon as they had turned another corner and were out of the nurse's sight, Chase took up at a run again.
"There it is!" Zero said pointing to a door at the end of the hall with the faint numbers 301 plastered to the front of it. "Now will you tell me what is going on here?"
Chase burst into the room with Zero on her heels to find Magnetic, Lei, Static, Rogue, Zippy, and Fidget hung limply in Squid's arms, all waiting for them.
"Where's everybody else?" Chase asked.
Static shrugged. "Zigzag was supposed to get them," she said.
About five minutes later Magnet, Twitch, X-ray, Armpit and Zigzag all came lumbering into the room.
"Hey wait a second," Armpit cried, staring about the room in utter confusion. "I thought you said there'd be free doughnuts in here Zigzag?"
Zigzag smiled maliciously.
"Okay," Squid said. "You all know why you're here right?"
"No," Armpit replied grumpily.
"The Warden knows we're here," Zippy explained shortly.
"Oh," Armpit said.
"But why'd we have to come all the way up to this particular room?" Magnetic asked. "Aren't their plenty of other rooms with windows?"
"No," Squid said. "Not in the sick ward anyway. This is the pregnancy ward."
"Really?" Magnet asked excitedly.
Rogue stared at him in disgust. "Ewe," she said.
"Okay," Squid continued. "Now we have to leave quickly and efficiently. We're gonna climb out this window here and then steal a car from the parking lot down there. Understood?"
Everyone agreed.
"Alright, hold Fidget and I'll climb down first," Squid said, handing Fidget to Zigzag and sliding out the open window, down into the night.
The rest of D-tent waited with baited breaths as they listened closely to Squid's procession down the rain spout until finally, they heard a soft thud as he jumped down onto the ground.
"Is it safe?" Static called as discreetly as she could.
"Yeah," Squid called back. "Come on down."
Static had been about to turn and slide through the window just as Squid had when all of a sudden, all of D-tent heard a loud, unrecognizable voice from down below call out:
"FREEZE! Put your hands up where I can see them!"