Chapter Three; The Stranger in the Room (Part Two)

As quickly and as quietly as he could, Shepard helped Nerala to her feet before steering her towards the second door.

As she caught her breath and regular emotions returned, Nerala inquired

'Why are they here? What do they want? It's not like we have anything of great value. This is just a medical centre ...'

'Shuush' Shepard interrupted, quietening her with a look before returning his attention to the second set of double doors. Nudging them open with his shoulder, Shepard observed the corridor in front of him. Almost an exact replica of the other corridors, this one seemed to travel through the heart of the centre. It headed straight for three hundred yards before hitting a t-style junction. The plaque on the wall told him that turning right would take him to the children's, gynaecology and cardiac wards, as well as the second of three dining halls and the accident and emergency walk-in centre: to the left were various general practitioners offices, another dining area, the archives, the main reception and then, finally, the main exit.

As the pair reached the junction, Nerala immediately went to turn left, towards the easiest exit, but Shepard pulled her back.

'Wha ..?' She began to ask before Shepard pointed to the red sign with big white lettering proclaiming 'ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY'.

'You need access codes, and a key card, to get through there.'

'And you don't have those?' Shepard asked.

'No. The ... those men took my key card from me.' Shepard gently placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. 'But if we can find Dr Josephs, she should have hers.'

'Where would she be?' Shepard was getting annoyed at his lack of information, 'I didn't see her office on my way through.'

'You wouldn't, her office is on the second floor, near to the GP surgeries.'

'If she's not in there, then maybe we could find another access card in one of the offices. Let's go.

Keeping low and close to the wall, Shepard led the way down the corridor to the left. The plastic floor reverberated his footsteps making them sound too loud in the empty hospital. Even the flickering light seemed to warn him he was making too much noise.

Suddenly, Shepard threw his arm up and stopped beside a locked office door. A similar set of reverberations were making their way towards them from a corridor on their right. Raising his gun, Shepard motioned for Nerala to get low and stay out of the way.

As second stretched into minutes, Shepard breathed and waited, lining up the shot for where he expected his enemy's head to appear.

A clock ticked. Some water dripped.

Almost suddenly a man's fully armoured face appeared just below Shepard's proposed shot. Readjusting and pulling the trigger Shepard terminated the mercenary's progression without fuss. Breaking into a crouching run, Shepard darted towards the fallen man, and patted him down, searching for more information on their elusive attackers.

Pulling the assault rifle and shotgun from the body, Shepard slung the rifle over his shoulder before returning the pistol to his leg holster. Taking up the shotgun in his right hand, he continued to search the man with his left.

Suddenly, the crackle of a radio blared into life.

'Echo Seven, Echo Seven this is Charlie Four, do you copy? Over.'

Shepard stared at the radio, cursing this new complication. As the radio repeated the same message, Shepard reached over, picked it up and pressed the respond button.

'Charlie Four, this is Echo Seven. I read you. Go ahead. Over.'

There was silence and Shepard thought for a flash that his voice must have given him away.

'Finally' replied the radio, 'We've been trying to reach you for the last ten minutes.'

'Radio's must be playing up.' Shepard replied, wincing at the over-simplistic reply.

'Yeah. Anyway, we need you to check level two. Reports are that Dr Josephs has disappeared on us. You're in the area; go check out her office.'

'Roger that.'

'And for God's sake, answer your radio next time. Charlie Four over and out.'

Shepard breathed a quick sigh of relief: it appeared his deception had worked, and not only that, but it looked as if Dr Josephs had managed to escape and was hiding somewhere in the facility.

Hefting the shotgun, Shepard pulled the dead mercs pistol from its holster and passed it to Nerala, grip first. She looked terrified at the prospect.

'It's very simple.' Shepard said, 'Point that end at the thing you want to shoot,' he motioned to the barrel of the gun, 'and then pull the trigger. When you run out of ammo, stay low and stay quiet. Got it?' Nerala nodded hesitantly. 'You can fire up to nine rounds with that model, it's not automatic so you have to pull the trigger every time you want to shoot. Use two hands on the grip, or the recoil will break your wrist.'

With that, Shepard stood and slow-jogged towards the stairs, Nerala close on his heels. Using the barrel of his shotgun to lead the way, Shepard progressed up to the second level, making his way towards the GP offices and, hopefully, an alive Rachel Josephs.

Arriving on the correct floor, Shepard kneeled at the top of the stairs, one leg flat against the floor, the other raised to offer support. He stayed that way for a long time, and just as Nerala was about to interrupt his silent vigil, she heard the creak of a door on hinges. Raising her gun, Nerala saw a man in a white lab coat drag himself out of one of the rooms to their left. He wore scrubs under his coat and a stethoscope swung haphazardly around his neck. His ID badge was clipped to his coat pocket and was clipped at an odd angle.

Nerala stepped forward but halted at a look from Shepard. Even from this distance, they could hear the doctor cursing.

'Shit. Shit. Shit.' He exclaimed, gripping his right leg with both hands. As he stumbled forward, both Shepard and Nerala could see the majority of his trouser leg was stained a dark black, a sharp contrast to the emerald of his scrubs. He tried to brace his weight on it, but it shook violently and the yelp of pain reverberated down the corridor. Momentarily forgetting his pain, the unnamed doctor glanced around him, eyes hurriedly looking for any sign that anyone had heard the exclamation of pain.

Shepard watched from the dark shadows at the top of the stairs, assessing the man before him. A list of scenarios flashed through his well-trained mind: he could be a decoy or plant; he might be faking his injury to trick someone into aiding him, or he could be a civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Suddenly there was a click of a lock, followed swiftly by another creaking of hinges. From an office three doors down, out stepped Dr Rachel Josephs. Her swift movements demonstrated her uninjured state as she rushed to the aid of her colleague.

'Dr Josephs!' Nerala called out, relief evident in her voice.

What Shepard did not expect, was for Dr Josephs to spin around towards the noise, a pistol gripped firmly in her left hand. Copying her, Shepard raised his shotgun and pointed it towards the medial pair.

'Shepard?' Dr Josephs surprise was layered through her voice. 'I thought they hit your wing first?'

'They did.' Replied Shepard nonchalantly. 'Freeth is dead.'

Dr Josephs free hand moved to her mouth but she did not lower her weapon.

The silence stretched as neither party spoke. The unnamed doctor let out the occasional whimper of pain and Nerala moved her head backwards and forwards between Shepard and Dr Josephs.

Without further indication, Dr Josephs lowered her gun and replaced it in the holster strapped to her ribs. She then moved towards the injured man in the lab coat and proceeded to try and stop the bleeding.

Kneeling beside his injured leg, Dr Josephs said calmly 'James, we need to get this sutured and in order to do that, you are going to need to stand still. Nerala,' the Asari moved towards the two medics, 'help me carry him to my office. I can stop the bleeding there, and give him something for the pain.' Josephs then turned her attention to Shepard, 'I assume you are here to help then? Cover us as we get him to the office: I don't think anyone knows I'm here, but a little extra fire-power never hurts.'

Without waiting for an affirmative, Josephs and Nerala draped the injured medic's arms around their shoulders, and hauled him down the corridor. Shaking his head slightly, Shepard followed, shotgun panning left and right down the corridor.

Upon arriving in Josephs office Shepard watched as the doctor and her impromptu assistant worked to stem the bleeding from the injured leg. As they worked, stitching and applying medi-gel, Shepard kept his attention on the corridor outside. The radio was still quiet, and the fact that they had run into no further patrols made Shepard uneasy. It was too quiet, too empty - even for an eighty per-cent empty hospital.

Without waiting for the doctors to finish their work, Shepard stepped back into the corridor and switched the radio back on.

'Charlie Four, Charlie Four this is Echo Seven. Do you read me? Over.' There was a weighted silence, 'Charlie Four, this is Echo Seven. Do you copy?' Again, no response. 'Anyone on this frequency, this is Echo Seven, is anyone reading this?'

Dr Josephs appeared at the doorway to her office with a questioning look.

'What are you doing?' She hissed, 'Are you trying to give away our location.'

'They think I'm a team member named Echo Seven.' Shepard explained, 'They sent me, well him, to search your office. I was going to tell them it's all clear but no one is responding.'

Josephs flicked her fiery hair behind her ear in what Shepard assumed was a characteristic movement.

'That ... that is not good.' She replied.

Shepard nodded. Not being able to set a dummy trail up meant that the four would need to be extremely careful when they moved to the exit.

Dr Josephs was the first to break the silence.

'We should head to an exit -'

'We were going to use the one through A&E.' Shepard interrupted.

'Agreed.' Said Josephs. 'I have combat experience, but those two,' she gestured towards Nerala and the injured medic, 'do not. And I suppose it makes sense for you to call me Rachel from now on.'

Shepard nodded, intrigued, before asking

'Where have you seen action? I don't recognise your name from any of the med-bays I saw.'

'I was a combat medic in the DMZ during the Reaper War, and I saw first-line defence on Mars during the Cerberus attack.'

'I didn't think anyone got off Mars.'

'A few of us made an evac-shuttle before they vented the hall.' Shepard nodded. He had seen the aftermath of the attack.

'In that case, I'll take point' Shepard directed, 'If you can guard the back?'

'I can do that. But I'm low on clips.'

Shepard snorted before replying 'Join the club. You can take the spares off Nerala, she won't need them.'

Rachel nodded and returned to her office. Shepard heard the modulations and tones in her voice as she explained where they were headed, and shortly after the four of them congregated in the corridor outside Rachel's office.

Making their way silently back towards the stairs, Shepard in the lead, the group breathed in the oppressive silence. The smell of disinfectant and blood was heavy in the air, and the squeaky plastic floors did nothing to hide their footsteps.

Reaching the large double doors before the staff entrance to accident and emergency, Shepard motioned for Rachel to join him at the front of their troupe.

'You have your access card?'

She nodded silently in reply and moved to the card panel on the wall. Swiping a white plastic card with a practised motion, she then proceeded to press seven of the worn number pads and the doors whooshed open with a subdued hiss.

The sight that greeted them was not expected.