March 15, 2011.
A/N: Hi Solacers!
So, yeah, I know it's been forever and a day (well, roughly seven months) since I last updated, but I simply couldn't leave this story on hiatus after it's recent achievement of the 50th review. I planned on updating sooner, but I hit a rough patch of drought in the muse well, and writer's block got the better of me. I've got a few more chapters written and ready for uploading; it depends on how well this is received. I'm still tossing up discontinuation, just because I'm not sure whether there's enough love for it anymore. I've got a handful of things to work on for FF net, so if I have to cut this one off, so be it. :(
That said! Here's another update - thanks heaps to the lucky 50th reviewer, fellow Aussie Keiko-Mars (kudos to you!); this chapter's for you. Thanks heaps, also, to KyasarinFreakload, who has supported this story from the get-go, and I think still does. Kisses to you, as always, for keeping my writing spirit alive.
Some answers should be addressed in this chapter (from memory), so things should start to make a little more sense now. Huzzah! :D
Happy reading, everyone. x
Searching for Solace
- EIGHTEEN -
March 17 – 20:15
The apartment was cold and empty when they poured through the door. Amy began flicking on lights and hit the electric kettle, immediately fishing around in the cupboards for some snacks. Brody and Daniel flanked Guan-Yin and led her into the small lounge room, where they set her down on the sofa and kept a casual but careful eye on her in case she made to bolt. She now knew their location, as well as their identity. It was far too dangerous having her wandering around with that kind of information.
Amy and Morgan appeared in the doorway, followed by Nick and Matt, who had slept most of the day away. Daniel glanced first at his mate in worry – he was extremely withdrawn these days, and barely spoke to anyone anymore – and then at Morgan, who still looked like she'd seen a ghost.
"Right," Brody said, breaking the ice. "Let's get this show on the road."
"First," Amy said, frowning at him, "would you like a Tim-Tam, Guan-Yin?" She offered the packet. The Asian girl shook her head, politely inclining. Daniel reached over and grabbed two, shoving one aggressively in his mouth. Amy wrinkled her nose pointedly. He stared back evenly. Annoying little bitch.
"Anyone else?" Amy asked, shooting a scowl over her shoulder as she turned her back on Daniel. He lounged lazily against the wall. The Tim-Tams were sat on the floor, and they began.
"Who first?" Morgan asked, her voice strangely weak, for her usual self. Daniel glanced at her again, wondering what had thrown her out. She hadn't been herself since she'd gone back into that bloody room at the hospital.
"Her," Brody said, nodding at the Asian intern. He raised his voice, his gaze unflinching as it rested on their anxious hostage. "You said you'd tell us about this vial." He held up something Daniel hadn't noticed he had in his possession – a thin glass tube with a clear solution in it.
The Asian girl sighed heavily. Daniel could see her trembling from where he stood. She was shit scared.
"It is…" she trailed off. Brody opened his mouth to growl, but Amy threw up one hand sharply.
"Give her a moment," she snapped. Daniel watched the Asian girl struggling to find the right words. Her forehead creased as she thought.
"This is…" she flailed, then settled for, "like poison."
There were collective gasps from Morgan and Amy. A jolt of shock bolted through Daniel.
"Poison?" Brody demanded, frowning heavily. "Why?"
The Asian shifted nervously. "I not know–"
"Bullshit," Daniel swore, shooting her a glare. She withered under his fierce gaze. "Don't lie to us."
She swallowed audibly. Everyone was silent as they waited.
"I can't tell you," she wailed, eyes pleading fearfully. "They will kill me!"
"So will we!" Brody threatened. Everybody else glanced at him sharply, astonished. He softened a little. "Well, not really, but you need to understand how important it is that you tell us."
Amy shook her head slightly to herself, turning back to the intern.
"Please tell us," she said gently. "This could help us."
"I know," the intern replied, looking at her. "That why I can't tell you. Secret."
"I wonder who else isn't supposed to know about it," Morgan murmured quietly. She cleared her throat and spoke louder. "Who is the poison for?" Something in her shrewd expression made Daniel wonder if she perhaps already knew more than she was letting on. He frowned a little, questioning why she would keep that information, if she did.
The intern squirmed uncomfortably again. "Not for normal people."
"Normal…" Brody replied. "As in, healthy people?"
"No."
"What do you mean, 'normal people'?" Amy asked. The intern held her breath for a long moment, shrinking under six intense gazes. She seemed to be fighting a huge battle within herself, and it raged for a good few seconds before she visibly folded, exhaling in defeat.
"Okay… I tell you everything I know."
"It's for the mutants, isn't it?" Morgan asked, her eyes bright. Again Daniel had the feeling she already knew the answer.
The intern looked at her. "Yes."
Amy gasped again. Brody grunted. Morgan nodded almost imperceptively to herself. But Daniel caught it. He decided not to call her out on it just yet. What the intern had to say was, for the meantime, much more important.
"Only for the mutants?" Brody demanded.
The intern nodded. "Only mutant cells contract. When gets into the bloodstream and into heart, patient dies. Almost immediately effective. Only take few minutes."
Amy sucked in a horrified breath. "Why, though?"
The intern's eyes were almost sorrowful as she delivered the awful truth. She looked at Amy, her expression pleading for forgiveness. "This not from Earth." She nodded at the vial. "They give this to hospital to give to mutants."
It clicked.
"The doctors are working for the enemy," Daniel spat, realisation dawning on him. "When injured mutants are admitted to the hospital, the doctors are killing them off with this poisonous shit, rather than helping them get better."
He looked at the intern, his expression loathsome. How he'd love to get his fingers around her traitorous little throat…
"That's so awful!" Amy cried, her voice horrified, wavering. Her eyes swam with unshed tears of compassion for those who had died in pain, thinking they were in safe hands, unsuspecting of their fate.
"But how can they tell?" Brody demanded, frowning heavily. "It doesn't make sense. Look at Matt and Nick. You can't tell from appearance which is a mutant and which is not."
The intern looked to Morgan, who nodded her understanding. Morgan's voice was quiet. "The gene scan." She took a breath, looking extremely unhappy. "I was wrong. They weren't testing for presence of Chimera blood. They were testing for mutated genes… for Mew genes."
Brody smacked a hand to his forehead with staggering force. "Of course. It's so obvious now."
"So," Amy clarified in her wavering little girl voice, "they run a test to see if the patient is a Mew or not, and if they are… they kill them?"
The silence was so heavy, so thick it could be cut by a knife. Slowly, the intern said, "Yes."
Daniel swore violently. "Fucking traitors! Selling out their own kind to those filthy freaks! Makes me sick!"
"But it's tactical," Brody sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Imagine how many of us the enemy will be able to wipe out through the Alfred. It's the only big hospital in the eastern suburbs still in operation. So many victims will be going there. In terms of strategy, it's brilliant." He shuddered, looking suddenly exhausted.
"We have to get Max out," Morgan said hoarsely. She cleared her throat, blinking back her moment of weakness. "She can't die in there."
"Well we'd better move fast then." Daniel laughed humourlessly, his stomach churning. "Didn't you say they've already done her scan?"
Morgan nodded miserably. "They might have already given her the shot." The dam broke. Tears flooded her cheeks. Amy was instantly by her side, her skinny arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders, her expression helplessly compassionate.
"She'll be okay," she promised, though it was empty. No-one had any way of knowing that. Daniel's heart felt suddenly heavy. She could be dead and none of them would even know.
"What did you see?" Daniel demanded, his voice flat. Emotionless. He directed the question at Morgan, who looked up with bleary eyes.
"Where?"
"In that room. At the hospital." He stared levelly at her. Fresh tears pooled in her eyes and dripped off her eyelashes. Her bottom lip quivered.
"They were all dead."
Daniel's knees threatened to give out, but he locked them, fighting the intense urge to vomit. It was all too true, too suddenly. And it was too much for a bunch of simple teenagers. There was no escaping the reality of this horrible conversation. No waking up from it. The evidence was everywhere, even in Brody's thick hands. Brody stared at the innocent little vial, looking like he might throw it violently against the wall at any moment. His eyes blazed with hot fury.
Daniel sucked in a shaky breath. They needed to change topic, fast. Before everyone had meltdowns.
"What about kids like Mackenzie?" he demanded, quietly pleased at the strength in his voice. The intern looked at him, confused.
"There are theories," Morgan explained, sniffling as she pulled herself together, "that the monsters are poisonous. Our friend was attacked by one, and she's been sick ever since. She just keeps getting worse and worse. I think… I think she's dying." Her voice caught on the last word, her emotions threatening to break again. She fought back. It required a great deal of effort.
"This true," the intern confirmed. "But only if Chimera blood gets into circulatory system. Not fatal if exterior to body." Morgan glanced down at her hand, her heart practically dead in her chest. Max was dying. Or, of course, the doctors could have already gotten to her. Either way, there was no saving her best friend. She was too crushed to even cry. She couldn't breathe. Her head reeled dizzily.
The teenagers glanced among themselves, dismayed and anguished. Could life get any worse? Their homes invaded by a ruthless alien species, their families ripped apart, their friends dead or dying, with no way of stopping the tremendous force destroying their world.
"Is… is there anything we can do?" Amy whispered weakly, feeling pessimistic. Right now, it was hard to find any reason to keep on living. It seemed dead ends reared up on all sides. Suddenly, even humanity couldn't be trusted. The world had become a lethally fragile planet.
"There is antidote," the intern said simply, seemingly relieved that she could deliver some good news in their black hour.
Morgan's breath gushed out, like it had been knocked from her. "What?"
"There is?" Amy gasped excitedly, hope suddenly given a glorious rebirth.
The intern nodded. "Also alien medicine. Works very fast."
The hope burning in Morgan's eyes was so fiercely intense that Daniel wondered for a moment if she might have teetered over the edge of madness.
"Is it at the hospital?" she demanded.
"Yes."
"Do you know where it is?"
The intern was quiet, catching on.
"Do you?" Morgan pressed furiously.
"… Yes, but–"
"Done. We're going in the morning," Morgan said with a finality Daniel doubted anyone would dare oppose. "We're getting her out of there, and we're getting that antidote." She turned to the intern, who flinched like she'd been slapped. "And you are helping us."
The intern said nothing; just accepted her fate glumly. She seemed to have weighed her chances. One weak-willed medic against six determined teenagers. She wasn't getting out of it, or making any escapes anytime soon.
"Set up a mattress for her in here," Morgan ordered, efficient now that her life had purpose once more. "We'll take turns guarding her. Brody, you take first watch, okay?"
"Fine," he muttered gruffly.
"Right. We need a plan–" Morgan was saying when the front door burst open, banging the wall violently and almost smashing a hole in the plaster with the handle.
Everyone jumped up, instantly ready for combat, fingers reaching hastily for pendants.
Emma exploded into the room like a fireball of wild blonde hair and blazing green cat eyes. "Fuckwits! You'll never guess what I discovered! The doctors at the Alfred, they're fucking–"
"Working for the aliens," Daniel cut across her, almost wishing he had a camera to capture her pricelessly astonished expression. "And the gene scans detect Mew genes, and then they use a special alien serum to kill them. Yeah, we know."
She was stunned into silence for a moment, then scowled and said, "Fuck! What the fuck? How the fuck do you guys already know that? And who the fuck is that?" She'd just noticed the intern sitting rigidly on the couch.
"Sit down, fuckwit," Daniel said with emphasis, taking personal pleasure in finally being superior to her and putting her in her place. "We've got a lot to tell you."
CULTURE NOTE
Tim-Tam - An extremely Aussie sweet biscuit; very famous. Basically consists of chocolate malt paste sandwiched between two chocolate biscuits, and coated with milky chocolate. Mmm... I have a pack of double-coated Tim-Tams in my fridge at the moment. There really is nothing like them anywhere. :)
Bloody - again, in this context, it doesn't actually mean 'blood', but 'stupid'. In sentences like this, 'bloody' is an expression of displeasure.
Shit scared - very commonly used in slang. Emphasis is, obviously, on how frightened/terrified someone is. Most often said person was VERY scared. Having said that, it's really only used when the situation was amusing, but it is still used sometimes for serious fear.
I hope a lot of this technical stuff is conceivable. I obviously had to make it up, but I hope it makes sense.
I've worked hard to avoid inconsistencies and gaps, but there might be a few little ones here and there. I know there's one big one from earlier on (that hopefully none of you, fingers crossed, have noticed yet) that I'm knotting out in future chapters. It's going to take a bit of work to figure that one out though; stupid me. It's too hard to change it though, so I just have to work with what I've already got.
Oh well. Everyone loves a good challenge. :)
Story's going to move along again now. The slow hospital stuff is almost done. Huzzah! There's a good scene coming up, which is one of my all-time fave scenes ever written from any of my stories. Might even be in the next chapter, actually. Anyway, I've been looking forward to getting that one up, so fingers crossed it's well-received, or it might break my heart haha.
Review button's just below. :)
Much love,
Cherrie xx