Shadows Ablaze

Chapter 24- Shyah

"Dr. Manokile, you're needed in room 13D," the loudspeaker scrapes through the room before cutting out.

Rynn's head shoots up before rushing out of the lab. I push myself away from the equipment and follow her. Patients are never put in any of the rooms in this wing. Something is happening and despite the nervous butterflies in my stomach, a rope drags me toward it. I follow a couple steps behind her as she hobbles down the hall. Voices drift to us, frantic and hushed. As the hall bends, the staff and our guests come into sight. A nurse hovers outside the door, speaking with a tall boy in a uniform. A gurney sits idly against the wall, a large lump claiming the center of it. A blanket is covering the body beneath, but it doesn't make the sight any easier. Bile rises in my throat as we approach, and I wish more than anything that I could disappear into the walls and pretend nothing was happening.

The nurse's eyes land on us, waving us into the room. The officer follows, making the room feel crammed. Two royal blue chairs and a couch of the same fabric form a semicircle in the center of the room. A coffee table holding magazines rests in the middle of the formation. Two boys, both looking rather rough, sit on either of the plush chairs. One wears a uniform, and while he doesn't say anything as we enter, his eyes spark somewhere deep down as he watches us. His right forearm is damp with blood. It hits me that I know him. He's the officer who questioned me after the party two weeks ago. I blush, remembering the way my cheeks flared as he looked at me that day.

The huskier of the two lets a smile slide across his chapped lips. "Hello lovelies," he says, readjusting himself on the couch. I maintain my composure. I know he isn't talking to Rynn like that. She isn't what I would consider 'lovely,' although taking one glance at him, I'm not sure he would be too picky. He lifts his left arm to drape it over the backrest of the chair, but stops abruptly, a pained expression crossing his face before he gingerly sets it back in his lap. "Can I get some morphine or something?" he pleads through gritted teeth.

My attention shifts to the teeth marks on his left shoulder. They're new and something about the depth of the canine punctures seems wrong. Blood soaks the entire side of his shirt. I imagine it's staining the couch too. Rynn will definitely make me clean that up later... Great.

"Shyah," Rynn remarks without looking back at me. "Go to the lab, get the wraps and ointment from cabinet ten. Grab a needle and antiviral three from the drawer right under it. Hurry!" she adds. There's an edge to her voice that I haven't heard before.

I rush from the room, jogging down the hall and following her directions. I grab two of everything. When I return, I watch as Rynn starts on the larger boy, lathering of the wound in ointment. Her fingers fiddle with the needle and container of antiviral, extracting some. She glances at me from over her shoulder. "Want to prepare the next one?" She bobs her head at the empty needle.

"Sure," I agree, going to set it up. I tilt the antiviral, sticking the needle's head into the rubber top of the vial before pulling on the lever and sucking some of the liquid into the plastic cylinder. Pulling it back out, I wait for Rynn to finish with the larger boy, observing the way she wraps the thick, light brown cloth around his shoulder.

"You can start on him," Rynn voices, not even looking my way.

I nod, gulping. I advance to the boy in the uniform. I crouch down in front of him, placing the materials on the ground beside me. "Can I see your arm?" I ask.

When his eye meet mine, I'm reminded of his familiarity. He extends his right arm toward me, giving permission for me to work. I begin rubbing ointment around the injury, the same way Rynn did. As I begin working at finding a vein, I glance up. Tired, gray eyes catch mine, making me freeze. Streams of light blue beg to be seen as they explode from his pupils and bleed into the gray. It makes me wonder if, in other lighting, the color would be different. Maybe a deep gray like an overcast sky just before it rains? Or would they be bluer? Like the color of the ocean when your miles from shore with the seabed far below?