The Medical School

Chapter Sixteen

"Today we will be injecting you with several different illnesses to analyze how your body deals with them," a worker in the Virus Lab explains to us. "These illnesses will be active for an hour or so before we shut them down. This is a new technology, fresh out of the laboratory, so you should feel honored to be part of this experiment."

I can't say that I feel honored while strapped into a reclining chair and hooked up to a million different wires and sensors. It would be overkill even if I were getting brain surgery.

It's Day Nineteen, and I don't know how much longer I can take it. I can't wait to follow the directions on the letter, given that we can even get out in the first place.

"You will be unconscious for the time in which you have the illness in you, so feel lucky that you don't have to be in pain," a worker explains to us. I don't even know why we're being told this; we don't have much of a choice.

My worker adjusts his mask over his face, and sticks a needle into my shoulder. I begin to feel dizzy, and then lose consciousness.

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I return to reality slightly, just enough to register that I'm conscious. The pain brings me all the way back. My head is splitting apart, and I feel cold enough to be in the arctic. I groan, and open my eyes.

My worker looks up from his computer, and chuckles a little. "Hey, Frank! We got another one of them early birds!"

The worker who I assume is Frank comes over to where I'm lying. His grin shows even through his surgical mask.

"You're ten minutes early, little girl. You're not supposed to be awake yet." Frank says.

"Well, we can't shut down the virus yet, so I guess she'll just have to suffer for the time remaining," my worker concludes. They both go back to their work, and I'm left in agony.

Finally, my worker takes a rectangular patch and sticks it just below my collarbone. I start to feel warmth around the patch, and it spreads all over my body until I almost feel like normal again. The patch is taken off, and I'm allowed a five-minute break before the next virus.

Peter is just coming to, and Abby is still out cold. They probably have to guess and check how much anesthesia, or whatever they use to make us fall unconscious, we need.

Before I know it, I'm being strapped in again and another needle knocks me out. That's how my morning goes. Six viruses total, and by lunch I feel like hell. I hope that this Lab changes Alex's mind about escaping.

I manage to choke down my chicken before heading off to the washing machine. I let one of the boys take the first shift, one because he insisted, two because I could use some more time to recover.

I feel like I have a fever, I can't imagine what the younger ones are going through. Luckily, I feel completely normal by the time I take the laundry out. I'm glad that it doesn't last forever.

We get seven loads done today; the boys are beginning to get stronger. I wonder if the guards realize that by making us do work, we're actually becoming a possible threat to them. If the boys have an escape plan, I bet it's attack. They don't seem to mind rubber bullets.

The gong crashes, and I head to dinner. The two boys are walking behind me. We're close to the Main Room, but something makes me turn around and ask their names.

One is Norman. The other is Daniel.

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