1 | thrown into the future | | terra nova, the umbrella academy

eight

november . . .

chicago, illinois . . .

2143 . . .

Five had a feeling something would go wrong. They'd just moved into November, and it was a day where Five had to go into the school to speak to his advisor and do a couple of tests that had to be done in person. He'd noticed a few days earlier that there was something not quite right with his rebreather, but Five always fell back into self-destructive habits and didn't say anything to anyone. So, just as he, Maddy and Josh arrived outside the school, Five managed to trip on a bit of uneven sidewalk and fall on his face, breaking his rebreather completely. Given that his ribs were still tender, he managed to breathe in a lot of the bad air, which caused him to start hacking up his lungs almost immediately.

"Five!" Maddy shouted in panic, dropping onto her knees beside him. Josh was kneeling on his other side, looking just as worried.

"Maddy, his rebreather!" Josh said frantically, noticing the crack in the side of the filter. "Quick, go get the nurse!" Maddy rushed off while Josh dragged Five to his feet, the two boys stumbling towards the entrance. The last thing Five saw before he passed out was Maddy's panicked expression.

chicago gaffney hospital . . .

i.c.u . . .

chicago, illinois . . .

"Elisabeth, aren't you at work?" Jim frowned. It was Elisabeth's first day back at work since her maternity ended, and Jim had stayed home with Zoe.

"It's Five. He was brought in unable to breathe, Jim." Elisabeth leant back against the wall, the stress in her voice palpable. "We were able to drain the fluid that filled up his lungs, but Jim, he almost stopped breathing."

"How did it happen?" Jim asked, sounding beyond worried.

"Maddy and Josh told the nurse he tripped outside the school and broke his rebreather. But the amount of fluid in his lungs- Jim it looked like it had been building up for at least a week." Jim swore, shaking his head.

"Stay with him. I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll call the school and send my partner to pick Josh and Maddy up and bring them to the hospital."

"Alright. I'll see you soon." Elisabeth ended the call and re-entered the room, taking the seat beside Five's bed. Five was ghostly pale, sweat covering his forehead. His chest still sounded wheezy, and there was an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. Elisabeth sighed heavily through her nose, took her sons hand, and waited for him to wake up.

a while later . . .

Five woke up slowly, which to him meant there was drugs in his system, even if he burnt through them abnormally fast. Apparently these drugs were adjusted to take into account his system, because normally they would already be out of his system by the time he woke. His chest hurt, he was breathing shallower than normal. Five blinked his eyes several times, recognising the white walls of the hospital. He felt the sting of IV's in his left arm, and the tickle of oxygen flowing under his nose.