Sector B

20

A few days went by. Rory was so entranced by the screen and her work that she didn't notice Decha walking into the room.

Decha rolled in a small cart with a plate full of food for her to eat. There were also some condiments and drinks on the side. Days before, he asked his mother to call the herbal shopkeeper to work for them for the time being.

The Dandelion root teas she prepared were working well. He only knew because his mother would often show the current results of Rory's blood work. Although the results showed some progress, Rory refused to be scanned constantly.

This was making it harder for them to help treat her. At some point, she needed to be scanned.

Decha pushed the cart and stopped at the bed. Then he walked up behind her. She still hadn't noticed him. Rory was sliding windows around on the holographic screen, and Decha observed her movements closely.

She was drawing, no, building something. He watched as she jotted down some letters and numbers next to an oddly shaped block on the screen. "Rory," He called, his voice startling her. She jerked forward with a yelp and almost fell.

He grabbed her and steadied her. "Oh my gosh..." Rory turned around quickly and frowned at him.

"Your food is here." Decha pointed at the cart.

"Oh. Okay." Rory walked over to the bed and sat down. As she began to dig in, Decha handed her a document nonchalantly.

"What's that?"

"I looked into your father's whereabouts," Decha answered. "You said he worked right across the border near the walls, but when I received the footage, there was no sign of him there."

"You looked for my father!?" Rory almost spilled her drink. She was surprised, but not too shocked. She snatched the document out of his hands excitedly.

"You asked me to." Decha raised a brow at her.

"I didn't expect you to actually do it! Thank you!" Rory teared up but Decha shrugged as if it were no big deal. "If he wasn't at the border, that means he's alive! He must be looking for me—"

"Now that I've helped you, there's something I want you to do in return."

"I'll repay you when I can. Don't worry—"

"We need to scan your body." Decha cut her off, and Rory's face completely changed from a beaming smile to a bitter scowl.

"No." She shook her head immediately.

"Rory—" He began, but Rory chipped in.

"No, I'm not going to scan. You can't change my mind."

"Don't fight me on this. Jessica noticed that your body is rejecting the medication you're supposed to take. We need to scan you to make sure that—"

"I'm not going to scan," Rory repeated firmly.

"I looked into your father for you, the least you could do is—"

"I'll repay you anything but that."

"Why are you so against scanning?" He growled at her.

"Why are you so persistent in having me scanned?"

"Because you're under my care. My reputation will be ruined if something happened to you. I'm doing my job."

"Oh, so you're doing this because of your reputation?"

"Rory, that's not what I—" Decha seethed. This woman was going to drive him mad. The bed was right there, all he had to do was press the button and scan her body.