Hidden Secrets - Motherland: Fort Salem

#41 - Nap time?

A trio of fixers wearing white uniforms surround Khalida's bed whilst the girl continues to rest, still yet to have opened her eyes since arriving at Fort Salem. One of the fixers kneels down beside her, placing a gentle hand to her forehead.

"There are Necro reports from The Hague. Past couple of months terminal cases like this in various war zones. It's... something new." The fixer says to the women behind her, "Unnatural. Maybe... human-made." She suggests. The fixer places her hands over Khalida's chest as she behinds to vocalise her work. "The vibrations cause a pleurodesis, ensuring we protect her lungs." Looking at the women she fails to see the black lines growing and invading Khalida's face.

"Colonel Wick!" One of the other fixers shout. "What's happening?" The plague grows down Khalida's arm and up her face towards her mouth and nose as she twitches uncomfortably, gasping.

"It may have wrapped around her vocal cords." She states, quickly trying to fix her but the low growls and growth coming from the small girl makes the fixer's eyes widen. "Get out!" She orders. The three fixers run out of the infirmary room just as nearby glass starts to shatter, lights burst and sparks fly.

It all seems to calm down within a minute, shards of glass surrounding Khalida's bed but she remains unscathed yet still unconscious. No longer gasping or growling but the black veins have now extended themselves down to her elbow and around the side of her face, the girl wasn't getting any better.

Today the recruits had fixer training with Colonel Wick, it's the first proper insight to fixing and healing they've had since starting basic training so there was a lot of excitable chatter and buzz. That all quietened down as Izadora walked into the hall, earning a few confused looks as she was usually a Necro teacher and not a trainer.

Izadora brushes off their looks and smiles, "Morning, soldiers. I'll be filling in for Colonel Wick today." She informs them, passing by Raelle and pauses to place a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. Something Carmen tilted her head at in curiosity, when did they get close? "She may be the best Fixer in the country, but I should be able to handle a little first-aid in her absence." The joke lands well within the recruits, early a few chuckles, Carmen's being one of them.

The girls lines up in front of Izadora and she snaps her fingers, "I need a volunteer." A few girls instantly raise their hands, eager to please but Carmen was not one of them. She'd had her fill of attention for the next decade and didn't need anymore, her whole body froze as Izadora's eyes zoned in on her, Carmen was convinced she was going to pick her until she gestured to the girl behind.

Carmen lets out a sigh of relief.

A curly haired girl walks to the front, standing beside Izadora who creepily moves the girls hair behind her shoulder exposing her neck. Carmen found this off and so did Raelle but both girls kept it to themselves. Suddenly, Izadora takes a knife that appears out of no where and slices a large gash across the girl's throat.

The room fills with shocked gasps, some hands fly up to their own necks. Carmen looks from Izadora to the struggling girl as blood drips through her fingers and down her hands. "Give me a fucking break." She whispers to herself, why can't it just be a normal, tame day she wonders.

"Let me be clear." Izadora bellows, "You can blast clean through a mountain and know the whisper of an oncoming gate. But without a Fixer, you'll likely end up in the ground just the same." The entire time through Izadora's speech Carmen avoids looking at the dying, choking recruit. "Today, we learn linking. An essential combat skill. Breathing, if you listen closely enough, is a kind of song. Our hearts beat a rhythm." The curly haired girl drops to the floor, Raelle goes to take a step forward but Abigail places a hand on her arm to stop her.