A Healer's War

Chapter 77 - A Light in the Dark

Chapter 77: A Light in the Dark

11:11. Saturday - May 4th.

Oates Children's Hospital

Rory chewed his cheek. It felt strange to sit in the report room again. Memories with Bell and Megan, and all the others rolled through his mind like a lazy haze. Without this room and the people who filled it, he would never have learned how to fight, care for another, or become the Host. How does one say thank you for all that? To make amends for leaving it so badly? He picked at his fingernail. Nursing saved his life twice, and sitting, waiting, with all those memories—he hoped his choice today would be enough.

Rory reached over and idly prodded the back of his leather glove tucked into the cuff of his blue dress shirt. Instead of feeling the pressure, he felt an electric twitch in the stump of his left arm as the glove dimpled. He pulled back, and the fabric re-inflated. He bent a finger back, certain he couldn't, but he felt nothing even when pressed flat against the back of his hand. The glove slowly refilled like a balloon, and the finger straightened again. In his mind, Rory told the glove to make a fist, and it did. He told it to turn and twist and splay, and it did. He looked around and spotted a pencil.

"Stop that. It's creeping me out," Jane said, slouched in her chair across from him, her shiny dress shoes propped on the report table. She watched his gloved hand with her nose wrinkled. Her wounds had healed, though her head still looked as though a bear had torn rents in her scalp, creating valleys of red scars slicing through her pink hair. She'd restyled it to a shaved right side and a bright pink comb-over, though it couldn't hide all the damage. Rory had a new hairdo too, another side effect of the Seed. The roots of his hair and beard shone silver, just like Jacklyn's. It made him look older. Feel older. He supposed he was now.

"What is taking so long?" Jane asked, scowling at the door. Through it came the muffled sounds of many voices. She crossed her arms with a scowl. "This feels off."

Rory reached for the pencil. "How so?"

"It's too big a step. I mean, I'm all for flipping off the Director, but this... you're talking about changing the world overnight. That doesn't happen."

This wasn't the first time she'd voiced that concern in the past two days. Rory discovered that the former detective or man-hunter or whatever she was didn't hold back. A good attribute for a Counselor, but it would take some getting used to. Since the battle on the airstrip, Rory had learned, among many other things, about Jane's sister's nose hair, her niece's lisp, and the wild, gravity-defying pursuit of a woman who had turned out to be Wyth a long time ago.

"Which is why it needs to be done," Rory said, glancing at the clock. "The Director runs the show, right?"

"I think he owns it, actually."

"Exactly. We do this today, and we show everyone there is a different way."

"What way is that? Your way? Because that sounds like the Director."

Rory nodded, thinking. Power drew a line he'd crossed before and didn't like the person it revealed. After spending the last two nights awake thinking about an answer, he settled on something that let him sleep.

"Not mine, ours," he said. "We're going to share everything. Ken said he had located Patrick and Ana and was bringing them in, so we can start studying the Shepherd's Stones soon. Caroline said those are the key to understanding... everything. Casting, the apocalypse, the inevitable ethical grey areas, everything. After we reveal it, we give people time to digest it. We do that, and I hope we'll see that we don't need to be stuck in this status quo."

"That's still a big ask for many comfortable people."

Rory chuckled. "Call me an optimist."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Optimism, huh? You don't hear that much anymore." She considered while tapping a finger on her chin. "But, hm, let's consider the immediate ripple effect. The problem with changing the status quo is there are winners and losers. You'll be the miracle man. Sure, you'll even help a few folks, but there will be billions all over the world feeling the aftermath - whatever it is. You pull off what you're planning, and you're asking for every sick person in the world and their families to come after you. There will be threats and violence. You'll be hunted, worse than Jacklyn."