"Open up and O.R. Now!" One of the doctors screamed as we pushed my father's stretcher through the hallways of the hospital. We finally enter a room and nurses begin to swarm him. I step back and watch. I hear something by the door and look towards it. My mother is frozen in fear, paralyzed from the waist down.
"Someone get her out of here." I order and a nurse closes the door, leaving my mother blind. I rub my temples and Jake looks at me with a worried face. I leave the room and run through the halls, trying to find a hiding place, to leave reality. I burst through a utility closest and slide down the wall to the floor.
The room smells of chemicals and covered in mops. I get a headache from the fumes but try to ignore it. The brick walls are stained with water and it's humid. I stay in there for a while and pick at a healing scab on my hand.
Jake opens the door and steps in, closing it behind him. I have been in the room for a couple hours now and I have no idea how he found me. He looks down at me with sad eyes.
"He didn't make it." He breathes and sits by me. I close my eyes and lean my head against the wall. "I am so sorry Alex." I sit there, expressionless, not moving a muscle.
"Are you okay?" Jake asks me.
"I'm fine." I say, getting up and walking out the door.
******
"Ah Alex. What a surprise!" The president exclaims.
"I was invited to this meeting." I say, standing at the end of the long table. Everyone is sitting around the table, awkwardly.
"I am sorry to hear about your fathers death." He says sadly. I sit down and cup my fists on the table.
"The man deserved to die." I say simply.
"Are you mentally able to be involved in this meeting?"
"Yes sir."
"No one has seen you for the past three days. Where have you been?" He asks, twisting his head in confusion. I couldn't tell them that I locked myself in my room and sat in a corner, trying to remember how to breathe.
"Resting. The mission was simply exhausting."
"Very well. Sit down." He orders, motioning to a nearby chair. I sit and he turns to the rest of the group.
"Shall we begin?" He suggests and everyone nods in agreements.
"From the recent mission we've learned that the opposing city is much stronger than we anticipated. Unfortunately we don't have any numbers or statistics of any sort. We need more information to make any significant moves." The president explains.
"Why don't we bring back the prisoner I caught." I suggest.
"He wouldn't talk to us before, to proud." Someone said. I thought for a second.
"If he is anything like my father then he will give us information if we threaten him." I say.
"Put a gun to his head?" Another suggests.
"No that's too civil. We need to scare him." I say. "We drown him."
"That's against the law, it's inhumane." The president explains.
"Do you want to win this war or not?" I ask him and he rubs his temples.
"Fine. Do whatever you want." He gives up and I smile.
"So who's going to talk to him?" Someone asks.
"Alex is." A quiet voice says, resonating from the entrance of the room. Jake was there, leaning on the wall. He was staring at me and I nodded. I turned to the table.
YOU ARE READING
Raising Hell
Science Fiction"I starved myself but I never died. I have no idea how I survived that long without food. The floors I slept on where of moldy brick and sometimes a rat would curl up to my neck. I stopped caring. The warmth kept me sane." I took a deep breath and c...
