Project iDragon

021: A Painstaking Ethics Lesson

"Let's think of this logically –" Madi started as we stampeded into the elevator. We didn't know where we were going, we didn't even know for sure it was them. But my stomach was twisting into knots and that was hardly ever a good sign.

"If we were thinking about this logically, then we wouldn't be doing this." And we wouldn't be going after a clearly, very dangerous dragon hunter – or maybe that was just me, I don't know.

"Yes, true, but if we're going to be idiots, then we can't go searching so blindly." I could see the urgency in her eyes. If the dragon hunter was involved, we might not have all the time in the world to comb each floor. "If the dragon hunter got here so fast, especially in this weather, he must have flown here right? He has a dragon big enough to ride on and we know that he does ride it."

"Right," I replied scornfully, remembering the big black dragon the size of a large bus sized SUV.

"Now." Madi stepped away and ran her fingers over the elevator buttons methodically. "Where is the one place in this joint that he could possibly park a dragon that size?"

"Well, he could pay for two spots in the structure outside--"

Madi crossed her arms and gave me a look.

" --but something tells me he went for rooftop access."

She winked and pinged for the top floor. "Ah, so there is a brain cell bouncing around in that skull of yours."

"You know, I was going to ask you to prom before that comment." I snapped as scanned the floor buttons quickly. "Elevator only goes to the top so we're gonna need to find some stairs to go any higher."

"Yeah...unfortunately my computer is still in your band locker, and they don't keep floor plans on Wikipedia." The doors opened with a painful slowness and we stepped out onto the fourth level. It was a quieter floor for patients who had to stay longer than what entailed being an emergency. We had to work fast.

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Are you saying you keep floor plans on your laptop?"

She shrugged and flashed me a wide grin. "I was something of a weird kid."

"Oh yeah I remember." Then. "Look." I pointed over at a floor sign split into two panels. One pointed toward the restrooms, the other showing the little zigzag icon for the emergency stairs. "This way."

The two of us took off running down the hall, turning the walls and doors into a blur of gray and white. Sterile like a dry-cleaned ghost and just as bleachy smelling. The staircase was at the end of the hall through a single door under a neon red exit sign. "If an alarm blows, I'm blaming you," Madi accused before slamming her whole weight on the door and darting up the stairs. The thing nearly swung shut in my face as I followed close behind.

The resonating slam echoed down below us, but we were already far gone before the door shut. Instinctively I reached for the handrail only to snatch it right back. They don't give you pain medication for hand stitches. Especially if you're uninsured.

The stairs took a bend and twist before finally showing the roof access door at the top. Some part of me wondered why there was no security on it. No warning of alarms nothing to stop random kids like us from strutting right in. "This must be the employee smoking corner –" Madi stated as if reading my mind.

She caught the look on my face and shrugged sheepishly. "My mom used to be a nurse here before...ya know...anyway. She said a lot of the staff here smokes – ironic right? Hospital staff trying to improve lives. But yeah...the job is stressful." I offered her a comforting smile but she shrugged it off. "She said that there was a roof access stairwell where they disabled the security so the staff could take their breaks and things in peace without patients getting a whiff of it."