Population Zero

Chapter Ten

He looked much bigger than when I last saw him. He could have grown a foot taller in just the past few months and his voice sounded much deeper than I remember but that was definitely him.
"Huh? What? I can't talk I'm busy." He responded as he attempted to wheel two carts past me nearly knocking me down.

"Hey, wait!" I chased after him. "I need to talk to you. Where's Asher?" I called out.

"Buddy, if you want to talk you're gonna have to help me finish this. Here take this cart to room 17 and then meet me back at the nurses station in 20."

He left one of the carts behind and sped off in the opposite direction. How do I keep getting myself into these situations? I stood there stupidly with the cart for a moment thinking. Anxiety hit my chest and my head pounded at the thought of trying to force feed someone like Willie. I lifted up the plate to see what I was serving and wondered if it would end up in my hair. Black beans and white rice and some sort of spinach salad. A glass of iced tea and a couple of napkins. The napkins I could use. I started to look at the numbers on the rooms and found room 17 with no trouble. I took a deep breath, hesitated, and then turned the knob to enter the room.

I walked in and immediately heard wailing as I looked up to see where it was coming from. There was a man sitting up in his bed reading and didn't acknowledge the sound at all and I assumed he must be the patient. I carted the food over to him and began placing the food on his bedside table, similarly to how Derek did for me. The man seemed pleasant enough. He smiled and thanked me. In the far right corner there was a curtain hanging and whoever was behind it sounded like they must be in pain but I wasn't sure if it was my job to go and check on him. I stood there for a moment wondering what I should do. The man in front of me began digging into his meal and I wondered if he would enjoy some idle chit chat which could then lead me to asking him about the patient behind the curtain.

"How is your meal?" I asked politely.

"It's delicious! Simply delicious! Thank you so much. I was really very hungry. You know most of you younglings seem to have forgotten your manners. Always rushing in and out, it's so rude! It's about time someone asks me how I am doing in this god forsaken place."

He looked old but he definitely wasn't as old as Willie. He looked like he could be in his 80's. He had a heart monitor connected to his chest and an oxygen mask under his nose and I wondered what he was being treated for but I didn't dare ask. Instead I said, "It seems to be a very busy day today."

"It's always busy! Too many old folks getting sick and not enough younglings to treat us. Every year they send us less and less nurses and aides and meanwhile we are living well into our 90s. It's a real problem." He said as he took a huge bite of his meal spilling food all over himself. I tried not to watch him eat so I turned my attention over to the far right corner and focused my hearing on the wailing coming from behind the curtain. I must have had a concerned look on my face because the man said "What do you expect him to do? Sing a ballad? The man is 112 years old! Leave him in peace." He looked at me angrily as though I were judging him in some way. 112 years old? That's older than Willie! Why were they putting the oldest most fragile patients behind curtains in rooms with the younger and more healthy patients getting all the room and the service? That didn't make any sense at all. I didn't have a tray for him anyway and I assumed his tray was probably coming at another time. I grabbed the cart and rushed out of the room as quickly as I could and the man was shouting as I left, "I knew it! You're all the same..Rude!"

I had to get out of there. This was all too much for me. I needed to find my way to the nurses station to meet Benjamin. He must know where Asher was and I need to find Asher. I need to apologize or somehow make things right with him. Maybe I could turn myself in or straighten the whole thing out so he can go back to the youth compound and I can take his place here. He didn't deserve this life. If anyone deserved this it was me. As I made my way past the onslaught of nurses and aids I finally made it back to the station where I instantly found Benjamin typing something up on one of the dozens of telepad computers whirring and buzzing away.
"Benjamin. It's me, Lucas."