Social Order

Part 58

Sean reached into the cylinder tube, touching his hand to Mark's cheek. He felt warm and was stained in dirt that he assumed came from the warehouse. Matthew jogged over, slipping past Ricky as Ricky got up from the ground in front of the container. Matthew leaned over the tube, his hands checking the wires attached to Mark. Sean watched him work, then asked a bit anxiously. "What are you looking for?" Matthew followed one of the wires that had a strange liquid in it. Upon glancing at the computer and lab equipment, Matthew mumbled out distracted. "I'm looking at what she's done to him..." Sean swallowed; gripping Mark's bicep tighter. Matthew moved around him to the computer. Typing away to bring up data and information on things Sean was too stressed to look at, he asked him uneasily. "Well?" Matthew gave him a shrug, answering honestly. "She got him into a cryo-state and managed to get the serum into him..."

Sean shrugged back, stating out a bit bluntly. "What serum? What did she do to him, Matthew?" Matthew tossed his hands up, letting out a light sigh as he retorted. "She was clearly trying to wipe his memory... but I don't know if it worked. His vitals are all off the charts... The readings are inconclusive." Sean rolled his eyes, pleading with Matthew as gently as he could in his rising concern. "English, Matthew. I'm not a doctor." Matthew began to type something, while he replied a bit defensively. "It means that because he is injured, his body is not operating under normal conditions. It means that anything she put in him... His body is too distracted to register properly." Sean felt a small spark of hope as he said positively. "So... It didn't work? He still remembers everything...?" Matthew looked over his shoulder but didn't look directly at him when he said softly. "I didn't say that... With his vitals like this... I don't know how much the system has given him."

Sean tensed up, uttering out seriously. "Isn't there a log on there? Doesn't it tell you?" Matthew turned his attention back to the computer, grumbling out. "I'm looking. But it just tells me that she administered the vial manually... Doesn't say how much was in the vial she administered." Matthew yanked a vial off one of the machines to look at it, mumbling out to himself. "Without knowing how much she gave him... I'll have to wake him up slowly. If I wake him up too fast, I could send his body into shock." Sean slid his hand up to Mark's shoulder, saying in a mousy voice. "How long will that take?" Matthew began collecting journals from around the floor of the desk, answering honestly. "If I can get him to the hospital... a few hours. Give or take. The machine they have will be able to analyze his vitals better." Sean jerked his head up with a spark of hope, blurting out. "Wait! Couldn't mother monitor his vitals? Do you think you could find out how she-?" Matthew shook his head, cutting him off as he said. "She monitored us through our implants. Mark removed his and Nate removed mine. That's why she didn't know that I was alive..."

Matthew looked at Mark briefly, before telling Sean with an arm full of journals and notes. "I'm going to help him... Just give me time." Sean nodded reluctantly, leaning over the cylinder to look Mark over. He could see the swelling on his arm. Touching it gently, he bit his lip. It was broken. He'd seen enough broken bones in the Slums to tell. Matthew walked out of the container, calling out to the others. "Can anyone carry the cylinder? We need to carefully move Mark from here." Al stretched his bandaged arm but told Matthew confidently. "Just burns. I can work through the pain. Doesn't look that heavy." Ricky nodded to Matthew, interjecting. "A few broken nails and bruises, but I'm still good to try." Sean felt his adrenaline fading and the more it did... the more everything hurt. His dislocated shoulder was the worst of it. The stiffness and pain forced him to hang his free hand limply. Parts of his body felt bruised and sore, but with all the dirt on him... it was hard to see the full extent of the damage.

Al moved into the container, taking deep sniffs, before asking Sean with concern. "How bad are you hurt?" Sean glanced at him, giving him an honest shrug as he said coolly. "Beaten but alive... But now that everything is settling down... I feel it." Al kneeled to sniff Sean's leg, before touching the stained hospital cloth. Sean thought it was just dirt and grime from the warehouse. Until Al tugged on the cloth to pull it away from his skin. Sean yelped, gripping the cylinder with his good hand. It had felt like Al was ripping his skin off. Snorting, Al told him seriously. "You should sit. Your leg is bleeding." Sean stepped back to lean on the counter, reaching down he carefully pulled up his pant leg and uttered out. "Impossible. I didn't get-" Sean stopped talking when he pulled the pant leg up enough to see for himself. His leg was caked in dried blood and hidden in his road rash was a screw that had impaled his leg. Pulling it out a little, he cursed and put it back to keep himself from bleeding more. He recognized it. It was a piece from the broken container door.