Page 19 of The Key to Fear
“I’ve submitted a work order to have a bot fill them,” Holly countered.
“It’s going to take way too long.That little girl is awake.”Elodie stabbed the air in front of the door.“She is crying and in pain and calling for her mom!”She wrung out her trembling hands and shoved them into her pockets.
Be calm.Be calm.Becalm.
“My patients are all sedated.I don’t know what to do when they’re awake.I’m not trained to know what to do.”Elodie balled her still quaking hands.“Now ping the location of the pumps.I’ll take over from there.”
Holly remained silent, but a map of the MediCenter formed transparent over Elodie’s vision, along with two blinking lights signaling her current location and the location of the pumproom.
Elodie itched to leave the LTCU and retreat into the elevator.But she couldn’t.Not yet.The part of her that had almost carried her into PatientNinety-Two’s room without a second thought was begging for resolve.“Can I seeher?”
The door slid open and Elodie shuffled toward it, but not through.The Violet Shield danced in front of her as she peered into the room.Bands of white plastic held Aubrey’s thin limbs against the gurney she’d called home for the past four years.Her hands and feet twitched with each weak attempt to pull free.A thin sheen of tears coated the girl’s round, pale cheeks.Elodie flinched against the frightened whimpers and labored cries that tore at her ears—but she did notenter.
Heat pricked her eyes.“Close it.”The door hissed shut as Elodie marched, calm and determined, to the elevator.
XI
Tavi drummed her fingers on the desk, her pointed nails clicking against the glass.“Took you long enough.”
Arms out wide, Aiden glanced down at his uniform.“Why, yes, Tavi, I do look rather charming in this bright orange trash bag.Thankyou.”
Tavi rolled her eyes so dramatically, she might have caught a glimpse of her brain.“Anyway, there are several things you need to learn, and, lucky for you, you have the best teacher in the entireunit.”
The tight elastic ankle cuffs dug into Aiden’s calves with each step toward Tavi.“Great.”He wiggled a bit as he walked.The constrictive orange fabric kept riding up.Leave it to Aiden to get another uniform that felt entirely too small.“Where do I go to meet this master teacher?”
Tavi cleared her throat, the corners of her mouth twitching with a smile.“At the end of next week you’ll have a test on what you’ve learned.”She steepled her fingers, pressed them against her thin lips, and continued.“If you pass, it’ll determine which section within theEnd-of-Life Unit you’re best suited for.If you fail, well, you’re kicked from the program and will have to head back to career placement.For what, I assume, is the three hundredth time.Now,” her hands slapped against the desk as she stood, “some newb instructors go easy on people who are sent down here, but others—” She sucked in her lips to keep from smiling.“Others have been here longer and know what’s expected and how to weed outlosers.”Her gaze narrowed at him as she enunciated the word.“And the like.Others—” Another twitch of her lips.“Like me.”Twitch.“And, like I said, I am the best.”The smile broke free, curling up mischievously as she grabbed her holopad and shoved it into her pocket.
Aiden felt his expression abandon his carefree facade and twist into a grimace.Tavi hated him, thought he was a loser, and now she was the person in charge of teaching him everything he needed to know to be successful in the ELU.Aiden tugged at the orange fabric zipped up to his throat.“This should befun.”
Tavi blew past him, her pink hair still unmoving despite her speed.“What part of death, exactly, is supposed to be fun?”she tossed over her shoulder as her short legs carried her down another long corridor they had yet to explore.
Aiden slumped forward and dragged his hands down his cheeks.
Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?
But he knewwhy.He even knewhow.Cath Scott was trying to save him and prove a point at the same time—better this thanRehab.
“It doesn’t look good to constantly lag behind!”Tavi’s shout hammered his internal mutterings.
With the enthusiasm of a person who’d spend the rest of his life surrounded by death, Aiden shuffled after his instructor.
-:-:-
Aiden followed Tavi around the bowels of the MediCenter for what seemed like a million hours.She pointed to a thousand different rooms, explained to him exactly why he didn’t qualify for access to see what was behind each shiny, windowless metal door, before pursing her lips, shaking her head, and doing the same at the next door they came to.
Aiden checked the illuminated number on his cuff.10:52.
He fought the urge to tilt his head back and groan.No way have I only been down here for a little over an hour.He dragged his fingertips along the wall as he trailed Tavi and her fluorescent pink and blond hair helmet.“What a time suck,” he muttered.
“Hm?”Tavi’s sneakers squeaked against the floor as she stopped abruptly in front of another metaldoor.
Aiden snapped his hands to his side and stared ahead attentively.“Nothing.”He couldn’t bare another lecture about his “lack of interest and what that said about his character.”
Tavi shrugged and typed a few notes onto her holopad before looking up.“Now,this door, you’re actually allowed to go through.”
“I’m honored.”Aiden attempted a bow but thought better of it as soon as Tavi’s glare sliced through him.
She passed her cuff under the control panel and motioned for him to enter as the door slidopen.
