Rise Above ✓

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty–Three

 

The nurse had kind eyes and a soft smile. He always beamed at Tom each time he saw him, like Tom didn’t have anything to worry about and for some reason, it seemed to calm the omega’s nerves. The young man, whose name tag read ‘Justice’, which was kind of a weird ironical name considering the situation, picked up a remote and switched on the TV in the waiting room.

Tom wasn’t the only one there, there were a lot of other people, families, friends or just single people like him waiting as well. The occasional sniff or sob echoed in the silent room along with whispers and hums of comfort.

Tom was terrified. Just a couple hours ago, the Chief Medical Examiner himself had come into the waiting room and told everyone about what was happening with the alphas. Apparently, it was some sort of virus – they didn’t know how it was spread yet – but they did know that water was apparently the cure, and it was going to take a while for it to react.

Now all the people could do was wait. Tom refused to think about the questions some of the people had asked.

What if it doesn’t work?

What if you’re wrong?

Are they going to be comatose forever?

It will work and your loved ones are going to be perfectly fine, the Medical Examiner had replied, his voice strong with such conviction that Tom couldn’t help but believe him. In fact, he had no choice but to believe him because if he didn’t, the other option was to break down.

The TV cackled to life, distracting the people in the waiting room as they all diverted their attention to the flat screen on the wall, anything to keep them from thinking about their beloved alphas currently comatose in several rooms deep inside the hospital.

Justice flicked the channel until it landed on a news station and he turned around to smile at almost everyone in the room and Tom felt himself relax even more as the atmosphere became less tense.

“The Medical Examiners have finally released a statement concerning the viral collapse of alphas – not just in Sendorai, as news sources tell us, but all over Maviz. Apparently, the cure to the strange comatose phenomenon that has befallen these alphas, is simply lots and lots of water. I’ll hand over now to Olu Ilionu, reporting live from Serai. This is Abigail Tunt, reporting live from Sendoria’s Central Hospital. Over to you, Olu.”

Tom had his hands cupped around his belly while his heart raced a mile a minute. He hadn’t told anyone yet about his pregnancy because he wanted Chris to be the first to know – apart from everyone else that knew, like his crazy neighbour Dwaine. How the guy could tell was beyond him.

It felt like time was frozen since the Medical Examiner had come into this room and Tom was getting anxious. Was it supposed to take this long?

His phone vibrated and he immediately knew it was Tania, she’d been sending him texts every hour or two since she’d left the hospital after visiting early in the morning to make sure he was okay. Apparently, she’d gotten a lead on who was responsible for the virus and the Peace Force were going to get them. He prayed to the gods that she would be okay – because only a fucking lunatic would want to kill another were so heartlessly, gods knew what the culprit would try to do if they reprimanded them.

He brought his phone out and realized it was a voice message, meaning either Tania was too busy to type out a message or the message was too long to go in a text. He brought the phone up to his ear, his chest getting warm at the sound of his twin’s voice.