The Wounded Healer

Chapter 32: Blissed Out

Evelyn lay still, keeping her breathing even. Her eyes closed, she strained her ears trying to gain some kind of information.

"Are we sure this doesn't screw anything up?"

"I'm positive." This from a woman. "Well, as positive as I can be. If anything, it may stimulate a pattern in the killzone that we hadn't expected. A bonus, possibly? I can't imagine it leading A2 or any of the subjects in a direction that would prevent the other patterns we're looking for."

"I hope you're right."

"What about her?"

"I don't know. I don't know what Director Janson has planned for her in trial 3. It seems excessive to keep a crank alive."

"What about her powers?" There was some shuffling. Like the sound of paper.

"I don't know. Her healing powers seem...broken. The Flare seemed to have repressed or eaten all the healing and stimulated the new death power. I don't know how it works! I just do as Janson tells me to!"

"What about the other two? The girl and subject A-"

"Yeah! They already caught it. Her Killzone will be highly interesting to read when she finds out!"

"Well it will be interesting Killzone patterns. Especially when they don't see the one variable coming!"

"How many of the ones left do you think are still viable Candidates?" Evelyn lay quiet trying not to tense up or scrunch her face in confusion, she tried to remain still and listen.

"We're down to four or five," the first woman answered. "Thomas over there is by far our greatest hope. He responds really sharply to the Variables. Wait, I think I just saw her eyes move."

Evelyn froze, tried to stare straight ahead into the darkness of her eyelids. It was hard, but she forced herself to breathe evenly, as if asleep. She didn't know exactly what these people were talking about, but she desperately wanted to hear more. Knew she needed to hear more.

"Who cares if they're listening?" the man asked. "They couldn't possibly understand enough to affect his or her responses one way or the other. It'll do Thomas good to know we made a huge exception to get that infection out of him. That WICKED will do what it has to when necessary."

And about the crank? Janson's little pet project?" The man asked.

"I don't know. But who cares? She'll be past gone soon, and she'll forget everything soon."

"Hear that Thomas...and you, you Cranked Witch? Don't get excited, we're about to dump you right back where we found you."

Evelyn felt drugs push into her body through the IV in her arm. She felt her mind start to drift off, being taken away on The Bliss and something else. Through the drugged induced Fogg she heard something odd. Something that made her panic spiked before she fell into the haze of drugs.

"We'll see you very soon."

_______________________

The mysterious people were true to their word.

The next time Evelyn's mind woke up, she was hanging in the air, strung tightly to a canvas litter with handles, swaying back and forth. She wasn't fully awake, everything felt like a dream, and everything was slow. She felt like her mind was floating. Like everything around her was in slow motion. She vaguely registered another  canvas litter swaying beside her.... Thomas...her sluggish mind put together that much.

A large rope attached to a ring of blue metal held her as she was lowered from something huge, the whole time accompanied by the same explosion of hums and heavy thumps that she'd heard when they'd come to get her and Thomas. As she swung back and forth she blinked slowly, a lazy goofy smile spread across her face, her eyes glazed over. A slow Bliss induced giggle escaped her. The swinging made her mind feel like it was flying.