Alexandria

Chapter Nine

The blinding lights of the rec room illuminated the grim faces of the patients. Delilah couldn't help but think that the doctors and nurses all slightly resembled ethereal beings. Their starched white uniforms seemed to give each wearer an unearthly glow.

The patients carried about their daily activities, such as they would if they had still been on their pills. Red and Veronica's plan relied completely on the acting ability of their fellow inmates. That's what they were now. No longer could they be considered patients.

Debra entered quietly and tapped Nicole on the shoulder, "Nurse Rosen? You have a call waiting for you in the hall." Nicole shot a glance around the room and upon finding everything as it should be, nodded to Dr. Quinn and left the room with Debra.

Veronica watched two leave the room and saw her chance. She carefully approached the kind doctor. "May I speak to you?"

Dr. Quinn turned to the beautiful woman. "Of course. What is it that you need, dear?"

Veronica turned to the rest of the room with an unsure expression. This was it. Once this part of the plan was underway, there was no doing back. Red gave her a subtle thumbs up and Veronica took a deep calming sigh. "Well, it's not just me..." She hoped the others would catch on to her hint. Thankfully as soon as the words came out of her mouth the room became silent. Every woman in the room slowly walked to the middle of the room and looked to Veronica with intelligent eyes.

Dr. Quinn gasped in shock, noticing the movements and clear, non-drugged eyes of her patients. She was frightened, sure, but these were her wards. She was responsible for them and their care. So she closed her mouth and relaxed herself as best she could. "Wh-what is going on?" she stuttered despite her resolve to remain calm.

Red stepped up and took charge of the situation at that point. She knew that if no one spoke up, the room would remain silent and they would miss their chance at freedom. "Don't you notice something odd about all of us? How we aren't acting like we normally do?" After the words were out of her mouth, she realize they must have come out harsher than she intended.

Dr. Quinn's expression was frozen on her face and all she could utter was a simple, "Um..."

Delilah, for the first time since Dr. Quinn had met her, spoke in a calm quiet voice, "We aren't crazy."

"None of us are." Phoebe added.

Dr. Quinn looked around blankly, truly believing that this all had to be a horrible dream. How could she have missed this huge change in her patients? She didn't respond, she couldn't. This revelation was too much and her brain was having trouble processing.

Sandra's motherly instinct kicked in, even though she now knew that her babies were no longer with her. "I know this must not be making any sense to you. Please, just let us try to explain."

Sandra laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and Dr. Quinn finally came back out of her thoughts.

Lola piped in, "We only act crazy to alleviate suspicion."

"I- I think I need to sit down..." Dr. Quinn reached around frantically, needing something substantial to hold on to while her world came crashing down around her.

"Here, let me get you a chair." Delilah offered, before rushing off to find a chair for the kind doctor.

"I know it's a lot to take in." Phoebe soothed.

"We know this must come as a shock." Lola added as she helped to lower the woman into the Delilah's offered chair. Everyone tried to sooth the doctor to their best abilities and nothing seemed to work, however Red was tired of all the coddling. She knew that at any moment that awful nurse could walk in and all of their work and planning would be for not.

"But we need your help." Red interrupted the other inmates to start the explanation of their problem.

Veronica, picking up on Red's cue. "I bet you're wondering why we are doing this?"

Dr. Quinn nodded weakly to the beautiful lady as she stood.

"At first, it wasn't an act." Veronica admitted. "The pills that you have been passing out to us? They only made our symptoms worse. They purposely magnified them to the point of insanity. Dr. Rosenthal has been using some of us as human test subjects for the past decade. Others have been put here to keep us quiet. To keep us from spreading knowledge. I don't know how much you know about humanities history, but this nation used to be filled with intellectuals. Everyone had the opportunity to reason and theorize. The government has taken away that freedom. They want to keep us under their control- only learning the things we have to to keep the country going."

Dr. Quinn perked up at the mention of human test subjects. "The experimentation. Is that why I couldn't find any record of Dr. Rosenthal's methods? Because he made them all up?" She asked.

"Now you're catching on." Red smiled as she said this. This could not be going any better. Who would have known that the sweet doctor had suspected Rosenthal all along of something sinister? Dr. Quinn just didn't have access to all of the facts.

"Does this all make sense?" Lola asked carefully, she was still worried about the doctor's mental state.

"It's starting to, but there's one thing I don't understand." Dr. Quinn stood slowly. "If unsanctioned theories and research are frowned upon, who gave Dr. Rosenthal the permission to use human test subjects?"

"That's what Red and I have been trying to figure out. We know Rosenthal isn't the mastermind behind this. He's entirely too stupid." Veronica responded, knowing that any information she gave to this woman would be safe.

"Okay, I'll help you, but promise me one thing." Dr. Quinn turned to Veronica and Red, her eyes determined.

"What's that?" Red asked suspiciously.

Fix the world." the doctor begged. "Rid the people's mind's of ignorance. No society can survive very long when only a select few are enlightened."

Veronica nodded. "If nothing else, we will tear down THIS establishment of ignorance. I promise you that." Veronica knew that there was much more to be one after they escaped, but Red and herself had decided that it would be best if they withheld the rest of their plans from the others.

Dr. Quinn smiled a determined smile, rubbing her hands together. "So where do we start?" Sandra and Lola moved toward the doors and kept watch as the plan was being revealed.