Ultramarine | The Darkest Minds Fanfic

Chapter 24, Sheena

My heart stopped cold when I saw Cole walked in with the last person I want to see in this place—well, other than her son.

　　Dr. Gray came in, looked around our humble bunkroom, and Cole gestured for her to sat down on one of the cots. I sat stiffly in my bed the entire time. I was shivering again—numbing white creeping up in waves of anger, stronger than ever before—and I knew it was struggling to come free.

　　"Dr. Gray, ma'am, this is Sheena. She's the medic I told you about." Cole said, "Sheena, you've met Dr. Gray."

　　Why? I wanted to ask, but she gave me the answer soon enough.

　　"Mr. Stewart mentioned that you have had medical training?" Dr. Gray said, "And if I were to relay the details of the procedure, our approach on the therapy of IAAN, you will be able to understand?"

　　I took in a deep breath, and nodded. "I believe so."

　　"I'll leave you to it, then." Cole was ready to leave, but I stopped him.

　　"Cole, could you find Chubs for me?" I asked.

　　He hesitated for a second, and answered stiffly, "Sure," before he left.

　　I tried to pull a safe distance between me and Dr. Gray as she asked for the remaining pages of Project Snowfall, and commented on the notes I made there. I counted the second before Chubs arrived, all the while trying to keep a lid on my monster's furious claws.

　　He came in no longer than two minutes later. "Chubs," the moment I saw his face popping up on the other side of the door, I shot up and pulled him away from Dr. Gray's vision. "Listen, I need you to take Dr. Gray out of the room and lock me inside if you notice anything wrong with me, okay? As soon as you notice anything odd."

　　His eyebrows arched up. "Define odd, because this conversation, by all standard, does not seem right—"

　　"Chubs! Please!" I shot.

　　"Okay!" Chubs raised both his hands up, followed by a concerned look. "Sheena, are you okay?"

　　"I am." I said, a bit too quickly, "I just...don't trust myself with her."

　　Chubs' look turned from concern to...really concern. "Okay. If you say so."

　　We went back into the room, and one side of Dr. Gray's brows lifted. "I thought the agreement was to talk to you. Alone."

　　"Consider him my...assistant." I said.

　　Dr. Gray pressed her lips, but didn't argue. She moved on to explain what I interpreted right about the research, and the part that I missed. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that much—I somehow managed to get most of the details in the procedure down, going as far as to point out which brain area to tackle in most of the color, and even the dosage of stimulus—when did that happened?—just not the implant part. The cure is an implant, and for some reason, I simply never made the connection between the two.

　　It's really weird, listening to her telling me that I had all but deciphered this research completely, but in reality, feeling like I had done no progress on it at all. Chubs was listening very carefully, but I don't really know how much he understood.

　　Finally, after she explained everything, and I'd connected all the dots, I felt as if I had been struck by lightning.

　　I know the cure now. I might even be able to cure someone.

　　No. I could do it better. I don't need to actually open someone's skull to do it.

　　It felt good and bad at the same time—I, myself, was ecstatic, but the shivering and the numbness grew even stronger, and I had to hold on to my body just so I could have some kind of control. I asked Chubs to take Dr. Gray outside, but assured him that he didn't need to lock the door, and I was left alone.