Do No Harm |[ONC 2021 SHORT LIST]|

Expectations 2

Reality versus expectations. That was never something Evan was good at. All facets of his life were perfect. He'd made his millions, on his way to making billions when the world came crumbling down. And it all fell, thanks to a dog.

"Come on, buddy, let's go," Evan cooed but it was to no avail. Buster, his mixed lab, far too old and heavy now to even walk much less run, looked up at him with pain in her eyes. "No. Come on. We've gotta go."

Getting her this far in this secure a facility was already a James Bond-esque feat.

It was no use so he resolved to pick her up and carry her. "Come on. I'm not leaving you."

Up ahead, yet another one of his expectations turned sad reality came into focus, Amber, his wife.

She waved him on. When he was close enough, the way she eyed Evan's dog wasn't something he took a liking to.

"Ev, baby, are we taking the dog? You told me we couldn't. I even left Coco behind!"

Coco was a rat masquerading as a dog. Anything that could be carried in a purse, Evan decided, was no pet. That was an accessory.

"We can take her," Evan insisted. "It's already too late."

Amber, sans the makeup was his reality. With where they were headed, she also had to stop bleaching her hair so now it was a dingy brown mess. The 'extensions' were gone, too. When he'd met her, she was a half-decent C-cup, then a D thanks to his money. But now that, too, was gone. Every 'unnatural' alteration had to go.

He reached past her to type his password into the keypad but it came back rejected.

"It's okay." Amber did the honors and the gigantic doors slid open. "Top clearance."

Evan was impressed. "Baby, you're amazing."

Still, she didn't look all that pleased as she hurried in. Two rows of cryo-beds stretched out before them. Some were inhabited and all were expensive.

They hurried down until they found three empty ones in a row.

"Here," Evan said. But as he put his dog down and hurried to examine the silver tube, Amber didn't follow suit. "What?" he asked her.

"Baby," Amber's voice quivered "you don't know the shit I had to do to get these keycards. Two was hard enough. I didn't get a third."

Evan stood to his full height. He turned to her so slowly he appeared possessed. "What?"

Amber's eyes held fear and something else; anger. "Six guys. Six guys and I won't go into any fucking details, Evan. Six. It'd take two more to get another card."

He wanted to scream at her but there was no point. They were already in the shitter just by being here.

Staring past her, he considered their options. Finally, the thought came to him. "All right. They were designed to sustain two people. We'll put her in one and you and me share."

Amber's mouth fell open. "What?"

But Evan was already in motion. He selected the closest pod and tapped on it. Nothing happened. He banged the glass but with how strong these things were, strength that he himself had requested, there was no getting in.

He turned to Amber and demanded, "Give me a keycard."

She refused. "Can we both fit?"

Evan stared at her for some time. "We'll fit. I told you, I requested the specs on these. Two of us in there will shorten the time but we'll be fine." She wasn't going to budge so he played to his strengths: the feigned romantic. "Besides, if anything happened and these things got bombed or something, one of us could end up coming outta this all alone. You wouldn't want that, would ya?"