The Assignment

Chapter 13: Allocated

"Okay,"I consented, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze, aware of how scarcely dressed I was. "I'm sorry for-"

The nurse cut me off. "Ah, ah, nothing." She shushed me. "It's completely understandable that you panicked and felt the need to get up. Lots of patients have done that tonight, trust me, it's okay." The woman placed a perfectly manicured hand on my shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "Let's get you to a more comfortable area, shall we?"

The lady, who had introduced herself as Skye, took the chair's handles and began to push me down the hall. The battery operated emergency floodlights illuminated parts of the hallways, leaving the spots in between gloomy and shadowed. We came to parts of the corridor that had no lights at all, and we had to navigate our way through the darkness blindly. Skye seemed to know exactly where she was going, though, because I never ran into a wall once.

After a few minutes of silence, I spoke up. "Skye, where are we going?" I questioned timidly.

"You'll see," she responded, reaching over and patting my shoulder. "You are safe with me."

Involuntarily shivering, I realized that something wasn't right about all of this. There was only this one nurse, Skye, even though we had passed multiple nurses' stations. The electricity was out, and there was not a repairman nor a doctor attending to patients in sight. We're they letting all of the patients on life support die? What about those on respirators? The tiny infants in incubators?

These questions in mind, I asked Skye another question. "What about the people who were dependant on machines or medicines, that no longer work without power? Have they died?"

"Well, you're mighty curious today, aren't you?" Skye laughed quietly. "Not to worry about them, they aren't in this ward. Heck, they are all the way at the other end of the hospitial! Not to worry, child, they are being well taken care of. I'll let another nurse know that you expressed your concern, and she may pass that along to those patients. They need all of the encouragement they can get."

Her good-natured laughter died out as we continued down the hall. Once or twice, I bent my head back to look at her. She was extraordinarily beautiful, with not a flaw on her face. She seemed too perfect, to inhumanly nice and pretty to be here, a mere nurse in a small-town hospitial. She belonged on a movie screen, a fashion runway, maybe even the fanciest of pageants. One thing was for certain; Skye had the power to captivate the hearts of all.

She'd sure captivated mine.

If I wasn't so weak, I think I would dare to hold her hand, tell her how lovely she was. Get to know her better. If we had lived in an older time, a simpler time, I would have dated her. I'm sure that she had a partner, though, maybe even a husband. Maybe he loved her, maybe he favored another. I wish I knew, just so I could stroke that wonderfully soft face of hers. Is it wrong for me to want to do such a thing?

Snapping me out of my revere, the pain in my lungs became sharper and the wheelchair came to a standstill. I looked around the small area, a waiting room, perhaps. It was too dark to see much, but I knew instantly that we were not alone. A movement in the shadows caught my eye, and a warning cry bubbled up in my throat. It caught, stuck, as I saw who was hidden there.

Kia, pale faced and wide eyed, was being restrained by a well-muscled man, tall and lean, his nails digging into her skin. A bandage was wrapped over her shoulder, the skin underneath quite inflamed. She looked deep into my eyes, my fear reflected in her own. She was more scared than I had ever seen her in my life, even after her father had abused her, and even after they had banished her from their home. This man was a stranger to her, and I could only imagine what she must be thinking right now.