THE HUMANE (The Elegian Series #1)

THREE - Eyes on Fire

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Area One Hospital, Upper City

Day 94 Quarter 02 Year 217

KALISTA

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Kalista opened her eyes up to a bright light, wincing to the sudden sharp gnawing on her back. She looked around the room, dazed, her eyes settling at the IV bag hung above her, infusing the fluid into her veins. Her fingertips touched the fabric gown she wore, a bandage wrapped around her stomach and back.

She closed her eyes. The light was too bright. The smell was too sharp. The metallic-like taste of blood lingered in her taste buds. Every bit of skin that came in contact with something—the fabric, the needle, the bedsheets—felt so tangible that it was almost painful. So soft and rough. Its texture ten times sharper.

Her eyes darted around the room. She wasn't in Lower City, that she knew. They didn't have any functioning hospitals there. The closest thing they had to a hospital was a makeshift infirmary down in Cobble Street, and it wasn't like they had licensed doctors stationed there.

She gritted her teeth, the most that the Upper City did for them was give them monthly vaccines. And for what? She wasn't quite sure.

"Dad?" She croaked, opening her eyes again. "Eli?" 

There was a loud humming inside her head, like whispers. Different voices talking incomprehensibly. She took a breath. Maybe it's just the medicine taking a toll on me...right? Despite that, she had a feeling that it wasn't just the medicine.

She could hear a couple of footsteps growing closer and closer. She looked down at the slit at the bottom of the door, shadows moving outside. When she realized they were going to come in, she quickly closed her eyes, allowing herself to go limp again.

The door opened, and she could hear people stepping inside. A couple, maybe. It didn't sound too crowded.

"She's asleep," The voice was a man's. Probably in his fifties. Even if he said it under his breath, Kalista could hear it as clear as day. "You told me you saw her awake."

"She is awake, Dad," another said. "Look at her breathing, it's not stable like when she sleeps. And her lids are fluttering slightly."

Crap. She'd been had, and she opened her eyes, her gaze settling on the two men before her. It was the General and his son (Lennox, wasn't it?), which were both clad in their immaculate white Arlite uniform. The only difference between their uniform was that the General had five silver stripes an inch above the hem of the jacket, while Lennox had three. Only the General gets five stripes.

Isn't Lennox too young to have three stripes? Unless he's a military prodigy.

"Sorry," she managed to say. "Just trying to be careful."

"I'd do the same if I were in your shoes," the General said, smiling kindly. "How are you?"

"Disoriented. And numb. Are my parents here?"

He glanced at the officer beside him. "There's a whole family being held in a precinct. We couldn't bring them in without your confirmation, especially when we didn't know who you were."

"Don't you keep tabs on everyone?"

"We do. But oddly enough, we couldn't find your records. Your retina and fingerprints don't match with any of the citizens in California. And also in the whole U.S.A."