Democracy is Dead

Chapter Two

"Miss Mills? Miss Mills, can you hear me?" The voice was kind, but unfamiliar.

Athena tried to respond, but her eyes and lips felt as though they'd been glued shut; the fog that filled her head prevented her from opening them.

A lemony clinical smell flooded her nostrils and she could hear the beeping of machines and muffled calls in the distance, but it was far quieter than the chaos of the explosion.

The explosion. Athena forced her eyes open and found herself blinded by stark overhead lighting. She squeezed them shut again, the spots of light already burnt into her vision.

"Sorry about that!" Athena heard the click of a switch. "There, try again. It should be easier now."

Athena was in a now dimly lit room. The soft features of a woman in a Freedom MediCare uniform were looking down at her, her lips turned up in an encouraging smile. "There you are! Welcome back, Miss Mills."

Welcome back to where?

Athena tried to look around, her head spinning as she moved it.

"Careful. No need to move too much too soon. Take your time. You're in St Thomas' Freedom MediCare Centre. You hit your head in the aftermath of the explosion, but there doesn't seem to be any lasting damage. Some bumps and bruises that will take time to heal and you'll have a bad headache for a few days. Otherwise you're fine."

"What..." Athena started, but the words came out as a scratchy whisper.

"Here, have something to drink." Athena took a large gulp of the lilac liquid the MediCare worker offered her. While she tried to regain her voice, the worker guessed where her thoughts had been directed and filled her in on more of the details.

"You were lucky. There are a lot of people here whose conditions are far worse than yours. The front of the crowd was carnage and the stage itself... A dozen people have lost their lives today already. I wouldn't be surprised to see the death toll rise." Athena's heart plummeted. Cress had been at the front of that crowd.

Carnage. Death toll. The words echoed through Athena's head. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

"I'll leave you to get some rest. Medically, you're ready for discharge, but there's no rush. Just go and see the receptionist at the front desk when you feel well enough to go home. We'll send you an alert reminding you to see your local Freedom MediCare practitioner for a check-up next week. I'm prescribing you some painkillers which you can collect from your nearest Freedom pharmacy."

Athena nodded. All she wanted to do was contact Cress and check she was okay. Once she'd done that, she could worry about herself.

Her glasses were back on her face, which was presumably how the MediCare worker had been able to identify her. They pinged as the prescription came through, automatically saving it until she reached a dispensary. As the MediCare worker left, Athena caught sight of her own reflection in the mirror opposite. She looked paler than usual and a large, soft pink bandage had been tied around the top of her head like a bandana. Similar bandages had been tied around her hands.

If her glasses were back on, her parents would have been sent a message about her admittance to hospital. With a sigh, Athena composed a quick message to stop them getting on the first train to New London.

Hi mum and dad. Just wanted to let you know that I'm fine, despite any messages you may have received to the contrary in the last hour. It was only a little fall. I'm already out of the hospital and on my way home. I'll call you tonight. Xx

There. That should keep them in Hastings for the time being. She'd need to take the bandages off before she called them later, or at least fashion some means of concealing them to stop her parents from worrying.