Onew’s surroundings were all too familiar. He stared at the army of staff around him as he was moved from room to room. Yet another issue had come up in terms of his health and they had to bring him back to the medical wing. The carrier should have foreseen it considering he never got to say in his room anymore.
Dr. Park marched at the side of his gurney, glaring straight ahead while they migrated. His body was rigid, marked with more than one stress knot beneath the surface. By his expression alone Onew could see the annoyance blaring out of him. He was in a tough time after all with the attempt at escape a while ago and the deteriorating health of his prized carrier.
The hard life of a pedigree.
It was a struggle for breath now. Each passing day Onew struggled to inhale oxygen into his lungs. The mass on his stomach had expanded while the doctor had busied himself with his own matters. It wasn’t a mountain yet but it was well on its way.
“His area has been prepared,” Onew heard the woman inform the doctor.
“Everything? Have you set up the ventilator as well?”
“The only thing missing from the arrangement is the actual body, sir.”
“Quit being smart with me! This isn’t just some other carrier we’re handling here!” snapped Dr. Park.
Onew closed his eyes to the quip, having become used to their incessant quarrels. He focused on himself, the aches in his bones, the life he’d been meatn to have. Next to him he heard Dr. Park order the woman to get the ultrasound machine prepped because he wanted to get all the details on Onew’s and the baby’s health. Onew had noticed how he didn’t stall on things ever since the power outage. He didn’t seem to want to be caught in such a situation again where he had no control over anything.
Unlike the last few times Onew had found himself in the medical wing he was invited by the burn of fluorescent lights and shining through his eyelids. He craved the darkness which he wouldn’t’ have for another long while. A creepy sensation overrode all of his other senses save for hi sense of smell which was overwhelmed with the scent of peroxide and illness. Albeit, his mind was partial to tricking him on that point.
His body always reeked of disease now that he wasn’t leased the luxury of his usual soap and moisturizer. If he could have his shampoo that smelled like strawberries against he would force himself to smile.
Wires hooked onto his body. A couple tubes were shoved into his nose. It wasn’t a pleasant experience to have the foreign objects move within his nostrils. He felt all the more violated when new IVs were inserted into his arms.
While the workers did their job, Dr. Park lingered by Onew’ side, burning down anyone with his eyes alone if he found they weren’t doing their job properly. His fingers tapped impatiently against the poles on the side of the bed, anxious for the ultrasound to begin. He’d been the first to notice after all, that Onew’s belly growth was going along too rapidly for it to be normal. Alongside the shortness of breath and other complications it was easy to derive that something was amiss.
“Hurry it up; we don’t have all day,” he grumbled.
Everyone in the room tried to pick up the pace. With a couple more comments spat out by the doctor they finished their job (totally oblivious to how their speed was agonizing to Onew). They wouldn’t get the okay until Dr. Park checked him over to see that everything was done well. They were allowed to relax on the sidelines and let the two leaders do their work as no one else was allowed to perform ultrasounds on Onew lest it was specifically specified otherwise.
Blue gel was spread over the carrier’s stomach. Against his heated skin it provided a nice contrast though he wished it could reach further to his core to put to sleep the real rattling heat there.
The knob pertaining to the machine rolled over his belly. Onew cracked his eyes open to watch the black and white image forming on the screen by his head. Dr. Park let the woman manoeuvre the machine while he kept his eye peeled on the image.
It horrified Onew every time to see what was within him. He could easily identify the head of the child considering the amount of time he’d been in this very position. He couldn’t help but look back at the doctor to see how he was taking it, though. He was the only one qualified to decipher what was actually happening, besides the woman.
The look of annoyance on his face had morphed to one of concern. He muttered a command at the woman to move back to a certain spot and pointed hi index finger at the screen.
“Do you see this?” he questioned.
“Yes sir,” was the curt reply.
“Move it this way.”
The knob rotated another way showing the image at a different angle. Onew watched closely, feeling in his gut that something was not the same as usual. Dr. Park circled with his finger a part on the screen. All the eyes in the room settled on what the doctor was babbling about.
“Two heads. Move it this way. Two pairs of feet.”
Two? Two heads? Two pairs? On the baby? Did that mean his child was deformed? It wouldn’t be unusual for the foetus to be deformed. It happened often with Dr. park’s experiments.
“Not that way. God, you’re a bunch of incompetent fools,” Dr. Park grumbled. He snatched the machinery away from his co-worker and directed it himself. It moved over Onew’s stomach in rapid spurts. He darted around trying to find all the places he could that would give him clearer vision.
“Twins. There are twins in your womb,” he finally announced.
The air seemed to be sucked out of the room. Onew himself didn’t know what to think. Twins? What did that mean for him? He wasn’t exactly at his best health wise. This pregnancy was already stretching him to his limits. To carry double the burden ight snap him completely.
“Are you certain of this?” the woman asked.
“Don’t question me as if I’m daft like you. Look at this. I would think your PHD would at least make you competent enough to decipher an ultrasound image!”
The quip between the two only grew from there. Onew faded out momentarily to weigh the consequences in his weary mind. The differences with this pregnancy was already showing. His organs were punching against each other, his lungs suffering the most due to many reasons all related to the child – children – he was now carrying.
“This will mark his health tremendously, doctor.”
“I know.”
“He can hardly support one child in his condition let alone two.”
“He is in a well enough condition to carry an infant to term.”
“He’s not and you know it.”
“Am I or am I not the head doctor here? Did I or did I not develop a method to procreate in a man’s body by combining three strands of DNA and transplanting organs?”
“With all due respect, sir, if this carrier carriers these twins then either he or the babies will die. It’s your pick.”
“You can pick between respecting my authority or becoming part of the plan. At least that way you’ll prove useful.”
The air around the 2 officials sizzled with the anger emanating from the two. Onew almost felt chilled in contrast by the coldness in their stares. They were waging silent wars against each other, battling for his life. Logic versus passion.
The carrier wasn’t sure what to feel. Through this torture he had always wanted to disappear, to take away everything that had happened since the death of his supposed to be child. Perhaps death could be his way out… These twins could have been his miracle. The pieces were fitting together. He’d been gifted with an escape for himself.
“Get him set up and installed in the medical wing. I want someone checking on him every hour and I want updates after each check up. Get moving.” Dr. Park threw down the knob he was holding letting it clatter onto the tray as he stalked out of the room.
Onew was jostled around some more. The gurney and IVs kept attached to his body. The sores on his body protested loudly as they rolled. With the coolness of the gel wiped off he had nothing to focus on.
Curtains pulled around the bed he would now be spending all of his time in. He wheezed for air, the position he’d been in while being lifted making it harder to gasp in air. He could feel the cell phone where it was wedged. He’d had to place it back where he’d first hidden it to keep away from the workers and Dr. Park. There were plans associated with that phone that were more important than life itself.
The more he was moved around the more he could feel it squelching between his cheeks. It was firmly wedged there, but if he kept twitching as such it would slide out.
When he was finally placed on the bed he let out a short breath of relief. The tubes were readjusted and with a final check up on the machines he was left alone.
Surrounded by the low hum of machines. Small vibrations traveled through the floor, giving Onew a miniscule massage. Footsteps disappeared, a door closed. It was just him and the bright lights of the medical wing. No one but him and the two things growing inside his man-made womb. And a cell phone.
Dr. park was still griping about having lost his phone, though Onew had yet to see him with a new phone. He was probably too boggled down by all the recent mishaps to go get a new one. It was all good news for the carrier but he needed to act quickly otherwise he would miss his chance completely.
He stalled till he was sure everyone had gone. With all his strength Onew fished between his cheeks and worked out the concealed mobile device. His muscles strained against the movement. Occasionally he had to lever his bottom down and let his abdomen rest but with work he got it. There was a slight, rank smell that followed it. Considering Onew was used to the reek of his own body, though, it camouflaged easily.
He clicked the button, watching as the screen lit it up. He’d turned it off to conserve the battery. It was a long wait till the phone turned on. When it did he was met with the wallpaper, an old picture of Onew and the doctor during one of their many dates. Once upon a time it would have brought a smile to his face… Looking at it now there were too many emotions for him to sift through.
He pressed the numbers roughly, wanting to get rid of the sentimental memory threatening to flood him. Just a few numbers were needed to lead everyone to safety. Three numbers exactly.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” the man on the other end of the receiver questions in a tone much too chipper for someone handling emergencies.
Onew tried to take a deep breath, the gust stopping halfway through and making him hack weakly.
“Hello?” the person called. “Are you still there?”
“Y-yes,” Onew whispered. He could hope that they could hear him.
“How can I help you, sir? Are you injured?”
“I-I’ve been kidnapped… There’s other… Other people… Help us…”
“Sir, do you have any idea where you are?”
“No… We’re hurt… Please… Help us…”
“Stay on the line sir, we’re going to track your location and send help.”