Three patients hit terminal stage at the hospital today. All of them were sent to be submerged in acid.
Maury was still salty about loaning the oh so important acid for his ex; naturally, he'd be in a lot of trouble if he was caught. But he remembered what it was like to see a Cephamalgam on rampage, and just didn't want to see it happen again. Maury sighed as he neared Átta's room to deliver her lunch.
"I swear, things that urchin makes me do—OH!! HOLY SHIT!!"
Maury cried out and dropped the food tray. His scream was loud enough to catch the attention of a few other doctors and nurses that immediately came to see what was wrong. Dr. Solomon was the first to reach him.
"Nurse Maury, what's going on?!"
Maury had fallen backwards, trembling as he pointed toward Átta's room, tears threatened to fall down his face. Dr. Solomon clicked his tongue and pushed the door open all the way.
"Good god..."
Átta laid on the floor blank faced, black ink slowly consuming her, but what really struck Dr. Solomon with fear was the blood draining from her missing arm...
"Fuck! What the hell did she do?!" Another nurse behind him cried out.
"She's hitting the terminal stage early, must've started hearing the voices..."
"What happened to her arm...?"
"She's an Octoling, too much stress and they start eating their own limbs,"
Dr. Solomon got on a knee beside Átta and tilted her head up. She still had a blank stare, and tears dribbled down her face along with her melting eye mask, but she was still breathing softly.
"Can you hear me, Miss Átta?"
"Haaa... haaa... haaa..." Ink and blood dripped from her mouth.
"Work with me! Can you hear me?!"
Átta was crying more.
"I... want... to go home... I want my baby brother... I want Neli..." She was sobbing.
The black ink bubbled and stuck to Dr. Solomon's glove. He pulled his hand back and stood, frowning at the sight.
"She's too far gone, she'll be at terminal before her antibiotics arrive tomorrow morning..."
Without warning, Átta screamed and launched herself at Dr. Solomon, causing ink and blood to splatter. The ink splashed on the glass face of his suit and he cried out, falling backwards as two other doctors hurried to restrain Átta.
"Solomon, are you ok?!" One of them cried.
He brushed the ink away from his vision in disgust, grateful that it wasn't possible for the ink to come in contact with his skin.
"I'm fine! I'm fine! Someone go get clean up for this ink!"
The doctors managed to force Átta back and the shut her room tight. It wasn't long before they could hear her banging and screaming at them in unintelligible shrieks; meanwhile a nurse took off in a run for the clean up crew.
"You all have to do something, you can't just leave her like that!" A Jelly nurse comforting Maury spoke up. "She's injured, if she gets any worse she'll just keep eating herself! We've already had a patient escape, you can't let this get worse!"
"Shut up, Myrtle! That other one was cured, he can't spread anything!" A female doctor snapped.
"Don't tell me to shut up!"
"We don't have time for petty arguments like this!"
Dr. Solomon took the helmet of his suit off, blond colored hair fell in front of his face.
"Átta's behavior means she's already becoming part of the hivemind! Now she'll be hostile and dangerous!" He looked toward another doctor. "Go and get another vat of hydrofluoric acid ready for her, as fast as you can,"
"No...! She's supposed to get cured tomorrow...!" Maury finally spoke.
Dr. Solomon let out a sigh. It was normal for Maury to get too attached to patients, even when they were sick with something life threatening. This was, by far, the hardest part of his job.
"We can't risk her trying to attack anyone else. Besides, it'll take longer and be more difficult for her to recover after taking the antibiotics. She'd just be in pain and agony for years on end," He explained.
Maury was gritting his teeth and tears were already falling down his face. He put his head down, gasping lightly as he cried, not wanting to face anyone.
"Alright, Dr. Solomon, enough of that! You've got other patients to take care of!" Myrtle scolded.
"I know, I know," Dr. Solomon put his helmet back on. "I'm sorry, Maury, but this is just how things are..."
Maury didn't respond; didn't even look up as Dr. Solomon walked off. Myrtle pat his back.
"You've been working nonstop since this all started dear. You outta take a long break, or you'll end up crazy like all those other doctors from the wars!"
Maury stood up, not facing Myrtle.
"I need some tea or something... can you take over my rounds for me...?"
"Of course dear! Go take a breather!"
They went their separate ways. This wasn't something Maury would admit to, but he didn't a like Internet digging on Átta to know about her life. He saw a lot of photos of her and the little brother she always cried about in her sleep. They both looked so happy together...
Maury swore he'd stop at nothing to make sure they'd see each other again.
————
Because I don't give a fuck about Valentines day, here's a depressing af chapter. And even more depressing drawings of the precious kids in trouble.
(Finally got Hachi's fuckin hair and eyes right, dear satan—)