Want (Numbered #1, YA Scifi Dystopian) Wattpad Featured Story

Chapter Seven

Aurelia heard a click and knew that the vial was open. It took a matter of seconds to fill a syringe, and she had to think fast. With no weapons in the room, she only had one option. As Ellis turned, the filled syringe in his hand, she launched herself off the bed, colliding with him in the middle of the floor.

"Stop!" she shouted, the only word that she could form.

Ellis had landed on his front, but his hand still clutched the syringe. Aurelia grabbed his wrist, putting all her weight onto his back, trying to force him to let go.

"Bitch," screamed the trauma doctor, struggling beneath her.

She knew that she had little chance of subduing him for long. Her heart pounding, she looked up at Jonathon, who was half off his bed. He put his weight on the bad leg first and crumpled to the ground, the bone unable to bear him. Shit. Ellis stopped moving, but Aurelia could feel his muscles tensing, getting ready to throw her off.

She released his wrist, balled up as much power as she could in her hand, and punched hard. Her fist glanced off the side of his temple and seemed to have no effect whatsoever. Aurelia could sense Jonathon moving, and his hand crept into her peripheral vision. But it was too late - Ellis grunted and in one fast movement threw Aurelia off him. She landed hard on her side, her hip bone making a crack as it hit the floor. Ellis was on his knees now, half turned away from her, and with all her might she pushed him so he sprawled back onto the floor, again on his front.

Once more she launched herself onto his back, and it took her a moment to notice that he wasn't struggling. Looking down at the wrist she was holding, she saw that the syringe was gone. He must have switched hands as he got up. For a moment she felt a fluttering under her fingers, and then it stopped. There was an instant of complete stillness and silence, and she instinctively knew what had happened.

She had felt that brief pause in the world before. When she was a student, she had been called to the City hospital for her district, and she had known what was going to happen. All students had to give at least one injection under supervision to prove that they were capable of performing the process. Aurelia had dressed carefully; the call had come late in the evening when she was already in bed, and she had felt butterflies in her stomach. But no doubt, no guilt.

Walking into the hospital room, she had seen her Trainer standing by a bed with a woman on it. All was quiet and calm, the woman in a drugged sleep, her breathing even. Moving closer, Aurelia could see that the woman was younger than she had thought. In her mid-twenties, maybe, only slightly older than Aurelia herself.

The Trainer had nodded, and Aurelia had drawn back the sheet that covered the woman's naked body. There was nothing visibly wrong, but she had guessed that the Trainer wouldn't give her an easy one. Not her. Not the class superstar. Taking a deep breath, she began to examine the patient by feel. The woman's skin was warm and soft, pulsing with life. Slowly Aurelia began to palpitate the patient's abdomen. Her fingers found the mass after just a few seconds.

Glancing up, Aurelia had seen her Trainer watching her closely, and he had smiled as she touched the right area. Her instincts had been correct.

"Pancreas," Aurelia had said.

The Trainer had nodded again. He'd taken a vial out of his pocket and keyed in his number. When the vial was open, he handed it to her, and she deftly filled a syringe. Taking the woman's arm, she turned it to access the inner crease of the elbow, then smoothly and methodically injected her.

The injection had worked fast, and just as Aurelia had removed the syringe, she'd encountered that strange stillness for the first time. It was as if the entire world had stopped turning just for an instant. Then she had let out her breath, and the moment was gone.