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

Chapter Twelve - END

Aurelia stood in the doorway, her mouth open and her mind spinning. She didn't know which of the three to go to first, so her body solved the problem by not moving at all. Nicholas was the first to speak, his voice groggy.
"It's fine, Aurelia."
He took Jonathon by the shoulder and gently steered him towards the couch. Aurelia ran to his side.
"Are you hurt?"
His face was pale. "A little. Nothing too bad."
Springing into business mode, she unbuttoned his shirt and palpitated his arm, eliciting a groan. Then, sliding his shirt back over him, she sat back. "It's a sprain, nothing worse. And you?" She looked at Nicholas.
"Fine." He sank into a chair.
"And are you going to tell me what happened?"
"Nicholas saved me," Jonathon said, his colour starting to return.
"I know that."
"No, I mean just now."
Aurelia got up from the couch and bent over Elza. The silver stunning device was in her hand, and she was unconscious. Being as gentle as possible, Aurelia felt around the woman's head, finding a growing lump. Eyes were fine, breathing stable.
"Elza jumped me, and Nicholas intervened," Jonathon said.
She looked to Nicholas for confirmation of this, and he nodded.
"But..." The question didn't even need to be said.
"I don't know," Jonathon answered. "I've had a feeling for a while that something has been off, but I didn't know what. We started the interrogation, and everything was going fine. But as soon as it became clear that I was coming around to Nicholas's explanation of things, Elza changed. Then she waited until I turned my back and came after me."
"I pushed her away," Nicholas added. "She hit her head on the edge of the desk there."
Jonathon sat up, his injured arm folded against his chest. "Move her head again, to the right."
Aurelia did as she was told, and Elza's hair lifted, revealing the white patch on her neck.
"That explains a lot," said Jonathon.
Aurelia shrugged. "It's a stimulation patch, to keep you awake while you're working. Everyone wears them."
Nicholas leant towards her and put a hand on her shoulder. "No they don't, Aurelia," he said quietly.
She returned to the couch, and the three of them tried to piece the puzzle together. The patches that Elza habitually wore were a drug, a stimulating drug to be sure, but also a highly addictive one.
"But she gave me one on my first day at the hospital," Aurelia protested.
"And did you have no side effects?" asked Nicholas.
"Well, I mean, I've been kind of tired and heavy for a day or so, but I've been working a lot, so it's normal, right?"
"Any cravings for another patch?"
Aurelia had been going to ask Elza for another patch earlier that day, but she hadn't been able to find her.
"I still don't understand why she would want to kill you," Aurelia said.
Jonathon sighed. "Elza is a complicated person, Aurelia. You have to understand a few things. Firstly, well, if I'm being honest, she and I, we had something. Nothing serious, and it's long over. But she's always been a jealous woman." He had the grace to blush at that. "But she's also had a very difficult job over the last few years. You know the role that she's played for the Resistance?"
"Sex," answered Aurelia, shortly.
"Seduction," corrected Jonathon. "It's a time-honoured method of getting information out of powerful men. And Elza was very good at it, though it wasn't something she particularly enjoyed doing. And then..." He paused for a second. "I don't think that Elza is behind all of this at all."
"You don't?" asked both Nicholas and Aurelia in surprise.
Jonathon shook his head. "Look, Elza is med staff; she knows the dangers of addiction as much as anyone else. Also, when she gave the patch to Aurelia, she had no reason to want to hurt her in any way. Aurelia didn't even know about the Resistance at that point; she might not have passed our last security checks. No, I think that Elza has been given these patches by someone who wanted her to be easy to control. By the time she realised what was happening, if she has realised, it was too late. The drugs were making her more paranoid, edgier, less reasonable, and more dependent on them. Someone counted on the fact that this could be turned around to hurt me if necessary. Either physically hurt me, as she tried to do, or blackmail or even bad publicity. It's well known on Lunar that Elza and I have a close relationship and that I would place her on my cabinet once I'm president. The way she saw things tonight was that I was edging towards believing Nicholas, and she was protecting the secrets of the Resistance by any means necessary."
"It's not a very reliable method of getting you killed," Aurelia observed.
"But as it turns out, Nicholas wasn't a reliable method either, though statistically he really should have been," pointed out Jonathon. "I think it was more a case of covering all the bases - if one didn't succeed, then the other might."
"In which case, there could well be other people out there right now looking to assassinate you," Nicholas said.
"Yep," agreed Jonathon, and he grinned like he was enjoying a game.
Aurelia cleared her throat, afraid to ask the question but knowing that she had to. "So, what are we going to do with Elza, then?" she asked.
Jonathon looked at her, and his eyes were clouded. "I know what I should do, but I can't. I just can't."
Aurelia had to smile a little. "Well, fortunately, you're sitting with the two people in Lunar who might just understand why you can't kill someone you're supposed to kill."
"I truly don't think she's behind this. And..." He hesitated for a moment. "And I think she should be given a chance to speak for herself."
"I agree," said Aurelia. "And I have the beginnings of a plan."
Whilst Elza was still unconscious, Nicholas and Aurelia moved her to the bed next door, Jonathon following them. Aurelia peeled the patch off her neck and asked Nicholas to find her something to tie Elza to the bed with.
"Is that really necessary?" asked Jonathon.
Aurelia nodded. "It's not just a matter of security. Once she begins to withdraw from the drug, I'm not sure what's going to happen. Many people have fits, so it's for her own safety."
When Elza was properly restrained, Jonathon turned to Nicholas. "I think you and I need to talk."
Silently, Nicholas walked back to the other room.
"You'll be okay here for a while?" Jonathon asked Aurelia quietly.
"Yes. I need to keep an eye on her, anyway."
The two men were gone for over an hour. Aurelia watched over Elza carefully, monitoring her breathing and responses, but she didn't wake. When Jonathon finally re-entered the room, he looked drained. Aurelia stood up and stretched her aching back.
"I need to go to the hospital," she said.
"There are some things we need to talk about, Aurelia."
"I know, and I have every intention of coming back. But I've got to go and pick up some stuff so that I can treat both Elza and you, unless you're all three planning on letting me check you into the hospital?"
"You have to?"
She nodded. She went to him and slid her arms around his waist. "I have to. I'll be an hour or so, I guess."
She could feel him tense a little and looked up into his face. "You do trust me, don't you?"
He pulled her tighter to him, resting his chin on her head. "I don't know who I can trust anymore, Aurelia. Not Elza, not Nicholas, not even myself. But you, you I believe. And I always will. You have my abject apologies for this afternoon. I should have taken your word for what happened."
"No you shouldn't," Aurelia said, her voice muffled by his shirt. "I needed to prove myself, and I have." She moved her head so she could kiss him. "It better not happen again, though."