Hunted

Ten: The Hospital

Iseult's eyelids flickered. The press of white light against her lids was an unexpected and welcome relief to the darkness she had grown to know only too well. She could hear mumbled voices in this new world, whispered urgencies. She didn't want to open her eyes to reality, to know why the disembodied voices were in such a panic. Iseult didn't want to wake up, because in that moment, as she lay still on the hard, cold table, she felt invincible, brand new and strong. She didn't want to return to the detention halls; not again. If her eyes remained closed and she pretended to be asleep, she might prolong her respite, prolong her moment of peace. Though as she lay perfectly still, afraid to betray her consciousness, she noticed that the urgent words floating about her intensified, pushing in on her, making her body tense against her restraints.

"What do you mean you can't do it?" rushed a familiar voice, his tone panicked. "It's your job!"

"My hands... I can't... He's nearly gone anyway," a female voice replied, her voice shaking uncontrollably.

"Dr Porter - you have to help him! You have to do something!" Iseult pushed her eyes open, trying to blink away the cold, harsh light. The sterile surroundings of the hospital swam into view, as it had the last few times she had awoken from the darkness. She rolled her eyes in her head, trying to find the source of the voices. She couldn't move, her arms and legs strapped tightly to the metal table. She fought against the bondage, but it was unrelenting.

"James... I've tried," Ashley Porter replied in a frightened whisper. "It's happening too fast - I can't undo this - not now. He was left in there too long".

"No! No - I have seen you heal people before - this stuff - It mends bones and seals wounds. In the training hall... You can't give up," James pressed. He was frantic, almost threatening as Iseult finally locked her eyes on his back.

"James?" she breathed, her voice only a ghost of a whisper. He didn't hear her, his attention was locked on the next patient. Iseult let her gaze drop, trying to understand who they were talking about, when her eyes fell on the blonde student, barely recognisable in his current state. Yet, Iseult knew immediately that it was Ethan Jansen who lay eight feet away from her, caked in his own blood. Her own heart could have stopped in that moment, as her mind raced ahead reading the situation, reading his drained, blood-stained appearance, his bruised eyes, noting the gory wound to his face, the constant drip of blood on the linoleum floor.

Ashley Porter was standing like a ghost above him, her pale complexion stark against her bright red hair. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, her lips trembling. She couldn't think straight - she didn't know how to help Ethan - to save him. Iseult fought against her constraints, knowing that her time was running out; Ethan's time was running out.

"Let me out! Let me out," she cried, straining against the leather straps. James didn't turn to face her, his hands fluttering over Ethan helplessly. Iseult arched her back. The sound of the blood hitting the floor seemed to echo in her head. "For God's sake, somebody help me! Let me out," she yelled, her need to help him overriding the panic that was pressing in on her. James didn't seem to hear her, but Ashley moved, seeing it as a task that she could possibly manage.

"How can you just give up on him?" James yelled, his voice breaking ever so slightly. Ashley pressed her lips together, as a single tear escaped from beneath her thick-framed glasses and ran down her cheek. Iseult watched her frantically, as the doctor's hands continued to quake, unable to grasp the leather straps that held her in place.

"Hurry up," Iseult snapped, uncaring if Ashley Porter was a member of staff or what the consequences of her harsh tone would be. Iseult already knew however, that her words would not help Ashley to untie her, to free her from where she had been strapped following the time spent in detention. The woman seemed to zone out, retreating away to the back of her mind, away from the scene unfolding in front of her. "You bloody useless fool," Iseult growled, helplessly angry. She instead turned her attention to James, trying to get him to listen to her.