Spilling Guts

Part 120 - Delegating from the Top

Will shuddered, pulling himself away from a carmine tangle of flesh and bones. Salt, sugar, and vinegar stung his nostrils, lingering on his tongue and tired throat, swimming in his belly.

And then it crawled upwards.

Will lurched onto his knees as his stomach convulsed. A trash bin swerved in front of his face as Will emptied his stomach. His eyes stung and nose dripped; insides and limbs ignoring his need to stay upright. Another set of hands braced his shoulders. Feverish shudders pulsed through him.

Puking sucked... so much.

Will opened his eyes. The remnants of dessert and fries at the bottom of the bin, not blood. Thank god.

But the stench triggered his gorge again, stomach pinching around bile. It was then he realized Cetz and Louis were tending to him; Cetz with the bucket, Louis plastered to Will's side to keep him vertical.

Great. His partner and his boss at ground zero for "sick Will". He might as well walk around Watch Two wearing storm trooper armor backwards.

When the second bought of nausea faded, Cetz and Louis helped Will lay down on the cot. Cetz left to call Rachel, muttering about sushi bribes. Will rinsed his mouth out with cold tea and patted his face clean with a damp napkin. Louis, unfolded a blanket at the foot of the cot. Will pushed it away.

"I'm hot." He reached for the beanie crowning his head in sweat.

Louis stilled Will's hand and knelt by the side of the cot. "You have to keep that on for Hayman's diagnosis."

"But I don't feel well." Will didn't care if he sounded like a whiney brat; he felt like one.

"Do you need to go back to Med Tech?"

"No, I don't want to go back there. It's boring. And I feel useless." Will fumbled with the ties to the robe. He opened the front, exposing a thin t-shirt that clung to his damp torso, like ripping open a steam valve. The cooler air chilled his chest, but not enough. He writhed on the cot, arching his back, making his abused stomach muscles whimper in pain. "I'm just hot. And I need..."

I need a break, and some hope. A vacation where I could nerd out and relax. Or a cold shower to cool me off. Will fluttered his collar, wafting the overheated air away from his body.

Louis choked and turned away. "Need... what?"

Great, I probably reek. "Never mind."

Louis refolded the discarded blanket. "What did you see? In the nightmare."

Will locked his jaw. The dream hadn't been real, but the similarities between it and certain parts of reality had shook him.

"I was eating... you." A very watered down way of saying he found himself binging on the contents of Louis' split torso. The stuff of nightmares while asleep or awake. Will glanced down at his wrist. The dab of ketchup had been rubbed off, but he could still smell it. "Could you put the food away?"

Louis nodded and pulled a fresh trash bin closer to the cot. Once the door shut behind him, Will had naught to keep him company but the skeletal projection of the Devil's Neckbrace looming on the wall. He closed his eyes. Just for a moment. He'd get back up soon.

Sleep said otherwise.

***

Louis took a breath deep enough to make his chest burn with the stretch of air. The sight of Will writhing with a fever reminded him too much of the dream of rain and fire. He shouldn't have such thoughts with his partner being tormented and smelling of vomit. And he couldn't do what he had done in the dream; reach inside Will to quench the burn.

That was the second time Will had collapsed like a string-cut marionette in front of him.

Cetz strode down the hallway, hand to his headset but his eyes on Louis. "Rachel will be here soon. She said Will needs fluids."

"He should be back in Med Tech, resting," said Louis. He eyed an alcove down the hallway where two vending machines hummed. Will would prefer a bottle of water over an IV bag.

"And you should be at your desk doing patents," said Cetz. "But "should do" and "need to do" are not always the same."

A glimmer of hope. Cetz wasn't ordering him back to his desk. "Does that mean-"

"Still no field work until your inbox is empty."

"Right." Louis straightened his back against the wall, the black shirt clinging to the small of his back. "Gotcha. More tea for Will."

Cezt joined him on the wall. "So, you got delegated by Rachel to help?"

"Technically Doctor Balcuwitz did the delegating at Rachel's prompting," said Louis. "Will got roped in by walking by."

"How goes the research?"

"Like hitting a brick wall with squeak hammers. Blueprints and schematics become a chaos language after a while."

"Chaos language, eh?" Cetz glanced into the room. The whiteboard still glowed and Will lay sleeping on the cot. "Have Rachel and Hayman thought about looking into the operating computer?"

"They mentioned something about the Neckbrace recording things weird last night with the jello experiment from hell. But I can't read code, and I don't think Hayman or Will can either. Give Rachel and manual and enough coffee and she could probably figure it out in three months but I don't know if Will has three months."

"Right." Cetz cocked an eyebrow and tapped his headset. "Comp Tech, is Grant awake? ...taking a nap? Good for him. Wake him up."

Louis grabbed Cetz' hand. "What are you doing?" he hissed. First rule of the Hive, don't wake Grant up when he has a rare chance to get a nap.

"Yes, wake him up. I have something he needs to do. Negotiate? Fine." Cetz smirked at Louis and covered the microphone. "Half of being the Head of Watch Two is knowing the proper people to delegate tasks to. I'm calling in the Hive." He listened to the other end of the headset, brow slowly furrowing. "And the other half is finding a triple-shot kraken smoothie to bribe someone to stay awake."