Withering World [MCSM Fanfiction]

ENGULFMENT: Chapter 48

Petra

I wasn't banned from going to the hospital completely, just when they didn't need me anymore. Currently, they need me more than ever, this time not for my expertise but for my blood, which casts a downside for my immunity. It's why I'm sat in a white room on a memory foam chair covered in blue leather as of now.

A researcher in red ambles into the room with a sterilized needle. Not Ivor, not Harper. Olivia.

"Liv! I'm so glad it's you."

"I know right? Me too! I was trained and now I can take blood tests."

Although, they aren't testing my blood anymore: they're taking it. Some people need help with their immune systems or are in the last WITHER stages so they'd mix the cure with my antibodies to give them a healing boost.

Olivia reaches for an elastic band in her pocket, then sliding it up my arm and stopping at the bicep. She sits down next to me, facing my arm to wipe antiseptic all over the insides of my elbow. Then she pulls out the needle, but I interrupt her process, seeing an opportunity pop up in my favor.

"Hey, is there any way you could get me to see Jesse?"

She jolts at this. "What? You know you can't step foot into the hospital after this right?"

"I know, but I need to see her," I say. "You could sneak me in or give me a uniform, anything."

We survey each other, her look of remorse tying me up to the fact that the outcome will always be the same - I can't see Jesse.

"Petra... I'm sorry. I can't. I could get fired..."

Precious Olivia. It's always been in her nature to be the goody-two-shoes. I still try, hoping she would choose her friends over her job.

"I won't tell, I swear. I'll do everything I can to make sure you weren't involved."

She sighs, putting the needle down. "Okay, I'll admit that I'm not worried about getting fired."

"Then what's the problem?"

It's easy to tell that she doesn't want to say whatever she's about to say. As much as it pains me to do this to her, I need answers.

"The board has guidelines about a patient being in critical condition."

"Lemme guess - Ivor and Harper made them. I'm not surprised." I am about to fold my arms when I remember that Olivia's already prepped one of them for injecting the needle.

"Actually uh, Lukas made those suggestions," she says, face contorting to display her grief.

Lukas? Out of all people in the research department, it was Lukas? Of course, he wouldn't have known it, though it pains me worse than ever that the one thing he controlled in the squad ends up sabotaging me.

I have no right to be mad at a dead person; a dead friend, in fact. Not when I know I failed to save him. Not when I know he probably had intelligent reasoning for this, like he did with the bedrock thunderstorm and the electrical guardian strikes. I'd like to make light of it, as slick as the agony of losing him still is. His brain I'll definitely miss, my thoughts conjuring up a horrid lump in my throat again.

Olivia goes back and forth, opening her mouth to talk and then changing her mind midway. That changes when she figures I have nothing else to say. "I know this isn't what you wanted, but we're not trying to attack you. I promise."

Doused in sorrow, I relinquish my arm for the engineer to carry out her simple procedure. She explains everything to me when connecting the tip of the needle to the vein in my skin.