Stuck In The Box: Halarge Calling

Chapter 5: Easier Than The Truth

While Marc was recovering from an implant, he felt a strange yet familiar sensation in his chest. Dr Naviks who was monitoring him instantly came to try and check what's wrong. "Marc, what's wrong? What's bothering you?" Dr Naviks asked, taking out his stethoscope. "I can't breathe," Marc said as he tried to catch his breath. Dr Naviks panicked but tried to remain calm, he increased the amount of oxygen delivered to Marc's oxygen mask before trying to get a rapid response team. They finally arrived, taking Marc to a different room to get him treated. "Marc..?" Paul asked as soon as he woke up, unaware of what's going on. "Paul, calm down, he's in good hands," Dr Krak'e said. "What's happening," Paul asked. "I don't know if I'm being honest," Dr Krak'e said.

Meanwhile, Adam woke up to swelling in her hands and her breathing was shallow. She was breathing heavily even though there's still an oxygen mask on her. She also had itchy skin and felt an increasing urge to pee. "Hey, are you alright?" Dr Larkrier asked. Adam shook her head out of discomfort. Dr Larkrier noticed that she was showing signs of renal failure but wasn't sure. "Adam, do you mind going to the bathroom? I need to check your pee," Dr Larkrier said. "You're making me pee in a cup?" Adam asked. "Yeah, I just want to check your kidneys," Dr Larkrier said. Adam nodded as she allowed Dr Larkrier to help her stand up and walk to the bathroom. The doctor gave her a cup before she began peeing, revealing a lot of blood.

Adam cringed at the site. After giving the cup to Dr Larkrier, he was shocked about the amount of blood in Adam's urine. "Adam, we need to put you on dialysis right now," Dr Larkrier said. "I thought I was in my period," Adam said, clueless. She may be non-binary and leaning towards trans but she also tried to lean towards being a woman. "Adam, you're a boy," Dr Larkrier said, bluntly. "I'm non-binary," Adam said. "Whatever, but this is serious, we need to get you on a dialysis machine," Dr Larkrier said, bringing Adam back to her bed before wheeling her to a different room. "Adam? What's happening?" Edge asked upon waking up. "Her kidneys are failing," Dr Larkrier said before wheeling Adam out, finally acknowledging that she prefers she/they pronouns.

Edge was left confused as Adam was wheeled away. Eventually, the other Wild Boys woke up, groggily noticing that their implants were gone. "What happened?" Larry groggily asked as he looked around. Having been used to operations all his life, he knew what having anesthesia felt like. "We were sedated, if I could remember," Andy said. "Guys, Marc and Adam, they're gone," Paul said, trying to grab everyone's attention. The Wild Boys who don't have nasal cannulas removed their oxygen masks and stood up. They ran up to Paul despite being slightly weakened from the aftereffects from the sedative. "They gone?" Kim asked. "Yeah," Paul said. "That's because Marc is on respiratory failure and Adam is on renal failure," Dr Mills said.

"Really?" Susanna asked. "Sadly, yes," Dr Mills said. The Wild Boys stood in silence, they couldn't believe their friends were suffering. "Why do they have to suffer?" Bono asked. "The implants you had, they were infected," Dr Mills said. "Infected?" Kim asked, touching the gauze which replaced the implant. "Yes," Dr Mills confirmed. "How come we're not affected?" Siobhan asked. "I don't know for sure, but I'll keep you guys updated on them," Dr Mills said before he left. "Oh and by the way, you're not allowed on the battlefield yet." The Wild Boys were left confused, they didn't know the cause of Marc and Adam's respective organ failures. And they cannot check on the rookies because they weren't allowed on the battlefield. "What can we do?" Roland asked.

"I hope there's some form of entertainment here somewhere," Curt said as he walked around. The other Wild Boys also walked around to find something to distract themselves from boredom. "I found an Atari 2600, like the one in our dorms," Andy said. "What games are there?" Nicky asked. Andy opened a drawer next to the game console revealing a lot of cartridges. "Let's see, Berzerk, Centipede, Galaxian, Gremlins, James Bond 007, Jungle Hunt,  Ms Pac-Man, Q*bert and more," Andy said. "John would love James Bond 007," Curt pointed out. "James Bond?" John asked. "Yeah, well it's just a tabletop role-playing game, not a shooter game like Centipede," Andy said. "I wanna check it out," John excitedly said as he inserted the cartridge to play the game.