Black Mirror

Chapter 24 - Always On The Run

***FIONNA***

By the time we get to the hospital, it's crowded beyond crowded - we're far from the only ones bringing injured people into the building. Makes sense, given how much Bearville's turned into a war zone in the last hour or so. Harlan can jump ahead in line to get Park and Penner each a bed, but only those two. He does, however, have a backup plan already in mind to get Kensi the help she needs. "There's a gateway to the Terminal in this building too," he says. "I mean, you wouldn't believe how many doors there are in this town. Hell, another one might have opened somewhere now that the Guardian building is-"

"Just get us there, please!" Kensi cries.

I join her in her death glare until Harlan shrugs, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows. Then he beckons us down the corridor, and we leave Park and Penner behind - temporarily, I hope. The door to the Terminal is, as I expect, disguised as that of a janitor's closet, but when Harlan turns the knob counterclockwise instead of clockwise, it opens.

No sooner does he swing it wide, however, than we hear Grace yelling from inside, "Nobody come in! My oven's still busted!"

"Okay, hold on..." Harlan closes the door. "Uh..." He looks around, up and down the corridor.

"No oven?" Gabe whispers.

"Means no cookies, I think." I zero in on a vending machine secluded in an alcove ten feet away. "Mmm...deus ex machina." Of course, when I approach it, it turns out the machine contains mostly salty snacks. The only sugary anything is a row of Gummi Bears. Well, I suppose Hiro Hamada would be in heaven.

Now for the next issue. "Anybody got cash?"

Harlan pats his pocket, then removes his wallet. "Tell me this machine takes credit cards."

"It does."

"Oh thank God." He peers into the machine's Plexiglas display front. "Wait, I take that back. Where's the sugar?"

"Gummi Bears." I point them out.

He cocks his head as he slides his credit card through the reader. "Why the hell are they all yellow?"

"Your favorite, right?" Jay asks. He's been recovering a bit of composure and color in the last few minutes, but his voice is crackly and shaky.

"Huh?"

"I thought yellow Gummi Bears were full of cannabis."

Harlan presses the keypad to summon the first pack of Gummi Bears - revealing that the next one in line isn't all full of yellow ones. "That's an urban myth, but I'm gonna take the yellow ones anyway. I do like lemon."

"Those are pineapple." Jay points to the Gummi Bears as Harlan removes them from the machine and pockets them. "Lemon's a darker shade of yellow."

"No, those are the piss-flavored ones you're thinking of."

Jay shakes his head, laughing a little too loudly. He must be overcompensating for his earlier meltdown - which I resolve to talk about with him the second I'm sure Kensi's in good hands. Which of course she'll be, if the Terminal can help her - they've supposedly got the best med-tech in the multiverse. I mean, they bring people back to life for a living. Sort of.

Soon, Harlan gets Gummi Bears for everyone, and we carry them over the threshold into the Terminal. I have to help Kensi open hers, and then hold the package while she uses her good hand to pick them out. Broken arm or not, though, she scarfs down half a dozen in one breath, then goes in for another hit, and another before she cleans the whole package out in less than ten seconds. Then I eat my own - and not a moment too soon, because the blood sugar loss of crossing into the Terminal is starting to get to me.