Survivors

Chapter 6: Jada

Chapter 6: Jada

          Xain just left the infirmary. I didn’t follow him here, I just wanted to visit Melissa on her break since I have nothing to do. The knives I was throwing at the dummy barely stuck enough to be fatal. Xain and a red-head with bandaged hands left a curtained section. Xain is carrying a small plastic bag and guiding her through a set of doors. I’m hiding behind a table. I’ve been here, since I first saw them. It’s not until the doors shut that I come out.

          I spot Melissa leaving the covered area where Xain was and immediately run over. As soon as I put my mouth together to say “hi”, she grabs hold of my shoulders.

          “You should have gotten here earlier,” She says with big eyes, “You just missed him.”

          “I know,” I admit, “I saw him and the red-head leave together.”

          “Where were you? Why didn’t you come sooner?” She still has her hands on me.

          “I was in the training area,” I answer, “I hid behind a table when I spotted them.”

          “But why?” Melissa releases me.

          I sigh and cross my arms across my chest as I answer shamefully, “I got scared.”

          There’s a brief moment of silence. Afterwards, Melissa gives me a “follow me” hand signal. She leads me out of the double doors and to the elevator. She punches in a code and the car starts to move. It’s a silent ride up, and when the doors open, it’s a hall way of white doors. She leads me through the long hallway past about 10 sets of doors until we reach one marked “Caid, M”. Melissa takes a card out of her pocket and holds it to the door. There’s a beep, and then a click, and then she opens the door and walks through, pulling me in.

          “What is this place?” I look around.

          Melissa takes off her white coat and hangs it on a door hook. “Every medic or medical assistant gets a private room to stay in incase it’s late or they want to stay close by incase they’re needed.”

          “Do you come here often?” I ask as I sit on a neatly made white bed.

          “No,” she shakes her head, “I choose my other quarters most of the time. I feel alone in here.”

          There’s silence again. I clear my throat, and she pulls up a chair. She looks at me with those big, icy-blue eyes.

          “He mentioned your name,” she starts off, then her eyes lower to the ground.

          “He mentioned me?” My whole appearance shows that I’m astonished. I freeze up, leaving a moment of silence. When I unfreeze, I complete my thought, “what did he say?”

          “At first, he just whispered your name,” Melissa still has her head down, “He said that he ran into you one day after I’d patched him up in the infirmary about 5 months ago. He described you near perfectly.”

          I remember when I had gone to visit Melissa in the infirmary, like I almost always do. Melissa was just a common acquaintance then compared to now. I had met her only a year ago, and she seemed too focused on being close to me. I was going to try and see if she could help with a minor injury I had in my shoulder from falling out of a fake tree, only because she was young. The infirmary looked extremely busy that day. I was just making my way through the crowd to the one room I knew Melissa would most likely be. I heard some kid crying about his wrist hurting and looked at him hold his wrist. He looked about nine. I wasn’t paying attention, and ended up running right into someone’s bandaged chest.