Into The Tainted Waters

Medicine

Sitting on my bed shaking, I begin to hear multiple footsteps coming towards my room. I quickly throw her shirt on her before anyone comes in. The door swings open and everyone runs into the room. "What the hell is going on?!" Thor yells. "S-she attacked me" I say still shaking. "S-she tried to choke me, then looked like she snapped out of her craziness, then passed out" I stammer out. "Alright, looks like we have to go find Mr. Ching sooner rather than later" Caoimhe says. "Taylor?" Charlyse says just walking in. Tears begin to fall from her face, confused by everything that is happening to her fiance. She lays her head on Viktoria's shoulder and begins to sob "Why is this happening to her". Nate looks at Caoimhe and I multiple times, obviously knowing more than he lets on. "This is going to get fixed, right?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.

I stand up out of my bed and throw on some clothes. "Of course we are, we're leaving to find Mr. Ching now" I declare. "Everyone go get ready" I say aggressively, bending the metal frame of my bed. Everyone files out of the room except for Nate and I. "What are you doing Nate?" I ask him, seeing him standing there. "I don't know" he says. "Just wondering when you and Caoimhe are gonna tell us about what's going on with us!" he yells, throwing the near chair at me. I blast it with a bolt of lightning, incinerating it. "I didn't think it would happen this early" I say with my lightning still charged in my hand. "Why you keeping secrets now?" he asks angrily. "Because it was supposed to have been fixed before it affected anyone!" I yell at him. "What's supposed to be fixed, I overheard you and Caoimhe before you started macking on each other, but I still don't know what 'it' is" he says clenching his fist.

"You're human, having these powers is making you guys insane, the Old Man fixed mine because these powers weren't implanted in me" I tell him "They were just dormant". "Insane, you mean what's happening to Taylor is going to happen to the rest of us!" he shouts. "Yes" I tell him. At that instant, he blinked to right in front of me and punched me square in the jaw. "How could you keep something like that from us!" he yells, punching me again. "You asshole, you think we shouldn't know that we are going to go insane!" he says slamming me in the jaw once more. "We're supposed to be bros man, keeping secrets ain't cool!" he shouts before hitting me in the jaw one last time. "That's enough!" I shout, pushing him back with a gust of wind.

"You think I wanted to keep this from you guys!" I shout at him. "Think about it, you might be a bit more strong willed, but the others would panic knowing that they were gonna lose control!" I assert. "You don't think that would have pushed them over the edge faster!" I keep shouting "I know you've been through a lot in the past, but you deal with your demons much better than the others, they wouldn't make it as long". "I hate keeping secrets from anyone, believe me i wanted to tell y'all" I say. "But I can't deal with feeling responsible for this, especially if it pushes anyone over" I start to quiet "We're going to fix this". "Sure, I guess we'll have to find out then" he says walking out of the door.

I sigh at the situation, disconcerted with what's happening. I walk over to Taylor and pick her up, putting her over my shoulder. I walk out of the room to see everyone ready to go. "I think i'll sit this one out, hold down the fort" Thor says sitting on the couch. "Lazy asshole" Caoimhe says under her breath. "Alright, where are we going?" Nate asks, his arms crossed. "Late third century China, Mr. Ching lives there" Caoimhe answers. "Let's get moving, I don't want to see her like this anymore" Charlyse says teary eyed. We rush out the door and quickly move to the portal house. Caoimhe sets it for China and we enter.

We come out to a pagoda, with trees and gardens all around. "How peaceful" Viktoria says. "No time to waste" I say, ushering everyone forward. We begin to walk through as Caoimhe tells us to look for 'Ching's medical center'. After a few minutes we spot the sign and hurry to the building. Caoimhe enters first, with everyone following with me last. "Mr. Ching, are you awake?" Caoimhe asks aloud. An elderly Chinese man walks from out of the hallway to the left. "Ah, Caoimhe, are you here for a coping visit" he asks. "No, i'm here for a friend" she says as I walk up. His face looks concerned as he says "You had better follow me". We follow him into a medical room, with many traditional Chinese symbols and artwork littering it.

"Lay her down on the bed" He tells me. I lay Taylor on the bed and Caoimhe explains to him what our situation is. All through the story, he seemed to get more and more interested. "That is a dire circumstance indeed" he says, scratching his beard. "And no one else has succumbed to this insanity yet?" he asks. "No, not that we can tell" Caoimhe answers him. "She must have been the most unstable" he says sighing. "There isn't a cure for this kind of thing, only treatment" he says walking to a cabinet. "You could use this Fentanyl, seeing as her powers would filter out any weaker morphine based painkiller" He says pulling out a vial and a syringe. "Drugs?" I ask "You want to put her on drugs?. "Many people turn to drugs when they aren't right in the head, it's dangerous and doesn't last, but with what you're telling me" he says but stops. "Here, take my last vial, i'll have to order another" he says handing us the bottle. "Use sparingly, and no more than a milliliter, she is still human" he says.

He looks over at a lit candle. "When did I light that" he says following the smoke. "Ah well, can we wake he-" he gets cut off. The smoke flew into his mouth and down his throat, forcing him to drop to the ground and convulse. The smoke leaves and forms into a man, standing next to the now dead doctor. "Glad he's out of the way" the man says smiling. "Now, onto you other assho-" he gets cut off, being riddled with bullets. We turn around to see Taylor sitting up, having just emptied her clips into the man, killing him. "Haha, that was fun" she says standing up and running. "I got her!" Nate shouts, blinking in front of her and picking her up with his shoulder. He blinks back to us so I can take hold of Taylor. "Get the Fentanyl!" I shout as Viktoria grabs the vial and fills it. "Put me down you cunt!" she yells. I hold her arm still, having to dig my fingers into her skin. Viktoria finds a vein and injects the drug. Taylor slowly starts to calm, and finally stops struggling. "Jack,........ I'm so sorry" she squeaks out as tears begin to well in her eyes.