To Be A Hero

Chatper 29: Old and Wise

"Are you ready, Samuel?" Kefilwe asks. "We do have to begin the run immediately if Dr. Cohen is to be well enough to proceed."

"Were you really..." Sam sighs, and I can picture him running a hand through his hair. "Were you really on it all night, Paula?"

"Most of the past forty-eight hours, actually," The redhead corrects, coughing slightly. "Hooked up to plasmapheresis, trying to clean out my blood. Veronica's managed to soup the treatments up to filter some significant particulate out of the bloodstream. I think I might get two hours out of it."

"Good thing she's getting close to a cure," Nicole says through my headset, and I hear Sam scoff.

"Is there a reason why you're here, exactly?"

"I'm monitoring S... Five. It's been three days since... the thing happened, but she hasn't gone a run since then. I made sure that sedative was placed in your backpack, Five. Veronica has actually agreed to making more. Believes it might help in slowing the rate of change in Paula. Virus can't flow through your blood if your heart's not pumping the blood through your body."

"It stops your heart?" Kefilwe says, and I shrug.

"It only stops my heart for a minute. Van Ark's treatments make things work a little different on me. But, back to the mission. We're basically going to replay your crazy story?"

She laughs. "This story isn't much, really."

"How did you get into this story?" Sam asks.

Paula hums. "We were comparing scars one evening. I mean, I've got a lot of collapsed veins now. Maxie showed her stretch marks, Five showed the lacerations on her back and the scar on her forearm, and Steve went, 'Oh, that's nothing,' and showed us the chunk that a crocodile bit out of his leg."

"I think it was an alligator," Kefilwe corrects.

"So Kefilwe here looks at his scar and goes, 'Oh, yes. That is very impressive, Steven,' and then pulls up her shirt to show us her scar."

She smiles almost smugly. "I always win at those games."

"Is he still...?" Sam asks, and she sighs.

"Oh, yes."

"And you're...?"

"Certainly not!"

"But we're all enjoying watching him try," Paula laughs. "Anyway, Kefilwe told us the story, and I just said, 'I'd die happy if I had a story like that to tell.'"

"Yeah, no need for that," Sam says, a bit awkwardly. The three of us share a look.

"Well," Kefilwe says, "I cannot take you to Darfur and arrange an attack by the Janjaweed, but this will be the next best thing: a little adventure."

"Um, and you're sure it's okay?"

Paula rolls her eyes. "Oh, come on, Samantha! We're here for a good time, not a long time! Raise the gates!"

Sam sighs, but the alarms go off and the gates go up.

"Covering fire!" He shouts, although this voice rings hollow over the gunshots. "Go."

"So this mission is just... for fun?" Nicole asks in bewilderment. "That's... an incredible waste of time."

"If you're so opposed, you can just leave," Sam sasses, and I smirk at his tone.

"I would, but I know how much you love my company," She replies sarcastically. "Plus, I would like to be around just in case something happens to where Five needs to take that sedative. Just in case she has some unforeseen reaction to it."