Ground Zero: Prequel to Numbered Series (4 page)

“Well done, Ms. Cole,” said the Trainer, tapping icons
on his screen. “That will be all. Thank you.”

Dazed, Aurelia left the small room, took the elevator
down to the ground floor, and walked straight out of the main doors of the
hospital. Only once she was outside did she think that she had not even asked
the woman's name. And then she cried.

She walked home, letting the soft air of the night dry
her face. In her heart she knew that she had done the right thing.
This time.
But what about the next?
Was this going to get easier?

Her father was waiting. He served her a warm cup of
synth coffee before he spoke.

“You did it.” It wasn't a question. He knew that she
had, for if she hadn't she wouldn't be there, she'd be wherever it was they
took the Failures.

Aurelia nodded, letting her cup warm up her stone cold
fingers. She felt cold all the way inside, like she had lost something, lost a
piece of
herself
by taking the woman's life.

“Will it be this way every time?” she wondered aloud.
“Will it always be this hard?”

“I hope so,” said her father, coming to sit beside
her.

His answer surprised her, and she looked at him.

“As long as it's hard, as long as taking a life takes
its toll on you, it means that you still consider life to be something
valuable,” he said, quietly taking her hand. “And that's a good thing. It's
when you feel nothing, when injecting becomes as easy as x-raying or fixing a
broken bone that you have to be worried. Because that will mean that you've
lost your humanity.
Lost your respect for life.”

Aurelia smiled. He was right. She should be glad that
injecting was hard. Because then it meant something. She hugged her father
tight, before going, exhausted, to her sleeping pod.

It was their first night alone at the hospital. Year
Nine students worked full hospital shifts for three days a week, and Aurelia
and Marnee had swapped shifts in order to work overnight together. Aurelia
stretched. Her eyes were gritty with tiredness, and her mouth sour with the
taste of synth coffee. It had been a long night, but only an hour or so more to
go. They had a ward of ten patients between them, and Marnee was doing the walk
around inspection.

“All good.
Patient four has
an elevated heart rate, but just a little,” Marnee said, with a yawn.

She threw herself down on a chair, stretching out her
aching legs.

“Elevated?” Aurelia's interest was perked. “I'll go
and check.”

“She's fine,” Marnee said. “Don't worry about it. It's
just a little.”

But something didn't sound right to Aurelia. She knew
that the patient had had a dose of a new drug within the last half hour or so.
Marnee saw the look on her face.

“Fine,” she said. “These are my
rounds,
I'll go and give it a look see again, okay? I'll be back in a sec.”

Aurelia smiled. She was grateful to Marnee for going.
She didn't want to get up, the small staff room was pleasantly warm, and she
could feel her eyes starting to close. With a jerk she sat up. Gods, she'd
almost been asleep.
The cardinal sin on night shift.
Rolling her shoulders she looked at her time reader. Hmmm. Marnee had been gone
almost five minutes. That was long. She only had to cross the corridor. Aurelia
shrugged and decided she'd better go see what was going on.

The heart rate monitor jumped in spiky lines, Marnee
held down the patient's shoulders, trying to stop her convulsions. Two strides
across the room and Aurelia had pressed the emergency button on the wall.

“Allergic reaction,” she said to Marnee, whose face
was white, all her energy focussed on keeping the writhing patient safely on
the bed.

Within seconds a troop of Med
A
Workers had entered the room, but there was no sign of the qualified Med Worker
who should be there. Expecting Marnee to take charge, Aurelia took a step back.
But it soon became evident that Marnee, eyes wide and almost crying at this
point, had no intention of doing what needed to be done.

They'd drilled this, done it so many times that it was
second nature to Aurelia now. She was a leader. All Med Workers had to be
leaders. And when the time came, you stepped into the
breech
.

“Intubate, anti-tox shot, anti-convulse shot,” she
barked, pointing to three different Med
A
Workers.

No one questioned her authority as she took over care
of the patient, ordering drugs, restraining the fitting woman, and slowly,
slowly bringing her reaction under control. And by the time the qualified Med
Worker ran through the door, still pulling on his uniform, the patient was back
under control.

“Gods, I was sleeping,” said the male Med Worker.

“It's all under control,” said Aurelia, calmly.

And it was. She'd done what needed to be done. But
Marnee was nowhere to be seen.

Aurelia eventually found her in a toilet cubicle, crying,
damp
strands of blonde hair sticking to her cheeks.
Wrapping her friend in her arms, Aurelia said nothing. There was nothing to
say. Marnee knew that she'd failed that night. But Aurelia was the only one who
had seen. She'd get another chance. But what would she do with it? Aurelia
stroked Marnee's hair. Medicine was no job for the weak, no job for those who
lacked confidence. Guiltily, she wondered whether Marnee really had what it
took.

She kept Marnee's secret, though she knew she should
have reported it to their Trainer. Maybe, she thought, Marnee would learn from
this. Maybe this was what she needed to show her how important her leadership
skills were.
Maybe.
Aurelia kept her fingers crossed,
hoping that she was doing the right thing. But as it turned out, Marnee
wouldn't have another chance.

Aurelia wasn't there when the accident happened,
though she wasn't far away. Tending to her own patient, she was steadily
filling in charts. It was almost time for graduation, and the final test was a
full patient experience. For all intents and purposes, Aurelia was this
patient's Med Worker, though her care was being overseen by a Trainer, and
Aurelia was determined that this patient would have the best care she could
possibly provide. It was a scream that caught Aurelia's attention, a horrific,
stomach churning yell that resounded down the corridors of the hospital wing.
Running as fast as she could, feet slapping on the smooth floors of the
hallway, Aurelia was there seconds after the event.

It was all so simple, so stupid,
so
awful.
A wet floor.
A Med
A
Worker who had taken a second to call a Hospitality Worker from the com at the
end of the hall to come and clean up. A rushing Trainee, tired from night duty,
sleepy eyes unobservant.
And a slip.
As simple as that.
Aurelia saw immediately what had
happened, and almost didn't get close enough to find out any more. The Trainee
would be fine, there were others there,
it
was only a
slip. But something prodded her, and she approached the small circle of people.

Marnee lay, twisted, her face white. There was no
blood, which somehow made everything seem okay. Aurelia pushed a Med Worker
aside, and crouched next to Marnee. Quickly she took a pulse, pulled down
Marnee's eyelids. The girl was out of it. Shaking her head Aurelia looked up to
see the Med Worker she'd pushed.

“She must have hit her head when she fell,” she said.
No big deal. It happened. “Let's get her to a bed, we can scan her there.”

The Med Worker nodded, and called for two Trainees to
stretcher the patient. Aurelia got up, her knees aching from squatting.
Only Marnee.
She could be so clumsy sometimes. And they had
their final patients to attend to. Aurelia hoped that this bang on the head
wasn't going to put Marnee out of action for too long.
Probably
not though.
A scan, some pain meds, a night of observed sleep and she'd
be fine. But something was sitting uncomfortably with Aurelia, something
nagging her. She shook the feeling off, and followed Marnee's stretcher into
one of the private rooms.

Laid on the bed, Marnee looked small. She was
delicate, always had been. The Med Worker went off to arrange the scans, and
Aurelia keyed in her ID number to grab a revival shot from a cupboard. The shot
worked straight away, and Marnee's eyes blinked open to see a grinning Aurelia.

“Idiot,” Aurelia said, fondly. “You really need to
watch where you're going.”

Marnee tried to smile, but grimaced in pain instead.

“Yeah, it's gonna hurt,” said Aurelia. “But you're
gonna be fine. Vitals look good.”

Marnee moved her head a little in what was probably a
nod.

“We're gonna do a scan, a couple more tests and you'll
be good to go. Okay?”

“Mm-hmm,” said Marnee.

Aurelia checked her pupils again, which seemed equal,
responsive to light and generally perfectly healthy.

“Move your fingers for me,” she ordered.

Marnee wriggled her fingers on the sheet, and Aurelia
nodded.

“And toes.”

Nothing.
Aurelia sighed.

“Come on
Marn
, wiggle your
toes.”

“I am,” Marnee
said,
her
voice cracked and hoarse.

Aurelia swallowed. Marnee's feet were perfectly still.
There was no movement at all. Quickly she decided to say nothing.

“Very good,” she said, as though Marnee had done
exactly as she was ordered. “Now tell me the date today.”

When the Med Worker came back, Aurelia grinned at
Marnee, grabbed the Worker and pulled him outside, sliding the door closed
behind them so they wouldn't be heard.

“She can't move her toes. I've done pressure tests,
without telling her, there seems to be no sensation at all below the waist.”

She was almost panicking, but knew that as a doctor
she couldn't. The Med Worker nodded, but read her concern.

“It's probably nothing,” he assured her.
“Could be any number of things.
Let me run the scans
through, and we'll see what's what. I'll get an
orthoped
down to check her too.” He laid a hand on Aurelia's shoulder. “Don't
worry,
I can see she's your friend. But she's one of our
own,
she'll get the best care in the world here and be back
treating patients before you know it.”

Aurelia gave him a watery smile. But she was clearly
being dismissed. She was still only a Trainee, and Marnee's care was going to
go to real Med Workers now. Once again, the doctor took pity on her.

“Listen, go grab some coffee from the staff room, tend
to your patients, and I'll come find you as soon as we know anything at all,
alright?”

She nodded, grateful. He didn't have to tell her
anything. In fact, given that she wasn't family he wasn't supposed to tell her
anything. He squeezed her shoulder again,
then
went
back into the room. Aurelia watched the door close, and only then did she let
the tears come.

It was her Trainer that came to tell her in the end.
There was nothing that could be done. Marnee was asking to see her. Aurelia was
offered a sedative patch, but refused. She wanted to be clear headed. She
wanted to feel this, although all she felt right now was empty. Opening the
door, she saw Marnee propped up on pillows. She'd obviously been given a pain
shot, because she looked comfortable. And suddenly, Aurelia didn't know what to
say. She had no words. She went to the bed, and took Marnee's hand.

“I want you to do it.”

Marnee's voice was weak, but her words were clear.
Both knew what she was talking about.

“Marnee...”

The young girl shook her head.

“I'm a Med Worker. You taught me well, Aurelia. I know
what's going on. And I need you. I need it to be you. Please.”

Aurelia bit her lip and closed her eyes. She couldn't
do this. How could she inject her best friend? How could she take the life of
someone she loved? Stroking Marnee's hair, she saw that the girl's eyes were
beginning to close. Her sedative was taking effect.

“Just promise me that you'll think about it?” Marnee
said,
her voice fading as she began to drift into a drugged
sleep.

“I promise,” said Aurelia. It was the least she could
do.

***

The auditorium was packed with people. Even the
parents who distanced themselves from their offspring were there. This was the
final event. After this, all children would be officially Workers. Parents
would no longer have any authority, and nor would they have any special
treatment or rations. But, of course, they would no longer have any
responsibility either. The echoing chamber was filled with chatter, and Aurelia
threaded through the crowd, her mother and father in tow, looking for some
place where they could all sit together.