by Stevie Kopas
Graham stood at the door practically drooling over Patient 63. She was smiling for the first time since he'd laid eyes on her. His heart jumped into his throat and he thought he might faint when he saw her gleaming, toothy grin.
"I don't have a name." Her mouth formed a quick frown. The sound of her own voice always disappointed her. She wasn't used to it yet. It was quiet and mousy, a bit raspy. She wasn't sure how long she'd been an infected, but she was sure her vocal chords had been damaged from the relentless screams of rage.
When Dr. Kennedy first brought Patient 63 back from infection, she'd heard all those screams in the lab. If she hadn't been chained to the table she was Reborn on, she would have fled for her life out of sheer terror. To this day, over two months later, she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she was once one of them. When Dr. Kennedy and his team guided her wheelchair through the red-lit corridors of the Forbidden Sector, she remembered quivering, tears streaming down her face as the infected, crammed together in their holding cells, wailed and howled at the humans, decrepit limbs outstretched and flailing. Patient 63, while terrified, couldn’t help but look into the bloodshot eyes of the infected as she was wheeled passed them. She memorized the faces. Somewhere beyond those vacant eyes, beyond the rage and the uncontrollable bloodlust, there had to be a soul left. If she came back, why couldn’t they?
“Are you okay?” Graham’s voice broke Patient 63 from her daydream.
She nodded, blinking away the tears that had snuck their way into her eyes. “Are you a doctor, Graham?”
Graham chuckled, “Yeah, right.”
Patient 63 cocked her head again, “A nurse?”
“No,” he sighed. He pursed his lips, here came the inevitable turn-off, the bane of his post-apocalyptic existence.
He’d been a college student, a Liberal Arts major, when The End came. But when The Reconstruction began, he’d been given an assignment, just like the rest of the population. With all of his friends and family dead or infected he was not only a doormat custodian, he was a very lonely one.
“Well what do you do here?” Patient 63 took another step closer to the door, the closest she’d been since the day they put her in here.
“I’m a janitor.”
She shrugged, unfazed by his occupation. “Have you worked here long?”
Graham was slightly taken aback. She was more perfect than he’d even imagined. She didn’t care what he did. She really was the girl of his dreams.
“Yeah,” he finally answered. “Since the facility began testing.”
“How long has that been?”
He pondered a moment before answering. “About a year.”
Patient 63 took another cautious step toward the door, she was close enough now that she could see her breath fog up the glass pane. She placed her hand on the cool metal surface of the door.
“How long has it been since, you know…” Her voice trailed. It was barely a question that escaped her lips.
Graham’s breath caught in his throat, he’d never been this close to her. Beads of sweat began to trickle down his back. But he swallowed his jitters when he noticed the sadness in her eyes again. “Closer to two years.”
Patient 63 sighed. She knew far more than she let on. Major Burton saw her as sub-human and failed to register that she had a functioning adult comprehension. While Dr. Kennedy knew there was human intelligence in Patient 63, he was still unable to see her as anything other than a child. The two men spoke freely and without any level of confidentiality. She knew all about the attacks and the virus, the testing and the experiments. She understood the level of destruction and catastrophe; the death and loss that so many had suffered. She also understood that while she was indeed a prisoner here, she had a purpose. She was playing a very important role in the mending of a broken world.
Graham racked his brain for some way to bring that smile back to her face. An imaginary light bulb appeared over his head and his eyes brightened. “I have an idea.”
“For what?” She furrowed her brow.
“You said you didn’t have a name. Let’s give you a name!” He grinned, filled with excitement.
She narrowed her eyes and muttered a “Hmmm.” She didn’t know her own name, but she figured that was for the best. That part of her was forever gone. She honestly didn’t even know any female names. She chewed her lip, considering this. She snuck a peek at the nurse’s ID.
“What about Martha?”
“Martha?” Graham made a funny face.
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s not a very pretty name. You deserve a beautiful name, to match how beautiful you are.” He looked away for a moment, his face flushing.
Patient 63’s own cheeks took on a blush and she felt a flutter in her stomach. It confused her, but she liked it.
“How about Patience?” He smiled softly. “It means to endure with courage. I think it’s appropriate, all things considered.”
She pondered his suggestion. “How do you know what the name means?”
“It was my sister’s.”
Was. The key word. She nodded, returning his smile. “I’ll take it.”
***
In the following weeks, Patience and Graham spent what time they could together, standing on their respective sides of the heavy mechanical door. While their meetings were done in secret, and were often cut short by a member of the medical staff doing rounds, they enjoyed each other’s company immensely. Patience was coming out of her shell, as was Graham, and the two were finding a happiness they both feared they’d lost with the end of the world.
They seldom talked of the old world. Graham thought it better to focus on the present, especially since Patience had no recollection of the past anyway.
“Do you live in a big house?” She asked through the door.
Graham laughed. “No, I was assigned an apartment that consists of three whole rooms.”
“Do you have lots of friends?”
“Nah, I was placed into a building of people like me, they call us The Removed. There’s zones of us all over the country.” He pulled up the sleeve of his uniform and showed her the small tattoo on the inside of his wrist: a circle with a single dot in the center.
Patience narrowed her eyes. “So that’s what that means.”
Everyone she’d encountered in the facility had markings on their wrists. The members of the medical staff all shared the same, and the Major had one completely different. She looked down at her own unmarked wrist. Another bitter reminder that she didn’t belong. “So, what are The Removed?”
Graham sighed. “Sole survivors. We have no next of kin, we belong to no one and fit nowhere in particular.” He shrugged his shoulders. “So the government thought it best to lump us all together, thought maybe we’d find new families and rebuild in a way. But we mainly just keep to ourselves. If you ask me, it’s pretty depressing.”
“Hey, but I’m one of The Removed too.” She cracked a smile, attempting to lighten the mood. “If I weren’t stuck in here, they’d probably assign me to your zone. It would be nice if we were neighbors.” Her smile grew as she imagined what life would be like, living out in the world, next door to Graham. “We could read books together, eat dinner. We could do whatever we wanted.”
Graham’s eyes brightened. “You’d be the best neighbor! They finally reopened the theater down the street, we could go to the movies. What would you wanna see?”
Patience laughed. “Considering I can’t remember any movies, I’d be happy to see all of them!”
The sound of her laughter always brought a welcome, fuzzy feeling to the pit of Graham’s stomach. The small creases that formed in the outer corners of her eyes and the dimple in her left cheek warmed him from head to toe. There was no doubt about it; Graham loved this woman.
“Would we hold hands?” Her cheeks warmed as the words left her mouth.
Graham’s heart raced and there was no containing the enormous grin that now occupied his fa
ce.
Patience remembered when she first saw Graham, how he almost appeared threatening. He was a large-framed man with harsh features and sad eyes. But that smile changed his whole face. If she had any money, she’d pay to see it endlessly.
“I’d want nothing more than to hold your hand in mine,” Graham practically whispered to her.
“I have a surprise for you.” Patience bit her lip and held up a finger. A crease formed in Graham’s forehead as he watched her skip over to her bed. Pulling up the sheet, she pried open a small tear in the mattress and retrieved an object that she kept well hidden. She returned to the door. “Are you ready?”
Graham nodded.
Patience pressed the nurse’s ID badge to the glass.
Graham’s jaw dropped, the butterflies in his stomach growing to a point of near-nausea.
“Patience, w-we can’t.” He stammered.
“Why not?” She frowned, pulling the badge into her chest.
“I’d lose my job, or worse.” He swallowed the lump in his throat, “I don’t even want to think of what they’d do to you.”
“What time is it?”
Graham looked down at his watch. “11:45.”
“We have fifteen minutes,” she reminded him.
Graham shook his head. Here he was, denying himself the thing he wanted the most.
Patience grew frustrated with his reluctance. She held the badge up to the scanner.
“Patience, don’t—“
Graham gasped as the door chirped and opened. He took a step back, his hands shaking. He didn’t bother scanning the surrounding corridor, he couldn’t even if he tried. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
Patience stood just beyond the threshold, her hands clasped delicately in front of her. “Please, come in,” she invited him with a warm smile.
The red and green contrast of her eyes was even more captivating without the haze of the glass and Graham couldn’t keep his mouth closed. His heart practically leapt from his chest as he inched forward, completely consumed by his inamorata.
He stepped into the room and Patience, equally nervous, if not more, held up her hand. Graham, not even attempting to steady his quivering hand, placed his palm to hers. Instantaneous shocks of white-hot electricity coursed through both of them as they laced fingers. Graham took another step closer. Patience, a few inches shorter, turned her face up to meet his. Their lips had barely touched and they were already breathless.
The familiar chime of an elevator sounded off down the hall.
Patience jumped back, “They’re early!”
Graham stumbled from the room and looked back only once to see the love of his life staring wide-eyed at him through the crack of the closing door.
Patience pressed her face to the pane, straining to catch another glimpse of him as he disappeared from view. There was no doubt about it, she loved that man.
***
Graham finished his shift, dancing, with mop in hand. His earbuds stuffed into his ears, he sang out of tune along with every song that came on the tiny iPod Shuffle. Even over his blasting music, he could hear the jarring buzzer that signaled shift change. Returning his things to his locker, he slipped out of his uniform and into his comfortable street clothes. He tossed the iPod in with his other belongings and slammed the door. He headed for the elevator with a shit eating grin etched onto his face. He could still feel the touch of Patience’s fingertips, still smell her sweet breath. In a daze, he stepped onto the elevator and nodded to the nurse already inside. She ignored him and moved to the other side.
Graham might have normally let the nurse’s coldness get to him, but he felt like he was on cloud nine.
“Not today,” he said, still grinning.
The nurse rolled her eyes and muttered a “Thank God” when the doors opened. She quickly exited and Graham, still daydreaming in his own mind, stepped off after her.
It wasn’t until he was halfway down the hall that he realized he’d gotten off on the wrong floor. Angry shouts broke him from his fantasies of passionately kissing Patience, and confused, he scanned his surroundings. He was on the administrative floor.
In a momentary lapse of better judgment, Graham tiptoed toward the source of the angry voice.
***
“I do hope you understand that it is of the utmost importance that the subject be terminated immediately, Dr. Kennedy.” A female doctor spoke softly on the other end of a call Dr. Kennedy had hoped to never receive.
“Absolutely not!” Dr. Kennedy slammed his fist down on his desk, screaming into the receiver. The day had been long and arduous, and he’d be damned if some woman half his age and with barely a quarter of his experience would be giving him orders.
“Doctor, what I’m trying to tell you—“
“I don’t give a good Goddamn what you’re trying to tell me, woman! This is my operation! I will have you pulled from this project. Better yet, I’ll have your license revoked! All it takes is one word from me to Major Burton and—“
“Henrick,” the female doctor reverted to first names, hoping to stress the seriousness of the situation. “All it takes is one word from me, and the whole project will be terminated. All your work, all your data, all of that dies along with your patient. No further experimentation. This will have all been for nothing. Don’t make me do this.”
Dr. Kennedy inhaled deeply. He’d been so careful with the test results. He knew Burton was behind this; the increased pressure to present more successful patients, the rush to get the vaccine distributed to the high-profile applicants. Burton would like nothing more than to shut the whole operation down and just “get on with The Reconstruction” as he liked to say. But Dr. Kennedy knew there was more to be done. He couldn’t stop now.
“Dr. Wong,” he exhaled, feigning sincerity. He thanked God the woman couldn’t see the grimace on his face. “Why don’t you come to my office, bring your data with you. We’ll compare the results of your findings with my own, and if afterward you still feel that there is compelling evidence, we will speak to Burton together about the termination of Patient 63.”
There was a moment of silence before Dr. Wong finally answered. “I’m sorry, Henrick.” Her voice was full of pity for the man. “You have until tomorrow morning. Make the call, or I will.”
There was a click and the line disconnected.
Graham watched on in horror through the cracked office door as Dr. Kennedy went into a rage. He ripped the phone from the wall and cast it across the room. With a sweep of his arms, piles of paperwork went flying through the air. He sent his computer monitor crashing to the floor and picked up the keyboard, repeatedly smashing it against his now-empty desk.
***
Graham crept away from the door, his hand over his mouth. He couldn’t believe what he’d just overheard. He twisted his head around, making sure no one else was around before sprinting down the hall. He mashed the elevator’s call button repeatedly, willing the doors to open. His mind raced and he felt the sweat begin to bead on the back of his neck. The elevator finally chimed and he leapt inside, pushing the button for sub-level four.
This was it. The moment he’d been waiting for all his life. To be the knight in shining armor and sweep the girl of his dreams off her feet. Only he hadn’t counted on a few things… like the world ending, the girl of his dreams being a Reawakened, or that he’d be sneaking her out of a secret government laboratory.
After what felt like forever, the elevator arrived at its destination. Graham flew down the corridor praying like hell that no one else was in the sector.
When he turned the corner and saw that the coast was clear, he sped up and called out her name.
***
“Patience!”
Startled, Patience looked up from her book. Graham’s face appeared in the glass pane.
“Graham!” She leapt from the bed and met him at the door. “What are you doing here? What’s the matter?”
“You have to get out of here. Now.”<
br />
“What?” She giggled, “Is this one of your games?”
Patience had grown accustomed to Graham appearing every morning with a different story to tell of how he planned on rescuing her from the evil Dr. Kennedy. She played along and secretly wished with all of her heart that it were real. Her life inside of this prison of a room was no life at all. Graham had restored real human emotions in her, and for every moment she spent in solitude in that room, she grew more and more furious that she was simply a lab rat to everyone else but him.
“No. This isn’t a game, Patience. I wish it was.”
Her smile disappeared when she saw the dread in his eyes. “What’s going on, Graham?”
“I was eavesdropping, it was just a mistake. But I overheard Dr. Kennedy on the phone.” Tears formed in his eyes, “He’s planning to…” his voice trailed off as he swallowed the lump in his throat. “He’s planning to terminate you.”
Patience’s stomach turned and the color drained from her face. “Why would he want to kill me?” The voice she’d grown accustomed to, since speaking daily with Graham, once again sounded foreign to her. It was as if a little girl, scared to death, was next to her in the room speaking for her.
“I don’t know, that’s not important. Grab the nurse’s badge, we have to go!”
A million questions ran through her mind, but she didn’t stop to ask them, she just acted. Fishing the keycard from out of the mattress, she grabbed a tattered gray cardigan from her chair and wrapped herself in it as she scurried to the door.
She held the badge up and the door barely opened before she darted through. She grabbed hold of Graham’s outstretched hand and paused, soaking in her first taste of freedom. The yellow glow of the lights in the hall were easier on her eyes than the harsh fluorescents of her room. It also seemed about five degrees cooler, she was glad she grabbed the sweater.
Graham tugged on her arm and they dashed down the dimly lit halls.