by Jodie Kobe
~~~
The elevator door in front of us slides open. Fox and I gently drag Vivian through, setting her down onto the ground. The door slide shut and the elevator jolts upward, causing my stomach to flip. I've never been a fan of elevators.
When the elevator stops, the doors open again, revealing the same room with the many computers and the group of people. Most of them are gathered in the corner farthest from us. Only three people dare to get close, but they wear orange hazmat suits.
One of them gestures us out of the elevator and we move out, pulling Vivian along with us as well. We lay her down onto the ground and a voice from the radio instructs us, “Step away from her. We’ll get her suit off and she’ll be sent to be checked.”
Checked? “Is she going to die?” I ask.
The dozen people gathered in the corner of the room watch us. One checks something on his wrist and calls out, “Her shield percentage seems to have frozen at twenty. It’s not changing.”
“Is she going to die?” I repeat.
One out of the three orange-suited people say, “It’s not certain yet. They have to know what happened before any of us know that.”
“Are you going to fix whatever is wrong with her?” I ask, watching as one of them flips Vivian over on her back. Her suit comes off and she's back in her regular white outfit. But she'll still unconscious.
Nobody answers me, so I keep quiet as they help me with my suit. Once all of the suits are off, they are locked into a container and steered toward another open piece of the wall where a room is revealed.
I’m standing in my regular jeans and t-shirt, feeling lighter. Someone hands me a lab coat and I pull it on, watching as two people carry Vivian out of the room on a stretcher.
“Is she going to be okay?” I ask Russell Welds, who's standing right beside me. Am I the only one who’s concerned about her? I have to see if she’s okay.
I gesture to the door Vivian has just been carried through. “Could I possibly go with them?”
Russell waves a hand around and mutters, “Your choice.” He continues examining something on one of the computers in the room. “She’ll be fine,” he adds.
I push past a couple of people and head for the door. Fox attempts to high-five me, but I ignore him.
Both of us are alive. So what?
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to be alive. But Vivian’s the one in trouble.