by Tracey Ward
I knock on the only closed door in the hall. I don’t get an answer so I open it slowly, careful to be quiet in case he’s resting.
He looks different than he did last night. It was dark, almost too dark for me to see, and what I could see was painted in fire, dancing orange and yellow. His face had been soaked in sweat, his short brown hair disheveled. This morning he’s calm and clean. His features are smooth. He looks younger than he did last night. Barely older than I am.
His eyes are open. They start to track me immediately in that attentive way the Forces men always do. They’ve been trained to assess everyone in every situation, always on guard. Always ready for anything.
I cast him a small smile. “Hi.”
“Hey.” He sits up cautiously, wincing when he puts too much weight on his shoulder.
“How are you feeling?”
“Not much. The doc just gave me an injection.” He runs his hand over his eyes. “I’m not a hundred percent sure you’re actually here.”
I chuckle. “She must have given you the good stuff.”
“It’s that or the poison.”
My smile disappears. “What poison?”
“In the visher claw. They spit poison out the tip.” He must see the horrified look on my face because he grins disarmingly, if not a little loopy. “Don’t worry. It’s not deadly. But it is really trippy and it stays with you for days and days. Like right now I see three of you. Are there three of you?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Is there really one of you?”
“Yes,” I laugh, reaching for the notebook on the wall.
Mason Fuller is written boldly across the front.
“Your last name is Fuller?” I ask.
“Last I checked.”
“Any relation to the Captain?”
“He’s my dad’s cousin.”
“Perfect,” I mumble, scanning his history scrawled across the page in my hand. “Another person who will want my head if anything happens to you.”
Prophadone. That’s the injection he was given. It’s an opium product from Ambrios. Their antibiotics are listed here too. Must be nice living so close to the source.
I snap the notebook closed. “Looks like you’re going to be getting really tired here soon. I better have a look at your bandages while you’re still lucid.”
“All three of you are going to look?”
I sigh. “Or somewhat lucid.”
His bandages are good, still clean. He touches my hair while I look at them. At one point he blows at it, chuckling when it ripples. I gently push his hands away when I’m done, casting him a patient smile.
“You’re all clear. Get some rest.”
He gives me a thumbs up. “Stellar job, Doc.”
“Not a doctor, but that’s very sweet of you to say.”
“No, you’re not a doctor,” he agrees sleepily. “You’re a Morgantide.”
“Eventide.”
“Yep. You’re an Eventide and you’re all right in my book.”
“Please tell Holster that. He threatened my life if I didn’t take good care of you.”
“Pffft,” he scoffs. “Holster is all bite, no bark.”
“I think you mean that the other way around.”
He frowns, his eyes falling out of focus. “I don’t know if I can.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“But, hey, don’t worry about Holster.”
“Oh, I’m not.”
“He likes to push buttons and your buttons are all shiny and new. He’s never pushed ‘em before and he can’t help himself. He wants to see what makes you tick. If he can make you tick… tick… tick… boom,” Mason whispers theatrically. He mimics an explosion with his hands. He’s immediately distracted by them. He watches his fingers with fascination, fluttering them in the air in front of his eyes. “Whoa.”
“You should sleep it off.”
“Sleep what off?”
“Everything.” I reach out to cover his hand with mine, lowering it to his lap. I pull his blanket up over his chest. “Get some rest. I’ll be back in a couple hours to look at your dressing again.”
“I’ll be here. At least I think I will be.”
“You will be.”
“Do you promise?”
I turn off the light as I open the door. “I swear it.”
I wait until he closes his eyes before I close the door. I’m smiling when I turn. When I run right into someone.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” I jump back, stumbling over my own feet. I hit the doorframe with my shoulder, a sharp pain blooming from the spot that reminds me of the first day I was here. The memory makes me shiver, makes my stomach turn uncomfortably.
The man standing in front of me is a stranger. I’ve never seen him before, not even in passing, but I know him immediately. He’s a bridge between Mason and Captain Fuller. The same stern expression as the former with the thick brown hair and eyes of the latter.
“Hello.” I offer him my hand along with a tentative grin. “I’m Liv. You must be Mason’s father.”
Nothing. He doesn’t reach for my hand. He doesn’t speak. He only stares at me, his eyes growing colder the longer he looks.
I lower my hand slowly, feeling my heart rate pick up. He hasn’t moved but the air around us is changing. It’s cooling. The hairs on my arms stand up straight, my fight or flight instinct slipping into gear.
I clench my fist at my side, keeping my thumb out the way Grayson taught me to.
Dr. Kanden comes out of a room across the hall. She picks up her pace when she sees me. “Liv, good, you’re here. I want you to check on Mason’s bandages for me.”
I blink rapidly, afraid to take my eyes off the man in front of me. If he moves I want to be ready. “I just did. He’s clean.”
Mason’s father sweeps me with his eyes, his lip pulling away from his teeth in an open sneer. “Not if you’ve been in to see him, he’s not.”
Dr. Kanden crosses her arms over her chest irritably. “Jason, if you can’t be civil in my hospital I’ll have you thrown out of it.”
“I’ll take my boy with me.”
“And that’s your right. What he needs right now is rest. His body needs to flush out the visher venom. It’ll take a couple days. He shouldn’t be left alone during that time. If you think you can give him that much attention you’re welcome to take him home. If not, I’ll need to ask you to leave him with me.”
“I’ll leave him with you,” he growls, his words for her but his eyes on me. “But he’s only gonna see you. Not this dirty—“
“Civil,” she reminds him sharply.
His eyes dart to her, then back to me. He breathes in shallow and angry before abruptly opening Mason’s door. He slams it shut in my face.
Dr. Kanden shakes her head in open disgust. “Racist bastard,” she whispers.
I laugh nervously, shocked to hear her swear. I’m relieved when Dr. Kanden chuckles at herself, putting her hand on my back to lead me down the hall with her.
“Ignore him,” she advises conspiratorially. “He’s one of the worst people you’ll ever meet and I’m hoping that’s the only time you ever have to deal with him.”
“Is he always like that?”
“As far as I’ve seen. He’s like Fuller, but less friendly.”
“That’s a chilling thought.”
“Don’t dwell on it. You’ll catch a cold. Do you have your keys with you?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I need you to do an inventory on the supply closet. Two triage bags went out last night. We have to make sure everything came back in.”
“I’m on it.”
She grins, squeezing my shoulder once before going to her office.
I’ve done inventories before. Always with Grayson because, well, I was always with Grayson. They’re tedious and boring but I kind of like the monotony of it. Or at least I used to, back when I had someone to talk to while I did it. This time I’m in the closet
for over three hours silently counting boxes and bottles, ticking boxes, and by the end of it I’m bleary eyed. I’m also short.
I double check the triage bags to make sure someone didn’t overstock one. They’re all perfect. Nothing out of place. And I’m still short.
Three syringes. One small bottle of Narthenol. It’s a sedative, one that wasn’t on Mason’s list of meds, but I go to Dr. Kanden to double check anyway.
She frowns when I ask her about it. “No. The visher venom is a kind of sedative. I never would have given him more. It could kill him.” She comes around her desk, leading me back into the hall. “You’re sure it’s not there?”
“I counted four times. I checked every triage bag. It’s not in there.”
Dr. Kanden checks again. And again. Her count comes out exactly the same as mine. There’s a bottle missing.
Her face is pinched in concern as she stares at the offending log. “I’ll talk to Captain Fuller. He won’t be happy about this.”
“Why? Won’t he want to find it?”
“Yes, but he won’t like where he might find it. I don’t either.” She clips the log back in place on the wall, closing the door with a smart snap. She pulls her keys from her pocket to set the lock. “He’ll organize a search of every apartment in the Forces dormitory. I’ll have to do the same here with my nurses. Bates in livestock will too. His veterinarians have keys to the closet.”
“But why would someone take it to keep at home?”
She looks at me impatiently. “Are you really that naïve?”
I’m taken aback, hurt by her tone. “I guess I am,” I reply quietly.
“To get high, that’s why they’d steal it. You saw Mason earlier, didn’t you?”
“Yes. He seemed drunk.”
“He’s high on visher venom, but in the right doses Narthenol will make you feel about the same. And in the wrong doses it will kill you.”
She snaps a radio off her belt, clicking to Captain Fuller’s private channel. “Captain. Are you there?”
He’s quick to reply. “I’m a little busy right now.”
“Well you’re about to get busier. We have a problem.”
“Bigger than vishers putting a crack in my doors?”
“We’re missing drugs in the supply closet.”
The radio is silent for a good seven seconds before he’s back on the line. His voice is quieter than before, but I know from experience that quiet with Fuller doesn’t mean what you think it means. More often than not it’s more unsettling than a scream.
“What’s missing?” he demands briskly.
“One bottle of Narthenol. It’s a sedative. Three syringes.”
“You’ve swept the hospital?”
“We’ve triple checked the supply closet and all of the bags. I walked every room when I came on shift this morning. It’s gone, Captain. I’m organizing a search of the apartments upstairs as soon as we finish this conversation.”
“I’ll do the same,” he agrees bitterly.
“Do you want to call Bates or should I?”
“I’ll do it. You just worry about getting your house in order.”
Dr. Kanden glowers at the radio. “You do the same.”
“Yeah. Out.”
She doesn’t reply. Not unless her middle finger can be considered sign language.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Gray
“Grayson!” Captain Fuller shouts angrily. He motions to me from outside the entryway, calling me over behind the charred remains of the bonfire.
I exchange a wary look with Easton before leaving the doors. I’ve been working with him all morning, my command back in place. I have half of first shift working under me to bolster the doors after the visher attack. Holster is a member of my crew. I’ve never been a power hungry guy but after the abuse he’s given Liv for the past few months, barking orders at that asshole has been the highlight of my year.
Fuller is staring darkly in the middle distance. His hand is clamped around his radio, his knuckles pressed to his lips.
“Is there a problem, sir?”
“I’m going to ask you something,” his voice is almost inaudible, “and I want you to answer me honestly. Do any of the men have a drug problem?”
My mouth falls open in stark disbelief. “I—no. None that I’ve ever heard of.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m positive. What kind of drug problem?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He glances behind me to where the crew is working. “I want you to finish what you’re doing and send them to dinner early. I want them in the hall eating with second shift. Everyone but two other men. We’re going to do a search of every apartment in the dormitory. It has to happen fast and no one can know it’s coming. They can’t have time to hide anything.”
“Who do you want me to take?”
“People you trust.”
“Shouldn’t you chose men that you trust?”
“Why do you think I’m talking to you?” He turns away, putting distance between us to make a call on his radio. “Get it done, Grayson!”
Easton looks at me expectantly when I get back to the doors. I shrug my shoulders, feigning confusion.
The rest of the day moves slowly. I spend most of it counting down the hours until it’s time to call it a day. The crew is confused when I release them, but I tell them it’s Captain’s orders. That he wants us to sit down and have a meal with second shift after the hellish night we all had. I play it off as teambuilding when it’s really search and seizure.
There are only certain jobs in Gaia where this kind of thing is legal. Forces is one of them. Medical and Education are two others. Safety, health, and education are taken seriously here, meaning if you work in those fields you’re held to a higher standard than most. No drugs.
For the standard Gaian citizen, drug use isn’t illegal as long as you’re eighteen. Just like alcohol. The only stipulation is if you can’t do your job and contribute, you’re out. No excuses. No exceptions. But using drugs and stealing drugs, those are two very different things. And if you’re willing to steal then you’re probably desperate, meaning you’ve got a problem. And in Forces if you’ve got a problem, we all have a problem.
As the crew leaves I call out to Fren and Krysan. “Can you guys hang back a sec?”
They nod amiably, both swimming upstream through the crowd leaving the doors. Easton and his engineer buddies are heading out too. He’s watching me as he goes. He’s a smart guy. He knows something is up, but I’m grateful that he doesn’t ask. He doesn’t push.
“What’s up, man?” Krysan asks curiously.
Over his shoulder I can see Holster walking away slowly, his eyes and ears straining to stay behind. I watch him patiently, waiting for him to disappear.
“The Captain is ordering a search of the dorms,” I tell them quietly. “He thinks one of the guys is hiding drugs.”
Fren’s eyes bulge. “Are you kidding me?”
“No. He asked me if I thought anyone had a problem. I said no but he told me to send the crew to dinner early to empty the dorms. We have to move fast before they eat and head back home.”
“What are we looking for?” Krysan asks uneasily.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. He wouldn’t say. We’ll search for anything suspicious. Pills, vials, needles, powder, pot. Anything and everything drug related. But we need to do it now and we need to do it fast.”
Krysan and Fren run with me through the town back to the dorms, heading the opposite direction as the rest of the crew. When we get there Captain Fuller is already in the hall on the first shift floor. He’s opening doors, unlocking them with his master key.
“I’ve been upstairs,” he tells us. “It’s clear. Second shift is at breakfast. Their doors are open. I want all three of you to empty your pockets right now. Put everything on the floor where I can see it.”
We stand an arm’s length apart from each other, each of us emptying our pockets onto the
floor. Pencils, small notepads, keys, coins. Nothing elicit. When we’re done Captain Fuller pats us down. We all come out clean.
As we’re refilling our pockets, he gives us our orders. “Fren and Krysan, I want you to go up to the second floor and search each room carefully. I assume Grayson has told you what we’re looking for.”
“Drugs?” Krysan asks hesitantly.
“That’s it. Go.”
Fren and Krysan quickly dart down the hall, pushing through the door into the stairwell.
Fuller unlocks another door, glancing at me over his shoulder. “To keep everyone honest I’ll search their rooms. Yours and Ms. Pamuk’s too. You take the rest.”
“You should probably take Holster’s,” I admit. “We’re not on good terms. If there’s anything in there I don’t want him claiming I planted it.”
“You should be on good terms with all of your brothers,” he reproaches.
“I’ll try, sir.”
“After you get to work.” He disappears into Liv’s room at the end of the hall.
It makes me nervous, him going in there. I know he won’t find anything, but the idea of any man rummaging through her things makes me restless. It stokes a fire in me that prickles through my veins until I feel flushed and feverish. It curls in my muscles, clenching my fists.
I shake them out, hurrying into the first room after my own. It’s Ian’s, one of the oldest members of Forces at twenty five. He has no plans of ever getting married and quitting the job so he’ll probably stay the oldest member of the team until the day he retires at seventy. Average shelf life for a Forces man is six years. We join at fifteen, most marry by the time they’re twenty-one, and after that you’re out. From then on your responsibility is your family, not Forces. You move out, you find a new job. You move on. Marriage is a major commitment to a Forces member. It changes every aspect of your life, so if you’re going to do it you better be sure about who you’re doing it with. It’s why part of me doesn’t feel as bad for Mason as I should. If his fiancé was willing to jump into bed with another guy like that, she wasn’t worth ending a career over.