Eli glanced over his shoulder and at the entry to the research facility while gesturing to Annie to follow him. Down an alley they went, shadows swallowing them whole.
"Keep close," he whispered, hurry-scurrying away. Behind them, humming drones and murmurs of pedestrians started to dissolve into a mesh as they worked their way through alleys.
Annie did her best to keep his rhythm, her heart racing against her chest. "What''s the plan?
Eli didn''t answer immediately. He stopped abruptly, peering around a corner. "We wait for the right moment."
Minutes ticked by, and Annie felt the weight of uncertainty weighing her down. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, biting her lip.
"Are you always this tense?" Eli''s voice cut through her thoughts, laced with a hint of amusement.
"I''m trying to save my brother," she shot back.
"Fair point." He turned serious again. "When I say go, we''ll make our move."
Annie nodded, forcing herself to breathe steadily. She could see the entrance now; two guards stood vigilant at the sliding doors, their faces unyielding.
Outside, the world bustled with life while they remained cloaked in shadow. Eli took a breath and then raised his hand in front of him—one finger up as if signaling a countdown.
Three… two… one…
"Go!" he ordered.
They sprinted ahead, dodging around obstacles with unlikely grace. As they reached the door, Eli flipped a little device on his belt; after a soft beep, he jerked it in the direction of the guards.
Smoothly, without hitch or noise, the huge doors slid right open as they reached them.
"Move!" Eli pushed them inside as they passed through it.
Inside, the air hummed with artificial light and clinical sterility. Screens blinked and fluttered above sterile white walls that had glass panels showing off various high-tech labs filled with people in lab coats scurrying about.
Annie followed Eli deeper into the facility, her every step heavy with anticipation. They weaved past curious glances, but none stared long enough to raise an alarm yet.
“What now?” Annie whispered urgently as they rounded a corner.
Eli scanned their surroundings before nodding toward a set of double doors marked ‘Patient Recovery.’
“There,” he said decisively.
They rushed forward until Annie froze just outside the doors. Anxiety gripped her gut like ice.
“What’s wrong?” Eli asked, noticing her hesitation.
“I don’t know what I’ll find in there.” Doubts gnawed at her resolve, despite her fierce determination to see Robert again.
Closer, his voice low, Eli said, "Whatever it is, you can handle it."
With that echoing in her ears, Annie went through the double doors into a stark room beyond.
Annie stepped into the recovery room, her breath catching as she took in the scene before her. The walls glowed with sterile light, casting rows of advanced medical equipment and screens flickering with data. A single bed occupied the center of the room, surrounded by machines beeping and humming like a chorus of mechanical sentinels.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Lying in the bed was Robert, still and pale beneath the crisp white sheets, his chest rising and falling in a rhythmic cadence, the life she knew missing from his face, tubes running from his arms into an array of machines monitoring his every heartbeat.
Eli stood by the door, peering suspiciously up and down the hall. Annie''s eyes never left Robert, her heart wrenching at the sight of him.
"Can you see him?" Eli whispered.
"Yeah." Annie''s voice was now more of a quaver as she leaned over the side, her heart bursting with her emotions. She reached for his hand, cold and lifeless in her own.
Eli stirred uncomfortably behind her. "We have to hurry. They''ll discover us soon enough.
"I won''t just leave him," she snapped, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears. She leaned closer, whispering as if he could hear her words through the haze of unconsciousness. "I came back for you."
A sudden clatter echoed from outside the room—a hurried footstep followed by raised voices.
"Annie!" Eli urged, tension rising in his voice.
She turned to him, her determination setting even as fear twisted in her stomach. "What if there''s something here? Some sort of-"
"No time!" He looked at the door once more; his eyes were wild with urgency.
Annie looked back at Robert one last time. The machines continued their relentless rhythm around him; she needed answers fast. She scanned the room and noticed a terminal blinking in one corner—a slim chance for information.
“I’m going to check that,” she said decisively.
Eli shook his head but didn’t argue further as she dashed toward the terminal. Her fingers danced over its surface, and bright images sprang to life on the screen: medical data flowing in real-time alongside cryptic notations about Robert''s condition.
“What does it say?” Eli’s voice dropped low as he moved closer.
I don''t yet," Annie answered after a nanosecond, trying to read blurred together symbols and codes.
Her fingers flew across the terminal, while her heart racing with information overloaded the screen: row upon row scrolled down, each line more baffling than the last. She could have almost felt the impatient tug of Eli behind her, the presence a constant reminder of how little time there really was left.
"Come on," he said, looking over her shoulder. "We can''t stay here much longer."
She ignored him, focusing on a set of graphs with Robert''s name above them. The graphs showed unsteadily fluctuating brain activity and metabolic rates that jarringly appeared very low. Panic knotted in her chest. She could almost make sense.
"What do you see?" Eli prompted, his voice loud with urgency.
"Wait." Annie chewed on her lip as pieces started to click together. The screen changed again with another series of pictures: a diagnostic scan in shades of bright red highlighted large portions of Robert''s brain. It indicated trauma, but it did not give any evidence as to cause or motive.
"What are they doing to him?" The question from Eli broke into her thoughts and dragged her back to the current reality.
"I don''t know," she admitted, frustration simmering just below her calmly composed mask. "But we need this data."
"Data isn''t going to save him if we get caught," snapped Eli in return.
Annie''s heart sank with the words. He was right—their window was fast closing. Throwing one last desperate glance at the screen, she hit capture, imaging Robert''s medical report to the printer. The machine whirred into action beside her, spewing out paper as she spun back toward Eli.
"Let''s go!" she told him, snatching the printout as it was done.
They raced toward the exit when a shadow loomed in the doorway—two guards had entered from the hallway, their expressions unreadable under the harsh lights.
“Stop!” one shouted, voice echoing against sterile walls.
Eli reacted first; he shoved Annie behind him as he stepped forward, hands raised in a placating gesture. “We’re just—”
Annie utilized the opportunity to her fullest and sprinted past him down the corridor as Eli continued to divert the guards'' attention. Her heart raced with the adrenaline in her veins as she ran down the hall, dodging around both startled staff and startled patients.
Behind her, chaos erupted: the echoing sound of pounding footsteps on tile with someone yelling for backup.
"Annie!" Eli yelled out behind her, his voice lost to the urgency that seemed to propel her.
She reached a junction in the corridor and skidded to a stop. Her eyes darted left and right, and in every direction, danger seemed to lurk. Time pressed against her like a vice; she needed to find safety and fast.
A door at the far end of the hall caught her eye—maybe a storage room? She darted for it, shoved inside, and was immediately behind its closure as footsteps rounded the corner behind her. The door creaked shut with a soft click, plunging Annie into dim light and silence as she leaned against it, chest heaving.
Outside in the hall, the murmur of voices and footsteps hastened and then faded into stillness.