Ouroboros Episode One

  Chapter 14

  Carson Blake

  He was at a total loss. He knew where he had to be tonight, but that wasn't where he wanted to be.

  He was standing on the lawn between the accommodation buildings, staring up at them glumly.

  It didn't take much effort to figure out which window belonged to Nida.

  Which was creepy, right? Standing on the lawn and staring up at her room. Yeah, that was kind of stalkerish.

  "Come on," he whispered to himself, "get to the party."

  He tried to coax himself forward. There was an E Club event, and he had to attend. His friends would kill him if he didn't.

  The problem was it was all the way on the other side of town. It definitely wasn't in Nida's room.

  "Come on," he begged himself again. But no matter how much he coaxed his body to turn and head to the nearest transport hub, the damn thing wouldn't pay any attention.

  She'd outright told him last night not to bother her anymore. She, apparently, didn't need anyone checking up on her.

  He should respect her wishes.

  ?.

  But try as he might, he couldn't. Because, despite her protestations, he didn't believe her.

  He couldn't shake the feeling she needed help.

  Sometimes his friends accused him of having a hero complex. This was different, though. Nida wasn't his duty as an officer of the Academy. And neither did he still feel guilty over failing to prevent the accident in the training center.

  No, none of that explained how he felt.

  All he could say was that he had this burning desire to check on her. He knew it didn't make sense - the doctors had cleared her, and so had the technicians - but it didn't matter.

  Soon he couldn't stop himself anymore, and he angled toward her apartment block.

  With every step toward it, he felt more and more guilty. She would likely throw something at his head when he popped up at her door uninvited, but at least he'd be able to confirm she was fine.

  Yeah, that's all he had to do. Check to see that she was okay.

  With that decision offering him resolve, Carson made it all the way up to her level.

  Then he paused outside her door.

  It took several painful seconds to muster up the courage to press that intercom button.

  Finally, he jammed his thumb against it.

  Yet before he could speak, the doors opened, and someone barreled out.

  Nida.

  She stumbled right into him, and he had to catch her before she fell back. "Whoa," he managed.

  She pulled herself from his arms, locked a hand on the door frame for support, then blinked back her surprise.

  Her face was ashen. Her cheeks were slack, and there was a drawn, almost vacant look in her eyes.

  "Hey, are you alright?" he'd been about to make a joke about her running into him all the time, but it died on his lips.

  She looked haunted. Yes, that was the right word - haunted.

  She pushed a hand into her mouth, breathing through the crooked fingers. Slowly she nodded.

  "You look terrible," he told her truthfully.

  "I'm?" she began.

  Then she stood there and appeared to make up her mind.

  "Nida?" he prompted slowly.

  "You need to take me to the med bay," she managed through a swallow. "I mean, can you please take me to the med bay."

  He didn't pause; he just nodded. "Sure. Come on."

  She walked past him, the door to her apartment closing with a swish. Then she stood there and took a very deep breath.

  Her left hand was clutched into a fist. In fact, clutched wasn't the right verb to describe it; crumpled was better. The fingers were closed so tightly, it looked as if she caged something in place against her palm.

  She caught him looking at it. "I??I don't really know what's going on. Just need to go to the med bay," she mumbled.

  "Can you walk? Do you need a transport?"

  "No, I can walk," she managed in a quiet voice, then demonstrated her ability by turning and heading off down the corridor.

  Her shoulders were hunched forward, her left hand still clutched into a fist by her side.

  He rushed up beside her. "What's going on?"

  She didn't answer right away. She simply stared at her feet as she walked.

  "Nida?"

  "I don't know," she wouldn't turn to face him.

  "Are you sure I shouldn't call a transport?"

  "I can walk," she whispered again.

  He fell into step next to her, and soon they made it to the lifts.

  There were a few other cadets in the lift, and they all looked at Carson, their surprise evident.

  Then, almost as one, their attention shifted to Nida.

  She wasn't looking at anyone. Instead, she stood in the corner of the lift, staring at the wall, her left hand so tightly clutched by her side it seemed as if she would snap her arm.

  Carson took a step in front of her, trying to block everyone's view. He cleared his throat properly.

  A few cadets tried to ask what was going on, but he blew them off and quickly marched off with Nida when the lifts arrived at the ground floor.

  He desperately wanted to know what was going on with her, but there were too many people around to ask.

  Plus??he doubted she would tell him.

  She appeared to be focusing all her attention on reaching the med bay. Not for the first time, he wondered whether he should call a transport anyway. He didn't, though. Instead, he monitored her, ready to step in if she needed him, but content to walk by her side for now.

  Soon they reached the hospital. It took up an entire building. It didn't simply house the clinics of the Academy, but the medical research labs too.

  Well, as he walked in the front door, he grabbed the first doctor he could see.

  Soon Nida was whisked away into a room.

  He still had no idea what was wrong with her.

  As he stood there in one of the sparsely decorated waiting rooms, his wristwatch beeped with a message.

  He glanced at it, noting with a grimace that it was Travis, admonishing him for being late to the E Club Event.

  Carson technically could leave the hospital and head straight over, but he had no intention of doing so.

  He was going to stand in this room and wait until someone could tell him what was going on with Nida.

  Which could be a long time. Heck, it could take all night. But he wasn't leaving. After a moment's pause, he messaged Travis back, inventing some story about work. When Travis called immediately, Carson didn't accept the message. Travis would know Carson was lying, but that didn't matter.

  He wasn't leaving.

  With a tight sigh, Carson finally found a seat and sat down roughly. Locking his arms against his chest, he stared at the clean white walls.

  And there he remained.