Storm Down

Lumiko felt her legs burn. Her head was swimming. The air wasn’t staying in her lungs long enough and there was nothing she could do about it. Her bare feet were half numb and tingling. She was getting lightheaded but she didn’t dare pause. She kept running.

An unexpected booming sound made her steps falter. Her body automatically swayed away from the sound and she had to catch herself before she was impaled by whatever sharp and pointy was lining the walls she ran past. The second her foot stayed on the cold metal floor too long she received her fifth electric shock. It set the thin hair on her arms on end and her teeth felt glued together she had them clenched so tight. She kept running.

The speakers buzzed on. Someone must have hit a button.

“One-seven-seven-three is doing well. She appears to still be alive”

They still called her by that number. They said she didn’t need a name. They said Dr. Lark was wrong for naming her. They weren’t so nice about it, though. She recognized the voice. It was the new, young doctor. She welcomed it. It gave her something to concentrate on.

They left the mic on. She chanted it like a mantra in her head. They left the mic on they left the mic on. It was a reprieve from her previous one, Pain. Run. Run.

Lumiko clamped her hands over her ears in a futile effort to block out the sporadic booming. But she still felt it in her bones. Tears streamed down her face.

“Yes, still alive, and still conscious at that. You know, eight-oh-three-two showed signs of being asleep even as he continued on. Now that’s impressive?”

The Professor. She didn’t like him, always angry and always pushing too hard on bruised shoulders. Plus he didn’t like her name, something about not deserving it and not being human.

“Yes, he was your own personal project, wasn’t he?”

Lumiko liked the new young doctor; he called them ‘he’ and ‘she’. Only the nurses had ever done that before.

“You could call it that. It’s run twice as many courses as anyone in this sector. I put hours of my own free time into it. Worth it, though, if it’s for the boss”

“Yes, I was just with his nurse actually. He died in the night”

Eight-oh-three-two, who didn’t like the idea of names, was the Professor's favorite. The Professor doted on him; gave him special treatment, the poor thing. Lumiko winced as she felt herself start to slow and the floor reacted. She smelled burning.

“Impossible, you must have heard wrong. Eight-oh-three-two is the oldest in his group. He’s been here eighteen years”

“Are you questioning me, Professor?”

He didn’t sound angry to Lumiko. The Professor always got angry at being told he was wrong. But the new young doctor sounded amused. She felt like she was running through something viscous. Her leg muscles were barley moving her forward and her blood felt like it was acid in her veins. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was. That seems like something the Professor would do.

“Of course not, sir. The nurse must have gotten confused. I’ll get it sorted out, don’t you fret”

“You seem to be the only one doing the fretting, Wally. Just face it, he’s dead.”

Lumiko felt herself swaying, her arm grazing the clusters of spikes on the wall to her side. She felt her coveralls tear. The floor was going off at almost every step. She had stopped feeling her feet at all but it still left a copper taste in her mouth. She was slowing down.

“Wallaby, shut it down, she’s done”

He noticed. She choked out a relieved, gasping sob. Thank you thankyouthankyou.

“What? But it’s only been- oh. Alright then”

The spikes around her retreated inside the walls before the floor shut off with the lights, all power being cut to the room. The floor shut off and her knees buckled. She crumpled, panting for all she was worth. She was vaguely aware of someone picking her up and bringing her to her nurse but she was too concentrated on the near bliss of being immobile.

“She’s not as bad as she’s been, sir. I’ll need to replace the skin on her feet and she needs a new pair of coveralls but other than that, she’s only got fatigue and dehydration. How long did Professor Marsh have her running on- track six was it? If you don’t mind me asking, sir”

“I don’t mind, and please, call me Marc. She was running for ten hours. On track four”

“Sir- Marc, you can’t be- Was she really? Well, someone is the new top of her class, now, isn’t she?”

“Yes, it appears so”

Lumiko didn’t pay attention to what was said after that. She felt cooling gels and bandages being applied and pills coerced down her throat. Still hazy, she imagined a kind hand running through her surgically white hair in a soothing manner. Obviously a hallucination.

She woke up in her room. Her hammock-bed quivered as she turned her head to the side towards the door. There was talking beyond it. The Professor sounded angry. But he was always angry. The new young doctor was as mirthful as ever.

“Yes, I think it’s possible the solution worked. But why do you think it was her that it popped on?”

Lumiko closed her eyes; the new young doctor’s voice was soothing. Unlike the professors.

“I don’t know and I don’t care”

“You’ve been snappy since I told you eight-oh-three-two croaked. That sounds an awful lot like an attachment”

“Nothing of the sort. I just put a lot of wasted effort and time into it”

She compared the Professor's voice to the large, chalky pills they gave her for fevers. The edges weren’t rounded enough and they left residue on her tongue.

“It’s inconsequential. We finally have a success, and in your ward”

But the new young doctor was more like the cooling aloe for her burns. Cool, and minty if she breathed it in through her mouth.

“Don’t sound so surprised, sir. My ward has been one of the-“

“I’ve researched your ward, Wallaby, that’s why the boss sent me. But now, she’ll have to be transferred to the alpha branch”

Lumiko felt herself start to drift off. This was great news but she would have to celebrate later. The cocktail they injected her with was taking effect, the tension dissipating from her limbs.

“For what? It’s my patient”

“For proper care. The boss isn’t at all excited with the idea of his most prized patent being in your hands. We leave tomorrow”