Phantom Universe (19 page)

Doctor Rose gasps, and her hawk-like eyes soften as they glance down at Summer.

“
She has really bad anxiety, and she won’t speak. From what we can make out she hasn’t spoken in several years, so don’t expect responses. Sometimes she’ll write in my palm, so I imagine if you needed her to, she could answer your questions on an Astropad.” Gage pivots and glances down at her. His hand brushes her cheek tenderly. “Please take care of this one, and don’t let the guards or staff of this hospital treat her like an Outlander.”

“
My staff is purely professional, though I don’t know what I can do about the guards.”

“
You take their names and give them to me if they’re unprofessional in any way,” says Gage seriously.

Cameron helps hoist Jaden onto the other stretcher. “Is this really necessary?” Jaden complains, but then sees one of the male nurses. “Never mind. Will you be the one taking me to my room?”

There is a soft chuckle in reply.

“
That one, on the other hand,” Gage says with a laugh, pointing at Jaden, “will talk your ear off.”

“
Neural implants?” the Doctor asks with a slight smile, changing the subject and getting straight to business. Summer can tell she is a no-nonsense kind of woman and admires the quality. Plus, she is a woman in a powerful position. Doctor Rose’s situation is very attractive to Summer, who, despite how weak she is, has enough energy to swell with jealousy.

“
I don’t think it’ll be a wise idea with Summer—” his voice lowers “—not with the psychological damage she’s incurred. If her thoughts are transmitted using the neural implant on accident . . .”

“
Her anxiety could peak and cause a heart attack,” Cameron finishes for him. “Possibly Catatonia.”

“
You always bring me the best cases, Resident Steen,” compliments Doctor Rose. “Now let’s get off the landing pad before anyone realizes we have Outlanders up here.”

“
Is it really that bad?” Gage asks.

“
It gets worse every day.”

The people in scrubs begin to strap Jaden and Summer onto the stretchers. When the first strap over Summer’s chest tightens, her heart starts to pound, and her body begins to shake uncontrollably. Her mind begins to flash back to a similar scenario when she was being tortured once. She knows struggling only makes it worse, so she closes her eyes and holds her breath, hoping it’ll all be over soon. Gage said he wouldn’t let her get hurt, but he is standing right there, not doing anything to stop them as she is strapped down.

Two of the people in the white scrubs cart off Jaden as Cameron follows closely behind, answering Jaden’s many, many,
many
questions.

Gage notices Summer’s heavy breaths and reaches for her hand. Her eyes fly open and stare into his green ones, hypnotizing her again. “This is just to make sure you don’t fall off,” he explains as he fiddles with one of the straps. “Once they get you into a room they’ll be taken off, okay?”

Summer nods, but her breathing only becomes rougher until she feels like she’s suffocating. As she gasps for air, Gage quickly unbuckles the straps, and she breaks free. In an upright position, she seizes his hand and writes in his palm, “Please don’t let them hurt me.”

She can’t help her anxiety. It’s deeply rooted in her mind, no matter what anyone says. She’s heard the trust speech before from crew members on the Cosmos who lashed out anyways. Only Landon has kept this promise, and now he’s lost. Maybe even in the past still.

Gage exhales a deep breath as Doctor Rose comes into view. “This is a lot worse than I thought,” she says.

“
You probably haven’t seen a case this bad before,” he agrees dejectedly.

“
Summer? Can you lie down for me? We won’t strap you in, but we need you to lie down.” The doctor’s voice is so sure.

Gage places a hand on Summer’s shoulder and pushes her just enough for her to finish the action and lie down.

She looks up into the blue sky and watches as different kinds of hovercrafts race across it. Her concentration is more focused on Gage and the Doctor, though, as they talk about events and news, even though she doesn’t understand some of the subjects they discuss. The guards check everyone except for Summer as they pass the doors into the hospital. On the other side of the doors, a machine is pressed against her wrist, and something stings her. She grits her teeth and holds up the inside of her wrist to her face to see the damage. It looks like a tattoo with her information on it.

SUMMER WAVERLY

Blood Type Error

DOB 06/08/2194

Genetic Code 000000

No allergies

She rubs her fingers over her name and stares up at Gage. The device that gave her the tattoo begins to beep angrily. Doctor Rose reaches for Summer’s wrist, and Summer jerks away automatically. The Doctor stops abruptly and looks between Gage and Summer, a baffled expression on her face.

“
Let me,” offers Gage. He gently takes Summer’s wrist and turns it so he can read the information. “That’s weird. It says she has no blood type, her genetics code is 000000, and that her date of birth was in 2194.”

The two exchange curious glances before they look down at Summer, like they were wanting her to answer.

“
The Ballistor is never wrong,” the doctor argues like saying it will make it true. “The date of birth is wrong on all the Outlanders, I’ve noticed. But the other stuff—this is very abnormal.”

“
Perhaps we should try it again? Or maybe use another tester?” suggests one of the women in scrubs.

“
Perhaps,” says Doctor Rose, her face a mask of confusion.

They continue into the building and enter into a tiny room. Summer doesn’t understand what is going on as they all just stand there. Then the woman in scrubs who spoke earlier says clearly, “Third floor.”

For a second it feels like the floor is going out from under her, then the doors to the room open, and they cart her out and into a hallway full of people who whiz past. She’s not quite sure what just happened, but she’s positive this is the whitest place she has ever been. Or seen, for that matter. The ceiling is rounded above her, and there are no lights that she can see, yet the place is bright. It’s like in the cave—she can’t find the source of the light.

They take a turn and enter into another room. Summer is incredibly nervous over another drastic change, but can see Gage’s face. It’s the only thing keeping her relaxed, and she isn’t quite sure how she feels about that. She still doesn’t know him that well.

“
This is your room,” he tells her while helping her sit up.

Everything is white or metal, very few colors. With Gage’s help, she lowers herself off the stretcher and goes to look out the window. Before she reaches it, Doctor Rose scuttles across the floor like a scampering squirrel and presses a button that immediately turns the window into another white wall.

“
It’s better if we focus on your recovery and less on what’s going on outside,” Doctor Rose says nervously.

The Doctor looks around Summer to the two people in scrubs and says a bunch of technical terms that she doesn’t understand. They rush out of the room, Doctor Rose on their heels. The door clicks shut behind them, and now Gage and Summer are alone. They both stand awkwardly in the room.

“
You might want to put this on,” Gage finally says and points to pile of clothing. “There’s a bathroom behind you.” He grabs the clothes and holds them out for her. She only hesitates for a minute before she reaches out and takes them from him.

After changing into what looks similar to scrubs, she exits the bathroom to see Gage sitting in a chair next to her hospital bed, his hands a teepee, as if in prayer. He glances up and gestures for her to sit on the bed. Her bare feet leave prints of moisture in her wake, her nerves wound even tighter. Though her breathing is more even than before, she is still taking deeper breaths than normal to keep it under control. She perches on the side of the bed and tucks her long, blonde hair behind her ears, crossing her legs awkwardly.

“
I can’t stay long,” says Gage slowly. “But I will stay until they hook you up to the fluids you need through the IV. And if the Jackerion isn’t holding, they’ll have to replace that and it can be painful.” He pauses while his eyes search her face. “Listen, it’s going to hurt, but they aren’t doing it to hurt you—it’ll be to help you. You have no reason to trust me, but I’m asking you to anyways. Please. They only want to help.

“
They will probably want to check out your scars too. If you feel uncomfortable, Cameron will be here to help. Jaden is in the room next door, also.”

Summer nods, and the room fills with uncomfortable silence. Gage leans forward and his hand engulfs hers—she doesn’t flinch and they are both surprised by this. “Are you okay?” he asks sincerely.

She shakes her head sharply twice and Gage sighs.

“
I don’t know what to do,” he admits. “We have to get you better, first of all, but once you are . . . I don’t want you to go to the Outlander camp.”

Though the Outlander camps seem like this horrible place from how everyone’s reacting, she has been through a whole lot of splash. How could the camps be any worse than everything else in the past? What can they do to her that hasn’t already been done? But Gage can’t grasp this concept, so he worries which only makes her more tense.

He lets go of her, and his hands tangle in his blonde hair as he makes a frustrated sound, placing his elbows on his knees. “You have me contemplating committing treason so I don’t have to take you to one of the camps.” His words come out angry, and he jumps to his feet. He paces at the end of the bed, muttering incoherently.

Summer’s not sure what to do as she watches him, her eyes going back and forth with each of his turns. She wants to tell him she’ll be all right, that it’s not a big deal for her to go to the camp, and that she doesn’t want him to do anything that will get him in trouble—because she knows how awful punishments are.

He stops, facing the door. “I’ve got to go,” he suddenly says and strides from the room. The last thing she sees is the back of his head as he zigzags through the crowd outside. Then the door slides shut again.

Summer stares after him, wishing she would have done something, or said something, to make him stay. Instead, she only watched him walk out. Now she’s all alone in the room, upset over Gage’s abrupt departure, and scared of what will happen next. She’s never felt so alone in her entire life.

CHAPTER
20: NEEDLES

16 years old

Summer’s been poked with needles before, and it’s always ended with a melting sensation followed by an extensive beating or whipping. And we aren’t talking about whipped cream. Needles mean so many different passionate emotions, but the most extensive, terror-inducing sensation is how the drugs she’s pumped with usually leave her incoherent. And when you aren’t able to defend yourself, horrible things can be done to your body without protest.

She has no idea that an IV means a needle. If she had known this, Gage would have had to strap her down with only the mere mention of it. But the sight of it? Summer ran. Or attempted to. This is why she’s now strapped to the bed, holding in those tears she rarely lets loose.

“
Shh
,” Cameron soothes, though Summer’s not quite sure how she’s supposed to quiet her panting breaths. “It’ll only take a second, and then it will all be over with.” Cameron looks away and asks someone, “Where’s Gage, anyway?”

“
He left here thirty minutes ago—he didn’t say where to,” a nurse answers. “He seemed upset.”

“
What a splashy piece of work,” Cameron grumbles. “He’s been the only one who can calm her down—he knew we would need him for this.”

Summer struggles under the weight of the straps and hands that hold her down, binding her like some ritual sacrifice to the gods. Sweat blooms over her forehead in tiny beads and trickles into her hair. Her heart’s rapid beat echoes on the machine they hook her up to, and an alarm immediately begins to shriek.