Oracles

I’ve successfully avoided Kier all week. I still have so many questions. I want to know why he hasn’t gone to the clinic yet. I also need to know if he’s told anyone about us. Though, I don’t have a specific reason for not telling. But I haven’t been brave enough to see him.
The four days have past. The pills weren’t much help. When I woke up, my limbs were numb and it was harder and harder to move around. The young girls at the school couldn’t help but point out my shaky fingers. My skin was still blotchy and I kept having heat attacks.

After working, I make my way to the hospital and meet the doctor again. She brings me to a new cubicle and straps my arm to an IV in minutes.
“I’m going to ask you to stay here for the night. This formula will help you feel better. So, there’s nothing to worry about. The nurses will take care of anything you need. You just ask, alright?”
“Alright,” I answer.
She presses a button and the hospital bed stretches horizontally, forcing me to lie on my back.
The doctor quickly leaves afterwards. Later, two nurses appear and I pretend to be asleep. They change me into a white hospital gown. Soon, they roll the bed I’m on out the cubicle. I open one eye and see them taking me in an elevator. It feels like we’re going down. Wherever we enter, it’s much darker than the white pristine upstairs. Squinting with one eye, I only see the light fixtures on the ceiling go by. The smell of sterilizer is stronger than before. I hear grumbles and echoes in different places. Finally, the nurses stop rolling me and exit. I look up and see the coast is clear. I jump off the bed and carefully pluck out the needle from my arm. I notice that the blue liquid glows in my veins around my forearm. I poke my head out the door and find myself in a long hallway. The wails never end. I must be in the asylum. I walk over on my tiptoes to the door across from me. I stare through the little circle glass. There is just another patient strapped up with IVs and needles and his skin is covered in glowing blue lines. Whatever this blue liquid is, I don’t like it. I check in the next door and see the same thing. Everyone’s veins are filled with this glowing blue substance. I try and figure out the tubes’ function. It looks like they’re extracting blood and replacing it with this blue stuff. Some of the patients are awake, but they wail in pain or they scratch off their skin. It’s horrifying, but I have a feeling that this is only the beginning to this naturalizing process.
The nurses come back for me.
“What is this?!” I yell at them, demanding answers.
“You need to come with us,” she says, grabbing a hold of my arm.
I push her away.
“I’m not going anywhere until you answer me! What’s going on down here? What is this?”
They grab me by my arms and drag me. I yell at the to let me go. But then more people appear quickly. I kick the nurse down and make a run for it to the elevators.
By the time I make it to ground level, there are security waiting for me, along with the doctor and Josephine.
I curl my hands into fists. I’ve made too much trouble now.
Josephine speaks up after the security guard grabs me.
“It’s normal for you to feel worried, because you don’t know what’s going on,” she tells me.
I cease putting up a fight with the guard and say, “Then tell me what’s going on.”
“Let her go,” she says to the guard. I’m finally free and Josephine stands up straight, clasping her hands together. I’m slightly grateful “You must understand why I don’t want to reveal our protocols. They might not be the best, but they work in our favour. We want to survive in this world just as much as you do. But you need to trust us.”
“What are you doing to those people down there?”
Josephine tightens her lips in a straight line. After a moment, she sighs.
“It’s called udicone,” she relents.
“Udicone?” I repeat, squinting my eyes.
“Artificial blood cell compound. We replace blood cells with udicone, which numbs muscles and prevents signals going up too the brain. But you need to understand, these procedures are done with the consent of the patient,” Josephine explains hurriedly.
“I don’t recall your doctor ever informing me of udicone injections,” I comment stiffly.
Josephine gives a glance to the doctor behind her.
“Those who are marked matchless don’t have a choice.”
“This is what you meant by complications, huh?” I question her.
I watch biting the inside of her mouth, trying to keep composure. She approaches me and lowers her authoritative tone.
“I’ve had this procedure done on my daughter. So, you can trust me.”
“Then you need to tell me what naturalization is,” I snap.
She takes a moment, challenging me with her stare.
“Perfects blood,” she says. I frown, trying to understand what she means. “Naturalization is when we drain the body of its blood and replace it with udicone to purify and condition every system in the body, before the heart gives in. then, we transfer Perfects blood. Rehabilitation follows if the patient survives the treatment. Does that answer your question?”
“You take blood from Perfects?” I ask, grimacing.
“Perfects blood contains complexes that allows the body to function at optimal points,” the doctor pitches in.
“So you kidnap Perfects,” I say, “To make your people perfect. So those weren’t mountain people you brought in…”
“It works,” Josephine says sternly, loosing her temper, “What part of that don’t you understand?”
“Just because it works, doesn’t mean it’s right!” I spit.
“Would you rather let people die because of the Cygnus?” Josephine demands.
“You are doing the same thing the Cygnus does! You’re reconfiguring our makeup for your desires. You kill Perfects for Outliers to survive, while the Cygnus kills us for Perfects to survive.”
“We sacrifice to survive!” Josephine shakes in anger, “It’s in our makeup! Since the beginning of time, it has always been the survival of the fittest!”
She pants, her hair faltering out of its combed position. I don’t want any part of this. Maybe this is how they do things. But I rather die than walk with Perfect blood. I wasn’t made to be a Perfect.
I dash out of the hospital as fast as I can. I manage to make it to the compound. I curse under my breath, because I know they’ll chase me down.
I see Kier’s broad back and try to catch my breath. He’ll hate me for the disruption I caused. But when he turns around, he stares at me with the pill bottles in his hands. Before I can utter a word…
“What’s this?”
“I know what they do to unmatched people,” I pant.
“That’s not the answer I’m looking for,” he presses.
I frown at the annoyance in his voice. I take a pause and look away.
“They’re pills,” I answer blatantly.
“Pills,” he spells, “For what?”
“Match pains,” I sigh.
His eye twitches, “What?”
“I wanted to see what they did if—”
“Sage!” he yells, “What were you thinking? You don’t know what’s in this stuff.”
“Listen to me! They’re after me, because they want to put me in the asylum. I pretended to be matchless. I wanted to know what naturalizing was. They said they use Perfects blood to—”
He cuts me off again, “I know what they do!”
I shut my mouth and knit my brows together.
“You know?”
Kier sighs heavily, pitching the pill bottles across the room. I freeze up, not knowing what more to expect.
“Yes, Sage,” he answers a little more calmly, “I know how they work down there. But that’s not something you should be looking into.”
“They’re hiding things—”
“It doesn’t matter what they’re hiding. We don’t want to know.”
“I wanted to know if it worked, if it was true, if there is some kind of cure.”
He rubs his face and looks at me, “Why?”
All this yelling and back and forth takes it toll on me. I feel my eyes burning with tears.
“Because I don’t want to be the reason you’re hurting!” I scream, letting my tears go.
I lift my hands to cover my face. I can’t look at him now. I can’t do anything now. The burning gets deeper, making me shake. Our door bursts open, revealing a recollected Josephine and two guards.
“You need to come with us,” she speaks up.
“No,” I sob.
But the guard grabs me anyways. I’m too weak to fight them off now.
“What’s going on?” I hear Kier’s voice.
“We take unmatched people into custody for treatment,” Josephine answers soothingly.
I feel Kier’s firm hand pull me out of the guard’s grip.
“She’s not unmatched,” Kier replies, “I’m her match.”