[Round 0 - Main]
[Kill a living being to join the rounds. The rest will die.]
Time left before the first round:
[23:41:36]
There was no sound of a child crying. The air was thick with discomfort and the trumpets have stopped blaring. An uncanny silence. My heartbeat echoed on the walls.
"Haa…"
I exhaled. I did not have enough confidence to look down or up. So I eyed the screens in my sight.
The next few moments were a blur. Johnny, with his eccentric clothing style, screamed and snatched the baby from Doctor Jang's hands.
"What… what the hell…" Johnny whispered. "You killed a child!"
He glared at me with striking blue eyes, one stared at me through his fringe
Damn it. It was that feeling again. Disbelonging. It feels like I should leave this room. But my soles were glued to the ground.
I attempted to ignore the glaring of Johnny and placed my sight on the woman. Out of all of us four in the room, only the woman in labor didn't have this holographic interface. She must be…
"Dead," said Jang. "She's near rigor mortis. She's really dead."
My breath quickened. This was my first operation and it ended with two dead. One might say that the doctor is at fault for the death of the pregnant woman but it was me who killed the child.
Jang coughed, "I do wonder how she died. Was it from the pain of childbirth or shock?"
"Shock?"
Her words alerted me. I leaned further, as if expecting another response from the doctor.
She pressed her glasses then pointed a bony finger towards Johnny who cradled the dead child in his arms.
I hissed. I wanted to forget about the child as soon as possible. But I was curious about what she meant.
The child… couldn't be considered human.
Through the arms of Johnny, I saw the purple greenish skin of the child. The child had looked as if it had suffocated itself inside the womb, purple skin with spots of green. It hadn't cried when I brought it to the world. It had been just now that I noticed her rotten full-grown teeth and bulging eye sockets.
My breath caught in my throat. I began to cough.
Doctor Jang tried to talk to Johnny.
"Intern Evans, give me the child."
He clicked his tongue.
"Give it to you, and then what? It's dead anyways."
"I'll give it to the tower in Frankurt. They might know something about it."
Johnny Evans snapped. He embraced the child more.
"It's still a child! It deserves a proper burial!"
"Not just any child, clearly." I spoke this time.
Johnny snickered creepily.
"You, of all people, have no right to say that!"
I took a step back and grunted. He was right. I looked downwards in shame.
Shouldn't I be arrested any time now? I felt a tad of guilt.
I had stopped listening to the bickering of Johnny and Jang until I heard the door open.
I had assumed it was the police so I stuck my wrists together, getting ready to be cuffed when Jang flicked my forehead.
"Schneider," said Jang. She moved away from in front of me to reveal a man and woman behind her. "These men come from the Federation—"
"The Federation. It's part of the name." The dark shoulder-length haired man interrupted with a boastful grin.
"—I mentioned it before; the tower in Frankurt. Stay still for now as we talk about what we'll do with the child and mother."
I nodded and they left the operating room.
Johnny stood on one corner of the room, propping up the dead child.
The silence was awkward for me but Johnny didn't seem to mind at all.
He stood up and went to the sink. He first tested the water's temperature with his palm. Then put the child into a basin.
I followed him and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Cleaning the child. He's got blood all over him."
He didn't elaborate further.
I exhaled.
I walked away and grabbed a blanket from the closet. I placed it on the mother.
Johnny stared at me as I did.
[Johnny D Evans will remember that]
"..!"
I tripped in shock.
"...what is this?" I murmured.
I looked behind to see if anyone saw me fall. Instead, I saw Johnny pressing on the monster child's chest, performing CPR.
I moved my eyes to the screen in front of me. It was similar to the "round" interface. I tried to touch it but my hand went through it like liquid.
I perched myself up and went to find a window, only to find not one, not two, but absolute zero.
I sighed. This was an operating room after all.
My eyes darted to Johnny. He was checking the child's vital signs. His long hair falling on his eyes.
"You seem to care a lot."
I had accidentally said it out loud. Unexpectedly, Johnny answered.
"Not really," said Johnny, then blowing into the mouth of the child.
"The child's dead, though, and you're still trying to revive it."
He pressed on the child's chest again.
"It doesn't matter if the child is defected or not. Everyone deserves a proper burial."
"Is that so…"
There was an unusual silence that was almost peaceful.
I said, "You're kind, Johnny. I'm sure your parents were proud to have you."
He looked surprised. Johnny was about to respond when another screen popped up.
—————
User
↳ Reverie Lorenzo Schneider
Attributes
↳ Linguist (Uncommon), Nurse (Common)
Sayings
↳ □
Skill of Singularity
↳ □
Skills
↳ Strength Level 7
↳ Agility Level 2
↳ Endurance Level 3
↳ Word Level 8
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