We arrived at one of the three hospitals in Paladin following a low-budget ambulance that looked like it had had its best days many years ago. I am not surprised that no upgrade is needed, as many spells and other solutions for injured citizens sometimes need a quick fix without the human tools commonly used.
Teresa and I watched as the ambulance door opened, and a stretcher approached. With quick interaction from the staff, they got the angel out and rushed her in through the entrance. I was just a little lost in myself. It didn't make sense to me why the Goblin jumped. He is an outsider like me. While the Goblin is half-human and I am human, we don't fit in with the people living in Paladin. While I can walk outside the zone and return to reality in Stockholm, he has nowhere to go except for the outside village. Where there is a place for Creatures or half-breeds to live a calm life together, but because of the aggressive behavior of a goblin and the human side of him, he must have felt lonely and an outcast. Same as me, but maybe a little bit different. For the Goblin to fall into darkness, eat somebody's face, and do bad things means this world has no peace, and that coat guy with the hat managed to escape, which won't make my life easier since I missed him.
The so-called hospital here was just a long, flat building that looked like a health center, but it was wide. Operation-type hospitals usually have several floors, but this was just a one-floor crap. Nothing special, except the bricks were visible, as if it were a run-down building before they turned it into a hospital. Hopefully, the inside doesn't look like the outside. We got out of the car and walked towards the entrance when suddenly someone yelled from behind:
"MOVE!"
When I turned around and saw a guy with a rolling bed, I quickly moved to the side and looked at a red octopus the size of a human with googly eyes, making a hissing sound. Two tentacles that obviously looked like someone had cut them off, and black ooze leaking from the wounds. They quickly rolled through the entry and turned left. We went inside, and an old lady with pink hair, white clothing, and a white hat sat at a desk between the left corridor and the straight one.
"You sure this is a hospital?" I whispered to Teresa.
She nodded without saying anything and went up to the desk.
"Hello! We are from the Van Polan organization. We are here to see a patient named Greta Ganther." Teresa said.
The old lady glared at us and said:
"Badge, please."
Shit! I left my badge on the table at home. Well, my sloppiness is almost legendary. I always get bailed out by Victoria or Teresa anyway.
Teresa got her badge up and showed it to the old lady, who responded:
"Follow the orange line that goes straight."
We started walking down the orange line a couple of meters before it suddenly turned right. It was a long corridor that, at the moment of turning right, looked like an emergency room. There was some strange smell in the air, though, something I had never smelled before. We kept walking along the orange line, and curtains covered some spaces that looked like temporary rooms, as they do in hospitals in the human world during emergencies. I noticed that the smell came from one of those rooms with curtains.
We reached the end of the corridor, and the orange line now turned to the left. I could see a couple of women standing there, and it looked like they were looking into a room. We kept walking, following the line until we reached them. I tried to squeeze myself through them until I came in front of the window and saw a man sitting on Greta and looking like he was doing CPR on her.
"What happened?" I asked out in the air.
Of course! A voice that I knew was heard behind me.
"Her heart stopped! He is trying to revive her."
I knew it was Victoria, and she had come here before me, which is unusual because she doesn't usually follow up this close on assignments. I usually never manage to see her in crowds because of her talent for going unnoticed. I looked back and stared into her blue-colored eyes, and then turned back to the window and saw the doctor who had been doing the CPR suddenly stop and go down from the bed. He checked his clock, which, of course, I knew he was reading the time of Greta's death.
I looked back at Victoria, who shook her head.
"Your eyes are telling me everything, Berk, don't you even dare." She told me in a severe tone.
I pushed two women out of my way and opened the door, knowing everyone would follow suit and try to stop me. I don't care about that; I did everything possible to protect her because I believed she would survive. I won't let her give up that easily on death. I quickly jumped up on the bed and started to do CPR on Greta, which confused the doctor.
"KEEP THE FUCKING TUBE IN HER MOUTH FOR AIR!" I screamed at the nurse, who hurried and started to push air through her mouth.
I kept giving her a heart massage and felt several hands trying to drag me away, but I used all my strength and pushed them away for a moment, and kept going with the massage.
"COME ON, GRETA! FIGHT IT!" I screamed at her.
Suddenly, I felt an immense power grab my shoulder, throwing me to the other side of the room as I lost total control, hitting my back against the wall, and fell on the floor. I had a hard time breathing as I saw the disconnect all equipment attached to Greta and slowly covered a white blanket over her body. I tried to catch my breath from the pain, staring at Victoria, who stared down on me with anger.
"Know your place...Van Polan!" She spoke with a much darker, crisper voice than the lean one she usually has.
I knew in an instant that she was the one who threw me backwards, as the other ones wouldn't dare to create a stir in the hospital. Veronica walked towards me, grabbed my tie, and dragged me out of the room. I knew that both of us were really angry with each other, and this wouldn't end well for anyone.
"LET GO!" I screamed at her.
I got slammed towards the wall, and she moved quickly towards me as I tried to give her a right fist to the head, but her hand was up with one finger in the air that was gushing out blue fire. Mid-air, the fist had frozen, not even close to her face. She grabbed my blazer and lifted me in the air as I tried to prepare a new punch, but I flew through the corridor, dragged on the floor at high speed, before I hit something. I saw her feet moving towards me, but everything just got blurry until it went pitch-black. I could still hear her high heels hitting the floor as she moved closer, until everything went quiet.
When I opened my eyes, there was an elevator door in front of me; it looked like it had gone through several ghettos in Paladin before arriving here. Chewing gum, graffiti all over it, the upper right corner even looked a little bit melted. I looked around and saw a door to the left with a red-painted window, but a blue graffiti reading 'Go Through This Door If You Want To Die!' on it. Yeah...like I am that stupid to fall for that...or maybe it is really the exit. Looked back, but only a greasy, disgusting wall. There was also a windowed door to the right, and I looked through it to check if it was also a death door. Inside were a lot of school benches and chairs. Is this a classroom? Looked if someone was inside, but it was all empty. Went back to the elevator and pushed the button as the digital sign above counted down from ten until it reached the first floor, and the doors opened with a screech. Eh... someone needs to check the safety measures. The whole situation was weird as hell. I went into the elevator, pressed the number ten button, and the doors slowly closed. The elevator didn't move when suddenly an internal speaker sounded with a female voice:
"Kare wa kachi ga nai!"
Eh! What did it say?
"KARE WA KACHI GA NAI!" It screamed out now.
It kept repeating the same sentence, then went quiet. The doors opened, and I kept pressing the button to close them and move to the tenth floor. The doors didn't move, and the same sentence kept repeating itself. I moved out of the elevator and screamed at it:
"YOU CAN KARE WA KACHI GA NAI...YEAH!" and the doors slammed shut, and the elevator moved up towards the tenth floor. Damn, this shit —it looks like the elevator is out of reach. There is only the classroom left. I hope that when I enter, a teacher won't show up and force me to study. That would suck...like really bad. I had to open the damn classroom, and I entered, realizing that suddenly there was a small girl, not even looking to be over ten years old. Black hair with red eyes and a freaking maid dress...is she going to teach me how to serve coffee?
"What the fudge is going on here?" I asked.
She started wiggling her upper body left and right, like it was some side-step disco for kids. I thought I had seen all in my life, like a crocodile wrestler...but this, it takes the prize as the most awkward thing...ever!
I moved to the center of the classroom, but still kept a distance from her. Noticing that the room didn't have any light, I realized it was shining because it came from outside. Moved closer to the window and saw the central city in Stockholm in a sea of fire. The flames were the crap shining up the room. It has to be a dream. I need to exit this dream... it has to be a dream.
When I turned to the girl in the weird outfit, she was smiling now and said:
"At last! It has been such a long time for us. We look forward to swallowing your soul and killing it to take over your body. You are not worthy to inherit the powers of the 100TH Demon Army. So, give us your soul and we will make your meat body stronger. You are too weak to do anything, Berk Van Polan." And with a high-pitched laugh, a demon's laughter echoed through the room.
I gave her a smirk as she was not the first demon trying to fool me with this talk.
"I thought this was a Cappuccino course on how to serve it perfectly. I suppose that maybe going into the death room would have been a better choice."
It was silent for a moment. A staring contest was going on between us, and I tried to look serious, but that was so hard. At any moment, something will erupt; I cannot lose to a ten-year-old in my dream...I will not lose.
"Sorry! But my soul is not for sale, Cappuccino maid!"