paranoia is growing in me.
Jacob re cognized some faces in decon, at least, he thought he did, but couldn’t name a single person in the room. Now that he was seeing things more clearly, or possibly insanely, this seemed odd, given that he had encounters with several Medics daily, over the course of years.
The five shop tenders he passed each day between his apartment and the stairs that took him to ground level were the same, Sal, Gabe, Sierra, Armstrong, and Winnie. Rangers Bragg and Wells stood on daily patrol near Annex 23 guarding the entrance. Wipers sentenced to clean the windows, were all stationed in the same places day after day. He knew them by name and face and they knew him. And now, when he passed the Wipers instead of asking himself What did they do?, he would instead say, Maybe they did nothing more than talk too much, like Jasper. And then he thought, Maybe I will pass him cleaning windows one day.
With his newfound suspicion, Jacob eyed the Medic next to him closely, starting with his haircut. His black hair was a short croppe d buzz cut, something that did nothing to make him stand out from any other Med Tech; it was like they all had the same barber. He wore the same lab coat over the top of the all white Nu-Skin every other Med Tech wore. The brightness of its white was only interrupted by the big red cross on the back and their badge in the front. Jacob leaned in and it read ‘Med Tech Rogers’. Other than a different hair color, the name was all that distinguished Med Tech Rogers from the rest of the Medics Jacob could remember.
Jacob played along with the story, “ Doesn’t surprise me one bit. He blabbered all morning long about some gibberish and seemed very disturbed.” Jacob was not lying, except for calling it gibberish. Jasper did all of the talking, Jacob just listened. “Swear I was tempted to push him off the beam or cut his harness. The old man hadn’t said as much as ten words to me in a given day in all the years we worked together.” Jacob was being truthful about how little Jasper spoke before today, but he was laying it on thick about doing Jasper any harm, hoping all the while the skinny Med Tech was listening and that he was buying the act.
Med Tech Rogers did not immediately respond, but instead silently went about unpacking his shiny metal brief case containing the bags, needles, and other assorted instruments needed to extract his blood and replace it with fresh and clean, nutrient rich blood.
“ Well Mr. Niles, we certainly don’t need any crazies running around the place, so maybe it’s for the better,” agreed Med Tech Rogers. “Even still, I am sorry to hear about your friend. Medics are doing their best to stabilize him.”
“ My father’s friend,” Jacob snapped. It was another lie, but one with a purpose Jasper of all people would understand. Besides it didn’t take a Medic to know that Jasper was already gone, the amount of blood being cleaned up told Jacob as much.
“ Come again?” quipped Med Tech Rogers.
“ My father’s friend,” Jacob coldly replied. “Jasper was my father’s friend. We were just co-workers.”
“ Hmmm, and didn’t your father pass from some strange incident as well,” replied Med Tech Rogers. “Seems like everyone around you finds themselves the victims of unfortunate events.”
Med Tech Rogers was correct. These were incidents, not accidents. Unfortunate events true enough, but planned and coldly calculated by some unseen force. Jacob also noted that both his father and Jasper had similar thoughts about the ‘Haus, thoughts he too started developing when he walked into this mess. Thoughts they kept secret from everyone they knew, which he also planned to do. Thoughts that when finally expressed, cost them their lives.
Jacob had no plans of joining his father or Jasper on the other side any time soon. Inside he was crumbling, and had s o many questions that would now go forever unanswered. He wanted to break
Jacob re cognized some faces in decon, at least, he thought he did, but couldn’t name a single person in the room. Now that he was seeing things more clearly, or possibly insanely, this seemed odd, given that he had encounters with several Medics daily, over the course of years.
The five shop tenders he passed each day between his apartment and the stairs that took him to ground level were the same, Sal, Gabe, Sierra, Armstrong, and Winnie. Rangers Bragg and Wells stood on daily patrol near Annex 23 guarding the entrance. Wipers sentenced to clean the windows, were all stationed in the same places day after day. He knew them by name and face and they knew him. And now, when he passed the Wipers instead of asking himself What did they do?, he would instead say, Maybe they did nothing more than talk too much, like Jasper. And then he thought, Maybe I will pass him cleaning windows one day.
With his newfound suspicion, Jacob eyed the Medic next to him closely, starting with his haircut. His black hair was a short croppe d buzz cut, something that did nothing to make him stand out from any other Med Tech; it was like they all had the same barber. He wore the same lab coat over the top of the all white Nu-Skin every other Med Tech wore. The brightness of its white was only interrupted by the big red cross on the back and their badge in the front. Jacob leaned in and it read ‘Med Tech Rogers’. Other than a different hair color, the name was all that distinguished Med Tech Rogers from the rest of the Medics Jacob could remember.
Jacob played along with the story, “ Doesn’t surprise me one bit. He blabbered all morning long about some gibberish and seemed very disturbed.” Jacob was not lying, except for calling it gibberish. Jasper did all of the talking, Jacob just listened. “Swear I was tempted to push him off the beam or cut his harness. The old man hadn’t said as much as ten words to me in a given day in all the years we worked together.” Jacob was being truthful about how little Jasper spoke before today, but he was laying it on thick about doing Jasper any harm, hoping all the while the skinny Med Tech was listening and that he was buying the act.
Med Tech Rogers did not immediately respond, but instead silently went about unpacking his shiny metal brief case containing the bags, needles, and other assorted instruments needed to extract his blood and replace it with fresh and clean, nutrient rich blood.
“ Well Mr. Niles, we certainly don’t need any crazies running around the place, so maybe it’s for the better,” agreed Med Tech Rogers. “Even still, I am sorry to hear about your friend. Medics are doing their best to stabilize him.”
“ My father’s friend,” Jacob snapped. It was another lie, but one with a purpose Jasper of all people would understand. Besides it didn’t take a Medic to know that Jasper was already gone, the amount of blood being cleaned up told Jacob as much.
“ Come again?” quipped Med Tech Rogers.
“ My father’s friend,” Jacob coldly replied. “Jasper was my father’s friend. We were just co-workers.”
“ Hmmm, and didn’t your father pass from some strange incident as well,” replied Med Tech Rogers. “Seems like everyone around you finds themselves the victims of unfortunate events.”
Med Tech Rogers was correct. These were incidents, not accidents. Unfortunate events true enough, but planned and coldly calculated by some unseen force. Jacob also noted that both his father and Jasper had similar thoughts about the ‘Haus, thoughts he too started developing when he walked into this mess. Thoughts they kept secret from everyone they knew, which he also planned to do. Thoughts that when finally expressed, cost them their lives.
Jacob had no plans of joining his father or Jasper on the other side any time soon. Inside he was crumbling, and had s o many questions that would now go forever unanswered. He wanted to break
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