The evening sun set and its beams on the white stone floor became shorter. Inside the hospital, the patients noisily chatted as they waited for their name to be called. Large 90" TVs were set up on the wall for patients to watch. The latest news was being played. Nurses ran around in a hurry to deliver messages between doctors. No one stopped to take a breather. It was one of those busy days where patients flooded in nonstop.
A loud blaring sound of an ambulance stopped in front of the emergency entrance. Paramedics wearing Alive gear rushed in with an injured teenage girl. Blood seeped through her clothes and dripped down from her head. A metal rod stuck out from the left side of her chest.
"We had a pile-up on 285. There were two sixteen-wheelers and a couple of cars, cause unknown. The patient's car skidded off the road, and she got impaled on a metallic pipe piled by the roadside construction. We've got fourteen dead and more injured on the way," the paramedic explained quickly to the doctor. "The metal rod luckily didn't impale the heart, but her lung has collapsed. Heavy bleeding, concussion, and I'm not sure of the complete extent of the damage."
"Room 2A is available!" The doctor's clothes fluttered behind him as he rushed with the paramedics. There was no time to lose. A young teen's life was in balance and time was of the essence. Paramedics rushed the patient into the room. The doctor's team followed right after.
For the next couple of long hours, the doctor's team worked diligently to save her life. It was not an easy task. The emergency light turned off as the doctor's group exited the room.
"Nice job, Alex." A nurse with curly red hair and a voluptuous body came up and congratulated him for saving the girl's life.
"Thanks, but we need to move on to the next patient. The pile-up was really bad. We have four more that just came in and are being worked on now. Go and check on them, please, and report back to me," said Alex with indifference to her. He pulled out his glasses from his pocket and picked up the clipboard from the nurse. It was the information for the next patient.
Alex was not a fan of this new technology that the world was becoming attached to. He enjoyed doing things the old fashion way. Technology felt like a hindrance to him. He did use the Alive Gear a couple times, but his eyes easily tired during surgery. Surgery precision and knowledge jumped up by 20%, and he knew this was a huge asset, but he felt uncomfortable wearing them.
This was his place of work, his cover-up in real life. It was the best job to fool the people into thinking that he was like any other. Unconsciously he reached over to his cheek, and stopped himself short.
At times his cheek throbbed, and it became an unconscious habit that he had to stop himself or his makeup hiding his scar would disappear.
A group of men in black suits with red collared shirts walked up to Alex. A couple of them had a large black briefcase. Each one of them wore Alive gear and had a small pendant trinket on the left chest. It was a six-pointed star with an eye of Horus in the middle. In the center of the eye was a simple design of a three headed snake-dragon in a triskele pattern. A buff, tall white man walked up to Alex.
"May I help you?" he peeked over his glasses. "My name is James. We have an order from the higher-ups as well the consent of the guardian to go ahead with this project." The man handed him a paper signed by a company called Kosmos. It was surprising to see a well-known company take interest in the girl that he had personally saved.
"Right now she's in a coma. She won't be able to talk with you right now," Alex said with suspicion. Something about them felt out of place.
"Please just take us to her. We have something we must do," James said with indifference to the situation. "Which room is hers?"
The red headed nurse that was next to Alex the whole time smiled. "Please come this way. I'll take you to her." She directed them towards the room where they needed to go.
"Wait, what? I don't think this is a good idea. We don't know them," said Alex, surprised. He didn't like where this was going, especially how this nurse didn't question them.
"Sir, we are in a hurry. We already have an official document to go through with this. So please stand aside." James pushed him aside and followed the nurse. Alex followed right behind them closely.
The nurse opened the door to the private room where the patient lay. James and his men entered the room. They placed their case onto a table and unlocked it. Inside was an Embryo Sense gear.
"What are you doing with that?" Alex asked. The men in black suits carefully placed the gear onto her head. James pressed the power button on the forehead where the Embryo logo was located.
It was an egg shape with three pairs of wings. On the left side of the egg, the wings were colored light blue and the other side was colored red. Inside the egg was a white power button symbol that looked like a dragon eating itself. This was where the users had to press to turn the Sense gear on. It would also scan their fingerprint for identification. A golden crown was above the egg and an infinity mark underneath it. The right half of the infinity mark was colored red and the other half was colored light blue. The golden egg glowed as it was turned on.
James stood watching over the girl. Alex assumed he was doing something to the Sense gear through the Alive gear. Stepping back, the men in black suits looked over to Alex.
"Everything's stable. She should heal faster now." James was satisfied with his work. "If anything strange happens, please call us first." He walked over to Alex and clasped his hands. "You will witness a true miracle." James smiled brightly and let go.
Alex felt something solid and metallic in his hands. It was the same trinket the men in black were wearing on their chests. One after another all the men in black suits left the room. As he stared at the trinket, he thought he saw it blinking its eyes. Startled, he dropped it onto the ground. Slowly crouching down, he picked it up and closely examined it. No blinking. Nothing.
"This is all in my head." He sighed in relief. "These long hours really do make my eyes a bit tired and playing the game Growth as well. Damn, I need to complete my mission. Playing doctor is a headache." The past weeks, he had been cutting down on his hours at work. Now he asked to change his status to a call-in doctor at certain days and times. He didn't need the long hours anymore, and since he received a mission from the higher ups to find the Seed, his priority had changed.
Switching between one persona to another was completely flawless. This was just another game, another skill he needed to do his job right.
A soft, irregular, metallic beeping sound was heard. He looked around, trying to find the sound, and as his eyes rested upon the girl he noticed an odd, soft, thin sheet of green aura around her whole body. It was barely noticeable to the naked eye, but if he stared long enough, he could see it clearly.
Rubbing his eyes a couple of times, he checked if it was real. The green aura didn't disappear from his vision. Instead it intensified around her.
"I need some sleep. I must be really tired," said Alex worriedly. He nodded in agreement with his own logic. He was going to call off work as soon as possible for the day and get some sleep. He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.