"What do you think, Rowan?" Duke looked at the other person. "Can we go see the other sights some other day instead? I have to go."
"I want to see."
Duke frowned a little at the answer he didn't think Rowan would say. He just glanced at Arrow, who was equally shocked at the matter. However, she just turned away to leave.
At her sudden movement, Rowan gasped. "Wait! I mean… I want to see… how Duke does it! I want to watch him… save someone…"
"Is that right?" Arrow only twisted her body and glanced at Rowan. "Then I'll take it as them not reaching Duke on time… every time they had to fetch him themselves."
"You don't have to push yourself, Rowan, but we should hurry." Duke only sighed as he gestured for Rowan to run with him. After all, there was a life at stake.
Rowan just nodded and ran with them, but he didn't forget to take the other umbrella. He would pry the bolt out later. Since there was a car waiting for them, they quickly got in. The car drove off to a place that Rowan hadn't gone to with Duke yet.
He also wanted to treat the car ride as a sightseeing trip. Duke only took him to the peaceful places, but he didn't know why Wailing Veil had a reputation for being quite a sin city to the first- and second-class cities far away from it. Maybe if he went to the place of someone who needed an underground doctor to save them, he would understand.
Wailing Veil was his new home. He had to stare at its sleepy fog in the morning, and he had to sleep to its wail as the night crept in. Rowan had to know this city.
He just didn't think it would not care about which ugly face it'd show him.
…
"We're losing him! Give more power to those compressions! Get someone to bring blood to that man over there! What? No more stock? Then buy from the bank! Steal, make someone else bleed—I don't care! Just make sure you're getting the right one!"
Rowan woke up at the same screaming voice of a middle-aged woman in that den that reeked of blood and piss. It looked like a hospital, but the walls were not painted and the ceiling was peeling off. Electrical wires and pipes ran through the ceiling, and the strong lights hung dangerously overhead.
In its walls was the chief medical officer's voice that kept on echoing. She had to yell out as she moved around just to help whoever she had to.
"Rowan, don't pay attention to everyone else. I thought you wanted to watch me, instead?" Duke chuckled as he pulled on his glove. He was in a plastic gown to keep blood off. On his operating table was a man lying on his stomach. The patient was supposedly shot in the head.
"Sorry… it's distracting me," Rowan murmured even if Duke couldn't hear him. He could see through the thin yet opaque plastic curtains. There were also a lot of people screaming in pain and groaning on their beds. Twenty-odd people were rushed here.
Next to Rowan sat Arrow. She was the one who fetched Duke, just as she was begged by the deputy medical officer of the supposed underground hospital. However, as Duke put it, this was the actual hospital of Wailing Veil. The cutesy one in white above ground was run by some billionaire, and its prices were enough to drain someone's annual income in one trip.
She then glanced at the man and saw the horror in his eyes. "Is this your first time to see so much blood? If you're scared, you can hold my hand!"
Rowan didn't look at her, but he saw the hand in his peripheral vision. He still went to hold it both of his. "Not exactly, Miss Arrow. I had to butcher five pigs for a ranch party before. I just… What happened to them? Do you know? Why do they look like they went to war?"
"You have to what?" Arrow twitched at his answer. She then looked around them before looking at Rowan again. Why did it feel like he was scarier than the scene around them?
"Duke, are you done there yet?" The chief medical officer lifted the side of the flap serving as the door of the room. "I need more hands. I'm really sorry to pull you back here all of a sudden."
Duke only chuckled as he swiftly pulled the bullet out of the patient's head. "I would mind if Rowan did. Then again, what happened to these people? Who gunned them down?"
The chief medical officer took a deep breath as if she was resting by just standing there. "I haven't asked anyone yet, but all of these guys are part of the Black Ghosts. I've seen the tattoos. A lot of them are also cursing dogs and bitches. I think they got hit by the Hellhounds."
"By those stray dogs?" Duke lifted his gaze once to look at the chief medical officer. Once he realized that she was not joking, he went back to fixing up the patient. "Hmm, that's surprising. They were already driven out from here, and they still thought of initiating wars with other groups? Then again, this kind of firepower… This can't be them."
"Why not? I heard they found sponsors somewhere in Gideon." The chief medical officer sighed as her name started to echo far away again. "Dammit, I just want to rest for five minutes!"
She moved to leave, but someone screamed at her as they rolled another bed inside. Instead of being angry, she froze for a moment before running after the bed. Her actions made Rowan and Arrow curious, but it was the man who only got up to see what happened.
Since Rowan was holding Arrow's hand, she just walked with him. It was better for her to watch this man than be blamed if something went wrong. After all, if it wasn't for her insistence, Rowan wouldn't ask to come here with Duke.
"Don't worry, honey, you're in good hands… you're in good hands…" The voice of the chief medical officer was mellow, but Rowan could sense panic in it. When he stepped inside the room, the woman was holding a scalpel to help the rather young patient. However, her hand was shaking so much in fright.
"What are you doing here? Please step out!" A nurse would shoo them some more, but she noticed what was happening to their chief. "Dammit, Carla! Get a hold of yourself!"
Thump! The patient started to flail as her little body went into shock. The nurse had to help out in restraining the limbs of the patient. It was just Carla continued to freeze as she looked down at her own daughter. Stress had completely eaten her, and all her body did was stand there as if the brain couldn't get commands going anymore.