Chapter 5: If she resists, kill her!

River POV;

 

Weeks at this hospital are so alike. I could swear that even the patients repeat themselves in some mysterious way. Some weeks are more eventful and interesting than others but still the same somehow. Last week was odd though taking into consideration that I may have encountered a human trafficker, meaning the man in the Prada shoes. I couldn't keep them off my mind during the whole week. Also, I could not help but wonder if he would show up today for the follow-up I recommended.   

 

In a desperate attempt to calm my mind, I took some run rounds over the week past the company with the boat logo to check them up. Nothing was off, but I still felt odd energy coming from there. The workers were always so discrete. Almost all of them were men which was very unusual in 2022, especially in a country like Sweden and a town like Stockholm. 

 

By 7 pm in the on-call room, my pager went off telling me to head to the reception. In doctor’s law and also in Sophia's law, when a pager goes off, you answer the call running as fast as possible because it means someone could actually be dying or already clinically passed over to the other side or Sophia is on her period which is quite dangerous for humanity. 

 

Just a few steps before arriving at the reception, I recognized Antonio with two men. One of which was with him last week and was in fact the one answering all my questions. He was a redhead, blue-eyed, thin, and tall man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties. However, looks could deceive when it comes to men because they age like fine wine. He was scanning the reception area like he was measuring the place and securing the parameter. Man, they already managed to freak me out and they have been here for what? Two minutes? 

 

The other man was not here last week. He was a young man, maybe late twenties. His pecan brown hair made so much sense with his light skin and gemstone green eyes with gold flecks. He looked like an angel, only he wore a coat worth more than 20000 Swedish kronor and a Rolex watch probably worth more than my organs in the black market. Taking a closer look when hitting the reception, I noticed some fresh wounds on his neck. It looked like we actually had two patients not one tonight. 

 

As soon as Sophia spotted me, she shouted "Doctor River, someone is asking for you". I was disappointed, not for seeing Antonio, I was relieved for that, but for running like a desert camel after the pager when I didn't need to but yeah whatever Sophia wants, Sophia gets. This wasn’t worth a pager call. Yet I think Sophia wanted to give me a heads-up that they have arrived. 

 

"Thank you, Soph, I can take it from here," I replied moving my sight to Antonio. Sophia ran into me and whispered in my ear "you recall the men from last week?" to which I nodded and moved forward to Antonio. 

 

"The nurse said you are looking for me?" I asked Antonio who looked at the man with the expensive coat and called him "Alex". I think he wanted to draw Alex's attention who was busy looking anywhere else but at me. Great, rudeness was their thing apparently. 

 

"We are here to follow up," Alex said looking finally at me. Awesome, a man of few words. Just what I needed of him. "Yes, of course, I remember Antonio from last week. How are you doing Antonio?" I said directing my question and my gaze to Antonio who in return said "fine" as we moved to a room. 

 

Since we entered the room, I felt the same kind of energy I usually felt when running by the company at the port, which I then knew was named the northern lights company. I wasn’t nervous about being alone with three men. What could happen to me when I am a kickboxing champion for two years in a row? I told myself. Besides this, we were at a hospital, nothing shady could happen here I guess...

 

Alex and the redhead man sat down on chairs located behind me while I was facing Antonio who sat down on the edge of the stretcher. I realized that I forgot to call a nurse in, and Sophia may have missed it too. So, I was supposed to help myself now. I turned around to get medical supplies from the cabinet located exactly above the chairs on which the two men were seated. I really don’t know who thought this location was a good idea for the chairs to be in! I highly doubted the intelligence of the engineer who decorated this place. And it wasn’t like anyone could move the chairs or the cabinet which I thought was just another proof of how stupid the engineer was.

 

Trying to get between the men and open the cabinet, I accidentally hit my breast on Axel's shoulder. Not that I minded, the man was a piece of divine beauty, but it was highly unprofessional, so I politely apologized and turned back to my work. 

 

While I apologized, I recognized that Alex was sweating which was strange during this time of the year considering the cold. He maybe thought it was uncomfortable touching me. I couldn’t understand but anyhow I carried on with my work. 

 

I heard a conversation going on between the two men in a very low voice, but I guess I have the hearing of a bat and had always had it which might be annoying sometimes. The redhead asked Alex if he was okay. I wanted to hear the answer too as I got some concerns about him sweating in December. The redhead added, "I know the girl is fine, but don't you think that you are overreacting, boss". I don’t think that I was supposed to hear that but yeah as I mentioned, annoying sense of hearing.

 

"I am not fine Stephan, call Robert now I have to go," Alex said while moving heavily on the chair. Stephan almost whispered, "Okay boss, I will go call him outside". 

 

I could hear Alex struggling to sit still when he told Stephan to stay and not go outside because he could not control the transformation. I had no idea about what I just heard but the man was clearly ill in some way, he may be hallucinating. Therefore, I decided to turn around and ask if he needed help. 

 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to overhear your conversation, but can I help you?" I asked as I walked closer to Alex. I didn’t need an answer now really, the man was clearly not fine. He looked like he was in pain and struggling to stay quiet and not scream in agony. I of all people would recognize this look anywhere. 

 

Alex screamed that he needed a sedative which I found odd, so I went closer and started doing a basic examination only for Alex to reach out and hold my arm. I gasped at what I saw. I never felt so scared in my life. Fur grew rapidly on Alex's arm and his nails turned to claws as he held me which got my arm badly scratched. His eyes were glowing brightly, their beautiful green color turned to golden orange, almost the color of a flame.

 

In total shock not able to move, I felt Stephan and Antonio dragging me back away from Alex, struggling to get me off Alex's claws as I heard the sound of cracking bones. Stephan managed to snatch me out of my shock state by shaking me. 

 

"You need to find us a sedative, now!!" Stephan yelled at me. As shocked as I was, I couldn’t do anything other than point to the cabinet above Alex's head where I previously got my medical supplies. 

 

Stephan opened the cabinet and asked me "Is it the one with a blue lock?" to which I nodded. He tossed the medication to me with the largest syringe he could find waiting for me to fill the syringe which I quickly did acting subconsciously. 

 

Antonio and Stephan rushed to hold Alex who was halfway through turning into an animal or a beast in the shape of a large dog or a wolf. I could see that by looking at the fur on his chest, his prolonged nose, and his glowing eyes. 

 

"You should inject him now before it's too late," Stephan said to me. I looked at him resistantly. Stephan gazed at me and yelled "Now Doctor!!!" urging me to jump on my feet and follow his orders. I responded fast but not only because he shouted at me. I responded because I could see that Alex would be unstoppable a few moments later if he kept going on the transformation like this. I can’t believe I just said that.

 

I searched quickly for a vein in Alex's leg which didn’t change to an animal's leg yet and administered the sedative into it. The transition reversed and Alex quickly came back to his human form relaxing his head to the wall behind him, so I checked his pulse and eye response. He was okay except for the whole transformation to a beast part of course. 

 

I breathed heavily kneeling by Alex when suddenly everything came back at me. I was beginning to understand what I just saw. 

 

Alex woke up and looked at Stephan before he whispered something to him that I couldn’t hear. Well, something escaped my bat hearing. Or was it because I was totally caught up in my mind trying to answer so many questions? 

 

"If she resists, kill her," Alex said before he walked out of the room with a torn-up shirt that he covered with his coat. 

 

Stephan walked over to me and lifted me from the floor where I was still kneeling. "You have to come with us. Walk with us peacefully and nothing bad will happen to you," Stephan said showing me a gun tucked in his belt, hidden by his jacket. 

 

I found myself forced to follow the men as I didn’t want to get killed but more importantly didn’t want anyone else at the hospital to be harmed. Antonio followed me when I went back to the reception where I told Sophia that I wasn’t taking the rest of my shift.

 

Sophia furrowed her eyebrows at the information I just threw at her. She knew I never left my shifts. Work came always first for me. "Something came up?" Sophia wondered. "Yes, call Anastasia to cover me, she wouldn’t mind as you may know," I replied knowing that Anastasia would kill to cover my shifts and show our supervisor that she was more capable of handling the job than I was. 

 

Walking to the locker room to change, I felt Antonio's footsteps falling behind me in sync with mine and Stephan's eyes looking at my path. I changed my clothes and searched for my phone in my bag but remembered that Antonio was watching me from a small glass window on the door. 

 

Apparently, the engineer who decorated the exam room also decorated the locker room because the possibility of finding two humans with the same level and type of stupidity is quite rare. I really hung on the hope that someone would walk the corridor and disturb Antonio so I could make a 9-1-1 call fast. Unfortunately, no one walked through the corridor this time as it was late at night for most of the workers.

 

I found my phone at the bottom of my bag. I managed to ask Siri to enable the GPS tracking function before hiding the phone carefully back at the bottom of my bag. 

 

Outside the hospital, Stephan and Antonio walked me, or should I say dragged me, to what appeared like a Volkswagen Tiguan car from the side. We headed north but I couldn’t see the signs because of the dark and speeding. I was surrounded by men from both sides and the center lock of the car was enabled. I figured that there was no possible way to escape, at least right now.