Page 19 of The Hollowed
“It’s about a kid named Jace in pediatrics.”
Luci’s expression shifted with faint recognition, the kind thatcame with remembering a name from a chart she’d likely looked over a dozen times. “What about him?” she asked cautiously as she closed the final latch on the case.
Alex hesitated. The request felt wrong, like it wasn’t something he should ask of Luci in the first place. “He’s waiting for a kidney transplant. Myra wants you to move him up the list.”
Luci’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Can you remind me exactly why it’s so dire that Myra come with us?”
“I-I know how it sounds but she says he doesn’t have much time left,” Alex answered, careful to keep his voice even. Aside from Grayson, there was no one else that Alex trusted more out there than Myra. He chose not to verbalize that, though he suspected Luci could already see it written all over his face.
Luci turned toward him now, peeling off her gloves deliberately slow. “You’re asking me to jump him ahead of other patients — people who’ve been waiting longer, some of them just as or in more critical condition than him…because Myra asked?”
Alex exhaled sharply and rubbed at the back of his neck, wishing there was another way. “I’m asking because without her, the team’s weaker. We need her out there, and if this is what it takes to get her on board — ”
“You think I don’t want to help him?” she cut in defensively. “I’ve read his file. I know exactly how bad it is but I can’t just — Alex, I swore an oath. This would be an ethical breach.” She pressed her lips together.
The silence stretched between them. They both knew she could do it. They both knew it wasn’t about whether or not she could. It was about stepping over a line she’d been taught not to cross a long time ago.
Alex stepped closer, his voice softer now. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think this mission was worth it. If we make it to AZ-7, we’ll save more than one kid in that ward. But to get there, we needher.”
Luci’s gaze held his for a long moment, contemplating what the right thing to do was. Finally, she looked away. “You’re lucky I like you,” she whispered.
Alex felt the knot in his chest loosen slightly. “So that’s a yes?”
She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she reached for a datapad on her desk and began typing, her tone resigned. “I’ll bypass the system, but you tell Myra this is for Jace, not for her.”
Before she could finish typing, Alex stepped forward and gently slid the datapad out of her hands and set it aside on her desk.
“Alex — ” she started, but he didn’t let her finish.
In one smooth motion, he lifted her onto the edge of the counter. She gave a startled little gasp, but as her hands instinctively braced against his chest, she didn’t push him away.
He looked at her for a long moment, noticing the faint cloud of exhaustion and worry in her eyes. “You have no idea,” he said softly, his voice rough but sincere, “how amazing I think you are.”
Then he leaned in and kissed her gently, like there was a promise tucked between the press of their lips.
When he pulled back, he kept his forehead resting lightly against hers. “C’mon, you’ve got to rest before we head out tomorrow.”
Chapter 7
Lucilla
Luci barely recognized the woman staring back at her in the mirror.
She’d taken Alex’s advice from the night before and pulled on the thickest pair of faded black jeans she owned, a long-sleeved shirt that was just a bit too small and stopped just shy of her wrists, and a pair of sturdy boots that weren’t hers. She suspected Alex had asked Myra to lend him a spare pair, but she didn’t have the nerve to confirm it. And Alex was smart enough not to tell her where they’d come from either.
The exhaustion in her reflection was harder to disguise. She hadn’t slept for more than a few scattered hours. There was a dull shadow of fatigue sitting behind her eyes, a heavier shadow of fear lingering in her chest. Part of it was the mission ahead, but she also wondered about her brother.
Where was he? How had he found a way to survive the chaos of those first few days of the outbreak?
He was clever and resourceful enough, but the world had always had a way of devouring even the brightest. Regardless, she chose to believe he’d made it, that he was alive just like the Institute claimed. It was easier to hold onto that hope than to let the thought of losing him drag her under.
Forcing herself into motion, Luci gave her bag one lastinspection, rummaging through her cupboards and drawers to make sure she’d left nothing essential behind. Satisfied, she swung the backpack over both shoulders and made her way to the lab. The temperature-regulated case was waiting inside the lockbox she had secured it in. All that was left to do was nestle the case safely in her backpack. She lingered for a moment, wondering if every part of her life had led to this.
Luci descended the stairwell to the basement slowly. Each step felt heavier as she thought about the safe harbor she was leaving behind and everything that waited for her beyond the hospital walls.
Alex had told her to meet him in the armory just past the residential wing, so despite the knot of unease growing in her stomach, Luci pushed through the heavy stairwell door and forced herself forward. The chip embedded in her palm made the security pad flash its green light, granting her access with a soft chime. The door slid open, and she stepped inside, nearly running straight into the rest of the team.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Alex — or any of them, for that matter — geared up like this from head to toe. The dark tactical vest fit him like it belonged there and the rifle slung over one of his shoulders looked as if it was an extension of him. The others, including Luna, were no different, each decked out in similar gear, their weapons resting within reach.