A R L O

When I threw up for the third time that week, I knew that something was deeply wrong with me. I thought the first vomiting spell had been food poisoning or the flu. But then I'd passed out in the Romanian weapons factory, and now this?

With both hands on the countertop, I dragged myself up from the toilet. My stomach still felt nauseated, but I wouldn't hurl again. I refused to.

The energy seeped back into my body after a few moments of splashing cold water on my face. When I felt better and the ceiling no longer spun above me, I left the bathroom. I wasn't sure where I was going or what I'd do. Clearly, I needed a doctor, but how could I trust one with the information from my past? No one but my team and Hunt knew about my life at the laboratory.

Then it clicked in my brain. Hunt. He had to have doctors at the ONNT, right? What else would they do when soldiers got injured on the job?

I picked up the phone and dialed Hunt's personal phone number, not caring that it was already late at night. The man was a certified workaholic; he'd still be there.

He picked up. "Hello, this is Damien Hunt."

"I know," I said. "It's me."

"Arlo," he sighed. "What is it this time?"

"Do you have any doctors at the headquarters?"

He paused. "Yes. Why?"

"I need one. Badly."

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Hunt greeted me personally when I was escorted by two soldiers up the front walk of the ONNT facility. I greeted him with a cheerful wave of my hand. His frown deepened; it didn't exactly look like I was sick at all.

"Follow me, Arlo," he instructed and I obeyed. It appeared that he didn't want to make any small talk.

We entered through the large front doors and took an immediate right. I was led down countless corridors, up a few elevators and farther into the middle of the building. Because of the late time, fewer workers paced the halls. A few of the people that were still there stared at me as I hurried alongside Hunt.

Finally, we reached the hospital wing. From what I could see, it was devoid of patients. The only person inside the office was a single female doctor typing away on a computer. She looked up as the two of us approached.

"I have a patient that needs to be checked," Hunt told her, gesturing to me. "I apologize for coming so close to the end of your shift, but this one has a particularly unusual medical history, as you know."

"Oh, no, it's fine." She stood up and looked at me. "I can take him in now." Waving a hand, she beckoned for me to follow her inside.

I turned to glance at Hunt. "Aren't you going to come inside? I'm scared of needles." Laughing at his stony reaction, I went inside the room and closed the door behind me.

"Sit on this table, please." As she wrote on a clipboard, she jerked her chin toward the raised medical table pressed against the wall.

I did as I was told and unconsciously wrapped my arms around myself. I'd been joking with Hunt, but I actually did hate needles. And anything related to doctors. I'd spent too much time around bad ones to feel comfortable now.

She performed all the standard doctor's procedures on me: taking my temperature, listening to my heartbeat with a cold stethoscope, shining a bright light into my eyes. When she was finished, she wanted to know what my symptoms were. I told her everything about the vomiting, the weakness, the passing out.

"How long has this been occurring?" Her eyes seemed to be magnified by the glasses she'd just put on.

"A few weeks. But it seems to be getting worse."

Nodding, she scribbled a few more notes. Then, she told me, "Come into this room. I'm going to give you a CT Scan just to make sure everything inside is looking normal."

So I put my shirt back on and went inside. She directed me to lay in the cot that would take me inside the scanning machine. Helping me down, she secured me in and went to stand behind the desk.

"Stay as still as you can." That was going to be a problem; I always fidgeted and never really stopped moving.

I went into the machine. The loud whirring surrounded me and I closed my eyes, pretending I was anywhere else but here. There were a series of loud clunking noises and I half-wondered if I was going to be trapped in this prison forever.

After a mind-numbingly long time, I was finally released out of the machine. Breathing in, I savored being back in the open air. When I sat up from the lying position I had been in, the doctor grabbed an arm and helped me out of the cot again.

"I'm going to need a blood test," she said, looking apologetic. Why? Was there something deeply wrong? "Thankfully, my assistant just arrived." A young man wearing a white coat entered the room. "He'll take you back to the other room while I assess your results."

I stared at the man's back as I followed him into the first room. Everything was white here: white coats, white tables, white walls.

I sat back down on the table and watched as he prepared the needle. Even though it hadn't even come near me, I shuddered. I could almost feel the tip of it piercing my skin, going underneath to my veins.

He walked over, holding the needle up. It gleamed in the bright lights. Holding my arm out, palm up, he gently pinched the skin together. The feeling of his gloved hands made me squirm. The assistant slowly pushed it into my arm and I looked away, hoping I could keep it together until it was done.

I forced myself not to move a muscle. The doctor's assistant kept his head down, staring at the needle in my arm as it filled with my blood. I wanted it out. Now.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime of struggling to keep still, the needle was removed and the man stepped back. "You can go wait outside. It's going to take a while for us to fully review the results of both tests."

So I sat outside the room. Wanting to stop fidgeting, I clasped my hands together. The results would come soon. And then I'd finally know what was making me so sick lately. I hoped that it was nothing. I hoped that I'd be okay.

Angling my head upward, I let it hit against the wall behind me. I wished that I wasn't alone. Anyone would have sufficed. Finn. Jaxon. Any of my teammates, really. Even Hunt.

Tapping my foot on the ground erratically, I watched the door. When would they come out? It had been a long time since I'd given my blood. I wanted them to come out and give me the news and—at the same time—for them to stay in there forever. I wasn't sure what they'd say when they finally did finish assessing their data.

The door opened suddenly, making me jump. The female doctor stepped out and closed the door behind her. "We finished running your tests."

"What did you find?"

"Your body is degenerating at a very fast pace. Taking your imprisonment at Semicular Laboratory into account, we think that it has something to do with one of the medications they injected you with. Now that you've been away from their facility and no longer have any other pharmaceuticals in your bloodstream..." She continued on, using big words that I didn't care to understand.

"Wait, wait." I waved my hands in the air, not understanding the medical jargon. "What does that mean? What's going to happen to me?"

"You're...dying. If the drug continues to affect you the way it's doing now, you're not going to make it much longer."

"I'm dying." The words felt dead and stale in my mouth. All of this, after everything I'd gone through, had all been just to die so soon? I felt cold, so cold...

"Yes," she said sadly, pity swimming in her eyes. "But I have a medication that you can take to slow your rapid degeneration. It will keep you alive longer."

"How much time do I have?" My voice was only a whisper, not wanting to hear the answer.

"The best case scenario is a month without the medication. But if you do take the pills, then five or six months, tops."

My gaze dropped from her face to the white floor. I thought I'd finally been freed from the laboratory. Now, I understood that they'd had the last laugh. Their poison in my veins was going to ultimately kill me.

I was going to leave my team behind. I didn't have a choice now, even if I did take the pills she'd suggested. Six months—or less—and I'd be gone. Forever. There was a possibility I'd never see Imperium fall. Or rise again. Whatever the outcome was, I'd never know it.

The doctor tucked her clipboard under her arm. "I'm sorry to give you this devastating news. But just know that we'll be doing everything that we can to save you."

Nodding, I felt numb. I felt like I was already dead. I had been marked for death the second I'd been taken in by the laboratory.

"Mr. Hunt is waiting outside for you. You're free to go." She told me, pushing the bottle of pills into my hand. I slid off the table and shakily made my way to the door. The knob felt like ice in my hand.

Hunt was indeed waiting outside in a chair when I went back out into the hallway. He stood when he saw me. "Well? What was it?"

"I'm dying," I said. Then I repeated it. "I'm dying." A laugh escaped my lips despite the horrible news I'd just received. "I only have half a year before I go six feet under." The smile stayed on my face. I was just told I was dying. Why was I incapable of staying serious for more than five minutes?

"What?" That seemed to wake him up.

I shrugged. "I don't know exactly. She gave me a speech about how one of the drugs the laboratory gave me had side effects. Deadly ones, apparently. Frankly, I stopped listening after the first three sentences."

After giving me a calculating look, Hunt disappeared into the doctor's office. I threw my hands up after his form retreated through the doorway. Of course he'd just let me sit alone in the hallway. I only had so much time now. The last thing I wanted to do was spend it waiting.

When he finally came back out, the doctor held the door open for him. He began wordlessly walking down the hall towards the exit. I had to run to catch up with him.

"What did she say?"

He took a moment to answer. "She said that your lifespan is limited, just like you'd told me. I told her to do anything she could to find a cure."

"A cure?" From what she'd described what was happening in my body, it seemed awfully incurable.

"I'll get my top scientists on it as well." He glanced down at me through dark, unusually sad eyes. "I'll do my best to assure that you survive through this."

I nodded, acknowledging his promise. But I wasn't sure that he could promise something like that. My body was shutting down, self-destructing. My brain would eventually do the same. I didn't know if was something I could escape. I would try as hard as I could to stay alive and help my team destroy Imperium. But I didn't know if I'd live long enough to.