Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
”Nurse! Time of death?”
”19:25, October 23, 2067”, Claire answers.
”Alright, my job here is done, there is nothing I can do for the patient anymore. Roll her bed to the morgue and then go home. Your shift ended an hour ago!” The Doctor doesn’t wait for Claire to react but immediately leaves the room. Doctors rarely like it when one of their patients dies. Especially when the government still needed said patient to gain information about an underground terror organization.
Claire walks over to the lifeless body of Eve … Hel and puts her hand on her ex-girlfriend’s face. The skin is cold.
With a sigh, Claire loosens the rolls on which the bed stands, grabs the bed frame and pulls it out of the room, into the elevator. As she presses the button for the morgue she wonders who thought it would be a good idea to store the dead people in the basement. That just screamed horror movie to her.
The morgue is empty, the mortician only comes in when there is a recent death – and never at a time like this. Claire’s job was to put the bodies in the freezer. But she doesn’t roll Hel’s bed towards the freezer. Instead, she leaves it in the middle of the room and takes the elevator up again. This time to the nurse’s break room.
In there, she opens her locker and takes out a heating blanket, a normal blanket and a thermos flask, then turns around and heads back to the morgue.
”Come on, this really has to work”, she mumbles as she covers Hel with the heating blanket, puts the plug into the socket and turns the blanket on. Lowest setting.
”Alright Hel, let’s do this”, Claire says and starts to give Hel CPR. From time to time she stops to check Hel’s body temperature, which steadily rises.
At 34°C, Claire feels a heartbeat.
”Yes! Science!” She calls out and stops the CPR to give Hel a chance to breathe herself. Slowly, very slowly, the not-so-dead woman’s chest rises and sinks by itself.
A bit later, Hel regains consciousness.
”Claire? Did it work?”
”Well, if it didn’t you’d probably not be talking to me right now. Here, have some tea.”
She gives Hel some tea which she poured in the thermos flask’s cap.
”You need to give your body a moment to stabilize. Hypothermia is no joke.”
”Yes, but it was a great way to fool this doctor into thinking I’m dead, although I hated all that cold water”, Hel notes.
”This doctor hates the fact that he has to work here, I doubt someone more concerned about your health would have been fooled so easily”, Claire says.
”Maybe you’re right. But the important thing is, they think I’m dead, at least for the moment. Now, how do we get out of here?”
”That’s actually easier than I expected.” For a moment, Claire rummages through her pockets, then produces an unmarked white card.
”The morgue has its own exit so that the bodies don’t have to be transported through the whole prison. No guards there.”
”We can just walk out?”
”Well, not exactly. We still have to pass the main gate.”
”And I guess there will be guards at the main gate?”
Claire nods.
”But we’ll get through, at least I hope so. I hid a spare uniform of mine right outside the morgue’s exit, together with a visitor’s pass. We will just pretend you’re a young nursing student who visited me today to get some experience.”
”Won’t they notice that I never went in?” Hel asks, skeptically.
”Those guards are pretty dumb. But even if they weren’t, it’s our only shot. You can’t stay here in the morgue forever.”
”True. Well then, let’s roll.”
Claire swiftly goes outside and returns with the uniform. As she helps Hel to put it on, she notices several scars.
”Those weren’t there the last time I saw you naked”, she remarks.
”No. I got shot once or twice recently. It all healed quite well though.”
”You’re living a dangerous life.”
All dressed up and with the visitor’s pass dangling from a ribbon around her neck, Hel follows Claire outside. The cold autumn air makes her shiver, as she still hasn’t completely recovered from her fake death.
When they arrive at the gate, the guard barely glances at their passes.
”New trainee?” He asks Claire.
”Yeah, her first day in here.”
”She looks a bit old to be a new student. But I guess some secondaries need a bit longer to finish school. Or is she a tertiary? She doesn’t look too bright.”
Hel needs to bite her tongue to not answer anything that could endanger Claire and herself. Claire just gives the guard a fake smile.
”Yeah, she’s a tertiary. Great for the menial work but not really that bright. I had her emptying bedpans all day long. She’s pretty good at it.”
”Well, then I won’t keep you two for too long. Get home safe.”
Finally, Hel and Claire are out of sight of the prison gate.
”That was easier than expected”, Hell says. ”Although I really wanted to punch that prison guard.”
”You’re not the first one to have violent feelings towards him”, Claire says and chuckles. ”He’s always been a prick.”
Just as Hel opens her mouth to answer, a man steps in front of them onto the road.
”Oh shit!” Claire exclaims as Hel steps in front of her to shield her with her body from the possibly dangerous man.
”Hel?!” The man calls out, clearly surprised. ”How the fuck did you get out of there?”
”Alexander?”
References:
Survival after Drowning with Cardiac Arrest and Mild Hypothermia
“Nobody is dead until warm and dead”
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