Chapter 13: Hospital

The walk to the hospital wasn't a long one. There was one down the street from Cassius's home, smack dab in the middle of a populated area. The streets, filled with families and those heading to the work, covered the sidewalks. Trees lines the sidewalk with the last of the leaves falling off, oranges and yellows covering the sidewalk like a blanket. With little space, they squeezed together businesses the closer they came to the hospital. Keon didn't go in those shops often, and a lot of them had 'no clones allowed' signs plastered all over their windows. Most stores had a tracking scanner aimed at the front door, so if you were a clone, it would alert them. It was a law the government had passed years ago. It was a way to keep track of the clones and their identity. So, if they started a fight or tried to run away, they were detained and their master warned.

It was safer to stay away from those places. Most of the stores down where Lucky's bar was didn't have them, or if they did, they were only for show. Thinking on it, that was most likely the reason Cassius had bodyguards trail him from time to time. He usually avoided areas that could track his movements.

The subway station was nearby and usually packed at this time of day. If possible, Keon would avoid it. He'd rather walk. With all the hate against clones recently, he didn't feel safe anywhere that left him with no escape.

Soon enough, the hospital towered before them. It stretched up into the sky, the shadow it created looming over anyone who entered. Or maybe that was how it made him feel, and to a human, it was just another place.

The door to the entrance slid open as they walked through. Keon stood behind Cassius, aware that while he was in the presence of his master, he had little sense of freedom. It didn't help that Cassius was famous and people stopped him almost anywhere they went. It wasn't challenging putting up the pretense that he was an obedient clone. That's how he was taught to act.

The place was packed. The emergency room was full of people with nowhere to sit, and the waiting room had a few chairs, all occupied. Some people stood and others sat on the ground. He wondered why they were there in the first place, and how many were because of clone attacks. The streets were dangerous now more than ever.

They passed by them and to another desk nearby.

Cassius made small talk with the receptionist; their voices drowned out by a woman nearby crying.

Keon glanced at them, the scene playing out before him like many others he had seen before. The conversation made its way to his ears.

"Please, save my son!" Her sobs seemed to echo in the large room. The lady was tiny and frail, but her voice was strong.

"We are waiting for your clone's arrival. We can't do anything else then." The doctor muttered. "Your son is getting prepped for surgery now."

He held a clipboard out to her.

"Ma'am, all we need from you now is to sign this form of approving the operation. We will do everything in our power to save your son, but the chance of survival for the clone is low. Are you sure you want to do this?" His voice was flat, as if it were a question they forced him to ask and not one he wanted to ask.

The woman's head snapped up immediately from the paperwork in front of her. "Of course I am! My son is human. He deserves to live."

The unspoken words were not all that surprising. Clones were disposable and not considered human. It was a fact of life that Keon had accepted long ago, but that didn't stop the twisting of his insides at hearing her words. The real question was, what made someone human? Besides being tools for a disease that was no longer a threat, clones did not differ from them.

Cassius tapped his shoulder. They were going to head back.

"I have to meet with the doctor, but I'll see you when you're done."

Keon nodded, happy to get away.

A nurse in all white took him to a room in the far back. They labeled a sign next to the door with the room number and a black piece of tape. From what Cassius had told him, the black tape was to tell the doctor the patient was a clone. There were different procedures and precautions needed for them compared to humans.

"Have a seat in either chair. The Doctor will be right with you." The nurse smiled before walking off.

The white walls disturbed him, and the smell of disinfectant irritated his nose. On the walls hung posters of the human body. He felt like he was in one of those old black and white movies that Cassius always made him watch. It made him uneasy. He really hated hospitals.

The appointment went faster than he thought it would. They had done some blood work earlier in the week, and the results had come back with an elevated white blood cell count and lowered red blood cells. They wanted to do more testing. The doctor had asked if he had been feeling fatigued lately or if he had felt pain anywhere. He felt fine. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

The doctor printed out some papers and told Keon to give them to his master. It was important that he scheduled his follow-up appointments soon.

Without another word, he was on his way. The paperwork about his visit was heavy in his hands. It annoyed him that his private medical affairs had to be seen and signed off by a clone's master.

Cassius was waiting out near reception, talking to someone in a lab coat. Unsure if he should wait or not, he finally approached them.

Cassius gave a half smile before nodding to the guy in front of him and then he left.

"All ready to go?"

Keon held out the paperwork, annoyed. "I'm heading to the bar. I'll be home later."

"Wait." Cassius folded the paperwork and stuffed it in his pocket. At least that was one demon he would not have to face at the moment.

Keon held in a sigh. "What?"

He had that devious smile, the one that said he was up to no good. "I'm coming with you."

"No." This was, in his opinion, not up for debate. All he wanted was some time alone to think. There was so much going on and his head was spinning, and he was worried. He wanted to ignore the doctor's words, but he couldn't. They kept on repeating. Over and over. His head felt like it was going to split open.

"I know how to get there, so I either go with you or I'll follow you."

There was no telling him no once he had his mind set on something. That was the most frustrating part about him. At home, he may have found it cute. But now it was troubling.

"You can't walk down there without some kind of disguise. You are...you. Everyone will know who you are." It was his shitty attempt at stopping him from going.

Cassius had a gleam in his eye, as if he expected this reaction and had a plan all along. "Don't worry. I came prepared." He pulled out a hat from his coat pocket and put it on, and he tied his long blonde hair back.

"How do I look?"

Keon stared at his master, a blank look on his face. It took a lot of willpower to not laugh at him. What kind of disguise was that? He pictured Cassius in front of his mirror, trying it on, and let out a small laugh.

Cassius looked happy. Even if he could have said something to stop him from going, there was no way he could now. This was the most cheerful his master had looked in weeks.

The real question was, what was he going to tell Lucky?