The beeping of the ECG was much slower and quieter than before. It felt as if the bells of the afterlife were tolling out, calling out to the one it was meant to guide.

 

The doctors had already given their verdict, nothing was in their hands. His condition worsening was something they didn't foresee, now the only person who could save him was himself, or so they said. 

 

The sun was about to go down, visitor hours were ending. I sighed and walked up to the window in Vera's hospital room. Dozens of people moved in and out, some with smiles and others with tears. From young men and women to the elderly and children, people clad in casual clothes to dozens in black suits and sunglasses. All kinds of faces and statuses came to—

 

"Black suits...?"

 

I planted my face on the glass window and stared down. Just like the pictures that Rem had taken for me, these people were dressed and acted exactly like those special forces we speculated.

 

My eyes widened and my lips pursed. 

 

What the fuck was happening now? Were they here to talk? That should be it, right? There's no way they would want to harm us or anything. First everything with my dad, then this guy getting on the verge of death, and now government-sanctioned murderers? What in the actual fuck did I do to deserve this? Wasn't I being hasty by calling them murderers?

 

Loud footsteps started flooding my ears. This was one of the top floors with the most sensitive patients. 

I tried to take in deep breaths to calm myself down. One and two, one and two. After closing my eyes for a few seconds, I could feel my head cool up as a bucket of water poured on it.

 

Then it happened. The sounds of the footsteps stopped and someone knocked on the door. After checking up on Vera, I went over to the door and slowly opened it.

 

"It was already open—" 

 

As expected, it were the people in black suits and sunglasses. Almost seven of them were here. I feigned ignorance by acting surprised.

 

"Who might you be?"

 

"Are you Elle M Eno?" The man at the front asked. Just like the rest of the suited people, his hair was combed neatly and his face was barely identifiable with the giant black glasses.

 

"Yes... what is this about?"

 

"We're with the Hell City PD. We would like to see the patient about the recent incident at the—"

 

"That patient of yours can't speak at all. He's out of it for weeks now."

 

Maybe it was my imagination, but I was almost sure that the man narrowed his eyes. 

 

He pushed his foot inside the door and started pushing me away. 

 

"We'll see to it ourselves, you can wait outside."

 

"Hey, barging inside in a hospital room like this is unacceptable!" 

 

I screamed louder than one would, but there wasn't much change in their reaction. They kept trying to push me away. For a secret force, they were surely not eloquent. One would usually speak with an uncooperative party like me.

 

Unless they were short of time.

 

"What's the rush, officer?" I smirked and asked. Annoying them here would give me the best display of their intentions. "Running out of time?"

 

The man clicked his tongue. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a black object.

 

"—Excuse me, what's going on here?"

 

Right on time, a nurse walked up to the room from the back. The people in suits immediately dropped their aggression and stepped back. They looked surprised for a second before going emotionless.

 

"Can I see your visitor passes?" the nurse asked, clueless. "I don't think so many visitors are allowed in the room at once."

 

"Apologies, we were just about to leave," said the man who was tussling with me just moments ago. "Let's go."

 

Before the nurse could react, all of them turned on their heels and rushed away. The nurse too didn't bother with them but turned to me instead.

 

"Elle, you called for us?"

 

"Ah, yes..." I nodded and smiled. I was already acquainted with this nurse since she looked after both of us. "He was just coughing a lot, so I was a bit worried."

 

"Coughing? I'll take a look, maybe it's a good sign."

 

I was unsure of how coughing would be a good sign, but I let the nurse pass me by and kept staring at the passage the suited men had walked out of. 

 

A deep sigh of relief left me at once. I was lucky that the nurse call system was set up in their break rooms, or it could have been easily intercepted by these guys. When I went to check up on Vera, I quickly used the button, and then it was just a game of dragging time out.

 

"I am done checking him, there's nothing wrong, but I'll inform the doctor," the nurse said as she passed me by outside the door. "You should go home soon too."

 

"Yes, thanks a lot."

 

The nurse smiled and walked away. 

 

Heaving another sigh of relief, I finally stepped back inside the room and closed the door—

 

"Hey, aren't you a smart cookie?"

 

— When that very man who had killed the monster appeared in front of me.