NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Health Check-Up
Oliver Queen:
My teeth are grinding against each other as I look at the sight in front of me. My blood is boiling, turning into steam that flies out of my ear. I feel nothing but anger. I want nothing but revenge.
"Juba Nobu," I say, holding my dead son in my arms. As I raise his body, I look at the poisoned rice ball beside him. Screaming as I slam down my hand and crush it, I look back at Juba as he sleeps.
"You deserve so much better than this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to save you, but I can avenge you."
I climb to my feet and make my way through the forest, carrying my dead son. As I carry Juba Nobu, something happens. A flash blinds me and now, I see myself standing before a crying old man.
"You," the man cries, stepping back. "It can't be. You're supposed to be dead."
The old man waves a katana around but despite his sword, he still steps back as I approach him.
"You murder Juba Nobu," I say. "You murder him! After all we did for you and your village, you murder my son!"
I look down at the flute in my hand. Slowly rising it, I stop with it inches from my mouth.
"My only regret is that I cannot watch you die again."
With that, I start to play the flute. The rats hear the flute and immediately charge toward the crying man. He doesn't even try to stop and fight. He drops the sword and runs. As he runs, I slowly walk after him.
"Where are you going? There's a war out there! Don't you remember? It's not safe out there! Not like here. Right? Right!"
I watch as my rats chase him down. He tries to climb up a swing but one of the ropes breaks and he falls back to the dirt ground. In less than a second, the rats climb onto him.
I watch as he is covered from top to bottom in rats. Before I know it, I see more flashes. I see myself holding a young boy as we walk through a jungle. Another flash and now I'm running through a field before a spear flies out and hits my shoulder. I scream as I fall to the ground. Another flash and I see myself in a small cave with rats approaching me.
It became too much for me. I couldn't handle it all. I twist and turn and shake.
"What is this? What is this? Are these memories?"
I see one last flash of a black and white photo except it's torn in half. The next moment, my eyes snap open and I see lights above my head. The second I can, I shoot up like a rocket, my body launching up.
"Aww," I cry out. "Where am I? What is all of this?"
Looking around, I see tubes inserted into my body. I see myself on what looks like an operating table. I'm even wearing a breathing mask.
Tearing the breathing mask off, I turn to get off the table but the moment my feet hit the ground, my legs die and I fall to the floor.
Screaming as I fall, I accidentally knock over a nearby table. Moaning as I push myself over and crawl, I hear something and look down. I see a door opening and two people running in.
"Mr. Oliver Queen," Scarecrow screams. He and Iris run to me. They help me back up onto the table.
"Scarecrow," I say. As I speak, my throat feels dry. It feels like sand. I practically have to cough up words in order to talk.
"No," Scarecrows says. "It's Dr. Crane. Dr. Crane. Not Scare--Oh, forget it."
"Oliver," Iris says with a smile. "Oh my god! You're okay!"
"I'm okay," I repeat.
"Yeah," Scarecrow says. "You're okay. Oh, man. Iris, we did. We actually did it. We saved Mr. Oliver."
"I know," Iris says.
"Hey, hey, hey," I say, waving my hands in front of them. "Save me? From what? What happened to me? What is this place? Where am I?"
"You don't remember anything," Scarecrow asks. "Apparently, you looked at The Man when he wasn't wearing his sunglasses. That somehow almost killed you. You were dying of organ failure. The Man brought you in here and performed surgery on you. He saved your life."
"With our help," Iris adds.
"The Man performed surgery on me," I repeat. "He knows how to?"
"So far, it's the most normal thing I've learned about him," Iris says.
"Hey," I say, looking down to see my whole chest wrapped in bandages. "Where is everyone? Where is Dinah?"
"She's on a mission," Iris answers.
"A mission? What mission?"
"She's patrolling Star City with Barry, Selina, and Jaime."
"Also The Man," Scarecrow interrupts. "When no one on the team was answering, The Man decided to go after them. You know, with us being wanted and all, you can never be too sure."
"Wait, she went on a patrol to Star City and now she's not answering. Oh no."
I push myself off the table and head for the door. Scarecrow and Iris follow after me. They say something but I ignore them.
"I need to get to Star City," I say while holding my chest. "Where's my bow?"
Dinah Lance:
Jumping and twisting in mid-air, I kick and knock back one of the people. He stumbles back, hitting someone else as he falls to the ground. Landing on the floor, I watch as somehow, more and more people walk out of the abandoned building. The way they're acting, moaning and holding their arms out, it's like they're zombies. I quickly find myself surrounded.
"Stay back," I shout. "I don't want to hurt any of you!"
The people in the scrubs ignore me. They just keep walking toward me.
"Vamos," Blue Beetle yells as he pushes a whole group of them off himself. "What is wrong with these people? Why are they attacking us?"
"I don't know," Selina answers. She steps back as three of the zombie people lunge at her. Pulling out her whip, Selina uses it to pull one of the zombies toward her. She then kicks him in the face, knocking him out and onto the floor.
"Hurry, hurry," some guy in a pig mask shouts from the second story of the building. "Bring them in! Bring them in! I need more patients!"
"You're going to need a doctor," Barry says from right behind the guy. "Not more patients!"
Turning around, the pig mask man screams as Barry pulls back his arm and punches him. He flies out of the door and onto the ground with Jaime, Selina, and me.
The second I can, I grab the pig mask man by the collar and raise him up.
"What have you done to all these people," I shout, shaking him. "Whatever you did, undo it. Now!"
I pull back my own fist and prepare to deck the bastard across the face. However, before I could, someone grabs me.
"What the-Hey!"
One of the zombies grabs me and pulls me off the pig mask man. He grabs me and throws me onto the ground. I try to get up but before I can, a bunch more zombies pile onto me. They keep me pinned down.
"My, my, my," the pig mask man says as he pulls himself up. "You seem to have quite a temper. That's quite a flaw. That is something I can and must fix."
He turns toward his zombies.
"Bring her inside," he orders. "And keep the others back. I will need proper time to fix this one."