Sleeping peacefully in the bed was a young woman. She was still breathing, though the breaths were short and sporadic. Two shoes were placed beside the bed, one of which had a metal pole sticking up from the collar. At the top of the pole was a small black ball socket with a short protruding rod.

  Leah pointed at it. “Is that a…”

  “A prosthetic, yeah,” Clarissa said.

  Elias looked down at the woman. “We could just walk out right now and she’ll have her leg back by this time tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, and someone will have been sacrificed to make it happen,” Brian said, already working with May to set up the vacuum. He glanced at the nozzle, which was slightly wet with the last man’s saliva, and rubbed it on his shirt with a grimace.

  Noah walked over with the syringe gun in hand and injected the woman in her exposed shoulder. Numb as she was, she didn’t so much as twitch.

  Elias glanced at Brian with a small frown. “Not necessarily. If Insight’s smart about it, they could use multiple ‘sacrifices’. Each of them get a small, non-fatal bite wound, and in exchange this woman regains a limb.”

  That actually made everyone stop.

  “You think they would do that?” Leah asked uncertainly.

  “Well, I’m not sure where they would find so many willing people. Maybe the patient’s family?”

  “It’s easier just to lock someone in the room with the patient and let nature take its course,” Noah said, a cynical light in his eyes. “I doubt Insight would go to the trouble of saving lives. You think they saw what the dust could do and got all excited that they could change the world for the better? They took one look at us and saw profit.”

  All the talking was starting to pull the woman from her slumber, and she emitted a soft sleepy murmur.

  Noah threw her a glance and continued speaking in a whisper. “If anyone but Insight had found the dust, I might have been more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. It really, really sucks that Insight got involved with this, because the dust could actually have done a lot of good.”

  “Well, we’ll have a big ‘ol tank full of the stuff when we’re done here,” Brian said quietly, nudging the vacuum with his foot. “We could always hang onto it and see if a more worthy organization could use it.”

  “That’s definitely something worth considering, but let’s figure it out later,” Clarissa said. “Let’s cure this gal.”

  “Roger that.” Brian passed the nozzle to Leah, who set it into the woman’s mouth and gave him a thumbs-up. The vacuum roared to life.

  Incredibly, the woman seemed to remain unconscious for the entire duration of the treatment. Even when they shut off the vacuum and removed the nozzle, she didn’t say anything, though she might well have been roused by the noise and was merely keeping silent.

  They packed up the vacuum and hurried out of the room.

  “This way,” Noah said, leading them confidently to the next door.

  Brian watched him with narrowed eyes. “How are you remembering the locations of the rooms?”

  Noah shrugged. “How could I forget something so important?”

  Brian looked at him suspiciously, but his memory proved once again accurate as the door opened to reveal the woman they had met earlier.

  “Oh, it’s the cancer lady,” Leah said in recognition. “I wonder if she got a chance to talk with the doctors.”

  Noah walked over with the syringe gun eagerly bared, but Brian stopped him before he could engage the needle.

  “I should have said something before you used it on the last woman, but it’s kind of a waste to use that thing when they’re already asleep. We don’t know how many more doses it has, and it’s easy enough to just blindfold the person while we treat them. We should save the weapon for emergencies.”

  Noah put the gun away with a sheepish expression. “Yeah, I guess I haven’t been too careful about rationing its usage. It’s way too fun to use.”

  “The needle does theoretically have the advantage of automatically wearing off over time, unlike a blindfold,” Brian acknowledged. “We’ll have to restore their sight before we leave, or else they’ll be stuck here until someone comes to their rescue.”

  Leah, listening to their conversation, had already laid one of her spare shirts across the woman’s eyes. “Is that going to be enough, you think?”

  “The room is already pretty dark. It should be fine,” May said with a slight nod.

  Noah looked around and only now realized that all three rooms they had visited so far had been left illuminated by at least one light. Either the patients had already been warned about their devastating loss of mobility in the dark, or they had figured it out for themselves. Noah guessed it was the former, because otherwise they would have found each of the patients collapsed at the foot of a light switch.

  They administered the treatment without any difficulties. Brian turned off the vacuum, Leah pulled out the nozzle, and May took off the blindfold. As soon as she did so, however, she let out a shriek and threw it back into place.

  “What?” Elias asked with a concerned glance.

  “Her eyes were open,” May said, embarrassed.

  “Yeah, I’m awake. I haven’t been able to sleep all night,” the woman said quietly.

  “Why didn’t you say anything when we walked in?” Leah demanded. “You just let us cure you!”

  “I recognized your voices,” she admitted. “I’ve no idea how you got into my room, but I’m glad you did. Thank you for curing me. I talked to the doctors earlier, but they refused to do anything.”

  May finally reached forward and took off the blindfold for good, revealing calm eyes. “You’re welcome,” she murmured.

  “It sounds like you’re treating everyone. Don’t dawdle with me; hurry on and finish the job,” the woman said. “Do me a favor and destroy the dust when you’re done, alright?”

  Brian blinked. “You don’t think it could be useful? In the hands of someone more responsible?”

  She shook her head. “Don’t be tempted to save it. The dust is a devil’s deal. It’s only a matter of time before it causes more damage than it could ever heal.”

  Brian nodded doubtfully. “Alright.”

  “Now get moving,” she urged. “And be careful.”

  “Always,” Leah said. She grabbed the vacuum and pulled it to the door. “See you around.”

  The woman didn’t respond, just watching from her bed as they exited her room.

  “How many more?” Brian asked glumly.

  “Just four,” Noah said. “Two of which are Mark and Violet.”

  “At least we’re not condemning them to death by treating them,” Leah muttered. “Can we go to their rooms next?”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “I’ve no idea which room is which,” Noah shrugged. “It’s a fifty-fifty chance.”

  They went to the next door and entered.

  “Oh, excellent,” Leah said, seeing Mark out cold on the bed. “Nothing here to make me feel like a rotten human being.”

  Clarissa stepped forward to secure a satin sleeping mask across his eyes.

  “Of course you have one of those,” Elias laughed.

  “Hmm?” Mark asked sleepily.

  “Look, you woke him up,” Leah said, shaking her head in disappointment.

  “What? What’s happening?” Mark’s voice suddenly rose as he tried to move and found himself utterly immobile.

  “It’s just us. Hold still for a moment, we’re gonna cure you,” Brian said wearily.

  “I can’t move!”

  “Very good.”

  Leah shoved the nozzle into his mouth, muffling any further words. As soon as it came time to turn off the vacuum and she removed the hose, he let out a shout. “How did you get into my room?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know, deserter,” Noah said.

  “Did you use that stolen keycard?”

  “...No.”

  “If you struggle, Noah will stick a needle in you and you’ll be paralyzed all night,” Clarissa warned, before tearing off the sleeping mask. Mark stared at her warily and didn’t move.

  They left the room.

  “We’re getting good at this,” Leah commented. “Only three to go.”

  “Does the blinding agent really last that long?” Elias asked.

  Clarissa shrugged. “Could last a week for all I know.”

  “This is the next door we want,” Noah said.

  In they went. Laying in the bed, fast asleep, was a hugely obese man.

  “This guy has so much body mass to spare, he could probably regenerate all four limbs from scratch without eating anyone,” Leah said, regarding him with an unreadable expression. “I wonder what he’s here for.”

  “He could have the Wager... or it could be for weight loss,” Elias said thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Insight tries to market the dust as a weight loss medicine, in addition to everything else.”

  “Holy crap,” Brian muttered, pausing by the outlet. “They’d make so much money. They might not even have to kill anyone to make it work, either.”

  Leah walked to the man’s bedside with the vacuum nozzle in hand and held it over his mouth, only to pause. “We could do it, you know.”

  Everyone turned to her. “What?” Brian asked.

  “Do what he came here for. You’re right that nobody would have to die; the whole point is to use up his own flesh. How long do you think he’s been infected? Would it even work?”

  Understanding washed over Noah, and he leaned forward with narrowed eyes. “He’s not breathing; he must have been infected earlier than the others. It could work.”

  “I say let’s do it,” Leah said, setting the nozzle aside. “Assuming he doesn’t actually have a terminal illness, it’s what he’s here for. This is an opportunity for us to do some good.”

  “We are doing good,” Noah muttered.

  “You know what I mean. Do something that I can feel good about.”

  “Hmm. Do you have a knife?” he asked.

  Clarissa stepped forward and wordlessly pulled out a small black pocket knife, along with the sleeping mask. Leah took both and quickly pulled the mask around the man’s eyes.

  Leah glanced around. “Just to check, everyone’s okay with this, right?”

  May and Elias shrugged.

  “Sounds good to me,” Brian said. “The guy will probably be overjoyed when he wakes up.”

  “Alright.” Leah turned, flicked out the blade, and drove it through the blankets into the man’s heart.

  Elias let out a snort of surprise, but Leah didn’t stop there, plunging the knife repeatedly into his chest.

  Finally she paused. “Let’s see if that’s enough.”

  For a long moment nothing happened. Then the man let out a long groan and began to deflate like a punctured balloon. Leah watched carefully, administering another stab each time the deflation slowed.

  “Don’t do too much,” Noah warned.

  “I’m being careful.”

  By the time Leah stepped back with a satisfied nod, the sheets were a mess of ragged holes. There was some blood, but it wasn’t covering the entire bed like it might’ve been if the man wasn’t infected.

  “Do you think he’s even hungry after healing all of that?” Clarissa asked.

  “Who knows. He’s still asleep, so he’s probably fine.” Leah snapped the blade shut and handed it back to her. “Nice knife. Thanks for letting me use it.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, pleased.

  The man looked like an entirely different person; what was visible of his upper body above the sheets had gained definition as the layers of fat were consumed to fuel his healing. He had probably lost half his body weight in the past five minutes.

  “We did good,” Leah said proudly, picking up the nozzle. “Brian, turn on the vacuum.”

  Over the next few moments the man was cured without him any the wiser, and Leah gave him one last appraising look as they left the room. “I hope he appreciates what we’ve done.”

  Clarissa dipped her head. “Yeah. Who knows what his situation was. Hopefully he's not also dying of a fatal illness."

  Noah took them to the second-to-last room, which turned out to be Violet’s quarters. She woke up halfway through the treatment, but rather than fight back, she seemed appreciative. She watched them pack up with a pensive expression, and when they made to leave, she called for them to stop.

  “Can I come with you?”

  Noah shook his head without hesitation. “No. My dad’s car is already short on seats. Besides, you made your choice. You can go home tomorrow. Insight won’t have any need for you if you don’t have the dust, and you’re better off having nothing to do with us. Insight isn’t going to be too fond of us after tonight.”

  Violet reluctantly lay back in bed. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you back on campus.”

  They filed out into the hallway.

  “Where’s the last room?” Brian asked Noah, wandering slowly beside him down the corridor.

  “No idea.” Noah grinned.

  “What?” his friend demanded, staring at him.

  Noah laughed and came to a stop beside a door. “This is the one.”

  Brian shot him a dirty look as they entered the final room, though his annoyance was soon forgotten, superseded by the state of the room.

  “Holy crap,” Leah muttered, fanning a hand in front of her face. “What happened here?”

  Dust hung heavily in the air, obscuring their sight of the room’s occupant. Several lamps were turned on, but they shone through the dark clouds like distant suns and only managed to create a faint muffled glow.

  “Imagine if it’s Dr. Jansen,” Brian whispered.

  “No way would they do her dirty like that,” Leah scoffed.

  “This is actually dangerous,” Noah muttered as he peered around. “I can hardly see anything.”

  Brian suddenly straightened. “Hold on just a second. I might be able to do something about that.” He fumbled at his shirt collar for a moment before extracting the pendant and holding it aloft. “Let’s see how good the suction on this thing is.”

  The air darkened about the silver square as if it were exuding a malicious aura rather than cleansing the air, and a foul vortex soon formed above it. As more and more particles were caught in the pull, the air steadily cleared, until at last the final wisp of dust disappeared into the pendant.

  “Sweet,” Brian murmured. He let it drop back around his neck.

  They all looked at the person laying in bed, the one responsible for contaminating the entire room.

  A tiny shriveled slip of an old woman was curled beneath the blankets, her skeletal form hardly displacing them at all. Her breath sounded like a broken radiator, gurgling and rattling in irregular bursts, each sound making Noah instinctively wince. Even as they watched, she let out a feeble cough, and more dust appeared around her wrinkled face. The faint clouds hovered there for only a moment before drawing inexorably to the pendant left uncovered on Brian’s chest.

  “I’m almost afraid to touch her,” Leah murmured.

  “We have to,” Noah said coldly. He took the vacuum’s cord and took it upon himself to plug it in, then held the tube nozzle out to her. “Come on.”

  Leah gave him a worried look and slowly took hold of the hose. “Clarissa, blind her.”

  Noah hit the switch once everything was in place. The blindfold seemed wholly unnecessary; the old woman didn’t so much as twitch at the sound of the vacuum’s whining motor.

  “Noah…” May said, her voice strained. “The effects of the treatment, the weakness… she’s not going to survive this. She’s already too feeble.”

  She might survive, he didn’t say. “You’re probably right. She likely won’t.”

  May looked around at everyone, but nobody would meet her gaze. The only sound was the vacuum’s motor.

  “I know it’s horrible,” Brian said quietly.

  “I’m going outside,” she muttered.

  They watched her shuffle out of the room and carefully shut the door behind her.

  No one said anything until Noah finally shut off the vacuum several minutes later. The silence was deafening.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Leah muttered.

  They wrapped up the vacuum’s tubes and cords and processed out of the room.

  Noah was the first back into the hallway. He looked around for May, not seeing her immediately beside the door, and found her halfway down the hall towards the staircase.

  As soon as he caught sight of her, he realized she wasn’t alone. A woman garbed in the signature blue uniform of Insight stood in front of her, backed up against the far wall. In her hands, pointed at May, was a pistol.

  Before anyone could do anything, she fired.