Free The Day The Sun Fell From The Sky by Amelia Gold Page B

removed and the bag is attached to the stand. They operate as a team and it’s obvious that this is not the first time they’ve done this together.
    “Where did you get all this equipment?” I ask them.
    “The hospital won’t miss what they don’t know they had.” Says Pav.
    “You don’t feel even a tiny bit guilty that you’re taking supplies away from other patients?” I remark.
    “Oh we got over the guilt of borrowing supplies about two days after we settled in here.” Says Hash. “You have to eat. You have to live. But we’re fugitives and we have no income to speak of.”
    “We can’t even access our savings because that would be like telling the bank: Hey we’re back, we’ve escaped. You can go tell the government about us now.” Iv adds.
    “And no one’s noticed that anything’s missing?” I ask them with disbelief.
    “This hospital is huge. They won’t know until they do an inventory count and even then, the stuff we’re taking is so minor that they might not follow it up.” Hash replies. “Okay, I’ll admit that the medical equipment and the drugs isn’t minor but the food and some of the other supplies –”
    “– Like printer cartridges.” Iv laughs.
    “Yes that.” Hash rolls his eyes. “They’re not going to miss them. They have more important things to worry about.”
    “You’re not going to give her the stimulant that you gave me?” I ask the good doctor.
    “I can’t.” He replies.
    “She’s in a worse state than you were when we found you.” Pav tells me. “If we give her too many drugs, it will kill her.”
    “She’s going to have to wake up on her own.” Says Iv.
    “Why was this necessary in the first place?” I ask them. I still haven’t completely forgiven Hash for doing that to me.
    “It’s easier to rescue someone who’s ‘dead’ than it is to rescue someone who’s alive and conscious.” Iv tells me. “People don’t ask so many questions and they definitely won’t miss a corpse that’s being moved as much as they will miss a live person.”
    “Was there another Zeb involved this time?” I ask them.
    “Let me stress this one last time. Zeb wanted to stay back. We did not force him to.” Hash is irritated. “As long as they still think that he is a common Venry criminal, they will have to follow due process. And due process means that they cannot kill him in prison even if they wanted to.”
    “But they could give him the death penalty.” I reply.
    “That would only happen if there is a death to report. In case you haven’t noticed, they are not recording what happens to the Knax who are under their control.” Hash is being sarcastic again. I’ve not seen him this agitated before.
    “He would have fared a lot better with us.” I mutter.
    “He can do more for the girls in that prison.” Pav tells me gently. “These rescue operations are not easy. There are too many people to rescue and we can only move one person at a time. We need people like Zeb in the institutions that we are having to break into.”
    “I’m going out. I’ll come back.” Hash gets up to leave the morgue. “Keep her warm.” He gestures to our patient.
    I stare at his retreating back, speechless.
    “He’s always like that whenever we save someone.” Iv tells me.
    “It depresses him.” Pav agrees.
    “Why?” I ask them.
    “Because he knows that for every girl we rescue, there are at least five others who are dying somewhere.” Pav explains.
    *_*
    The others are all out doing stuff for the “resistance” so I stay back with the girl who was saved today. It’s hard to believe that someone could be in a worse state than I was but then I remember Lyth, who had become an empty shell, and Heth, who didn’t survive her operation back at the base. I should be grateful that I did make it but I can’t say that I am. Right now, I don’t know what to feel.
    Caring for the girl has made it a lot easier for me. I don’t have to think about the things