“Gary, what are you talking about? You're not seriously trying to pass my blood off as your own, are you?” Numba asked. “You seem normal enough, so what is even the point of that?”
It was a confusing thing to do. Gary was behaving like his normal self. Even if he might be someone who could get easily angered, that wasn’t the same as being a crazed Altered, so there had to be another reason for that. Perhaps he was just not feeling well, but in that case, why not just tell the nurses that so they could test him another day?
Gary sat there in silence. He had been in this type of situation before, and he remembered how Tom had taken him to the medical room at school. Back then, he had still been debating whether to tell the truth or not. Still, this was different. Tom had been his best friend who had arrived at the right conclusion on his own, whereas Numba, no matter how great a friend he had proven to be, was someone he knew for less than a month. Furthermore, as far as he or everyone else was concerned he was just a Wolf type Altered…
“Look, Numba, I can’t tell you everything right now, and I know that might make you feel like sh*t, but I promise I’m doing it for your own good. I don’t want to get you into trouble.” Gary explained. “I wouldn’t ask for your help unless I really needed it, but if they take my blood…”
While the Werewolf was still searching for the right words, Numba just had a big smile on his face. “It’s ok, Gary. We haven't known each other for too long, but in that short period of time, how often have we stuck our necks out for each other? When you came to me in the assessment, when I helped you with that black ball test, you with Sty and all of that until we are here right now.
“To me, you are a person who can… accomplish anything, so if you need my help, but can’t explain things, then I’m trusting you that you’re doing it for a good reason.”
Gary was surprised by this reaction, though this feeling of trust made him feel even guiltier for not reciprocating it. Still, there was just too much he didn’t know about the Werewolf System, and the fewer people knew about it, the better.
“Thank you… so you’ll take the blood test for me?” Gary asked.
Numba pulled a strange face. “I mean, I’d be happy to, but how exactly are we supposed to do that? It’s not like I can hide in your bedsheets and stretch out my arm when they come. I also can’t just go out and tell a nurse that I’ll bring them your blood, nor can I go out and pretend to be you.”
Now that Numba brought up the issue, the Werewolf didn’t exactly have a solution for that problem, either. Before they could rack their brains together, a slight pressure came down on the door handle. Numba, immediately sprinted towards the bed, hoping to hide underneath it, but it was too late, the nurse had already opened the door.
“Hey, who are you? You're not meant to be in here!” She shouted loudly. “Someone call the guards, we have an intruder!!!”
“I'm sorry, I just came to visit my friend because I was worried about him.” Numba tried to explain him being there. He made sure to put up his arms as a sign of surrender while showing off his AFA uniform so that she knew he was a student. The nurse simply looked him up and down, before she pointed to the door.
“Alright, I’ll leave. I’m sorry for intruding.”
As he exited the room, Numba gave Gary a disjointed look. However, the green haired teenager didn’t notice it. He was too busy staring at the tray full of equipment the nurse brought with her, specifically at the needle and a strap.
‘I can’t just leave Gary, he’s not going to be able to figure this out himself, but I don’t have any ideas either.’ Numba thought, but fortunately, he knew just the right person to help them out.
Running out of the hospital wing, the Goat Altered headed across one of the hallways that connected several of the building. He was headed for their new rooms, going straight to one of the rooms, which turned out to be unlocked.
“Izzy, I need your help!”
“Ahhh! What the f*ck do you think you're doing, close the door!” Izzy shouted.
Numba stood there motionless as his eyes stared at Izzy who had just come out of the bath. Thinking she would be on her own, she didn’t even have a towel covering herself, only one to cover her hair, allowing the teenage boy to get a great look at all her assets.
“Get out!” Izzy screamed, and Numba instantly escaped the room.
“Uh… I’m so sorry, but we don’t really have much time. It's about Gary, he’s in trouble.” Numba revealed from behind the door. He was glad that there was nobody else around to see his beet red face.
‘I saw… everything.’
In less than a minute, Izzy came out of the room, now dressed in the AFA uniform. The only sign that she had been naked moments ago was the still wet hair.
“He better be close to death for you to barge in like that.” Her finger pressed into his chest, as she was barely resisting the urge to beat him up for what he had done. She took a step back, her arms crossed as she waited for more information, yet Numba could only stare at the floor to avoid looking at her.
“Whoa, what’s got you so mad?” Ian suddenly appeared from the hallway, coming back from the kitchen after his meal. He had heard the commotion on the way, but he had been too far away to make out details. “What did I miss? Did you confess to Izzy or something?”
“Shut up!” Both Izzy and Numba answered in unison.
Ian was shocked why they reacted to his teasing this way, but he let it go. Since he was already there, Numba didn’t want to send him away, especially since they were all friends of Gary.
“Look, I came here because we need your brain,” Numba said. “I’ve just come from Gary’s room. He’s awake and from what I can tell, he’s back to his regular old self. However, the moment I mentioned that they needed to test his blood to make sure his outburst yesterday had nothing to do with him being a crazed Altered, he started freaking out. He even begged me to cover him by taking the blood test for him.”
“What? Why? That doesn’t make any sense.” Ian chimed in.
Numba could only shrug his shoulders. “I asked him the same thing, but from what he could tell me, it was best for me not to know. We didn’t exactly have a lot of time to discuss what he meant by that because a nurse came in and tried to call the supervisors on me.
“Maybe his blood is a little crazed, and he's worried about what the school might do if they find out. Whatever the case, we need to help him. We owe him at least that much. If it weren’t for him, we all would still be in the facility.”
Hearing all of this, Izzy let out a big sigh. “Alright, sounds like this is really serious. We might be able to do something, but it's going to be hard. The good news is, due to the rules around Altered, they are only allowed to test the blood for black particles, which means they aren’t allowed to store or keep the blood sample in any way.
“After all, the corporations, and other groups, don’t want to risk an independent company having their Altered’s blood on file. That means, giving our blood, or swapping the sample before they test won’t be a problem, it's just how we do it.
“If a nurse is already in the room with him, that means we don’t really have the time to come up with something. We're just going to have to come up with a plan on the way there. Let’s hope that Gary manages to buy us some time.”
Standing up, all three of them were ready. They knew that getting caught in an attempt to temper with a medical test could land them in huge trouble, but for their friend, they were ready to take that risk.
****
Instagram: jksmanga
Support the making of MWS webtoon P.a.t.r.e.o.n