Jericho continued to heal animals during training, after training, and even on his rest days. He must have healed hundreds of animals to the point that it felt like second nature. He had mastered healing broken bones and cuts to a tee, but he wondered how well he could heal sicknesses and other injuries. He met with Doctor Yorke on a training day and those questions begun their way to being answered.

“You’ve made excellent progress.” She offered him a chocolate bar. “I know I shouldn’t be giving you chocolate as a doctor, but it’s okay to indulge sometimes. It’s not much compared to the cafeteria which has everything, but they never have many sweets.”

Jericho took the chocolate bar and smiled softly. “Thank you, doctor.”

“No problem. Feel free to eat it while I talk.” She pulled out a stack of notes.

Jericho tore off the wrapping that surrounded the chocolate. It was sectioned into four tinier bars in each row. Instead of breaking off a bar and eating them one by one, he chomped into it. The piece segmented off and his bite print was left on the bar.

She said, “You’ve excelled in healing broken bones and cuts, which makes sense since you were practicing that even before you met us, but that growth only augmented. You’re rather good at healing illnesses. I’m not much of a vet, but I dabble a bit, and the animals were healed rather well. They still needed time to recover after being healed, but that’s very telling of your capabilities. I can’t exaggerate enough how well you’re doing, especially with the limited time you’ve had with us. I think we can advance to more appropriate training. Today, you’ll be healing people.” Doctor Yorke handed him a medical mask. “Make sure you keep this on at all times.”

He was not surprised. At the rate he was going and the situation he was in, it only made sense for him to take the next step, to heal people. Maybe it was all the more odd that he did not heal humans earlier.

“How sick are these people?” Jericho asked.

“Not that sick, but we don’t want anyone to see your face,” she said. “You’re going to pose as a medical student.”

“A medical student? I’m going to a hospital?”

“Yes, but it’s a tiny hospital, so not as many patients. We’re still not sure we can trust you in a busier environment. Eda will be working with you. She will also be posing as a student since she doesn’t have a medical license. You two will be shadowing me similar to a medical student.”

“You have a medical license?”

“Of course,” she said. “I’m a doctor, after all. Did you think I gave myself the title of Doctor just for the hell of it?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I guessed I assumed you failed medical school or something.”

“I’m rather hurt by that statement, Jericho.”

Jericho was not sure if she was joking or being serious, but he assumed the latter to keep things light.

She said, “I don’t have to tell you about being on your best behavior, do I? They told me to explicitly tell you this, but you’re smart enough to realize the situation you’re in. I’m sure you’re well aware of Eda’s powers and her capabilities. We’ll also have guards and surveillance stationed at the hospital, so don’t even think about escaping.”

“I’m that important?” Jericho sat there with a half-finished chocolate bar. He was genuinely surprised.

“You are,” she said. “It should be obvious with the amount of effort we take to house all of you. We are strict, but we do it that way, so everything runs smoothly and none of our assets are used improperly.

“We’re going to Lachlan Hospital, which is a drive away. You’ll be blindfolded during the drive. Don’t even think about memorizing the route.”

He would not in the first place. It sounded like too much work for Jericho, but he did think about the hospital name. It was unfamiliar to Jericho. He hoped it would spark some familiarity when he heard it, but he was coming up blank. His mom worked in the emergency room in a nearby hospital where they lived, but she worked in other hospitals too. It was a pipe dream for him to assume they would station him at the same hospital his mom worked at. He was still clueless as to where he was.

“When do we go?” Jericho asked.

“Right now,” a voice from behind him said. He turned to see Eda, her hand was placed on his shoulder. A cool rush surged through him and he immediately relaxed. The unfinished chocolate bar fell from his hands and dropped onto the floor. He was not at all bothered by the food going to waste.

“Right now.” He nodded. “Right now sounds good.”

“Put these on.” Eda handed him a black cloth and he wrapped the fabric around his head. The world around him went dark.

“Good,” Eda said. “Get up and follow the sound of my voice.”

Eda let go of her hand from his shoulder, but he continued to listen.

He followed Eda’s voice and listened to her commands until he found himself in a car. The car must have been old since its vibrations were rather noticeable, or perhaps he noticed because one of his five senses was removed.

***

When Jericho awoke he found himself sitting within a hospital station. His attire was different from what he was wearing before. No longer was he wearing a prison jumpsuit but instead he wore blue scrubs. Did he change himself or did someone change him? Time became indistinguishable, changes in scenery blurred into one another, and his thoughts struggled to be coherent.

“Hello, Doctor Yorke!”

“Hello!” Doctor Yorke said.

Jericho’s shoulders squeezed up. He was startled by the doctor’s presence. She appeared out of nowhere, and he reacted the same when he noticed Eda just behind him.

Doctor Yorke was being greeted by what looked like another doctor. This went on with the rest of the doctors and all the other staff from the nurses to the janitors.

“Are you with us, Jericho?” Doctor Yorke asked. They were now in a meeting room. Eda sat next to him.

“Eda’s powers are rather potent, aren’t they? You should come back to normal soon, although it might take a while. I told Eda to be less intense when she uses her power on you, but you’re practically sedated. I guess it wasn’t necessary to keep you in that state during the entire drive.”

“Do you always talk so much?” Jericho said. It was not a statement he would say if he were sober.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Doctor Yorke said. “This is going terribly and we haven’t even started. He is way too docile.”

Eda asked, “Jericho, can you try using your power? We want to bring you to a comatose patient and see if you can help their—“

“Coma?” Jericho interrupted. “That’s what you’ll both be in when I—“

“—with their bedsore.”

Doctor Yorke laughed. “It’s amusing to see how your powers work, Eda. When you make someone too docile, they regress to a relaxed hostility. Let’s hope he doesn’t get any more aggressive.”

“We have guards in case anything—“

“Not the point.” Doctor Yorke interrupted.

Doctor Yorke grabbed Jericho by the chin. His eyelids phased in and out of consciousness. She leaned into Jericho for a kiss, stopped herself, then made eye contact with Eda. “Does it disgust you when I do this?” She smirked when Eda did not respond, then turned back to Jericho. “Don’t worry, Jericho. I won’t do that right now. The least I can do is get your trust first. Why don’t you try healing yourself, see if the effects go away. Can you do that for me?”

She repeated herself with a sterner voice when Jericho did not respond.

“S-sure,” Jericho said. He obliged without much thought and he moved into the visceral plane. He immediately woke up, noticed his surroundings, then tried his best to hide that he healed himself at all. If he could break through Eda’s power, then it would be a huge game-changer. He had to hide this card, so he continued to act like he was still under a trance. It was difficult to uphold the facade because a headache rushed in and some lingering effects ensued.

It was like he had awoken from a dream, his thoughts and understanding of the situation already fading. He bit the inside of his cheeks lightly hoping the fragments of memory he did have would lead him to say the correct thing. With an aloof voice, he said, “Wh—whoo. I am healed! How about we get started, doc?”

“He is insufferable,” Doctor Yorke said. She pushed Jericho away from her. He wondered why she was so close to him in the first place. “This was a waste of time. Well, looking on the bright side, this has made me realize how risky it was to bring him out here in the first place. This is way too much work for me, especially if someone recognizes him. How long will it be before he’s fine?”

“Couple hours? Maybe one?” Eda kept changing her answer until Doctor Yorke heard something she wanted to hear. “He’ll be ready in half an hour.”

“Good,” she said. “I’ll be back in half an hour. I have to make some calls.”

Eda grumbled to herself when Yorke left. “It was her stupid idea. I even told her that I didn’t need to keep Jericho under my hold during the drive. Why’s she blaming me?”

***

He continued to play coy to the whole situation until it was time for him to wake up, at least according to Doctor Yorke and Eda.

He was brought to a comatose patient and was asked to heal a bedsore, which he learned was also known as a pressure ulcer. He wished he was still in a docile state since healing the wound was one of the most uncomfortable things he had done.

The wound was on the heel, and upon unveiling, the smell hit Jericho’s nose, even with his mask on. The sight of it was another thing altogether. It must have been in its late stages since it resembled a black crater with pus oozing from the wound. Jericho resisted the urge to gag to respect the patient, even if they were in a coma. He closed his eyes as he healed the wound and when he reopened them, the crater was as healthy as it has been in a while. He congratulated himself, but that was short-lived since the image of the injured heel popped up back into his head. He wanted to vomit.

He darted out of the patient’s room and looked for the bathroom. He walked past many rooms but could not find it. He found some nurses at a station, but if he asked, he knew his insides would project out and plaster paperwork and computers. Bobbi would not be here to save him this time.

His speed increased into a fast walk until he did not care anymore and he sprinted around the hospital. He pushed open a door that led to the stairs and he went down hoping he would find a bathroom faster on another floor. He descended the stairs, his stomach churned, and his vomit flew into the air hitting the wall.

“Fuck,” was all he could manage to say. He could not even wipe the vomit from his lips because his body was all contaminated. He sat on the ground in defeat.

Then he looked up to see an emergency exit. It was like a golden door that had a brilliant prize behind it and he was captivated by its sight. He stood up and saw the outside world. In the distance, was a fast-food restaurant. If he wanted to, he could leave at this moment, but he remained in place.

“Where are you going?” One of his guards said. Someone finally caught up to him. “Don’t think you can leave.”

“No, sorry,” Jericho said. “I was looking for the bathroom, but I guess it found me. Is it okay if I have a breather outside?”

“No—“ The guard must have remembered the mess in front of him. “Fine, but I’ll be right next to you.”

“Fine with me.”