Chapter 9: The Wall

Aaron stared at hard at the elevator, as it parted open. He gently stepped into it, his hands wrapped hard around the bouquet in his hands. Taking a deep breath as he watched the elevator doors close, he could feel his heart start to pound rather erratically.

He was never one for hospitals, no matter the occasion. The dull gray walls, the continuous smell of medications and antiseptic and the utterly painful memories, he has managed to associate with those things were things he'd managed to avoid for a long time.

At least until now.

The elevator beeped and the doors opened once again. He walked out, his eyes glued to the bouquet in his hands. Was this too much?

He didn't have the time to answer. He was here already and if it was too much or not, he was going to find out one way or the other.

He walked across the tiled hallway, reading the ward numbers on top of the doorways beside him. Soon, he found the one he'd been directed into by the reception and walked in.

Shane was lying on the bed in patient scrubs, a bowl of popcorn in his hand and his eyes glued to the flat screen TV a few yards before him. Shane noticed his entrance and turned to look at him, a weak smile on his face.

"If it isn't the nerd."

Aaron's eyes traveled to the popcorn bowl. "Are you sure you're supposed to be eating that?"

Shane shrugged, the smile still lingering on his face. "What's the worst that could happen?" His eyes darted down to the bouquet in Aaron's hands as well.

Aaron felt a cold shiver swim down his spine. "The flower's too much, isn't it? I knew it."

"Johnson—."

"Look, I didn't know what you liked and I didn't want to come here empty handed."

"Johnson—"

"And I know I probably should've called you beforehand or ask someone close to you but I didn't know anyone like that and I didn't want to—"

"Aaron!"

Aaron felt the words freeze in his mouth. Shane gave him a reassuring smile and gestured towards the giant table right beside the door.

"I love the flowers Aaron. Thank you."

Aaron nodded. "Okay. That's cool then. "

He placed the bouquet on the table and walked in, his eyes scanning the ward. " The walls were painted a light blue and the beds were a little more cushioned the ones he had seen downstairs.

"This the special treatment floor?" He asked, grabbing a stool close to Shane's bed.

"Apparently, this is the floor for VIPs." Shane responded, sitting up well enough to lean his back against the bed frame. The NSA came through with the one, I'll say. He didn't want anyone asking questions about a bullet wound so he had never transferred up here."

Aaron nodded. "Nice. I can't wait to get my legs broken."

Shane married his eyes, an amused expression written on his face. "Because you want to be in a ward with a flat screen TV?"

Aaron raised his hands. "It's a reasonable bargain."

"Hey, I would trade places with you any day."

Aaron laughed. "Oh, I would've definitely died back on the field."

Shane nodded, a smile creeping on his face. "I'm sure that's not true."

"It is." Aaron replied, looking down at his hands, the laugh on his face now gone. "Hell, you could've died."

"But I didn't. I'll be out of here in a few days. It's fine. I'm just pissed we couldn't find out what was inside the vault." Shane responded. "I know I was bleeding out and I know I needed medical attention immediately but come on, they couldn't at least grab it with them?"

"I told you, Emerson. That thing was riddled with electricity. Anyone who touched it was going to get fried. It was drawing a power for a reason."

"Exactly." Shane responded. And now we'll never know the reason."

Aaron nodded, the smile coming back to his eyes, although weakly and this time, more encouraging "We will. At least some other day. I've been looking through the data you downloaded. Still haven't found anything useful though."

"Oh, I'm sure you will."

As Aaron opened his mouth to speak, the door pushed open and he felt someone walk in the room behind him.

"Babe, you are not going to believe who I found next door—" A fried female voice started him.

Aaron narrowed his eyes. Babe?

"Oh, who's this?" The voice called again, finally prompting Aaron to turn around. He came face to face with a young blonde woman in a pair of white shirt and blue jeans, with stunningly attractive facial features.

"That's Aaron. We work together." Aaron could hear Shane, who was now behind him, say. "Aaron, that's Jess. My girlfriend."

Jess stretched out her hand towards Aaron. "Jessica Hale. It's nice to meet you."

Aaron took Jessica's hand warily for some reason. "Aaron Johnson."

"I was on my way to New York for a shoot when I get called that my boyfriend was in the hospital 'cause he's been shot. I get here and it's like the most dramatic thing I've ever seen in my life. Like who gets shot?"

Aaron, plastering the most confused smile on his face lingered forward a bit. "I'm sorry, you were going to New York for a shoot?"

"Jess is a model." Shane announced behind him.

Aaron nodded. Of course she was.

"Like I was saying. I just saw Janet Lewinsky in the room next door." Jess continued, moving past a stop astounded Aaron and towards Shane. "Apparently, she had a boob job. How freaking crazy is that?"

Shane exchanged a subtle expression with Aaron. One that seemed to say You don't even know the half of it.

"Babe, I really have to go. Shoot's tomorrow and you know how I love to prepare ahead." Jess mentioned. Shane nodded and Aaron watched Jess lean forward to give Shane a kiss on his forehead. She then turned towards Aaron and the door again. "It was really nice to meet you, Aaron. Take care of Shaney for me, will you?"

Before Aaron could muster a reply, Jess had made her way out of the ward, the sound of her clicking heels growing distant by the second.

"She's—interesting." He said, turning back to Shane.

"Dude." Shane whispered, adjusting his sitting position. "I hope you don't have to do anything back at the Warehouse?"

"No." Aaron responded, a smile playing on his face as he took his seat on the chair one more time. "I made you a promise and I'm here to fulfill it."

Shane frowned, mild confusion written on his face. "What?"

"I promised to teach you Road Sim, remember?"

A laugh escaped Shane's mouth. "Are you serious?"

"And since you clearly can't go to an arcade, I thought I'd just teach you with the mobile version instead." Aaron responded, pulling out his phone.

"Let's get cracking."

Shane laughed again as he watched Aaron drag his chair closer to the bed.

"Good. You're here." Hera called, watching Aaron step into his room back in the hotel. "How did it go with Shane?"

"He's fine. Why the hell are you in my room? And with your shoes on the carpet?" Aaron responded, heading towards his chair.

"I need to show you something." Hera responded, ignoring him. "So you know how I took pictures of the walls back in the facility?"

"Yeah?" Aaron responded, watching Hera move closer to him, the camera in her hand.

"Look." Hera continued, raising the display screen of the camera closer to Aaron. The picture behind the screen was of a part of the walls back in the facility. The wall was filled with drawings and intricately designed art works.

"What am I looking at here?"

Hera pinched at the screen, zooming into the picture and into a specific part of the wall. "That."

At first, as Aaron searched the narrowed down paintings on the wall, he couldn't decode when he was looking for.

Then he saw it, and it hit him.

"Is that—"

"The red eye drawing you showed us? Yeah." Hera responded. "I was looking through the photos a few hours back when I saw it."

Aaron felt a cold shudder swim down his spine.

"I think it's time we tell the General. Bring him up to speed about the drawing. Where is he anyway?"

Aaron rubbed his forehead. First, the drawing was on the Neurospark server, now it was on the wall in the facility? It had to mean something and it was driving him crazy that he couldn't figure it out. With this, the locked file and the vault they couldn't manage to get open, he couldn't help but let his mind draw him down a sinister path. He looked up at Hera, utter worry scrawled across his face.

"What are we dealing with, here?