Chapter 39: This isn’t as fun anymore

Finally, they were at the pause point. Kellen had four bags of fresh blood in his system and now everyone was holding their breath to see how his body was going to handle it. Carlos had his team looking at his most recent blood that had left his body to see what was going on.

Kellen, however, was just laying on a cold, metal table, staring up at a boring white ceiling while all the interesting things happened around him.

“I’m bored.” Kellen said out loud and that had Taylor pausing and looking towards him.

“What?” She asked, a little surprised by his outburst and Kellen repeated himself.

“I’m bored.” Kellen told her again and Taylor paused. She pulled put a pen light and ran Kellen through a few tests. She scrunched up her brow.

“Carlos.” She called over and Kellen could tell that wasn’t good. Carlos came over and watched Kellen as Taylor ran him through the few tests again. Carlos and Taylor looked like two crazy people, staring at him with glowing eyes.

If this was a movie, Kellen would think he was getting experimented on. He started laughing. That was exactly what was happening, actually. He was being experimented on.

Taylor and Carlos stared at him, the concern growing in Taylor’s eyes before a light went off in Carlos’ mind. He turned to someone and asked for the list of poisons that were in Kellen’s system again. Kellen lay there, still laughing as the two scanned the list before Carlos found what he was looking for.

“Check his blood for these.” Carlos said, showing the list to the group in charge of testing his blood. The team was composed of Healing Espers with specific traits, so the blood tests could be done quickly.

“He has elevated levels of these three.” Someone said a few minutes later and Taylor ran her hand over her face.

“So he’s just drunk?” Taylor asked and Carlos shrugged.

“And high. It’s the more common poison that the human body comes into contact with. The other poisons might have been classified as ’more foreign’ and been taken away while these remained around. How the hell would I know? I just know poisons, Green.” Carlos grumbled and Taylor sighed.

“He’s fine, Captain.” Taylor said, turning to where Rhys was standing. He was out of Kellen’s view, even when he turned his head to look in his direction.

“Can I approach? We’re just waiting, aren’t we?” Rhys asked and Taylor and Carlos shared a look. Kellen couldn’t see what the big deal was. He was just lying down on his back right now. He wasn’t doing anything either, and if he understood their words correctly, he was drunk.

“Please Taylor? Carlos? Can I have a little Rhys time?” Kellen asked. He would have made a pleading face at them if Taylor hadn’t let out a loud scoff and turned away from him.

“Fuck. Let the Captain come over, but you have to stay on the other side. I need access to him on this side, Captain.” Taylor warned, laying down the law. Kellen wiggled on the metal table, happy that he was getting his way. Kellen could feel Rhys approaching the table. He wasn’t sure how he was aware since he couldn’t feel powers like some Guide’s could, but he just knew. When Rhys put his hand on Kellen’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze, Kellen let out a loud sigh.

“Thank goodness you’re here.” Kellen said loudly and Rhys laughed.

“Well, he certainly is drunk.” Rhys confirmed and Kellen scrunched up his face at him, annoyed.

“I’m not drunk.” Kellen protested and Rhys leaned over, making sure that Kellen could see his face. His handsome face was a welcome change compared to the bland, white ceiling. Rhys’ expression was soft, his gaze bright yellow as he scanned Kellen’s features.

“Mmhmm. You would never be this drunk, ever. Not my sweet, handsome boyfriend.” Rhys told him and instead of being embarrassed or defensive like he normally would be, Kellen melted.

“Really?” Kellen asked. “You think I’m sweet?” Kellen asked and Taylor had to turn away to compose herself. Rhys grinned.

“Of course you are. Sweeter than orange juice.” Rhys told him. “So sweet you give me a toothache. All the time.” Rhys confirmed and Kellen let out a slow, soft exhale.

“Stop attacking me. I can’t even fight back right now.” Kellen said, pouting and Rhys let out a laugh.

“No one is allowed to bring this up to him and make fun of him for this. He has no control over this.” Rhys warned the others, his voice still sweet as he stared down at Kellen.

“I make no damn promises. Sorry Captain, but he’s not living down ’sweeter than orange juice’ for as long as I’m alive.” Taylor warned. “Gwen is going to kill herself laughing when she hears about it.” Taylor added, and Rhys let out a soft sigh.

“I can’t argue with that. He’s just so damn cute right now. Normally he just goes to sleep when he’s drunk.” Rhys muttered and Taylor laughed.

“How many times have you drunk with him?” Taylor asked and Rhys grinned.

“Enough.” Rhys said to her question. Carlos let out an annoyed sigh.

“Pay attention to the time, Green. Make sure that nothing is going wrong. Captain, distract Kellen enough that he doesn’t fall asleep. No…pda though.” Carlos warned gruffly and Rhys chuckled.

“His parents are watching. Why would I do anything to embarrass Kellen?” He asked and Kellen pouted. Embarrass him? Rhys couldn’t embarrass him anymore than he already had.

~

Thankfully, the worst thing that happened was that Kellen behaved as if he was intoxicated. That did mean that Taylor and Carlos held off past the 20 minute check to make sure that Kellen was actually okay. The fact that he was being affected by any of the poisons in his system was concerning. Monitoring him for longer was priority.

However, Kellen didn’t seem to get worse, so they kept going after about 40 minutes.

Taylor looked apprehensive as they started to fill the next bag with his blood before they began to introduce more fresh blood. Carlos wasn’t much better. Both Espers were worried about Kellen and how he was going to handle the next transfusions. Kellen, however, had little worry.

He trusted everyone around him, maybe foolishly, but with Rhys back in his tape square and Kellen staring up at the ceiling again, there wasn’t much else he could do. It wasn’t blind trust, it was experienced trust.

That, and he wanted this to work. Not just for himself and his own selfish desires, but because if it worked for him, it could work for the others.

Things got a little strange after the sixth bag. Kellen alerted Taylor right away as he began to feel severe pain in his normally dull hand. Taylor halted the transfusion, and summoned the rest of the team over. Kellen could feel how the room shifted as he sucked in sharply.

The pain wasn’t just in his arm, it was also in his eye. The two injuries that were refusing to heal through normal means. They also weren’t progressing in any way, positively or negatively. Nothing was decaying, or healing. Kellen knew that feeling something in those areas that were normally numb was probably a good thing. Whether it was because they were decaying more or healing, any kind of reaction at this point was a good one.

The crew joined Taylor at her side, and Carlos meandered over as well. Surprisingly, and worryingly, Carlos tasted some of Kellen’s blood. He didn’t even flinch, reaching in and scooping a drop off of the bag of Kellen’s blood that he hadn’t quite finished filling.

He made a face, probably at how irony it tasted, before he shook his head.

“It’s not because of poison.” He declared, which was everyone’s worry. Was it also worrying that Carlos could taste poison? It should be, but that was his power. He should have some immunity to it.

Taylor wasn’t even phased by what he had done. She seemed used to it at this point, and Kellen wondered how often he was tasting other people’s blood, and if that was even safe? Kellen doubted that he would ever find out.

“Kellen, on a scale of 1-10, how bad is the pain?” Taylor asked and Kellen let out a slow, measured breath.

“A four.” Kellen said and Taylor wined.

“So that’s a normal six or seven. Let’s try to keep going, and if it gets more painful, let us know.” Taylor told him and Kellen nodded. The delirium was still there, but the pain was cutting through the fog.

It was almost working in his favour. Almost.

Kellen didn’t think anyone would want to cut through that kind of fuzzy happiness with sharp, gnawing pain. The kind that felt like fire ants under your skin. The prickly pain that made you want to wiggle, squirm away.

Kellen had to keep himself still, unable to move away from the pain that was haunting him. Taylor and the crew tried to make the process as painless as possible. They weren’t rushing in the traditional sense. They couldn’t since the blood was already moving as quickly as it could in a controlled manner, but there was no hesitation in their movements.

Carlos was also there, making sure that Kellen’s blood was doing what they were hoping. Each second that ticked by made Kellen’s body feel like it was on fire. The pain was consuming him, but he wasn’t about to worry Taylor if they were aware and trying to speed up the process.

Another bag, more pain. Kellen was trying to keep it together, but at this point, if they stopped, there wasn’t a chance that they were continuing. Each moment was going to be more painful and giving him medication wasn’t going to help him either. It would go into the blood, which they did not want.

Kellen was just going to have to suffer for a bit longer. He just kept chanting that to himself.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep