Split Zone No.13

Volume 5

298 Those Who Adapt Survive

The lady didn’t enter any of the stalls in the washroom. She was in a corner making a call.

“Hello, may I speak with Doctor Zhang please?” She looked serious as a cold glint flashed past her eyes.

“Doctor Zhang, I hit a boy today. He says he’s fine but he might have sustained some internal injuries. The authorities have been keeping their eye out for such matters after what happened previously.

“You understand right? I hope the matter can be settled as soon as possible. That child looks rather innocent, and he doesn’t look like he did it on purpose either. I’ll bring him to you later. You know what to do, right?”

I didn’t hear the other side of the conversation. All I saw was a smile spreading on the lady’s face before she ended the call.

She was no longer as antsy as she was when she first entered the supermarket. She adjusted her hair by the sink and checked her smile in the mirror before washing her hands calmly.

I followed closely behind her as she exited the washroom.

The boy was still sitting in his seat quietly, as if he did not move an inch. He stared into the distance through the windscreen.

The lady shot him a sideways glance before she started the engine.

We arrived at the hospital shortly. She took the boy’s hand in hers as if they were siblings as they walked in.

The lady looked around warily before mumbling to herself, “We have to get a specialist to look at this child. A thorough check-up would be needed. It won’t be good if there’s any after symptoms.”

She then pointed at the name of a doctor on the wall as she spoke to someone at counter, “We’ll see Doctor Zhang here. He seems to be quite qualified.”

The counter staff replied, “Yes, Doctor Zhang is a specialist.”

I was standing behind the both of them and I realized that the boy was looking at the figure of the lady from behind.

This was the first time he took a proper look at the lady after the accident happened. He simply stared ahead of him when he was in the car.

As he stared at the lady, he had a look in his eyes which should not have belonged to a teenage boy. It looked as if he was contemplating something, and his eyes shone a little even though they looked pained. That look was reminiscent of hate, but why would he hate this lady if he had just met her?

Things were definitely not as simple as they looked.

After paying a deposit, the lady brought the boy to level three. She passed the slip obtained from the counter to the nurse there.

The nurse nodded at the lady after seeing the slip, before turning and heading for a room at the end of the corridor. The lady smiled, and the boy followed her into the room quietly.

I looked at the sign on the door which said Doctor Zhang. I turned back to look at the queue along the corridor. Sighing, I decided to follow the both of them into the room.

The nurse was walking out just as I entered the room.

She closed the door behind her.

The room looked like an ordinary clinic with a middle-aged male doctor behind the desk.

The doctor smiled at the both of them. “Would you mind passing me that slip please? How may I help you today?”

The lady tapped the boy on his shoulder encouragingly before passing the slip over to the doctor. “Nice to meet you, Doctor Zhang. This is what happened. I accidentally grazed this boy when I was driving earlier. It didn’t look like I hit him, but he might have fallen because of that. He says he’s fine too, but just to be sure, I thought it’d be better to bring him here for a thorough check-up in case any injuries have been sustained.”

Doctor Zhang nodded and smiled at the boy. “Do you feel any pain?”

The boy looked pale as he shook his head with unfocused eyes.

Doctor Zhang continued. “Do you feel any different from before? It’s okay, child, there’s no need to be afraid. You can tell me if you feel uncomfortable in any way. It’s my responsibility as a doctor to help my patients, whether they are young or old, rich or poor.”

The boy’s hands moved as if he was going to make a fist, but he simply stretched his fingers.

He said, “I don’t feel any different.”

“Hmm, okay. Let’s take a look at the chest and the head first before going through everything else.”

The boy nodded. Doctor Zhang and the lady looked at each other before leading the boy into another room.

I was right beside the doctor when they did the x-rays. He looked at the film in a separate room first. After seeing it, he exchanged it with another film that was already in the drawer. He then walked out with the new film.

He smiled at the lady. “The child is fine. I’ve looked at it and there are no issues. Seems like he was just grazed and not hit by the car.

“The both of you can take a look at the film here. The heart, lungs and bones look fine.” He explained after passing the film to the boy.

Though I didn’t want to be here any longer, I simply stood there.

I thought about all those times where the adults would be telling us that heaven is watching our every move. I didn’t think too much about it then, and although I’m not heaven, it really seemed like whatever you do would be no secret. There really is nothing that can be kept a secret forever.

This is why we shouldn’t do evil deeds. We never know who else might be watching.

Doctor Zhang ended the session as the boy did not have much to say about his diagnosis, and he told the lady that they could leave.

After exiting the hospital, the lady said to the boy, “Wait for me in the car, I’ll get some vitamins for you. Look at you, you look so weak.”

The lady headed back into the hospital after settling the boy in the car and locking the door.

The boy’s eyes followed the lady until she entered the hospital building. Turning away from the boy, I followed quickly behind the lady.

We were back at the room on the third level corridor. I passed through the door without much difficulty.

I could hear the voices of Doctor Zhang and the lady, but I couldn’t hear their conversation very clearly. I didn’t really want to look at their faces that were behind the door, but I had to pass through the door to be able to hear better.

Doctor Zhang showed the real x-ray film to the lady. “Look at this. Why weren’t you more careful? These organs are all damaged, and though not everyone might cough up blood in cases like this, it’s really weird that the boy says he’s not in pain.”

The lady smiled enchantingly. “I guess I’m lucky this time. If this didn’t happen, I probably wouldn’t have come to you.”

Doctor Zhang shook his head. “I guess you’re lucky, or should I say that you were luckier than the previous time. You should be careful while driving, not all injuries can be hidden like this.”

The lady looked just a tad upset when ‘the previous time’ was mentioned, but a pretty smile appeared on her face just as quickly. “I know. Thanks for the reminder, Doctor Zhang. No matter how lucky I am, I’ll still have to thank you.”

She said this while drawing circles on Doctor Zhang’s chest with her finger, looking at him with inviting eyes.

Any normal male would understand what she was trying to get at, and from Doctor Zhang’s reaction, he was definitely a normal male.

I had already left the room when quick, short breaths could be heard.

Mixed emotions hit me as I walked along the third floor corridor.

This was something ordinary in the real world. Even if this made the news, it would be forgotten in a couple of days.

In this world, the world that I used to live in, this was simply a sad story.

However, I still felt upset. It’s been so long since I’ve seen a story like this, because something like this would never have happened in the Split Zone. In the Split Zone, the strong would overpower the weak, and everything was done out in the open.

It was still a dog-eat-dog world. Though it was more cruel and gruesome in the Split Zone, at least you’d know when you were being done in.

Which was the better space out of the two then?

I wasn’t searching for an answer on which was the most suitable space for me to exist. I knew that these spaces were different because the rules of survival were different. Rules of survival were written by the strong, and these were the rules that applied in this world, while a different set of rules applied in the Split Zone.