Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper novel Chapter 145

Chapter 145 Mess in the clinic
I stood there in shock for a moment as I tried to comprehend it all. The marks… the deep black marks… they stood out in the sea of pale skin, and I knew the image of so many people painted with those terrifying lines would haunt me forever.
It was like something out of a nightmare.
Why hadn’t Marley or Cas sandra talked about them?
An old woman in the corner waved her hands above her head and I refocused
after a moment of fear.
“Help,” she called out, but no one around her seemed to notice amidst the clinic’s noisy commotion. I wasn’t sure who she was trying to reach, but I was here now, so I rushed over to her and Jasper followed suit.
When we arrived at her bedside, I noticed at once that the old woman was having difficulty breathing. The sounds that escaped her mouth sounded pained, and her chest heaved a little as she whimpered.
“Young lady, where’s the healer?” the woman asked as her cloudy brown eyes stared into mine with distress. I turned to Jasper, and the guard began to scan the
area.
“I’ll be right back,” he murmured, and then he ran over to one of the rooms. When he returned, a young man was with him.
He appeared to be around my age, with wavy reddish blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and a freckled complexion. He wore a pair of thick dark gla*ses, and a labcoat and gloves.
“Becky, this is Dic kson,” Jasper introduced us. “He was one of the healers sent by the Alpha King after Cas s andra was taken to Anemond. He’s currently in charge
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of the clinic. Dic kson, this is Becky. She’s a healer from Anemond.”
“Nice to meet you,” I nodded at the man. Despite him being from Anemond, I’d never seen him before. At first, Dic kson’s expression seemed neutral enough, but from the way his eyebrows creased together, it was clear he was a little irritated.
“Nice to meet you,” he managed, and then he turned to Jasper. “What’s going on? What’s the matter?”
“This woman is having difficulty breathing,” I explained as I gestured at the older lady. “She needs a ventilator.”
I then glanced around at the clinic full of people, and an agitated statement burst out of me. “Why are so many patients going without proper care?”
Dic kson’s eyes darkened and trailed over me.
“There’s a shortage of ventilators,” he huffed. “And healers for that matter. If your want to find a spare ventilator, you’re going to have to search for one yourself. If you think the patients need an additional healer, be my guest. I’m too tied up to deal with this right now.”
Before I could even open my mouth to argue, Dic kson turned on his heels and left the room. As anger swelled in my belly, I contemplated pursuing him, but Jasper intervened and placed a hand gently on my arm to stop me.
“Don’t,” he said quietly as he shook his head. “I know, trust me. But Dic kson was the only one willing to stay, and he’s exhausted and overworked. Pay him no mind. I can lead you to the device room to look for a ventilator.”
Jasper’s eyes were kind and his expression was apologetic. I was still irritated with the way Dic kson had spoken to me, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t here to be his friend. I was here to help with patients.
So, I nodded and followed Jasper down the corridor.
The device room was in shambles. It was clear that Dic kson really was exhausted and that the Pack was short on medical supplies. Empty boxes were
everywhere. Shelves were completely bare, and what little remained was admittedly pathetic.
Jasper and I searched the room for a little while until finally, I discovered a ventilator in an old, dusty box tucked away in a supply closet. I cleaned it up using a spare rag near the sink in the corner of the room, and once it was at least pa*sable, Jasper and I went back into the corridor and brought it over to the old woman.
As I got it set up, her cloudy eyes turned grateful.
“Thank you, miss,” she thanked me. “Your kindness means the world to me.”
“It’s the least I can do,” I a*sured her.
I got her h ooked up to the device, and after a little while, her breathing started to grow normal. I lingered at her bedside until I knew that everything was working properly, and then glanced around the room. As I surveyed the patients, I couldn’t quite articulate my feelings.
The situation was much worse than I’d expected.
“How is the clinic even functioning with so few healers?” I asked Jasper.
The guard sighed. “Occasionally, I come to a*sist and some other guards and ser vants from the Pack House do as well. We offer as much support as we can. But these days… it’s getting harder and harder. We need more help.”
“What about the other healers from Anemond?” I wondered. “You mentioned Dic kson was from there, but didn’t the Alpha King send others in Cas sandra’s
stead?”
Jasper sighed again and shook his head.
“They left,” he explained dejectedly. “The disease is now widespread and affecting an increasing number of villagers. The healers from Anemond couldn’t handle it and didn’t want to risk getting infected.”
I nodded as I soaked it all in. How cowardly. Though, I couldn’t blame them.