Hearing the words, Jake lowered his stance, threateningly showcasing the sharp nails of his hands. His tail began swishing left and right.

"Now, now. Is that a way to thank somebody for letting you in?" The Fiend's smooth voice choked a bit, and he stepped back.

"Don't you try and be smart. You only did it to save your skin. Otherwise, the rats would have eaten you after we bashed open the glass." Mason snapped back.

The Fiend didn't immediately answer, switching his gaze between Jake and Mason. When he looked at Mason again, his eyes fell on a hand that lolled around lifelessly, close to Mason's chest.

"You have someone with you? Are you carrying her because she needs help?" As he went on, his voice became hopeful, slightly heightening in pitch. "I am a doctor! Let me help her?"

The guys looked at each other, reluctance and distrust evident on both of their faces.

"Fuck, why should we trust you? Fiends are supposed to be evil. What person would choose that if not someone evil?" Jake growled, staying in his attack position.

"That is what the government said, but they also said we should all become Goblins. You didn't trust them on that, so why do you believe the rest?" The Fiend rattled quickly.

Jake was quiet for a moment wondering if what the Fiend said could be true. To his side, Mason hissed.

"All they told us so far was true. And that broadcast never said anything about why we should become goblins. They didn't lie but just gave terrible advice. That is what we think.

Stepping forward again, the Fiend shrugged. "I can't make you believe me. So what do we do? Are you going back out?"

Jake and Mason looked at each other, and Mason nodded after a moment.

Straightening slightly, Jake scrutinized the Fiend. "We don't trust you, but we will stay here for now. Our friend lost a lot of blood and might have internal injuries. If you don't mean us harm and have good intentions, prove it. Help our friend.

The Fiend looked at them for a moment before a nervous smile crossed his lips.

"Ok. Follow me to the infirmary." He said before turning around and walking away, through the hallway, beckoning with his hand.

Jake and Mason reluctantly began following him, leaving some distance between them and the Fiend while carefully scanning the surroundings as they went.

"My name is David," the Fiend said as they walked through the pitch-black hallways of the hospital.

"I am Jake, and that's Mason. Our friend is called Emma." Jake said, after looking at Mason and getting a tired shrug from him.

"So, David. Where are the other people who were in this hospital?" Mason's voice echoed through the empty hallway.

"You have trust issues," David responded a trace of mirth in his voice that was quickly replaced by a sorrowful sigh.

"They left after the news came. I wonder if the government knew what would happen to all the sick and wounded. If they did, it would have been nice if they had warned us." The Fiend let out another weary sigh, sounding far more human than he had until now.

"Everybody left after they woke up because there were no more patients left. Everybody that woke up after the change did so fully healed. I even saw someone who had been blind for years, staring at a photo of his children."

David stopped talking, as they walked out of the long hallways and into what seemed like the canteen. Tables and chairs were scattered around, and some food was still on the shelves, slowly rotting away. As they passed the rack of fruit, David picked up an apple and took a bite. Turning around, he waved at the food. "Take what you want. It will just rot otherwise."

Jake looked at the food stacked away, noticing that most of it were vegetables and fruit with barely any meat. He figured it had something to do with the new belief that eating meat wasn't healthy. After a moment, Jake found some bags of cured meat tugged away on a bottom shelf. Ripping one open, and placing the rest under his arm, he walked to Mason and handed a bag to his friend. Mason nodded, keeping an eye on David.

"Not much for fruit, I guess. Is it due to the change? Those teeth don't look like they are meant for greens..."

Mason and Jake didn't reply, slowly munching on the meat. Getting the hint, David began walking again. The canteen had three entrances. They exited through the one marked with a little plaquette saying: 'authorized personnel only.'

"David. Before, you said something about everybody that woke up. Do you mean that some people didn't wake up?" Jake asked, nonchalantly ripping open another bag.

David didn't immediately reply. He walked up to the entrance, then stopped. "No. Not everybody woke up. Those who were either close to death or had certain afflictions stayed human and never woke up. We will see a few of them in a minute."

Jake frowned as he thought about the implications of what he just heard. Following David, he entered into a small service hall. It had only a single exit and an elevator door with a notice reading, 'out of service' on it.

"What determines if they wake up or not?" He asked, looking at Davids back.

"We couldn't figure that out, and many didn't care at that point. After the change, the people working here had one goal left. Find their friends and family before it was too late. After they left, I did some research, and from what I could tell, it has something to do with how serious and how far along the disease was. Some patients with terminal stage cancer woke up just fine, completely healed. Others, who, with treatment, could have lived for tens of years, died."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

They exited the small pathway and entered into a vast area with many rows of chairs. Tens of doors and hallways led out of the room, and David moved to a large double door. Pushing them open, they entered a large operating room with windows covering one wall, through which the moon bathed the place in its soft light.

Walking towards a set of surgeons garments hanging on a small hook on the wall, David waved his hand towards one of the three operating tables. "Put your friend down over there, and I will see what I can do."

Mason was still standing in the door opening. After struggling with himself for a moment, the raggedly clothed golden-red scaled Kobold finally entered the room and inched toward the table. He had his eyes fixed on the Fiend, and everything about him showed that he was ready for anything. Jake was standing closer to David, making sure he would be able to grab the Fiend if he tried anything.

Turning around, David looked at the two young kobolds with a rueful look in his eyes, and took a step back, as if he were trying to demonstrate his submissiveness.

"I won't hurt her. Listen, even if I was evil, what use would it bring me? The two of you can easily overpower me." Taking a deep breath, he slowly walked towards the operating table, began examining Emma, placing his gloved hands on her wounded abdomen. After a while, he seemed to become more excited as he started prodding her, taking her blood pressure and measuring her heartbeat.

"Remarkable. Her entire physical and biological structure changed. Her heart isn't in the same spot, and it is beating much stronger than a human heart. And these scales! They might be stronger than the kevlar body armor the police use."

As David examined her, he slowly became engrossed in what he was doing, mumbling, and talking to himself.

Standing behind him, Jake and Mason slowly began calming down.

"Do you think this guy knows what he is doing?" Jake whispered to Mason.

"I think so, but I ain't no bloody doctor. Also, he hasn't helped her yet. Just prodded and poked her."

Stepping forward, Mason coughed as he moved next to David.

"That's all nice and good, but are you going to help her before she dies?"

David started, almost dropping a needle he was holding. "Dies? Why would she die? She is going to be fine, even if you hadn't brought her here."

"What do you mean fine! She was coughing up blood all the time!" Mason began cursing.

Putting down his tools and gloves, David turned back and looked at the boys. "I don't know what she had before you brought her here, but she is perfectly fine now. Although her anatomy is different, I can verify there is some internal bruising. Those are harmless, and she has no broken bones that I can find. Her ribs are ok, and if she was coughing up blood, and it was serious, those would have been fractured."

Coughing a few times, David rubbed his chin as if he was trying to find a way to explain things to people too stupid to understand.

"Listen. Had it been before the change, it could have been many things. But now? The only thing I can think of is trauma, and she has the bruises to prove that. Did she get beaten?"

Moving to the other side of the table, Jake nodded. "Yes. A group of fucking goblins worked her over."

Mason glared at him, hissing so soft it was hard to understand.

"That is probably the problem then. And why things seem fine now? I can't be sure. Most likely, it has something to do with accelerated healing."

Mason snorted. "What? We are like that guy with the claws now?"

Tapping against his chin again, David nodded. "Something like that, I guess."

Moving away from the table, he meticulously placed his tools back in the spot where they had been before.

"She will heal just fine if she gets rest and food. Her new body will do the rest. Now, how about I bring you to one of the recovery rooms? There are beds there, and you can rest. When it is daytime, we can determine what to do."

"Fine, but we are bringing Emma with us," Mason grunted.

"That's ok. Moving her around won't cause any harm, or it would have happened already." David walked out of the room, heading towards one of the broader corridors. It had many white doors in it, with small frosted glass windows showing only vague outlines of the things inside.

Heading towards one of the doors, David turned around. "This is the room I am staying in, and you can pick any other that you want. Now, if you will excuse me, all of this has tired me out, and I need to rest. I will see you tomorrow." Nodding ones, he entered the room and closed the door behind him with a sharp click.

"Owwwkeee… that wasn't abrupt at all." Jake muttered.

He prodded Mason and began walking towards the far end of the long corridor to the room farthest from David.

"Let's go. We need to talk."

Mason didn't reply but followed him.

Opening the door, Jake looked inside. He saw a spacious room with four beds evenly spaced out with small televisions mounted on the wall in front of them. Two simple chairs stood in front of a big window in the back of the room. Next to the door were two sinks with mirrors above them separated by a large closet.

"Cosy… But it's better than the store, I guess." Jake said halfhearted, before feeling something push him inside.

"Stop blocking the door, damn it. Make yourself useful and see if there is still some water in the pipes." Mason said as he pushed Jake further in the room, before moving in after him and placing Emma on one of the beds.

Jake walked to the sinks, wondering if any water remaining would still be drinkable. A loud, scraping noise behind him made him jump and turn around, scared out of his skin. Behind him, Mason was shoving one of the beds in front of the door, blocking the entrance.

Seeing Jake look over Mason grinned. "I don't know about you, but I don't trust that guy."

"Not further than I can throw him… well much less actually, because we can probably throw his scrawny ass far now." Jake laughed and turned to the sink opening the faucets. A slight trickle came out but quickly stopped again.

"We need to go back to the canteen and grab some bottles," Jake said when the other faucet didn't even give a drop.

Sitting down on the bed that was blocking the door, Mason closed his eyes and yawned. "True. I'll go pick some up in a minute. Block the door while I am gone and don't open it for that guy. "

" Of course I won't, what do you take me for? While you are there, check if you can find any food and beer, ok?" Jake replied.

Walking to the bed, he pulled it away with Mason still on it.

"Fuck!" Mason yelled, barely keeping himself from falling off.

"Hehe, sorry about that, but I am thirsty."

Cursing Jake, Mason opened the door and took a quick look around. "Ok, I'll be back in five." Then he turned away and jogged down the hall back in the direction they had come.

The smile on Jake's face faded as he followed his friend with his eyes. When Mason disappeared around a corner, he closed the door and blocked it with the bed again.

--

When five minutes had passed, Jake started to get worried. After ten, he was about to walk to Emma and bring her to find Mason when he heard footsteps. Holding his breath, he hoped it was Mason. A second later, a soft knock came from the door, followed by a whistled song. Grinning, Jake opened the door. Mason quickly moved inside, carrying an arm full of bags, stuffed with things from the canteen.

"Took you long enough!"

Putting the bags down, Mason stretched, moaning contently. "What's the matter. Got worried about me? I'm a big boy and can take care of myself. "

"Worried my ass," Jake lied through his teeth, "I'm thirsty, that's all."

Grabbing a bottle from the bag, he opened it and pressed it to his lips. Taking long swigs, he emptied the bottle in one go before throwing the empty bottle in a corner. Right away, he dug in the bag again.

"What? No beer?"

Mason grinned a bit before turning around and laughing. With his tail he was holding a small bag, and opening it he showed Jake a six-pack.

"Haha. You rock mate. I so needed this."

Mason tossed a can to his friend before sitting down on the bed with one for himself.

"Finally I didn't have to show my ID card to get them. "

Looking at each other, they both took a careful sip before a broad grin surfaced on their faces. "Damn, I was afraid this would taste like piss," Mason said happily, causing a disgusted groan from Jake.

"Stick with one. We have no idea what this will do with our new bodies." Jake said, taking another sip, trying hard not to think of what Mason had said.

Mason nodded while silently drinking and visibly relaxing.