Anything

From what you've learned, hospitals can drain the life out of someone, in more ways than one. For the person in the bed, it's the medicine pumping into your body, slowly numbing you until you don't know what's real, until nothing is real anymore. You drift in and out of consciousness until you breath your last breath.

For the person out of the bed, the one watching the numbing, it's a lot more... emotional. Sadly, you don't get numbing medication. You don't get a fast pass from reality. You witness every single dire second. You hear the tick of the clock, blaring beeps of machines, and then the dreaded rush of sweet-faced nurses.

"I'm sorry honey, we're down to our last option."

A sob breaks loose, "She's not an organ donor."  

The nurse smiles grimly, "Honey we aren't talking about that option. We have a last resort to save her."

You look up through tear filled eyes, "Anything! I'll do anything."

She smiled in a not-so sincere way, "I thought you would say that."

She walks over to the flurry of activity, whispers in code, and everything goes quiet. The doctor smiles wide, "Very wise choice Miss Foster. We'll have your Mother chipped right away. Would you like me to explain the process?"

You dare not argue, for fear that it might make them change their minds, as if they're even allowed to do that. Nodding slightly, you whisper, "Yes, please explain."

"Well, it's a very simple operation. With a slight laceration to the base of the skull, we'll implant the chip on your Mother's brain stem. The chip is about the size of your fingernail. The operation will take around an hour so that the surgeon and his team can make an exact placement. Any questions?"

You're dumbfounded. "I'm so sorry if I don't understand this correctly, but what does the chip do exactly?"

The doctor barks out a laugh. "Miss Foster, this chip allows your mother to live as long as that chip is in her head."

You faint.

***

Miss Foster, are you alright?

My eyes open slowly. "What's happening? Did my Mom die?"

The doctor laughed softly, "No, she's quite well actually. She should be ready to go home soon."

I try not to faint again, "What do you mean?"

The doctor gives me a sympathetic smile, "Don't you remember? We had your mother chipped, she'll live as long as the chip is in her brain stem."

It all comes back to me, and a million questions arise. The only one that matters is, "How am I going to afford it?" I don't even try to ask how it works. Because I'm not sure I want to know.

"That's the amazing thing Miss Foster, it doesn't cost you a thing!"

"But-" I start.

"Don't worry about it honey," The nurse says gently, "It's all taken care of."

Taking deep breaths, I look around the room, deciding to pick my battles.

"Where's my mother?"

"She's in rehab, practicing walking with her new physically able body."

"She has a new body???" I screech, not knowing what's going on anymore.

The doctor takes my hand, "Of course not. We just mean that she is physically able to do things she wasn't able to do beforehand."

I sag with relief, "Can I go see her?"

I see a look of hesitance in his eyes before he gently shakes his head, "Not just yet Miss Foster, there's a little bit of commotion outside at the moment and we can't have you getting stressed."

"What do you mean? Does it have to do with me?"

The doctor looks towards the nurse and then me, "No."

I swiftly go through the doors and into the chaos.

"What the hell is code black?"

"What happened to him?"

"Who did it to my son?"

I stare in shock at the crowd. They're all family members and they're all screaming. The doctor drags me back to the room.

"Ma'am you can't just do that. Those people are riled up and you could get hurt in the jumble." He murmured.

I nod, "Can I go see my Mom?" I whisper.

They didn't hesitate this time.

***

She's jogging. Jogging.

"MOM?" I screech as I run over to her.

"Oh hey sweet heart!" She says as she jogs.

"How do you feel?" I ask, overcome with joy. I had escaped death, and it felt amazing. I just realized something. I might never have to deal with death again.

"Um excuse me Doctor Manning?" I ask as I rush up to him.

"Yes Miss Foster?"

"Is there any way I can have this done with everyone in my family?"

He laughed, "Miss Foster there are consequences to your actions."

"I'm aware. I don't care. I would do anything for my family to be safe forever."

"Very well. Bring anyone you want chipped to my office tomorrow evening." He said quickly before running off.

***

I'm beaming as I walk towards the hospital doors hand in hand with my mother, who two days ago, was destined for death. I've made all of the phone calls and all of my family members are coming to the hospital for the quick operation after hearing about Mom. They should all be here any minute

"TERMINATE CODE BLACK"

"KILL THE CODE"

I whip my head around and see protesters holding up signs and screaming. Turning to my mother, I ask "What's going on?"

She just shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine Brooke."

I looked at the crowd of angry people with confusion.

"Hey Brooke!"

I whip around at the sound of my name, and see many of my closest relatives walking towards me with smiles.

"What's the screaming all about?" My brother asked.

"Don't worry about it." I say as we walk towards the doors.

***

"Well Miss Foster, all of the family members you brought in yesterday are going through rehab just like your mother did. Just the normal tests to make sure everything went smoothly and the chip is working like it should." Doctor Manning said calmly. But I noticed a nervous twitch in his eyes.

"Everything okay?" I ask nervously.

"Of course, of course. The more chips we place, the better our hospital is ranked so I'm ecstatic."

"Alright then," I say slowly. "Can I see my family now? And you're sure this doesn't cost me?"

"As long as you'd do anything to keep your family safe..."

"I would." I answer immediately.

"Then the 29 chips we had placed for you today, will be of no cost to you." He said smoothly.

"Perfect."

5 YEARS LATER

"Hello everyone and I'm Maria Waters from ABC news. We just got word that the friendly interior designer, Brooke Foster has been arrested on 29 counts of assisting murder. Since the abolition of the life-saving chip once used on dying patients, there have been countless arrests. What's the one thing they have in common? They have all gotten the chip put in at least one person. Now, we have police chief Marcus Jones here to give us some details."

"Thank you Maria, what we have here is a gruesome procedure. While the chip itself was a miracle worker, no one knew the consequences of it. You'll notice on this map that only 5 of the 50 states actually used this method to save lives. And only 2 of those 5 used it on anyone who wanted it. Everyone who signed up for the chip was told that there was no cost to it. That was a lie.

This here is a picture of one of the people who were called to be executed under the CODE BLACK TERMINATION. The doctors at the hospital would tally how many lives were saved and brutally murder that same amount. According to one of the doctors it was there way of 'keeping the population in tact'. Here is a recording of the questioning of Miss Foster.

"Miss Foster, you got your entire family chipped correct?"

"Yes."

"Now that you're aware of the consequences, do you regret doing it?"

"I would do anything to protect my family."

"Even if it meant killing almost 30 people."

"Anything means anything."