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“Far from it, I'm afraid. But yes, there is hope. Anyone else would have perished days ago,” he explains.
Now that there isn't a swarm of nurses and staff, Six stands to approach Bennet for the first time. Seeing him from this many feet away is hard enough. I can't imagine what it must feel like to see all the tubes and tape up close.
“Hey doc, why the tape on his eyelids?” I ask, because for some reason it's the part that is bothering me the most.
“Coma patients, specifically patients that might have entered brain death, cannot blink their eyes and create tears to keep their eyes wet. It's actually one way we test for brain function, touching the eye with a wet cotton swab or adding drops to the eyes. Unfortunately, we’ve gotten no response from Bennet.”
“I thought you said there were positive measurements?”
“Blips on the EEG, they don't necessarily mean anything. But as there was nothing before, and with the physical healing I noticed, I hoped he would start coming around. It's still possible, but again, would be impossible if not for whatever it is that makes him and Six different.”
Fuck. I don't like the sound of that. My thoughts want to spiral, but I try to focus on the potential.
Six bends over his unconscious form. “Bennet, listen to me. If there was one good thing to come out of that lab, it's that it brought us together. And it might just give you the means to pull through. So you have to fight, Bennet. Come back to me. Come back to us.”
Six slides her hand into Bennet's. A moment later, a machine beeps.
“That was a positive change in heart rate,” says Micah, excited. “Try something else.”
Leaning over the bed, Six places a kiss on the small part of Bennet's face that isn't obscured. The machine picks up again.
“Look at that,” Dr. Franks says, his eyes flashing with fascination.
The machine that the electrode cap is connected to has lit up, more than blips showing here and there. Squiggles are starting to take up the lines.
If it wouldn't cause me so much pain, I'd jump up and down and cheer, elated to see a positive sign. “I guess he just needed a little bit of Six.”
There are some small laughs at that, but then Micah jumps up.
“Wait,” he says. “Jackson…say that again.”
“What? 'I guess he just needed a little bit of Six'?” I can't help it, the statement on its own makes me giggle.
“Is everything funny to you?” Lukas rolls his eyes before turning his attention away from me. “Micah, what's up?”
“I'm just thinking about Eight…”
Six gasps. “Do you think it could work?”
“I don't know. But it's an idea.”
Luis stands and paces across the room, deep in thought.
I'm completely lost, of course. “Can you stop pacing and tell me what you four are plotting?”
Lukas holds his hands up. “Three, not four. I have no idea what those three are thinking.”
Micah and Luis give each other a look, and then turn to Six, who is waiting for more answers from Micah.
Micah shakes his head and shrugs. “I haven't studied genetics enough to understand the shit they were playing with in that lab.”
Frustrated, I resort to shouting over their conversation. “What is it?!”
Six turns her attention to Dr. Franks, worrying her lip with her teeth. I'm guessing that she's contemplating exactly how much she trusts him.
“You said that you noticed I was different. You're right about that. I don't know the specifics of how it works, and I don't know that you want to know everything. But I do have some…qualities that give me some advantages.”
“Such as?” He asks, curious.
