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“Leave me alone! You psycho!” Doc shrieked as he ran farther into the base. His heart rate was pumping and heaving, giving it's all to escape what he fears will be the inevitable. Dr. Emily Grey and her slightly less deranged but just as enthusiastic nurse, Donut, have been hunting poor Dufresne for the majority of the past two days. He's never had to run from a lady before. Embarrassment radiates from his face as he maneuvers between various obstacles in the hopes of escape.
“Don't run from me, Doc.” Dr. Grey sings in the distance. “I wish to talk about your insecurities and exploit your comforts!” Doc did not hear this. In the back of his mind, O'Malley was cursing and seizing control of his host's muscles.
“Run, you damn fool! She's catching up!” He urged.
“I don't work well under pressure! Stop yelling at me!” Doc returned as he launched himself over a hurdle of packaged equipment. He had somehow found himself in the Mess Hall of the base with ample hiding opportunities to throw off his pursuer.
“Where now?” the frightened medic whispered. His voice shook and echoed with in the building's rafters.
“ANY WHERE BUT HERE!” Doc noticed where he stood. He was standing amongst stacked chairs but was still much too out in the open. He crouched to the floor as the hurried footsteps of Dr. Grey increased in volume until they finally reached a crescendo to her delight.
“Aah! The Mess Hall! I must say, Doc, I've never done it in the kitchen before. How adventurous of you.” Doc could feel O' Malley resonate with a mixture of fear and excitement. All in all, it felt quite disturbing to him that he could physically FEEL his alternate personality move like that. He held in his disgust as he slid between the towering stacks of chairs and into the main cooking area in the back of the hall.
“Absolute Moron! What do you think you're doing?!” O'Malley hissed as softly as he could to avoid detection.
“I'm trying to hide! What does it look like?” Doc defended.
“In the kitchen?! Didn't you just hear her? This is exactly what she wants!”
“What did I tell you a-about... yelling... at me ~” Doc's voice died off as he took in his darkly lit surroundings once again. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling, channeling the vibrations and echos of the room into movement. One slight mistake could end in a cacophony of noise and clatter. The knives hanging precariously on the walls appeared all the more menacing as the medic switched his helmet's night vision on.
“Grab a weapon! If it's two against one we can take her!” Suggested O'Malley but Doc wasn't feeling that plan.
“First of all: I'm a pacifist, remember?” O'Malley groaned inwardly, knowing all too well Doc's reservations when it comes to delivering bodily harm even to a plant. A dead plant. “Second of all: how can we both take her if we're in the same body?”
“Doesn't matter. It's all semantics.”
“That's not what that word means!” Neither two personalities noticed that their voices had carried off the vibrations of the cookware, revealing their hiding place.
“FOUND YOU!” Dr. Grey cheered.
“GRAB SOMETHING!” O'Malley shrieked.
The poor medic, frightened and confused, leaped up from his hiding place and lurched his body backwards in search of a solid object to wield as a last minute shield. Regrettably, Doc's “shield” was a frying pan that had built up too much velocity during it's journey to protect it's wielder. The dull tung of the impact tossed him onto the floor as Dr. Grey looked on with curiosity.
“Mr. Dufresne? Are you afraid of me?” she asked kindly.
“W-Why... what for you... ask that for?” his words tangled up as both he and his alternate self attempted to communicate at once.
“I ask because I have a large number of patients who attempt to flee rather than get treated.” she explains but with honesty tinting her voice, as if it is truly a mystery to her. Doc held O'Malley and his insensitive rebuttal back as he spoke for himself.
“Well, it could be because you chase them around and talk about taking them apart to use for science experiments. Most people don't want to discuss that while they’re on the verge of death.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed to herself. She removed her helmet and sat down on the floor while she processed this new information, Doc received an idea.
“Dr. Grey, why do you do that?” The medic had hopes that discussing her behaviors instead of his own would distract her and he could escape her clutches. She jarred herself from her own personal thoughts and attempted to consider his inquiry. He continued. “How do your friends react to your behavior?”
“Doc,” she tssked at him, “all of my friends were killed during the war.” Dr. Grey tried to smile. She tried, but Doc's distraction was working a little too well. She no longer contemplated on her unwilling patient. Instead, her eyes began to fade as she remembered all the faces that she failed to save in the past.
“You see, that’s what happens in wars. People die, they go missing, or they turn on you.” her voice was less cheerful and light, it was heavy with grief.
“Get up before she snaps out of it. Let's get out of here!” O'Malley ordered his host to flee but Doc's need to help others out weighed his desire for safety.
“Emily?” Doc called out but her head, which had sunk as she spoke, snapped up and invaded his personal bubble, staring at him straight through his visor with a desperate look.
“Why do they do that, Doc? Why won't they let me save them?” Something in Doc's stomach flipped then fell as he saw her eyes sparkle from her tears. He understood was it was like to be in a battlefield for so long and that sometimes... patients just can't be saved.
Doc removed his own helmet, his night vision failing, leaving both parties in the shadows. He could no longer see her face but he could hear her move as she tried to curl in on herself and sob quietly.
“Emily,” he called out again. “look at me.”
“It's dark, I can't.” she heaved, trying to control her breathing. Doc reached out and grasped the sides of her head to steady her.
“I'm right here.” helping a patient control their anxiety and depression levels was something that Dufresne was particularly interested in while he was in training to be a medic. But, he never expected what happened next.
Dr. Emily Grey, the insane doctor, leaned forward and kissed him. It was long and slow. Emily moved her lips gently across Doc's and he did the same in return. His conscience was buzzed from the sudden encounter. Even O'Malley went silent, taking in this new sensation. Within moments, it was gone. There was no tongue, no teeth, only the salty taste of tears and a glowing warmth that spread from Doc's chest to the remainder of his extremities.
“What was that?” O'Malley spoke aloud, his voice more gruff than usual. She was quiet for a time before she finally answered.
“I guess we'll just have to see... in time.” her voice was just above a whisper. She remained quiet as she reached out for her helmet and stood up. Doc, having been left on the floor of the mess hall kitchen, did nothing but watch as Dr Grey walked out of the room and listened as the doors to the main hall opened and closed: the signal that she was gone.
Doc didn't care to move, and O'Malley didn't complain. Both entities need time until their joined heart stopped racing so fast. If they were paying attention, they would have felt the red flush crawl across Doc's face.