Chương 12: The Riverside Clinic Run

Riverside Clinic had been built by optimists. It sat beside the river in a low brick building with glass doors, a half circle driveway, and planters full of flowers that had always looked one budget cut away from surrender. Before the Tutorial, people came there for flu shots, stitches, school physicals, blood pressure checks, and the quiet terror of being told a bill would arrive later. Now the blue cross over the entrance glowed like a beacon. Green fog breathed from the automatic doors.

Unit Seven rolled to a stop behind an abandoned ambulance. Unit Twelve parked across the driveway to make a wall. Gloria climbed down with Pickles and a tire iron. Rosa took one look at the clinic and pressed two fingers to her earpiece.

"All nodes, Route Seven at Riverside Clinic. No one approaches until we clear the front. Valerie, stage food and blankets for incoming patients. Library, I want patient names checked against resident records if we call them out." Horace Phelps answered immediately.

"Library copies. I have found the printer, and I am prepared to be unreasonable."

"Good," Rosa said.

"Unreasonable is our current operating standard." Mateo opened Sort the Pile. Riverside Clinic Status: unclaimed medical node Residents detected: 24 staff and patients Threat detected: contamination / triage inversion Materials: gurneys, IV poles, rolling stools, oxygen tanks, plastic curtains, paper gowns, sharps bins, exam tables, waiting room chairs, two vending machines, one aquarium with no fish and strong opinions Warning: do not accept a moving triage tag.

"What is triage inversion?" Darren asked. The clinic doors slid open. A paper tag fluttered out. It was yellow, then red, then black, then yellow again. It twisted in the air like a leaf and slapped onto the ambulance hood. Enemy detected: Triage Tag Level 2 Behavior: reassign priority / drain time / stick to panic The tag launched at Niko. Rosa pinned it to the pavement with her spear.

"I hate paperwork that touches me," Niko said.

"Everybody does," Mateo said. Dr. Lian Patel's voice came over the radio again.

"We are in Exam Hall B. The waiting room separated us from the exit. Five children, seven elderly patients, four staff, the rest ambulatory. The fever clocks are above the doors."

"Fever clocks?" Rosa asked.

"Digital displays. They started at ninety-nine minutes. They are at thirty-one. Every time someone panics, the clocks drop." Mateo looked through the glass. The waiting room had become a throat. Chairs were stacked into ribs. Magazine tables twitched on the floor. Plastic ferns leaned toward the green fog. Above the hall door, a red digital clock counted down from 30: 44. On the far wall, a children's growth chart had stretched into something tall and hungry. It marked heights that no child should ever reach.

Node hazard: Waiting Room Bloom Level 6 Behavior: delay / contaminate / prioritize incorrectly Weakness: clean lane, calm queue, restored triage authority"Calm queue," Rosa said.

"In a clinic. During an apocalypse."

"The Tutorial has jokes," Darren said.

"The Tutorial has malpractice." Mateo's Archive Index warmed in his pocket. A window opened. Archive Index available. Known civic record: Riverside Clinic floor plan, inspection 2024 Known issue: east service door sticks in winter Potential route: laundry room to Exam Hall B"There is a service door on the east side," Mateo said.

"It sticks." Gloria grunted.

"Everything that sticks can be convinced." They circled the building. The east door had a snow shovel jammed through the handle, which meant someone inside had blocked it on purpose. Green fog leaked through the bottom seam. Behind the glass, something in a paper gown dragged an IV pole along the hall with metal clicks. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Mateo claimed the ambulance's cracked light bar, the clinic's plastic curtains, two rolling laundry bins, a floor buffer, and a box of unused air filters from a service closet just inside the door. The blueprint came fast. EMERGENCY ASSEMBLY: CLEAN LANE Required: plastic curtains, air filters, floor buffer, rolling bins, route authority Effect: temporary safe corridor through contamination, panic reduction, triage tag suppression Cost: 7 Focus His Focus bar dipped hard enough to make his teeth ache.

The Clean Lane unfolded like a tunnel made of ugly miracles. Plastic curtains snapped from rolling bin to rolling bin. The floor buffer locked to the front and began spinning with a blue glow, scrubbing a path through fog that hissed and peeled away. Air filters chattered along the sides like tired lungs learning to work. Pickles sniffed it, then barked once.

"Approved by safety," Gloria said. Rosa raised the handset.

"Dr. Patel, we are entering through laundry. We are bringing a corridor. Keep your people in place until I call names."

"You are bringing a corridor?"

"Yes." There was a pause.

"I have been asking administration for one for years," Dr. Patel said. Gloria broke the east door with one kick and a sound that belonged in a budget hearing. The Waiting Room Bloom noticed. Gurneys slammed from the hall like silver insects. Their wheels had become legs. Their straps snapped like tongues. Enemy group: Gurney Crawlers x4 Level 3 Behavior: restrain / roll / deliver patient to wrong place Niko planted the Jaw Shield.

The first crawler hit him and lifted him two inches off the ground before he shoved back. Rosa speared its wheel assembly. Darren sent a thin lightning line into the floor buffer's handle, and the Clean Lane surged forward, blue light biting through fog. Mateo claimed one crawler's frame mid-charge and twisted it into the corridor brace. The system did not like that. Improvised salvage under pressure: successful Clean Lane stability: 63% Waiting Room Bloom irritation: high"Good," Rosa said.

"Let it be irritated in a line." They reached Exam Hall B at 18: 09. Dr. Lian Patel opened the door a crack. She was small, dark-haired, and holding a reflex hammer like she had already used it on something with too many limbs. Behind her, patients sat on the floor under emergency blankets. A nurse with silver braids had one hand on a child's shoulder and the other on a clipboard she refused to surrender.

"Names," Rosa said. Horace called from the radio.

"I have matching resident records. Start with the children, then oxygen-dependent patients, then staff carrying supplies." The countdown clock above the hall door blinked: 14: 22. The triage tags came in a swarm. They poured from under doors and out of wall dispensers, red-yellow-black-white, sticking to arms and backs and foreheads. Every tag that landed made the clock jump down three seconds. Dr. Patel swatted one off a child's blanket.

"Those are not my priorities." The statement hit the hallway like a bell. Authority challenge detected. Candidate: Medical Lead Dr. Lian Patel accepts temporary role? She did not even blink.

"Accepted." Medical Lead active. Effects: valid triage overrides corrupted tags, patient panic reduced, improvised treatment quality increased.

"I love competent adults," Darren said.

"Then stand still and be one," Mrs. Vance replied through the radio. Dr. Patel ripped three corrupted tags from the air and slapped clean labels onto the first three patients. Rosa called names. Niko carried a man with an oxygen tank through the Clean Lane. Gloria pushed a rolling bin full of medicine. Mateo held the corridor together with both hands on the assembly prompt and Focus sweat cold on his neck. The Waiting Room Bloom broke through the wall at 07: 40. It wore the growth chart like a spine.

Chair legs became roots. A mass of magazines formed a mouth full of smiling celebrity teeth. Above it, the fever clock flashed 06: 59, 06: 58, 06: 57. Guardian hazard revealed: Waiting Room Bloom Level 6 Weakness exposed: restored triage authority / clear exit / active treatment Mateo could not build another big thing. He had fumes where Focus should be. So he built small. He claimed sharps bins, badge clips, clean labels, and the little numbered ticket dispenser by the front desk.

The assembly came out ugly and precise. Assembly complete: Triage Anchor, Grade D Effect: fix patient order for 90 seconds, prevent priority drain, minor morale increase for anyone who loves clipboards The Triage Anchor snapped to Dr. Patel's clipboard. She smiled for the first time.

"Everybody," she said, voice cutting through fog and panic, "your number is real. Your place is real. Move when called." The Bloom recoiled. Rosa used the opening. She drove her spear into the growth chart spine and shoved it against the Clean Lane. Darren grounded the floor buffer. Niko slammed the Jaw Shield into the Bloom's chair-leg roots. Gloria swung her tire iron into the magazine mouth and knocked loose a decade of celebrity gossip. Mateo hit the buffer control. The Clean Lane surged through the Bloom.

Blue route light scrubbed the green fog away. Guardian hazard defeated: Waiting Room Bloom Riverside Clinic claimable. Patients evacuated: 24/24 Medicine cache secured. The countdown clock stopped at 00: 42. No one cheered at first. They were too busy breathing. Then the child under the emergency blanket raised one tired hand and said, "The truck is cool." Unit Seven honked once on its own. Mateo leaned against the ambulance and laughed until his knees almost went.

NODE CLAIMED: RIVERSIDE CLINIC Reward: Medical Supply Cache Reward: Clean Lane prototype retained at reduced strength Route bonus: treatment capacity, contamination warnings New linked role: Medical Lead, Dr. Lian Patel Dr. Patel looked at the system window, then at Mateo.

"If this role includes paperwork, I resign."

"It includes fewer people dying," Rosa said.

"Fine. Temporary." The radio crackled before anyone could enjoy the win. Murray's voice came through, thin with embarrassment.

"Route Seven, we have a problem." Rosa closed her eyes.

"You answered the tollbooth."

"I did not answer it. I merely requested clarification from a public infrastructure hazard." The radio filled with the sound of coins falling into a metal tray. A new voice spoke, cheerful and dead.

"Balance due. Exact change only. County Road Nine is now closed until all travelers settle their fare." Every route marker outside the clinic turned yellow.