Dead Man Walking.

AUDREY'S LIVING QUARTERS

6:04 PM

"Okay I change my mind about the kitchen part, THIS is the best scene !" said Advik, changing his mind about the movie he and Audrey were watching once again. Audrey hardly remembered what the movie was about. Some street fighter joins yoga to infiltrate a gang ? Regardless, it wasn't interesting enough for her to tell Advik to stop talking so she could pay attention. His commentary made the movie interesting. Just then their phones lit up at the same time. Cora had made them a group chat in order to talk about roommate stuff. 

         Cora: Are y'all home ? turn on news or look on your feeds. 

Advik shrugged and switched to the local news. Evelow, like most cities as far as every was aware, rarely contacted each other so the only kind of news anyone received stayed within city limits. So, local news was all anyone had. He squinted to look at the news ticker and then was taken aback of the person on the tv. "is that Dr. Ellocast ?"

"We're here with with Councilman Dr. Cloud Ellocast on any follow ups regarding the traveler. Dr. Ellocast, The research team confirmed he had been dead, however, Evelow General Hospital's staff is saying otherwise. You had a chance to visit the unit. Anything you're able to share with the public ?" 

The reporter turned the mic towards an old person with shoulder length straight white hair, and heterochromatic eyes. Audrey couldn't tell if she was being aggressive with the term "old" and perhaps this person could have only been sixty. Or not being aggressive enough, with this person possibly being one hundred.

"Thanks for having me on air, Heather Montoya ! I'm afraid to tell you I cannot give you information due to my medical profession, it is a violation of privacy, despite this traveler not being my patient. We and the rest of the staff are still, dare I say such an illogical phrase, wrapping our heads around this case. Truly an astounding feat for us here in Evelow !"

"Well, as a councilman, are you able to say anything to the civilians you serve ?"

"Oh, as a councilman, I can confirm we have a former traveler, representative of the former island of Dile, who has been resurrected. Accidents in the wasteland, am I right ? Only we Evelonian scientists can bring people back ! Or at least that's something I've learned today ! He allowed us to give a name, Nathan Oztov. He should be able to be discharged by the end of the week for you all !" 

Dr. Ellocast beamed with pride until a man came forward and pulled Dr. Ellocast away.

"Councilman Rajan Tandon, are you able to-"

"That is enough air time, thank you." 

The man had a very deep voice that suggested if you dared to provoke him you deserved to drop dead. No violent threat, but his demeanor sent shivers.

"Is that what Cora wanted to show us ? My uncle's on tv ? Oh, by the way, you heard his last name is Tandon ? That's my uncle." Advik talked on while Audrey sat there in shock. 

Did they just say Nathan Oztov was staying in that hospital ? And had a near death experience ? Or, better yet, an actual death experience ? Audrey had been going by the surname Evelow, it was only a secret between her and her hometown that her original surname was Oztov, a family name that carried heavy weight for being travelers famous for embarking on dangerous and distant journeys. They were known to never have permanent residency and serve the world by appearing in cities and sharing their discoveries. Audrey never had the desire to pursue the tradition, especially scarred over the death of her parents, so she changed her last name and quietly left the public eye. Well, breaking tradition and being partially blamed for her hometown's destruction. Both being secrets she intended on keeping, but she wanted to visit Nathan, who she kind of resented for being five years older than her and leaving her alone as soon as he was old enough to travel. 

"Did they say Oztov ?" asked Audrey, unsure if she just heard 'Nathan' and trailed off with her thoughts.

"Oh, you've heard of them too ?" said Advik, not concerned about her question until he looked at her expression. "Why do you ask ?"

"I have to go to the hospital." 

"Do you know Him ?"

Audrey didn't say anything. She could tell Advik was catching on. She knew her friends were suspicious of her story, especially since Advik told her about the time they met up together to make theories. 

_{[author's note: this is the incident mentioned in my snippet "who is audrey ?" yes, advik snitched on the rest of his friends. but he did the right thing imo, don't gossip about your friends]}

"Oh my god," Advik looked at the news where it showed Nathan, then looked back at Audrey to see the resemblance. "Are you related to this guy ? Audrey Oztov ?" He whispered yelled the last part as if he was cautious of anyone hearing them in their empty home. 

"I'm someone who doesn't want to be affiliated with that name. As you can see," Audrey pointed to the tv that still aired the story of the once-dead person, "It doesn't seem all what everyone makes it to be."

"Audrey, that's so cool though. You have a long lost brother of sorts ! Are you going to go visit him ?"

Audrey shrugged and made the 'i don't know' noise. She knew the reunion would be tense, but she wanted to go forth with it. "Do you wanna come with me ?"

Advik made a face journey lasting ten seconds before he could respond. "I... caaaaan't. You saw my uncle on the news. The council is there. Everyone. I used to know those people... and. I can't. I can't face them."

Audrey was disappointed, but had to respect his answer. She had a habit of avoiding people so it wouldn't been fair for her to convince him to change his mind.

"Okay. I'll ask someone else."

"What ? Are you gonna tell anyone else ? You know you'll be referred to as the 'undead guy's sister'. And I'm pretty sure that attention wasn't what you were looking for."

"You said 'everyone' will be there. Maybe I'll fly under the radar"

"Oh, uh.. okay then. good luck, Audrey."

One Hour Later

  Cora walked through the door to her home to see Audrey at the table. "Hey, you see the news ? Crazy, right ?"

"Yea, hey speaking of that, you wanna come with me to check it out ? Maybe they're taking visitors."

"Girl, central Evelow is gonna be crazy this time, I don't want -" Cora rearranged her thoughts. "SO. rest of your friends said no, huh ?"

"I didn't mention -"

"So you didn't ask Advik when y'all were watching it live ?"

"I did but-"

"And when he said no you asked Katsumi, Zack, and Avery, and you got the same rejection ?"

"Well, not the same. They tried to lie and say they had other plans."

"hm. Auds you know what I told you about defunds. They lose their place in the prime class and are kind of an unwanted presence. Sounds mean, I know, but, whatever. Your friends at least know better than to confront the people who mock them. Who, very well will be at Evelow's hot spot. Checking out at zombie."

Audrey didn't say anything, instead raising her eyebrows and looking at the floor which implied she understood what Cora was saying. 

"Happy to be your last resort though ! I have to go to my room now, byeeee !"

Audrey picked up her phone and mumbled "Oh you are not my last resort. I haven't asked them yet."

---

THE NEXT DAY

EVELOW'S TRANSIT CENTER

11:18 AM

"Amber you cannot ask them if they remember any afterlife ! Our questions have to be unique !" said Meghan as she, Amber, and Audrey got on to the train heading to the center of of the city. 

"But, I wanna know if there's a hell !" whined Amber. Alas, Amber and Meghan excitedly agreed to join Audrey on her secret mission to reunite with her brother.

"Don't you have a song called 'pay-gan prince$$' ? you don't strike me as the type to care too much about hell." said Audrey.

"Ugh. PAY-GAN PRINCE$$ is satirical. It's about worshipping wealth."

"Hm. bit tone deaf coming from the daughter of the empress of Evelow."

"Whatever, Audrey." Amber pulled out her gaming console. 

"You can hate all you want Audrey, but it's her family that's gonna get us inside that hospital unit !" Meghan bragged. 

Audrey rolled her eyes and the rest of the ride sort of fell silent. No awkwardness, they simply kept their attentions on their phones, except for Audrey, who was thinking about how she was gonna stray away from Meghan and Amber eventually and what she was gonna say to her family. 

Meghan leaned towards Audrey. "Whatcha thinking about ?"

Audrey waited to respond. "How close are you guys to your families ?"

Amber looked up. "You still pressed about my mom ?" She turned off her console knowing Audrey's question strayed further from that. "Well, she's cool, I guess. Just that being elected changed her. I get it though. And you know Ian. I tease him but it's not for real. It's just funny." Ian was Amber's more eccentric twin brother, who would definitely get a kick out of the news of a person getting killed in the wasteland only to wake up days later. 

Meghan snorted. "Aw ! Well, uh. shit. "My sister's evil, my brother's a dumbass, and my mom's dead !" She grinned the whole time while saying that. 

Amber, used to hearing about Meghan's family drama, looked at Audrey. "yeah, I get that you're an orphan, but there's no such thing as 'missing out' or 'dodging a bullet' by not having a family." She sorta gave a look that implied they were done with this conversation. They were amongst the last people that Audrey would tell that she was not really the alone in her family. 

---

 

EVELOW GENERAL HOSPITAL

11:55 AM

Sure enough, the entrance to the hospital was crowded. Audrey assumed it was generally a very crowded place, given it was the biggest medical center in the city and it's most advanced. While the three of them were walking in, Amber was on the phone with her mom. 

"But I thought the council was gonna be here. So ? Meg and another friend of ours - no not Mike - no we wanna see them. Oh - him ? You met Nathan ? Well that's we're trying to do. Please mommeeeee ? UGH ! Okay. I love you too. bye." Amber hung up and turned to Meghan and Audrey. "She's not even here. She said she's meeting with one of the freaking village leaders on the other side of the city. Like.. what ? Anyway. Meghan, she said the council was here, maybe your sister can get us in ?"

"My sister's only a councilman because she's legally the clone of my mom, the real power and brains. She's probably not even here. but let's find out." Meghan led the way, forcing Amber and Audrey to walk faster past the busy lobby. "I don't go to the hospital, what unit would a zombie even be on ?"

"Stawp calling him a zombie. And idk. trauma ? I'd think literal resurrection is traumatic." Amber looked at the hospital map. 

"the news said the traveler and the team arrived by helicopter. So maybe they're towards the top," said Audrey. Amber and Meghan considered that and agreed. Sure enough, there was an ICU towards the top of the building, and they followed the directions. 

As they stood in the elevator, Audrey remembered when her friend Kat said she didn't like hospitals. Despite the giant lobby and state of the art architecture, there was something wrong about the robotic friendliness of it all. Sure enough, the ICU was closed off to the public and the halls outside had people who had the same idea as them. Audrey saw the two people from the news, Dr. Cloud Ellocast and Dr. Rajan Tandon, with two other people, who Audrey presumed were other councilmen. 

"Very typical for Camryn to bail. I suggest we go on and inform the staff of our meeting," said Rajan.

"Don't be impatient, she's simply running late," said another one. 

Meghan, overhearing the conversation, intruded. "Perhaps, her, uh, sister can be a reliable replacement," she said, knowing they weren't going to take her seriously.

The councilmen looked at her and then at Amber. "I suppose you'd like to fill in for your mother ?" one of them joked.

This is it, thought Audrey. The moment she was going to get to stray away from them and find her own way inside the ICU. She knew this had to be the floor that held her family member. While Meghan and Amber were amusing the council, Audrey hid herself behind a journalist and crept towards the front desk. "Hey, do you have visiting hours ?" She asked the receptionist.

"What is the name of the person you're visiting ?"

Audrey said "uhhhh, last name Oztov."

The receptionist looked at her with all of their strength to roll their eyes. "Okay. just write your name down and we'll see if you're a contact." Which basically translated into 'lol nice try, get in line.'

"Can you tell him that Audrey's here ? Please ? He'll know who I am." 

The receptionist got up and went to the back.

Audrey knew she was another annoying presence for the receptionist, but tried not to make her feel bad. She jumped at a sudden voice behind her. "I'm sure they're happy to get up so many times in one shift ! I can't imagine a desk job being that exciting." said someone that looked eerily like Dr. Cloud Ellocast, except much younger and with fluffier hair and a less professional outfit. Audrey had to do a double take, seeing Cloud in the distance in the same place. "Most people get tired of waiting after thirty minutes, or they're immediately denied. I'm sure Mr. Oztov doesn't want the media attention."

"Oh, but you're different, aren't you ?" Audrey smiled with a sarcastic edge to her question. 

"Echo Ellocast !" They pulled out their hand. 

"That makes sense." Audrey accepted the hand shake. "I was thinking about how you looked like Dr. Ellocast over there. They must be your parent."

"Ha ! I like you ! Cloud wishes they could blame my actions on a secondary gene not of theirs. To answer your question, not exactly, I'm their clone. I guess this is your first time meeting one, huh ? I just didn't wanna keep the same name, that's all. I'm still workin' towards the doctorates degree though, so it's just Mx. Ellocast for the time bein' !"

Advik's a clone and so is Meghan's sister, so the concept of cloning wasn't unheard of to Audrey. But she let Echo have their pride. "Cool." She realized she was still shaking Echo's hand. "Right." She pulled away. "I'm Audrey."

"Just Audrey ?" 

"mhmm."

"Alright ! You know. you could use 'Evelow'. I've known children of the ward use that name. And severely devout leaders of our city. You know, if you're ever considering priesthood."

"Audrey, Mr. Oztov will be ready to see you in just a moment. Thanks for your patience," said the receptionist. 

Audrey was taken aback. She figured he might have known by just giving her first name, but was still surprised it worked. Echo looked at Audrey. "Please take me with you !! I promise I won't tell- or interfere !! I just wanna meet the guy ! I only have five, er, six questions !! I really wanna ask how noxious Evelonians are compared to other cities. Please !" 

Before Audrey could consider the possibility of Echo blackmailing her, Advik ran to the waiting room, almost sliding into the wall. "Audrey ! There you are ! I'm sorry I shouldn't have said no, it's not a- Echo ?"

Echo quickly swept their head in Advik's direction, totally forgetting whatever they were pleading Audrey. "Adveeeeeeek !" They gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek. Audrey saw that Echo's shouting caught the attention of the councilmen, Amber, and Meghan. She hid behind a large plant. They never approached and eventually carried on with their own conversation. but Rajan kept glancing over. Not that Audrey ever detected a smile from him, but he looked especially disapproving when seeing Advik. 

 "How have you been ? You're taking art classes ! They told me you're in school again ! I'm so happy ! You look healthy ! Uh, healthiER ! You're dressed so.. comfortably !" Echo pulled Advik away from them to examine his baggy sweatshirt and skinny jeans. Audrey couldn't figure out what Echo meant by 'comfortably.' how did Advik dress before ? and before what ? his defunding ? Advik loved to talk about what he did remember about his past (according to him he has terrible memory and can't remember a whole lot) and mentioned having a mentor in the science field. That must have been Echo. 

"Thanks, Advik." Audrey poked her head out of the plants. 

"I'm sorry do you two know each other ?? Is this your friend, Advik, is Audrey your friend ? I'm so happy you have a friend !" said Echo.

Advik turned red. "She's my roommate, and yea, my friend."

"He has more friends," said Audrey, trying to help. She then shrugged and mouthed 'i'm sorry' to Advik for even acknowledging the fact that Echo was proud of Advik for making a friend.

"Audrey, you can come down the unit now," said the receptionist. 

"Thanks. It was nice meeting you Echo, I'll see you later, Advik."

"Wait - You don't want to consider -" Echo pleaded.

"I'm good. You catch up with Advik. seems like you two have something to talk about." Audrey said with a smile. "bye !"

Echo pouted, but was immediately distracted that their former colleague had visited, so Echo moved on and started talking Advik's ears off with life updates

Just as Audrey was entering the unit, she turned back to see Meghan and Amber trying to reach her.  "Hey no fair how come Audrey gets to go in ?!" whined Amber. "She doesn't even have the list of questions we were gonna ask ! Audrey ! Ask him about hell !" and then the doors shut on them. 

"Nathan doesn't need another curious interviewer. He said he knew you, so you'll hopefully be a breath of fresh air." said the receptionist as they led Audrey to the last room on the hallway. When they made it to the room, Audrey was left alone to let herself in. She took a deep breath in through her nose and knocked on the door. 

Before she could introduce herself, she was taken aback by Nathan standing on the other end of the long patient room, right beside a large window that overlooked the city. Was he always this extra ? He knew I was coming in..

When Nathan turned around to see Audrey, he grinned. "Oh I was so delighted when they told me you were visiting, It's been years, Audrey !" He made his way to her, in a tracksuit that looked like it was given to him by the hospital. the sleeves were rolled up to reveal bandages and a picc line insertion, but it was his eyes that worried her the most. They were black. The entirety of his sclera was black, leaving his pupils to be white. Audrey figured the mutation that killed him was only internal, she never considered what he'd look like on the outside.

She couldn't help herself. "What happened ?!"

"Right. I apologize if I alarmed you. I perhaps should have allowed a formal warning that I may not be so easy on the eyes. The plant, the one which spores I inhaled, is believed to have caused a massive growth inside of me. I - they removed most of the spores, but there's a few missed spots." He pointed to his eyes. His smile seemed genuine, as if it was a neat little science fact and that something that could give Audrey a nightmare. "In fact, the doctor who removed them thinks it's the spores that revived me. Maybe they're what's keeping me alive.

Audrey kept her strength to not shudder at the thought. It intrigued her at the same time, the idea of toxic matter both killing and awakening him. She didn't want to ask about that. 

"I do appreciate you coming to visit me. When I'm discharged we should catch up some more. How long are you staying in Evelow ?" asked Nathan. he didn't seem like he noticed her discomfort.

"Nathan, I don't go by Oztov anymore. No one knows me by that. I live here." Surely there was no harm in telling him, right ? He had to keep that between them. He'd be in town to recover for a month max, they could have some sibling bonding time without anyone knowing she was his sister, and then he'd be back across the world. 

"No one knows you're an Oztov ?" He didn't understand why anyone would want to leave their family name, but he wasn't upset. He may have understood it as a response to the death of their parents all those years ago. 

"Well, one of my friend does. And some weird amateur scientist I just met. I guess. But that's it." 

Nathan laughed. "I admire your method of trust. And I'm flattered I'm amongst it. I suppose this means we won't have much direct contact, since our presences together may draw questions."

"I don't know. I mean, I just thought we could hang out at least once before you leave again."

Nathan sighed. "Well, I suppose you can take this as good news or bad news." he walked to the window again and peered outside of it, much to Audrey's annoyance. "I'm not going to get the rest of the spores removed due to the possibility it's what's keeping me alive. They make me sick. I'll need dialysis treatments and constant monitoring. I'm afraid I can't travel anymore." He then turned to Audrey with his biggest grin yet. It was supposed to be friendly, but it only scared her. "I'm staying in Evelow, Audrey !" 

"Oh. That's good news ? I mean - about seeing you. Not uh, literally everything else you said. Sorry." This complicated things. Was Audrey just supposed to ignore Nathan's permanent stay in Evelow ? He seemed like he wanted a connection and it didn't seem fair for her to shut him out. 

"That's life. It's simply the price I have to pay for getting a second chance." Was this his way of coping or was he really this unbothered by his condition ? "Perhaps you can give me the grand tour ! The council has been begging to let them do it, but that would be too limited for me."

"Mine wouldn't be so grand either, I pretty much only stay in my village on the edge. I had to ask my friends to take me out here."

Nathan told Audrey about the home he was given from the city leaders, right in the middle of Evelow. His traveler status already granted him a position in the councilor's advisors (pretend that makes sense), so it was suggested he was going to be living just fine, not including his sickness. With him and Audrey living so far away, they wouldn't have to run into each other. Nathan, although hoping for more meetings with each other, respected Audrey's wishes to remain anonymous. Audrey reassured the availability of calling and texting, but knew deep down that they weren't going to be in contact much. She was alright with that, and alright with Nathan thinking they were going to stay close. She let him give her a hug goodbye and found Advik and Echo still outside in the hallway outside the ICU. Meghan and Amber had already left, which she got confirmed through a series of texts. twenty three texts to be specific. 

"Hey how'd it go ??" Advik asked. Echo for once stayed quiet, but curiously waiting for an answer. 

Audrey was simple with her response, waiting until they left to tell him about Nathan's permanent stay and his weird mutation. No offense to Echo, but it wasn't their business. They had to wait their turn to get to know Nathan. To Audrey's surprise, Advik actually told her he'd be seeing Echo more often. "They're gonna see if they can try to get me an internship at the genetic research facility."

"I thought you were an art student ?"

"I'll still take art classes, of course ! i'm not gonna be a scientist. ew. I mean. not 'ew'. but you get what I'm saying. But it'll be cool to get another look at what I was studying earlier, without the pressure of actually doing any of it for a living. You know I'm a little biased towards fun gene stuff, I am a clone after all." He smiled. It was unusual for him to take such pride in it, it didn't seem like him. What did Echo tell him ?

Audrey wanted to question it. She just met Echo and already didn't trust them. They seemed very nosy and persuasive. "Are you going to visiting down town Evelow often ?"

"Yeah, they were thinking once a week or something. Maybe you can come too ! They do the whole 'gene designing' thing in the facility. You know, how people can get their hair to change colors. Like you." 

Sure, let Audrey visit central Evelow because she likes having pink hair, not because she's keeping an eye on Echo and Advik. "I'll think about it." The idea of running into Nathan again crossed her mind, but it was a chance she was willing to take for the time being.