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Jesse felt as though their stomach was going to eat itself from the inside out if they couldn’t find something to eat. It wasn’t as if they’d been starving themself or anything—in fact, they had a snack less than an hour ago after helping Mary with a patient.
The hunger felt as though it was gnawing on their whole body. Their legs felt weak like they’d never felt before.
The worst part? It hadn’t gradually built to this level, it just sprung on their body without warning. Jesse was in the middle of watching Mary treat someone, for god’s sake!
Something had to be wrong, right? Hunger didn’t work like this. They tried desperately to decipher what kind of illness they may have developed, but suddenly they could hardly remember anything they learned in med school.
Jesse began to fidget with their sleeves, running through ways in which they could ask to be excused from the room. Why would Mary let them leave just because they were hungry? Maybe they could come up with a better excuse.
Feeling on the brink of fainting, Jesse hesitantly spoke up:
“Ms. Mary? Can I please go to the bathroom?”
The cat glanced in their direction for a moment, analyzing their face with those piercing eyes she always had.
“Go ahead.” She nodded, waving them off.
Words couldn’t describe the relief that Jesse felt. Even if they were caught sneaking off to the breakroom, they were sure that the punishment would be incomparable to the agony they currently found themself in.
Somewhat within a rush, Jesse fled the room and began slinking off to the breakroom. At this point, all guilt for their lie was thrown out the window. They’d deal with that when it came to it. All that mattered right now was food. Jesse could already feel their mouth watering at the prospect.
The next thing they remembered, they found themself standing within the breakroom, midway chowing down on their leftover takeout they left in the fridge. Looking down, Jesse found that they had already almost finished it. At least the hunger had subsided.
Given that, Jesse figured it might simply be better to regard the episode they’d had as hunger they were ignoring without knowing it. Then, they wouldn’t have to pay a hospital bill to get checked out.
Despite the fact they were not near as hungry as before, they continued to nibble on the leftovers. They’d eaten this much of it, so it’d be a waste to throw it away now or come back to such a small amount later.
Suddenly, the door creaked open, causing Jesse to startle. Sal walked in, eyeing Jesse with an air of caution… For whatever reason. Jesse didn’t understand him. He was a total enigma.
Yet, Jesse was never very good at reading people anyhow.
“Are you feeling alright, Jesse?” Sal asked, still near the door. Oh god, he must’ve saw how they were acting from the cameras… If that was the case, then did Mary also know?
“I’m good, Sal. Just forgot to feed myself earlier, I think.” Jesse looked back down at the takeout plate, moving around a few chunks with their plastic fork. Suddenly, everything on the plate looked utterly unappetizing. Upon this realization, they tossed it into the trash without a second thought.
Sal looked at them for a moment longer with a scrutinizing gaze. Then, he turned and left. After a long moment of staring at the ceiling, Jesse finally left the room as well. Several more patients had already been checked in by the time they left, as well.
Mary did not question Jesse’s late arrival. They did notice, however, that they were receiving a lot more condescending ‘I know what you did’ looks than usual.
Perhaps as punishment, Jesse was tasked with watching over a surgery patient’s recovery until she could find another task for them.
The idle beep of the monitor and the rhythmic breathing of the deer patient were all that filled the room. It was somewhat calming. Jesse found themself tapping their paw against the floor to the beat of their heart.
Jesse wasn’t sure how long they’d been standing there before something changed. The heart rate increased, along with the deer’s breath. Typical signs of consciousness.
…Which shouldn’t be possible considering that the patient was under anesthesia. Of course, Jesse hadn’t come to this conclusion when the phenomenon occurred.
Without thinking much about it, Jesse stepped closer. The deer was twitching slightly. His heart rate was slowly increasing.
Then, the patient jolted awake, tearing the equipment off his body. His eyes locked onto Jesse as soon as they flinched away.
The deer’s eyes were feral. Nothing but primal rage seemed to be left in his body as he rose from the bed and lunged at Jesse, grabbing them by the shoulders. His mouth tore wide with a sickening fleshy sound, revealing rows upon rows of jagged teeth.
Acting purely out of fear, Jesse lost all sense of self-defense training they’d received and began hitting and scratching the deer as hard as they could in an attempt to loosen the iron-clad grip he had on their shoulders.
The deer tugged them closer, and the next thing Jesse felt was a white-hot burning sensation near their neck. They screamed as loud as their voice would let them, hoping that someone, anyone would help.
It can’t end like this..! Jesse thought, I’m not even a nurse yet…
The intern saw black.
When they came to, the first thing they felt was pain coursing throughout their entire upper body. Their eyes fought to adjust to the light again, as everything was a blur. A disgusting, bloody taste lingered in their mouth along with gooey chunks.
When Jesse finally made out the scene, their world slowed to a complete stop.
The deer lay several feet from them; his throat ripped to shreds. In fact, his head only held onto his body by the bone. His esophagus was pulled outwards and left limply near the lifeless head.
Jesse was so fixated on the gruesome sight that they did not fully comprehend the others in the room. Sal stood near the door; his pistol was already unholstered. Despite the usual blank face still being worn by him, there was an undertone of sadness to it this time.
Mary was at Jesse’s side, hurriedly urging them to stand so that she could get them to a room and treat their wounds. Jesse understood that much. They just couldn’t figure out for the life of them the specific words that were being said.
How did this happen? They thought. Nothing made any sense. There was never any point in their life at which they lashed out. That wasn’t what hares did. How could they be an anomaly? They took selfies all the time! Nothing ever looked different.
Suddenly aware of the firearm in the room, Jesse allowed themself to be escorted out and into the adjacent room. Were they going to be shot just like every other anomaly? Or maybe thrown out into the wild because they were too dangerous to keep around?
There was a pinch in their forearm when Mary inserted the IV in. After that, Jesse slept again.