Alex Carter: A Red Band Society Fanfiction

Rotten Buffalo

"Is this seriously how you guys spend your time?" Hunter interrupted. Kara looked at him with wide eyes, astonished he would dream of insulting her. "I mean, gossiping about who's kissing who, and crying about how Nurse 'What's her face' got her parking space taken away?"

"Um, I'm pretty sure they don't waste parking spots on nurses," Kara shot back, watching as Hunter stood, preparing to leave.

"It doesn't change the fact that you guys still think that stuff matters," He muttered.

"Then what does matter?" Kara called, trying to get him to stay.

"Why are you listening to him?!" Dash cut in.

"You wanna find out?" Hunter asked, "come with me. I'll show you something real."

Dash and Kara watched as Hunter walked out of the room.

"I'm sorry, but if there's any chance of him taking his clothes off, I need to be there," she stated. She stalked out of the room, leaving Dash with no choice but to follow her.

. . .

"Hi Nurse Jackson, I just wanted to give you a heads up that the applesauce is one day past its expiration date. Um, I'm sure its fine, I just wanted to double check. Also, we are down to our last box of gloves, and I can't find the key to the supply closet anywhere. You didn't accidentally, um, take it home with you, did you? Okay, well, uh, just call me back when you can, it's Brittany, by the way. Um, oh we miss you!" She put the phone down with a sigh, turning back to the computer screen.

"Did she pick up or no?" Kenji asked, putting a hand on the back of her chair.

"It went straight to voicemail...again."

"Who didn't pick up?" Alex cut in, resting her chin on her arms as she propped them up against the counter.

"Nurse Jackson," Kenji replied, looking down as he sorted through paperwork.

"Oh," Alex answered, her smile dropping. "When is she coming back?"

"Soon," Kenji replied, distracted.

"Um, Alex, honey don't you have an appointment today?" Brittany asked, clicking through her online calendar.

"I don't know, no one's told me," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

She walked around the counter to see what  Brittany was frowning at. "Well," Brittany said, "It says here you're supposed to be in a cons-"

"Alex!" Dr. McAndrew shouted, coming back down the hall.

"What's up, Doc?" she asked with a smirk.

"You were supposed to be in a consult with me?"

"Oh, wow, sorry," she said, hurrying out from behind the counter. "It's not my fault," she started, as she took in the doctor's angry expression. "No one told me."

"Obviously," He sassed, taking in her cotton tee shirt and shorts and bare feet.

"Hey, you're not my dad, you're just my doctor."

. . .

The light on the black box shone green, an with a loud beep that proclaimed their access, Hunter pulled open the door. He lead the trio down the hospital's halls, and no one said a word. They reached a room, with a door at the other side.

"Wait here," he said, before slipping through to the other side.

Kara looked at Dash in impatience. "Ugh, screw this," she said in disgust, pulling open the same door.

She found Hunter at the end of another hall, staring at a whiteboard schedule, taking pictures with his phone. "I thought I told you to stay," he said, exasperated.

"Yeah, I'm not a golden retriever. Why are you taking pictures of  the wall?"

"Shh!" He dragged them both around the corner, and pushed her back against the wall. Kara definitely didn't mind as he put his hand against the wall next to her head and stood as close to her as possible. He looked quickly around the corner, silent.

Kara took this as an opportunity for her to get him to open up. "Okay, enough with this 'what's real' crap. I want to know your real situation is." She looked up at him and he looked away, turning his head to look around the corner again. "What happened with your surgery?" she pressed.

He didn't look like he was going to respond, or that he was even paying attention until he said, "I didn't have the surgery."

Kara wasn't satisfied. "Obviously, but why not?" He stared at her, hesitation in his eyes. "Come on, you can tell me. I'm kinda known around here as someone people can talk to," she lied.

She looked up at him, her gaze moving from his eyes to his lips, willing him to kiss her. At the last second, he looked up at the hall again, and walked away without a word.

"What am I, in the twilight zone?" she groaned.

She followed him down the hall, not willing for him to get away that easily. She found herself in a room with lots of boxes, and Hunter was furiously searching through them. "I've decided I no longer want to have sex with you, she lied, tucking her hands behind her as she leaned against the wall casually.

That finally got him to turn around. He stared at her with a look that said, 'oh really?' and she quickly replied, "I mean, unless you want to, in which case I could easily be persuaded."

He smirked at her wandering eyes. "Do you know that when the native americans of the plains killed a buffalo they'd use every part of it?"

Kara was slow to respond, extraordinarily confused at his topic change. "What?"

"Every single part," Hunter continued. "Nothing could be wasted, unless they found out that the buffalo was sick, then they'd just leave it to rot in the sun."

Something about his bitter tone and serious demeanor made Kara question whether or not she should be alone with him. "Okay," she replied slowly, "sure, I don't eat red meat, though."

"Have you ever heard of a guy named David Rosen?"

She rolled her eyes at yet another change in topic. "I'm from Beverly Hills, I know like seven David Rosens."

"Well this David Rosen was a great guy apparently," he said, "great husband, great father, but David wasn't quit ready to settle into suburban life, so he bought himself a motorcycle. Couple days ago he crashed on the freeway and died. It turned out that there was one person who could give David's death some meaning," Hunter said, his voice getting an aggressive edge. Kara could tell that he was mad about something, but didn't know what it was. "A kid, with the same rare blood type who could really use David's liver. Except when the surgeon took it out of the cooler, he saw something nobody had noticed. In the car, on the plane, in the helicopter." With each word, Hunter more angry, allowing his annoyance to be come more apparent. "David's liver had a big black spot on it."

He turned around, and walked right up to her. "So they threw it in the trash, like something you find in the back of the fridge; a rotten buffalo."

"Oh, she responded, her confidence waning. "Wait, but what happens if they can't find you another one?" she asked, her face full of genuine concern.

"The same thing that happens to you."