Frostbite

Chapter Twenty-Five - Lawyer Maxwell Starkes

Eventually, we were allowed inside the courtroom. I saw a very frazzled and disheveled man trying to adjust his suit, his hair was messy like he had been whipping his head around exasperatedly, and a strangely calm woman. The man looked like he had just drunk his entire body weight in caffeine while absorbing all the energy from the woman as well.

The judge was speaking to them as we were brought inside. I could just barely hear what they were talking about, they seemed to be talking about the nightmare mutation, just as we had before we entered.

"Your client's revoked medical license will be instated within twenty-four hours." The judge spoke, leaning over to the woman. The woman wore a dark blue suit, and her long ginger hair was flat, even though it looked like it didn't. The color on her face was gone with exhaustion. "You will not step foot in another hospital as a practicing medical professional as long as you live." The judge said, glancing at the witness bench, which seemed to be empty.

I thought she was talking to the wall for a brief moment till a man, sat up quickly from the witness bench, he had been hiding behind the board in front of him, which most likely had kept him cuffed down, suddenly yelled. "My license will NOT be revoked! I was framed! I would have never allowed the prion to get into my operating room!"

"Silence, sir. You were charged guilty, you will be escorted out of my chambers now." The judge said quickly, the Tawrion officials stationed at each side of the doors leading to the back of the courtroom stepped forward, uncuffed him from the chair, grabbed the doctor, and dragged him out through those doors they had been previously guarding just moments before. It was a bit of a struggle till the officials got the man's knees to buckle, allowing the officials to drag him out of the courtroom yelling.

I could hear that man's yelling slowly become more, and more quiet as he was dragged away from the courtroom. I glanced over at the two lawyers and judge. The judge, who was an older woman spoke up. "Are you Aaron Langley, Stephanie Valor, Felix Merino, and Kerran Rivera?" The judge spoke up, looking through her glasses.

Aaron nodded for us. "Yes ma'am that is us." He said gently, before looking around in the courtroom, as the lawyers had left and it was just the four of us now."Are we early?" Aaron asked for us. I glanced over at Stephanie and Felix, who were looking back at me was a concerned look.

The judge nodded. "A little, but not enough where it is inconvenient. You can sit there and wait while I take a break, the other members of this case should be here soon." The judge said. I watched as she got up from her chair, dusted herself off, and then stepped down from the raised desk to walk into the back room behind where she had been previously located.

I watched as the dark oak door slowly began to close behind her and soon closed completely with a gentle click. I looked over at Aaron and asked. "Who was that doctor?" I asked him, wanting to maybe get a sliver of context for what we had just witnessed moments before."If my memory is not failing me... I believe that doctor was Dr. Christian Di-Angelo, of the Tawrion public hospital." Aaron said, glancing back at me. "There was a minor outbreak of the mutation there recently, which is what I am assuming the trial before us was about," Aaron informed us.

"Wait seriously?" Felix finally spoke. "When was this outbreak?" Felix got nervous again, I had a feeling he had been to the hospital recently and wanted to make sure he didn't have a chance to have it.