How Can You Save Me, When I'm Already Dead

Chapter One - Mistakes Will Be Made, But This Was a Major Fuck Up

~

“Unless we get these materials…” one of her lab mates mumbled while tapping their pen annoyingly against the notebook below them. “We can’t finish this project.” they ran their fingers through their hair and sighed loudly, biting their inner cheek. “We need these to make our medicine better, and if we don’t do so, we can’t go into testing trials. Then we’ll be shut down.” they dropped their head into their hands and groaned, shaking their head while doing so. The head of the small lab division came over and placed her hand on their back, pushed her glasses onto the top of her head and squinted at the screen.

“These are all illegal materials.” she looked at her partner and rose her eyebrow, before looking back at the computer again. “Do we really need these? I thought our meds were good enough with what we gave the board.” the other looked up and gave her a disbelief while scoffing.

“Do you not remember what the board said, Liz?” the other woman shook her head and chuckled.

“Honestly, I don’t. I think I was high during that meeting.” she stopped laughing  when she received at serious look from her clearly stressed out labbie.

“To refresh your memory, they said it was good but not good enough. We need to…” they waved their hands about, trying to find the proper word. “We need to strengthen it somehow. Make the people who take it get immediate results.” they snapped their finger to add an effect to their words and sat up more. “And these,” they pointed their pen at the screen. “are the exact things we need to do so. To achieve this… this miracle medication.” they sighed again, sounding defeated. “I knew this was an impossible project… even when I accepted the offer, I knew it was a mistake.” they groaned again and pulled at their hair. Liz rubbed their back and sighed, pursing her lips in thought.

“I mean…” she mumbled, thinking over what she was going to say out loud. “We could buy it. The materials.” she said the other glancing up at her like she was a crazy person. Liz shrugged and pursed her lips.

“You can’t be serious..” they mumbled and caused LIs to shrug once more. “We-we don’t even have the funding to buy these things. And even if we did, I wouldn’t know where to buy this stuff!” she shook their head and looked at the things needed. Liz was silent and bit her lower lip, her partner glancing up at her and staring accusingly. “… Unless you do know.”

“Well… I… may know… some people.” she poked her fingers together and gave a nervous smile. Her partner sighed and rubbed their eyes. They glanced at the computer, longingly at the materials, pondering what to do, clearly going through what would be right, and what would be wrong. They looked back at Liz and nodded. Liz smiled, “It’s still fairly early… so…” she pulled out her phone and pressed a contact, the phone up to her ear.

“You have these people in your contacts?” they asked with a snort, Liz shushing them and putting their hand over the microphone.

“Who do you think I get my weed from?” she whispered and perked up when someone answered the phone. “Ja, ja, ich bin hier. Ich muss heute ein Treffen vereinbaren.” she spoke German into the phone, nodding when she got a reply. She pressed the off button and cleared her throat, her partner having a huge grin on their face.

“You have German marijuana dealers? Black marketers?” they were cracking up as they spoke and Liz waved them off.

“Oh shush. They happen to be really efficient and give me some pretty good stuff.” she laughed too though as she spoke more and shook her head. “Anyways, I have to go meet up with them today, so excuse me. I will see you tomorrow, hopefully with the things that we need. And please… keep it quiet.” Liz patted their back and grabbed her things, then left.

~

Liz entered into the bakery she was told to meet at, going over to the table where her usual contact was. They smiled and hugged, making it look like they were friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long while. They sat and Liz leaned forward, “So, you know what I’m here for, yeah?” she asked, receiving a silent nod from the man. “Well… can you get it? I need to know… kind of soon or I’ll be losing my lab.” she said and tapped her fingers against the table.

“We can… it’s just going to be a lot more than what we initially thought. What you’re asking for is…” he smirked and leaned back in his chair. “Surprisingly hard to get, even for us.” Liz pursed her lips and rubbed her forehead and bit her inner cheek.

“How much?” she asked softly, glancing around and raising her eyebrow.

“You can’t afford it Ms. Schmidt. But we’re willing to strike a deal.” he smiled wider and Liz stared, waiting to hear his proposition. “We’ll give it to you now, so that when the project is over and you get all your money, you pay us back… with interest.” Liz scrunched her nose up and knit her eyebrows together.

“You’re serious? Are you loan sharking me?” she asked with wide eyes. “Is this a joke?” she looked around once more and laughed, “Because it’s fucking hilarious.”

“No… we ain’t kidding. Dies ist das beste Angebot erhalten Sie Puppe.” he said placed his on Liz’s the woman sighing and nodding.

“Geben Sie mir einfach, was ich brauche.” Liz grumbled with a sigh. The man leaned back and nodded.

“It’ll be delivered to your lab tonight. Pleasure doing business with you again, Ms. Schmidt.” they both stood and shook hands, though Liz looked reluctant. She knew she was making a mistake, just as her partner said as when they joined her project.

~

The next morning that Liz was at her lab, all the needed materials were there and her partner was ecstatic. Their project when smoothly from there on out, the two making great progress. They worked hard and got onto the testing trials once it was shown to the board. But when it was shown to them, there was some suspicion. The board hadn’t expected it to get this far, and now watched their division closely. One day, the heads of the company visited, questioning the two. When they’d gotten all their questions answered, they took a sample of their product. In a week, it’d been tested and they’d found out what was used to create it, and made another trip to the woman’s lab, breaking the news to Liz.

“We’re shutting your lab down.” one stated and Liz stared with disbelief and shook her head.

“Wh-what? Why?? Why are you doing this?” she asked, looking at each of them in the face. She shook her head again and widened her eyes.

“We know the materials you used and they weren’t exactly legal. You did something illegal, Liz. You’re lucky we’re not calling the authorities on you.” they put a hand on her shoulder, and rubbed it. “We value you too much as an employee.”

“Y-you can’t do this to me!” she pushed the one’s hand off her shoulder and gripped the collar of their jacket tightly. “I need the money. I need to play them back, please. They’ll kill me. Please, don’t do this.” she begged, tears streaming from her eyes.

“Whatever you did, Liz,” they gently took her hands off of them and pushed her back. “You must take responsibility of. We cannot be responsible.” they patted her shoulder again and gave a smile. “We’re sure you’ll be fine.”

She was in fact, not fine. Her payments were due that day and she remained paranoid. She walked to her apartment, constantly looking over her shoulder and clutching her bag tightly. The moment she went to her apartment, and flicked the lights on, someone grabbed her, throwing her down onto her sofa. “Ms. Schmidt.” he contact said as men held her down and he sat on her coffee table in front of her. In his hand was a large knife and Liz widened her eyes when she spotted it. “Do you have our money for the things we have so graciously give you?” he asked and looked down at his knife, spinning it on his palm.

“I-I… uh I-” she was stammering she was so nervous and her contact nodded, a man slamming his fist to her cheek and Liz wincing and crying out, the heat flooding her cheek and swelling immediately. Her contact tilted his head and rose his eyebrow.

“Remember now?” he asked nicely, still smiling. Blood dripped from Liz’s mouth and she glanced up, panting from her pain.

“I don’t have it.” she mumbled, sounding tired. “The project was cancelled. I don’t have it.” she shook her head as the contact stood up, laughing loudly.

“Well, you have put us in quite a predicament. We need that money Ms. Schmidt and since you don’t have it,” he leaned forward and pressed the sharp edge of the knife to her cheek. “We’ll have to teach you a lesson.” and in the blink of an eye, the knife was in Liz’s leg, the woman screaming loudly. He put his hand over her mouth and shushed her gently, wiping tears from her eyes. “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.” and with that, he nodded to his men. By the time they were done, Liz was gasping for air on the ground, clutching her stomach. One of her eyes were swollen shut and she had bruises and gashed riddled along her body. The contact knelt beside her and rolled her over, the woman groaning tiredly in pain.

“You have a month, Ms. Schmidt. One month, or we come, and break every fucking bone in your body.” he pulled the blade from her leg and gave one last hard kick before he and his men left. Liz laid on the ground, bleeding and crying for who knows how long. But eventually, she stood, still crying, but made her way to the bedroom, trying not pass out and using everything she could for support. She grabbed a bag from her closet and shoved any clothing she could find into it. Then she changed her clothes and out on a hoodie, covering her face. She wrapped the wound on her leg trying her hardest to stop the bleeding, then limped to the train station.

There, she bought a ticket to the first place she saw, somewhere far from here, somewhere they wouldn’t look for her. She got looks from the wounds on her face and the wrapping on her leg, but eventually made it to the train. She sat by herself and placed her bag next to her, clutching it tightly. As the train began to roll out, she began to fall asleep.

The next she awoke, she was begin nudged gently, her wincing in pain as that happened. She stared at who it was in fear, only to see it was conductor. “Ma’am, you need to move your bag. Someone will need to sit there.” she stared at them with an annoyed expression and pushed the bag off, them showing the man to their seat. He sat and glanced over at her, an eyebrow raised highly.

“Shit, who’d you piss off.” he asked, leaning forward and looking at her face. Liz retracted into herself and turned towards the window, the man shrugging and going about his own business. In a few moments, Liz was out again, only this time, her head falling onto the strangers shoulder. It was a few hours before she woke next, but this time, it was her stop. She stood with a heavy wince and clenched her fists tightly for every little move hurt her. She pressed her lips together as she through her bag onto her shoulder and waited for the man next to her to get out of his sit. For some reason, she felt terrible woozy and had to steady herself on the train seat in front of her.

“Your uh…” he pointed at her leg and looked up at her as he grabbed his own bag. “Leg wound, or whatever, is bleeding pretty badly.” he said, though sounded doubtful as to it being a simple wound. Liz stared at him with barely any recognition in her eyes and pushed past him, making her way off the train quickly despite her heavy limp. Maybe that guy was with the people she got involved with, she didn’t know. She just felt like she had to get out of there. Now. But she had no money, no job, no place to stay. So, she found a decent looking bench and dropped her bag next to it, and laid down onto it. It was dark already, so she figured sleeping here would be easier than trying to find a hotel.